How to build in public on X

You post your progress on X every day, other founders like it, and no one who would pay for your SaaS ever sees it. This is how to build in public on X so your buyers follow the story and start trials: check they are on X today, then post, reply and message every day for 4 weeks. If you keep posting for other founders, you will grow followers who build their own tools and never sign up for yours.

Do these three things

About 4 to 5 hours a day, every day, for 4 weeks. Judge it after 56 posts, 1,400 replies and 2,800 messages, by conversations with buyers, not by followers.

Show the three actions in fullHide the full list

1. 1Today: search X for your buyers' problem in their own words, list 100 buyers who posted about it in the last 30 days, and rewrite your bio to say who you help.
2. 2Every day: post 2 updates about what you built for those buyers, write 50 replies on their posts, and send 100 personal messages, starting with everyone who replied or followed. AI drafts the posts and messages; you add the true part and write every reply.
3. 3Every Sunday: post your week's numbers, count how many of your last 50 new followers are buyers, and post more of what started conversations.

Get help doing these

ChatGPT or Claude reads this guide and works through it with you.

Do this with ChatGPT(opens in a new tab)Do this with Claude(opens in a new tab)

1. Check that your buyers are on X, and list 100 of them

Before you post anything, search X for the problem your SaaS fixes and count how many of your buyers talked about it in the last 30 days. If you find 20 or more, X can bring you users. If you find fewer, your buyers are somewhere else, and building in public on X will mostly reach other founders.

This is the step most founders skip. Building in public on X works best when your buyers are developers, designers, marketers or other founders, because they already read X every day. Many technical founders post for years to people who will never buy. A founder in August 2026 said sharing revenue numbers got attention on X, but "the Twitter attention doesn't really translate into sales", and other builders used AI to copy the product. Another said in June 2026 that it "sort of works if your customer base is other aspirational founder-developers". So check first.

How to check, in about 2 hours:

1. Write down 10 phrases your buyers use for the problem. Take them from your customer chats, support emails and competitors' reviews, in their words: the sentence a buyer would type when the problem hurts, not the name of your product's category.
2. Type each phrase into X search and open the Latest tab.
3. Open the profile of each person who posted about the problem. Count them as a buyer only if their bio says they do the job your SaaS is for, such as "freelance web developer" or "runs a 5-person agency". Founders, indie hackers and people who sell tools do not count, unless founders are who you sell to.
4. Copy every buyer into a Google Sheet: name, handle, what they said, the date.

The decision: 20 or more buyers from your 10 phrases, go ahead. Fewer than 20, put your daily hours into LinkedIn or Reddit first, and post only the Sunday numbers post (step 6) on X. If you are not sure where your buyers are, choose your channels before you go on.

If you pass, keep going until the sheet has 100 buyers. This is a lead list built from what people said, so every name comes with a reason to talk. Then add 30 accounts your buyers follow: the people they reply to, quote and thank. You find them on your buyers' profiles and in the replies under their posts. Follow all 130, so their posts show in your Following tab. A free account can follow up to 400 accounts a day, so this fits in one day. Add 5 new buyers to the sheet every day, so the list never runs out.

• Tool: X search (free) and Google Sheets.
• Time: about 2 hours today, then 15 minutes a day to add 5 buyers.
• You will have: a sheet of 100 buyers and 30 accounts they follow, all followed, each with what they said about the problem.
• It worked if: at least 20 of the people you found in your 10 searches do the job your SaaS is for.
• Common mistake: counting the founders who like your posts as your market. If they would never pay for your SaaS, 1,000 of them bring you 0 signups.

2. Rewrite your X profile so buyers see who you help

Change your bio so a buyer who taps your name sees in 5 seconds who you help, what you fix and where to try it. Every reply and post in this guide sends people to this page, and a buyer who sees "building in public" and a rocket does not know it is for them.

Start from your value proposition and the buyer phrases from step 1. Give both to ChatGPT or Claude and ask for 5 bios in the template below. Pick the one a buyer would say out loud.

Name: [Your name] · [product]Bio (160 characters): I help [kind of buyer] [fix the problem, in their words]. Building [product] in public. [One fact: "Used by [N] teams" / "Free [N]-day trial"]Website: the page where a buyer can try it, with a [UTM tag] so you can see visits from X.Pinned post: a 30–60 second screen recording of your SaaS fixing the problem, with one line on who it is for and the link.

Use a clear photo of your face, from your personal account, not a company account. People follow people. The bio and the pinned post are your call to action: they say what to do next, the same way your homepage headline does. Put one line on your header image: who you help. Tag the website link with UTM parameters, so your analytics shows signups from X.

• Tool: X (free), and ChatGPT or Claude.
• Time: 45 minutes.
• You will have: a profile that names your buyer and the problem, with a pinned demo and a link to try it.
• It worked if: you show it to 5 people for 5 seconds, and at least 4 can say who it is for.
• Common mistake: a bio about you as a builder: "indie hacker", "shipping daily", "day 87". It tells other founders you are one of them, and tells buyers nothing.

