Why Solopreneurs Share Their Revenue Publicly (And Why It Actually Works)

Most businesses treat their revenue numbers like a state secret. Locked away. Never discussed. Definitely never posted on the internet for strangers to read.

And yet, a growing number of solopreneurs do exactly that. They post their monthly recurring revenue. They share what worked, what tanked, and exactly where they stand. Not because they have to – but because it turns out to be one of the smartest things they can do.

This isn't a fluke. There's a real logic behind it, backed by real examples. This post breaks it all down: why people do it, what actually happens when it works, and where the real limits are.

TL;DR

Sharing revenue publicly is a core strategy of the build-in-public movement , and for solo founders, it builds trust, creates accountability, and drives organic growth without a marketing budget.

What you'll learn:

• Why transparency functions as a trust signal – and why that matters more at the solo level
• The psychology of public accountability and how it moves your business forward
• Real examples of founders who grew through radical openness
• The honest downsides, and when not to share your numbers
• A simple framework to decide if this approach is right for you

Key insights:

• According to the 2025 State of Social Media report by Buffer, 45% of creators who shared their business journey publicly reported stronger user trust and brand loyalty.
• Data from Indie Hackers (2025) shows that projects shared publicly have a 30% higher rate of community engagement compared to those built in private.
• Pieter Levels built Nomad List from a public spreadsheet shared on Twitter. It now generates over $5.3M in annual revenue , with zero employees.

Bottom line: If you're building something people-first, sharing the real numbers isn't a risk – it's your best distribution strategy.

Note: The strategies described in this article are guidelines based on observed patterns and real examples. Your actual results depend on your audience, niche, business model, and consistency. This article does not constitute financial or business advice.

What Does "Sharing Revenue Publicly" Actually Mean?

It doesn't mean pasting your bank balance into a tweet. Revenue sharing in the build-in-public context means documenting your business journey with real numbers , MRR (monthly recurring revenue), milestone moments, growth dips, and pivots – and doing it openly, usually on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, or a public blog.

The concept got serious traction around 2013–2014, when companies like Buffer began posting full revenue dashboards online. Buffer went public with their numbers when they were earning $12,000 a month. They documented everything, including the slowdowns.

Baremetrics took it a step further in 2014, making their entire revenue dashboard publicly viewable in real time. At the time, they were barely hitting $3,000 a month. The transparency itself became a product feature , and a growth engine.

That same mindset trickled down from funded startups to solo founders and indie hackers. Today, the build-in-public movement is largely driven by individual builders who have no marketing team, no PR budget, and no investors to impress – just an honest story to tell.

The Real Reasons Solopreneurs Do It

It builds trust faster than any marketing copy

A polished landing page tells people what you want them to believe. A real revenue number , even a small one – tells them something actually happened.

According to the 2025 Buffer State of Social Media report, 45% of creators who shared their business journey publicly experienced stronger user trust and brand loyalty. That's not a small effect. And it's the kind of trust that a paid campaign rarely builds, because it requires something most brands won't do: honesty about where you actually are.

Bubble's build-in-public guide puts it clearly: sharing revenue milestones shows traction and signals that you're building something people are actually willing to pay for. For solopreneurs without case studies, press coverage, or a recognizable brand name, this is one of the fastest paths to credibility that exists.

It creates accountability , the kind that actually moves you

Perfectionism is a real problem for solo builders. So is the tendency to keep polishing something privately until it feels "ready" – which sometimes means never shipping at all.

Posting your numbers publicly changes the dynamic. When people are watching, it's harder to stall. You've committed to a story, and the next chapter has to happen.

This isn't just anecdotal. The Mercury build-in-public framework notes that publicly articulating what you're building can surface blind spots and sharpen your thinking , and the audience doesn't just watch. They hold you to what you said.

For solopreneurs who operate without a team, external accountability is a genuine tool. Sharing revenue updates creates a soft deadline structure that internal willpower often can't.

It attracts the right audience before you have a polished product

Early followers become early users. Early users become the people who give you the feedback that shapes the product. But you can't get early followers if nobody knows you're building anything.

Pieter Levels didn't launch Nomad List with a product. He started with a public spreadsheet shared on Twitter. It went viral before there was even an MVP. The community that formed around the spreadsheet became the first user base of the site – and the source of the data that made it valuable.

That's the compounding effect of building in public: you're not just building a product. You're building an audience that cares about what you're building. By the time you have something to sell, people are already invested.

It's organic reach without a paid budget

Transparency-based content travels in a way that promotional content doesn't. A monthly revenue update, an honest breakdown of what went wrong, a milestone post , these get reshared, commented on, and referenced by other builders.

CopyAI's trajectory is one of the clearest examples. The company went from $1 to $50,000 MRR in four months – almost entirely through build-in-public updates on Twitter, with founder Paul Yacoubian sharing every milestone publicly. No paid distribution. The story itself did the work.

According to Indie Hackers (2025), projects shared publicly show a 30% higher rate of community engagement than those built privately. Engagement is distribution. Distribution is growth.

