"Startup events are for losers." Why you should skip events and build in public instead.

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The meetups in my region are overly obsessed by

• B2C apps catered to students

• getting funding

• building the whole thing first before doing anything else

• being unique and finding the next billion dollar idea

• always asking "but what's the thing that differentiates you against the competition?"

These always lead to overly zealous ideas and almost never acting on them.

I went to an event one time. I never did it again because of all the reasons you said.

I met my co-founder at an event and we had an exit a few years later. When we met, we were each building on the side and had realized the need for a co-founder.

Hello, I've never been to one of these events, but I do have to disagree with one of your key assertions.

I'm blind, and I have done a lot of things that scare sighted folk.

For example, I built my first website in 2007 by teaching myself to code html and I wrote my first self-help book on a dare.

Yes, some people don't achieve because they are lazy.

But many don't achieve because they have allowed themselves to be told things are going to be so hard that they shouldn't even try.

They are scared, overwhelmed, and often getting bad advice from the experts. Many of whom charge outrageous fees for their advice.

I wish I could teach people that thing that allows me, you, and many others to just start where they are and keep moving forward.

But I can't teach it. Most days, I can't even distill it down to how I do it.

You did make a really important point about social media and this community.

That being, we really have to choose our online communities carefully and make sure they are continuing to serve our needs.

Thanks for sharing, Maxwell

Exactly building in public ensures greater impact as it feels more natural and human. When we build in people we are saying we believe in actual relationship building than just selling the product - Which is a good thing.

This is spot on! Time spent building and engaging with real builders online beats any startup event packed with 'yappers.'

While startup events can be helpful for networking, building in public allows you to connect more authentically with your audience. By sharing your journey, you invite feedback and grow a supportive community. Skip the events and focus on creating something meaningful BetterJoy can guide you on how to amplify your public presence!

I'm launching my real-time data visualization and monitoring service Chirpier (www.chirpier.co) - and would really like to lean into building in public.

What's your advice?

It's true that building in public has some clear advantages. However, I think startup events still have their place. For new founders, these events can be a crash course in the industry. You get to hear from experienced entrepreneurs, learn about the latest trends, and gain insights into what works and what doesn't. It's like a condensed business education.

The sole purpose of startup events is to pass, transfer or ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in souls who are too afraid to take the first step or are stuck somewhere in the startup journey.

I am in favor of student startup events and exclusive startup events where lazy-to-build but active-to-attend startup events guys and yappers are not allowed.

Hosts and moderators of these student/exclusive startup events must be successful and failed founders.

Very interesting piece. I've seen a lot of pushback against #buildinpublic on Twitter/X. One of the points that stuck with me is: unless your socials audience is also your customer base, are you spending time where you shouldn't be?

I definitely see the benefit of BIP as a networking opportunity but what is the trade-off? There are only so many marketing hours in a day...better to build a professional network or a customer base? We're doing both ATM but leaning toward the latter.

I think „Startup events are for losers.“ is simplifying things a bit. When I was a student and made my very first steps into the startup world, these events were super helpful, as I could see pitches, talk to founders and also got my first few working student jobs at various startups, where I could try everything from software development to business development to sales. I was exciting for about a year, but then it became repetitive, I started building my own company as CTO, I stopped going to such events and never looked back. So of course I very much agree with the gist of the post :)