The ultimate startup moat: Building in public

In an age where features can be replicated overnight and trust is scarce, brand matters more than ever. But not the kind of brand built by traditional marketing.

Many of today’s fastest-growing startups lean into authentic founder narratives to create brand and trust advantages that are very hard to replicate if done well.

Building in public isn't just marketing - it's a strategic moat that compounds over time.

The standard startup playbook is still to build an initial product in stealth followed by a splashy launch. Especially pre launch, founders avoid sharing their journey publicly due to concerns about competition, criticism, or feeling it's premature to "put themselves out there."

Yet, those who embrace sharing real, authentic stories and insights publicly find that audiences want to relate to companies on a more authentic level. Founder-led voices are the best way to achieve that.

When you share your journey publicly from day one, you create advantages that compound over time:

1. Trust before social proof. Early startups lack credibility compared to incumbents. Consistent, authentic sharing substitutes founder personality for institutional trust.

2. Talent attraction. The best people want to work with founders they believe in. Public building creates magnetism for talent that aligns with your vision—often before you're actively recruiting.

3. Real-time messaging testing. You can refine your narrative based on actual engagement by your customers rather than assumptions.

4. Perhaps most valuable: you build an audience that becomes a proprietary distribution channel when you're ready to scale.

That said, finding an authentic voice is challenging for most.

Many founders overthink this. They want everything polished and perfect. But the highest-performing content is usually spontaneous and genuine. Excessive editing reduces authenticity and impact.

Start today. Not when you have "something worth sharing." The journey itself—with all its uncertainty—is precisely what builds connection.

Unlike product features or business models, the trust established through consistent, authentic sharing creates a moat that deepens over time.

This insight is from Austin Hughes, an early growth leader at Ramp, now the Co-Founder and CEO at Unify GTM, and importantly - he’s also a prolific writer in public.

Which has had a huge impact on Unify’s journey. Check out Austin’s LinkedIn, it’s a masterclass on founder brand building.

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Enjoyed reading this?

Then check out my conversation on the focal podcast with Austin Hughes, an early growth leader at Ramp and now Co-Founder and CEO at Unify GTM that changed how I think about growth at startups.

Youtube | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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