What Actually Happens When It Works , Three Real Examples

Pieter Levels (@levelsio)

Pieter Levels is probably the most cited name in the indie solopreneur space, and for good reason. He's been sharing his revenue numbers publicly for years. Nomad List hit $5.3M in annual revenue in 2024 – with two employees. It started as a public spreadsheet in 2014. The transparency wasn't a marketing tactic. It was just how he worked. That openness built a community, a reputation, and an audience that made every subsequent product launch easier.

Groove

Groove launched their "Journey to $100K MRR" blog in September 2013, when they were making $28,000 a month. They documented every step publicly , including the hard months. The startup community rallied around their progress. Within 15 months, they'd grown from $30,000 to $100,000 MRR, driven in large part by the attention their transparency generated.

Baremetrics

When Baremetrics made their revenue dashboard public in early 2014, they were earning $3,000 a month. By making openness a feature of the product itself – any SaaS could use Baremetrics to display their own public dashboard , they created a category. They grew to over $30,000 MRR. The transparency wasn't just marketing. It was the product demonstration.

The Honest Downsides (Because There Are Some)

This wouldn't be an honest post if it skipped the part where this can go wrong. Sharing revenue publicly has real risks, and not every business should do it.

Competitors get a roadmap. Once your numbers are public, anyone in your space can see what's working. If your business model is highly replicable, full transparency may hand others a shortcut.

Relatability erodes at scale. The audience that found you at $500 MRR may disengage when you hit $50K MRR. Early followers often connect with the struggle. The success story can feel like a different character.

The performance pressure is real. Monthly updates create an implied promise. Bad months feel public. Some founders find the external gaze motivating. Others find it paralyzing. Know which type you are before you start.

Some industries aren't compatible. If you work in regulated fields, handle client confidentiality, or operate in B2B contexts where sensitive contracts are involved, full public transparency can create genuine legal and ethical problems. This approach is not one-size-fits-all.

As Mercury's build-in-public guide notes: "The goal is not maximum transparency, but sustainable clarity." The spectrum matters. You don't have to share everything to build in public effectively.

So Should You Share Your Revenue?

There's no universal answer here, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

What's true is this: sharing revenue publicly works best when it's consistent, genuine, and tied to a real story – not when it's a performance, not when it's chasing engagement, and not when it's done once and abandoned.

Ask yourself a few honest questions before you start:

• What's my actual goal , audience growth, accountability, trust, all three?
• Who is my audience, and will they value this kind of transparency?
• Can I sustain this through the bad months, not just the good ones?
• Does my business type have any legal or competitive reasons to stay private?

If the answers point toward yes, start small. A monthly revenue update doesn't need to be elaborate. A sentence and a number, consistently, over time, is more powerful than a detailed post once a year.

The build-in-public movement isn't a formula. It's a philosophy: that honest, human storytelling about building a business creates more trust – and more growth , than any polished marketing campaign.

You don't need big numbers to start. You just need to start.

FAQ

What does "build in public" mean for solopreneurs?

Building in public means sharing the real, ongoing process of growing your business – including metrics, milestones, failures, and decisions , with a public audience, usually on platforms like X, LinkedIn, or a blog. It's not about broadcasting success. It's about documenting the journey with enough honesty that others can follow along, learn from it, and trust you. For solopreneurs specifically, it's one of the most effective ways to build an audience and earn credibility without a marketing budget. Paddle's build-in-public guide describes it as turning your startup journey into "an interactive narrative that educates, inspires, and invites engagement."

Do I need to share exact revenue numbers to build in public?

No. Exact numbers are one option, not a requirement. Many founders share percentage growth, milestone ranges, or directional updates ("crossed 100 paying customers") without revealing precise figures. As the Mercury build-in-public framework notes, rounded numbers or percentage growth typically strike the right balance between transparency and strategic caution. The principle is honesty about direction and process, not an obligation to publish your entire P&L.

Is sharing revenue publicly risky for my business?

There are real risks: competitors gain visibility into what's working, and the ongoing pressure of public updates can be draining in slow periods. That said, for most early-stage solopreneurs, the risks of obscurity outweigh the risks of transparency. The key question is whether your business model is highly replicable and whether your industry has confidentiality requirements. If both answers are no, the downside risk is generally low. Natively's build-in-public analysis suggests being intentional about what you share and why, rather than treating it as an all-or-nothing decision.

Which platforms work best for sharing revenue publicly?

X (formerly Twitter) remains the most active platform for the build-in-public community, with the #buildinpublic hashtag acting as a central gathering point. LinkedIn works well for longer-form updates and B2B-adjacent audiences. Indie Hackers is purpose-built for this kind of content and offers a highly engaged audience of bootstrapped founders. YouTube and newsletters are strong choices for longer storytelling formats. The best platform is the one where your target audience already spends time.

How often should I share revenue updates?

Monthly is the most common cadence in the build-in-public community – a month is long enough for meaningful changes to show up, short enough to maintain momentum. That said, consistency matters more than frequency. A quarterly update published reliably for two years is more valuable than a monthly format abandoned after three posts. As Mercury's framework puts it: consistency matters more than volume , sharing occasionally and thoughtfully beats burning out by posting constantly.