I Built a Public Portfolio for Startup Journeys — Here's Why Founders Need It

I Built a Public Portfolio for Startup Journeys — Here's Why Founders Need It

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— Originally published at dev.to

If you've spent any time on Twitter's #buildinpublic community, you've seen the pattern.

Founders post their journey constantly. Revenue milestones. User counts. Honest reflections on what's working and what's failing. It's one of the most valuable communities on the internet for indie developers and startup founders.

But there's a problem nobody talks about.

All of it disappears.


The problem with building in public on Twitter

About a year ago I was building my first SaaS — posting everything publicly on Twitter. Revenue updates, user counts, lessons from failed features.

And after a few months I started noticing something frustrating. Every piece of content I'd created — every milestone I'd shared — was buried. Gone. If someone discovered me today and wanted to understand my journey, they'd have to scroll through hundreds of tweets across months.

There was no single place that said: here's where this founder started, here's what they built, here's where they are now.

I watched the same thing happen to every founder I followed. Someone posts "just hit $1K MRR" — that tweet gets 200 likes and disappears in 48 hours. The next person to find them has no idea about that milestone.

The building in public movement had a visibility problem.


What I built to fix it

I built BuildTrail — a tool that gives founders one permanent public page for their entire startup journey.

Here's what you can track and share publicly:

  • Milestones — every significant moment from first commit to first dollar
  • Revenue — your MRR or total revenue, updated as you grow
  • User count — watch your numbers change over time
  • Updates — post like a public changelog
  • Full control — you decide exactly what's visible

One link. Your whole story. Permanent.

Think of it as your startup's public profile page — like a GitHub profile but for your founder journey instead of your code.


Why this matters beyond vanity metrics

Building in public isn't just a growth strategy. For most indie founders, it's accountability.

But accountability needs a record. Progress needs somewhere to live.

When you have a BuildTrail, you can look back six months from now and see exactly where you started. Your followers can follow the real arc — not just your latest tweet. Future users can see you're the real deal before they hand over their credit card.

It changes the question from "what have you been building?" to "here's everything, in one place."


Where I am right now

I launched BuildTrail last week.

First users came in. First feedback received and resolved. The unglamorous but real side of a solo founder launch.

I'm already using BuildTrail to track BuildTrail's own journey — which feels right.

You can follow along here:- https://www.buildtrail.app/udit/buildtrail

If you're building in public and your journey deserves more than a Twitter thread that disappears — come try it.

Free to start. $9/mo for the full thing.

First 50 founders get 40% off for 3 months with code EARLYTRAIL.

buildtrail.app


One question

What's the biggest frustration you have with how you currently share your startup journey publicly? Drop it in the comments — I'm actively building based on feedback.

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