Stop Polishing. Start Sharing. Real Numbers Beat Vanity Metrics Every Time
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
By Ivan Bulut
Founder, URLcut.ai
Growing Influence Without Losing Authenticity: Lessons from Building in Public
Eight weeks after launching my AI URL shortener, I have 40 users and $36 in monthly recurring revenue.
Most founders would hide those numbers. I post them on LinkedIn.
Why? Because those 40 users trust me more than my competitor's "10,000+ customers" claim ever could. They've watched the real journey. They know the actual story.
Here's what building in public taught me about growing influence without faking it.
Stop Polishing. Start Sharing.
My first post: "20 users, $0 revenue, 6 weeks post-launch."
The response? Immediate. Genuine. Raw.
57,000 impressions. Real conversations with other founders.
People saw themselves in the struggle. They connected with the honesty. Nobody connects with manufactured success stories. Everyone connects with "I'm figuring this out too."
When I posted "$36 MRR from one paying customer," I got more engagement than posts about abstract growth strategies ever received. One real customer matters more than a thousand hypothetical ones.
The lesson? Stop polishing. Start sharing.
Your 5,000 connections don't need your highlight reel. They need your reality. That's what builds trust. That's what converts followers into customers.
Everyone Fails. Few Admit It.
Product Hunt didn't go viral for us. We got 87 upvotes. Learned lessons. Moved on.
I could have buried that "failure." Instead, I wrote about it.
That post? More engagement than the launch itself.
Here's why: Everyone fails. Few people admit it. When you do, you give others permission to be honest about their own struggles.
Building in public means showing everything. The wins. The losses. The "we're making it up as we go" moments that fill most startup days.
Your audience doesn't want perfection. They want truth.
Repeat Yourself. It Works.
I always lead with the problem: nobody trusts bit.ly/x7k9m2. Random characters look like scams.
My AI-powered URL shortener reads your page and suggests memorable slugs instead. That's it. That's the message.
It appears in nearly every post because it's why this exists. I'm not chasing trends. I'm not pivoting for likes. I'm solving one problem consistently.
Your audience learns to trust consistency. They know what you stand for. They understand what you're building.
That matters more than going viral once with a message you can't sustain.
What Makes You Actually Different?
Building in public forced me to answer: What makes my perspective actually valuable?
Not "I'm a SaaS founder." Everyone's a SaaS founder.
Instead:
Building the courage to say 'no' to 50 features took 4 months. Then I wrote the strategy.
I build with AI (Claude) and share the process
I operate from Serbia where Stripe doesn't work
I post actual code decisions on LinkedIn
I share real revenue: $0 to $12 to $36
These specifics make the story mine.
Generic advice about "working hard" gets ignored. Specific stories about switching payment processors because of geography? That helps someone facing the same problem.
Find your specifics. Share them relentlessly.
Slower Growth. Better Customers.
It's slower.
My competitor with the fake testimonials probably got more signups in week one. But my 40 users actually care. They've followed the journey. They know it's real.
Authentic growth compounds differently. Each genuine connection leads to another. Each honest post builds more trust. The audience becomes a community, not just a number.
Eight weeks in, my bootstrap SaaS isn't a unicorn. It's a real product solving a real problem for real people.
Every user knows exactly what they're getting because I've been honest about what we are.
That honesty? It's not just ethics.
It's strategy.
When you build in public with real numbers and honest updates, your audience becomes invested in your success. They're not just watching. They're participating.
They share your posts. They suggest features. They become your first paying customers.
Not because you convinced them. Because they believe in what you're building.
That's the power of authenticity. It's slower. It's harder. It's worth it.
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