The Build In Public Fellowship Recap
It's not about tweeting out your lunch order. It's about building authentic relationships.
Contents
How did I get into this?
What are BIP and BIPF?
Biggest benefits and takeaways.
Would I do it again/recommend it?
What’s next? Plans going forward.
For 6 weeks, starting on April 10th, I took part in the first cohort of KP’s Build in Public Fellowship.
How did I get into this?
I’ve followed KP on Twitter for a while now and watched as he became “the build in public guy”. It’s been fun to watch him grow in his career and he became someone that I began rooting for and cheering on.
When he decided to publicly announce the fellowship, I thought it sounded interesting, but wasn’t sure if I’d be a good fit or able to put in the appropriate time to get the most out of it.
After a bit of back and forth with KP, and learning more about the program and expectations, I decided to take the leap and join.
What are BIP and BIPF?
Build In Public (BIP) is the practice of sharing on social media how products or services are being created and developed, with the aim of inspiring and engaging with like-minded people or potential customers.
It’s a great way to raise awareness for your product or service by engaging and growing community involvement and feedback.
KP’s Build In Public Fellowship is a 5-week cohort-based program that brings together a group of people looking to learn and grow their skills with building in public. We were the first cohort that KP had personally put together and contained a wide variety of people, skills, and experience.
Biggest benefits and takeaways.
There were so many quality takeaways from the program, but I’ll try to highlight some of my favorites…
Just Get Started. If you don’t start, you’re not even getting in the game and you’ve already lost. Starting is a win in and of itself and the first step to winning more. It’s the easiest thing you can do.
Constantly Ship. Shipping is a muscle. Tweets, newsletters, apps, or bigger projects. Get in the habit of shipping and it becomes easier. Most people get stuck and build things up in their heads. They either never even start or never finish because it’s too daunting. Get in the habit of putting things out into the world. They don’t need to be perfect. Perfect is the enemy of done.
Consistency. Show up every day. Don’t break the streak. Put in the reps and you’ll grow and evolve and get better. Showing up consistently helps you get over the gap and find your voice.
Engagement Isn’t Everything. Don’t get caught up with tracking likes and follows. If you show up every day and have genuine conversations and provide real value to others, people will take notice. But don’t do it just in hopes of engagement numbers. Enjoy the journey.
Give selflessly. Help others. Provide value. Be authentic. People notice.
Network. The real gems are the friends we make along the way. It’s always about people.
Would I do it again/recommend it?
Without a doubt. The insights and strategies from KP are definitely gold in and of itself. The network and access to such high quality people is what puts the program value above and beyond, making it truly a no brainer.
It also gave me the opportunity to build LeaderBird.co with KP, a fun little project that has been fun to watch people use.
What’s next? Plans going forward.
I’ve already learned so much from KP, the program, and the rest of the fellows. I plan to continue that learning and evolve how I share and communicate about the things I’m working on.
For now, I’m grateful to still be a part of the weekly mastermind sessions, where I continue to get accountability and invaluable advice from the other fellows.
As for LeaderBird, not sure what will become of it in the long term. We will continue to listen to users and make adjustments and try to make it more compelling for everyone.
Overall, the Build In Public Fellowship has fundamentally changed the trajectory of how I use Twitter and social media. It helped me to finally start being more deliberate and tactical with how I interacted with and grew my audience. But more importantly, it introduced me to some of the most ambitious and genuinely impressive people I’ve ever met.
I’m incredibly grateful to KP and the other fellows. I’m excited to watch as we all grow and evolve and share our journeys with the world.
If it’s something you’re even remotely curious about or potentially interested in, I definitely recommend you set up time with KP and learn more about it for yourself. It could be just what you need to kickstart something new.
The Build In Public Fellowship Recap
thank you for such a wonderful recap, Zack! Having you in the OG cohort has been a blessing.. both in terms of your role in lifting up the community but also in collaborating and shipping LeaderBird together :) Here's to more!