Maybe the biggest downside of “building in public” is that it makes failure expensive. It’s much easier to experiment when no one is looking, and when you don’t have to explain why your crazy ideas failed.

It’s almost inevitable when doing things in public. Someone will eventually ask:

- What happened?
- Why did it fail?
- Why didn’t you do it this way?
- Why did you give up?
- Why don’t you try again?

And even if they don’t ask, you’ll likely feel the obligation to explain.

If you believe this won’t affect your behavior, think again. Remember that your subconscious is usually in charge.

There’s a version of building in public that is more like “sharing what you just figured out”, which has less of this downside, and still many benefits.