Building in Public

What It Covers

Jason Fried explains 37signals' approach to building products in public through unedited videos and design reviews, sharing work-in-progress features, design iterations, and internal decision-making processes for their new product Fizzy.

Key Questions Answered

• •Pre-launch momentum building: Share product development 6 weeks before launch through blog posts or videos to build anticipation, similar to movie trailers releasing multiple previews. This creates eager customers asking for early access rather than cold launching to an unprepared audience.
• •Avoid future promises: Never commit to specific delivery dates or product announcements publicly. 37signals announced two products but canceled Know It All mid-development, teaching them to say they're working on something without guaranteeing timelines. Use vague terms like "a few months" instead of concrete dates.
• •Real feedback requires real usage: Ignore feedback from people watching demo videos since they only see fragments without full context. Wait until version one launches and users actually interact with the product daily to collect meaningful, actionable feedback worth implementing in future iterations.
• •Show incremental design changes: Document small adjustments like notification card height, color additions, or 15-pixel spacing tweaks that accumulate into great products. Most companies only show polished final results, hiding the 8+ iterations that evolved into the shipped version, missing educational opportunities.