Building in Public: Scaling Your Directory With Transparency

Introduction to Building in Public

Building a product openly, in real-time, and with transparency is becoming the go-to approach for entrepreneurs, indie hackers, and creators aiming to build trust, grow organically, and learn through feedback. This philosophy, known as “Building in Public,” aligns perfectly with modern consumer expectations. People don’t just want to use a product—they want to be a part of the journey. This approach can be particularly powerful when scaling a digital product like a directory, where your audience thrives on engagement, trust, and incremental value.

Whether you’re running a niche directory, launching your first platform, or managing multiple directories, building in public can provide clarity, continuous momentum, and scalable feedback loops that grow your directory’s presence. Leveraging automated outreach tools like Nurturing Mails can compound these benefits. Combining transparency with automation is a strategic way to scale without adding unnecessary overhead.

Why Build Your Directory in Public?

Engage Your Target Users

When you build in public, you naturally attract your ideal users—founders, marketers, creators, and community builders who resonate with your mission. Sharing updates, struggles, wins, and user stories invites participation and insight.

Create Open Feedback Loops

By documenting your process and sharing each iteration of your directory, you make it easier for users to see your growth story. In return, they provide feedback that you might’ve paid thousands for through focus groups or B2B consultants.

Make Marketing Part of Product Development

When you showcase your velocity—from new features to performance wins—each update becomes a marketing event. You can feature these updates on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Indie Hackers, or Reddit communities.

• Build awareness without paid ads
• Expand your user base via shares and retweets
• Rank for long-tail keywords with SEO-focused changelogs

Scaling a Directory in Public: Step-by-Step Framework

Let’s dive into a humanized, transparent growth strategy tailored to directory owners using the Building in Public methodology.

1. Start With an Open Roadmap

List planned features, improvements, and goals. Platforms like Trello, Notion, or GitHub Issues can publicly show what’s coming next. Be honest—even about the blockers. Check how UNO Directory shares updates from the founder’s Twitter, helping users feel connected to the work behind the scenes.

2. Share Early and Often on Social Media

People love seeing under-the-hood processes—especially when building niche projects. Instead of only highlighting major milestones, share:

• Behind-the-scenes decisions
• Product Hunt launch stories
• User feature requests
• Design mockups and revisions

Look at makers like Praneet Brar, who actively uses Twitter to discuss progress, experiments, and pivots. His approach creates curiosity and community engagement, particularly among founders.

3. Use Tools to Build Momentum as You Build in Public

Manual outreach is tedious. Instead, directory owners are turning to tools like Nurturing Mails to automate the connection process with freshly launched Product Hunt startups.

Tool	Purpose	Why It Aligns With Public Building
Nurturing Mails	Automated outreach to PH founders	Saves manual time and scales your engagement
Aura++	No-code mini-CRM for indie hackers	Stay organized without bloated enterprise tools
Tweetpik	Create visuals from Twitter updates	Transform threads into visual storytelling

4. Implement Transparent Metrics and Analytics

Share monthly metrics: number of submissions, top-categories, conversions, subscriber growth, churn rates. Use simple dashboards like Google Sheets or Notion tables to show trends. You can even link live data using tools like Whalesync or Airtable.

Some metrics to report:

1. Total listings (monthly/weekly)
2. Daily email outreach via Nurturing Mails
3. Submission conversion rate
4. Top referrer sources (e.g., PH, IndieHackers)
5. SEO metrics (indexed pages, traffic)

How Nurturing Mails Helps Scale in Public (Without Extra Work)

Scaling transparently doesn’t mean adding more hours. With outreach handled by tools like Nurturing Mails, solopreneurs can continue building while maintaining community engagement.

Here’s how Nurturing Mails accelerates directory growth:

• Daily Outreach to New Product Hunt Launches: Reaching out to 50+ new launches daily, automatically—an impossible task to do manually.
• Personalized Emails: Featuring both the founder and product name in each email increases open rates and trust.
• Congratulatory Tone: Warm introductions build rapport, leading to 150% more submissions typically within 60 days.
• No Manual Monitoring: Real-time tracking of new listings ensures founders get contacted at their most motivated moment.

See the full feature list here or explore the pricing options to find a plan that fits your directory’s stage and ambition. For any queries, visit the FAQs page for quick assistance.

Real Examples of Building Directory in Public

1. UNO Directory

UNO Directory built an ecosystem through transparent growth updates and frequent tweets sharing listing milestones, learnings, and optimizations. Their participatory approach turned users into advocates.

2. Aura++

Aura++ took transparency to the next level by showing income reports and open KPIs monthly, building credibility and boosting user acquisition through relatability.

3. Indie Hackers Projects

Many successful directories on Indie Hackers grew by sharing publicly how they acquired their first 100 users, monetized, or redesigned their platforms in real-time using Twitter or newsletters.

Tips for Sustaining the Build in Public Journey

Building momentum openly is energizing but requires consistency. Here are keys to avoid burnout or disengagement:

• Automate repetitive tasks (use outreach tools like Nurturing Mails)
• Batch content creation for posts and updates
• Host AMA sessions once a month with your first 20 users
• Use hashtags like #buildinpublic to discover peers
• Celebrate small wins (e.g., “10 new submissions this week 🎉”)

Takeaways and Next Steps

Building your directory in public doesn’t just drive traffic—it earns the trust of your ideal contributors. As you share wins and challenges honestly, you’ll naturally improve your product, increase SEO value, and drive revenue faster with tools like Nurturing Mails acting as your growth engine.

So whether you’re just launching or already have traction, embrace the Build in Public model today:

1. Set up an open roadmap with tools like Notion
2. Automate outreach emails with Nurturing Mails for frictionless submissions
3. Share your process regularly on social platforms
4. Engage with your community for real-time feedback and trust