3. Post twice a day about what you are building for your buyers

Publish 2 posts a day, a few hours apart, and make each one about a buyer's problem and what you built, changed or learned about it. That is building in public that buyers read: the build story is the proof, and the buyer's problem is the reason to read.

Two a day, not ten. X's ranking code, made public in January 2026, lowers the score of each extra post from the same author in someone's feed. So two good posts spread across the day reach more people than a burst. At 2 a day you have 56 posts after 4 weeks, which is enough to see which kinds start conversations. A free account can post 50 times a day, so this is well under the limit.

Rotate these five kinds. Each one is about the buyer first and your build second:

1. A problem and what you built for it. "[3 buyers] told me [the problem]. Here is what I changed in [product] this week." Add a screenshot. Ideas from user feedback are the easiest to write.
2. A fix that works without your SaaS. Teach the buyer something useful today. They follow you for this.
3. A decision, with a question. "I can build A or B next. Which would you use?" or "Is $[price] fair for this?" Buyers like to shape a tool, and their answers help you price your SaaS. Every answer is a person to message (step 5).
4. A 30–60 second screen recording of one task in your product, from the buyer's side. Record it with your phone or computer's built-in screen recorder. Upload the video to X itself.
5. A number from your work: a count from your users, your support emails or your tests, such as how many of your last 50 support emails asked the same thing. A free tool you built gives you numbers like this every week.

Keep a sheet of 50 post ideas, taken from what buyers said in step 1 and in your chats. There are more starting points in post ideas for SaaS companies, and a content calendar puts them in order.

How to write one post in about 25 minutes:

1. Pick the next idea in your sheet.
2. Write 3 lines of notes in your own words: what the buyer said, what you did, the detail.
3. Paste the notes and the template below into ChatGPT or Claude and ask for a draft under 280 characters, or a short thread of 3 to 5 posts.
4. Rewrite it in your voice and put the true detail in. AI makes 2 a day possible; the detail is what makes a buyer stop.
5. Schedule it. On x.com in a desktop browser, write the post, click the calendar icon at the bottom of the box, pick a date and time, then click Schedule. The phone app cannot schedule, and threads cannot be scheduled.

[First line: the buyer's problem, in their words. Or a number.][1–2 lines: what you built, changed or found this week, with one true detail.][1–3 lines: what the reader can do about it today, with or without your product.][One question to the reader about their version of the problem.]

Links are fine when the post stands on its own. In July 2026, X's head of product said you no longer need to hide links in the replies. A bare link with no words still gets little reach, so write the post first and add the link last. Most posts need no link: send it in a message to people who ask.

For the first hour after each post, answer every reply with a real answer and a question back. When a user gets a result, write it up as a short case study post, with their permission. Turn your best posts into short videos or a LinkedIn post the same day.

• Tool: X (free; the scheduler is the calendar icon on x.com), your computer's screen recorder, and ChatGPT or Claude.
• Time: about 25 minutes a post, so 50 minutes a day, plus 10 minutes of replies after each post.
• You will have: 14 posts a week, 56 after 4 weeks.
• It worked if: after 56 posts, at least 1 post in 10 gets a reply or a message from someone who does your buyer's job.
• Common mistake: posts written for other founders: your streak, your tech stack, your MRR chart, "shipped 3 features today". Founders like them; buyers scroll past. The other mistake is posting 10 times a day and getting less reach for each post.

4. Reply to 50 posts a day by your buyers and the people they follow

Write 50 short, useful replies a day on posts by the buyers in your sheet and the 30 accounts they follow. With few followers, your posts reach few people. Your replies put your name and bio under posts your buyers already chose to read.

Replies are how a new account gets seen on X. X's ranking predicts replies, profile clicks and follows, and gives a lift to people whose posts have had few views. Since July 2026 it also shows more posts and replies from mutuals, people who follow each other. So a buyer who follows you back starts to see your posts.

Every morning, open the Following tab and your sheet. Put the decision-makers who would pay for your SaaS first. Reply early in each post's life, while people are still reading it. A good reply is 2 to 4 sentences: answer the question or add to the point, give one fact or example from your work, and ask one question. It should be worth reading even if the original post were deleted. Leave your product out unless someone asks what you use. Then answer everyone who replies to your reply.

Write every reply yourself. X's automation rules say automated replies sent because of a keyword search are not allowed, and neither are automated likes. In February 2026, X also blocked tools from posting replies through its API unless the author mentioned you first, to stop AI reply spam. AI can find posts and remind you what you know. The words are yours.

A free X account can post up to 200 replies a day, so 50 is safe. Spread them over at least 30 different people, so you are not in one person's replies all day. The Reddit and community answers you already give follow the same rule: help first.

[Answer the question, or agree or disagree with one point and say why.][One fact, number or example from your own work.][One question back.]

• Tool: X (the Following tab) and your Google Sheet.
• Time: about 1 hour 40 minutes a day, 2 minutes a reply.
• You will have: 350 replies a week, 1,400 after 4 weeks.
• It worked if: after 1,400 replies, at least 5 people a day reply back to you, and your post analytics show profile visits from people who do your buyer's job.
• Common mistake: "Great post!", "So true!" or a reply written by AI. Nobody taps the name behind it. The other mistake is replying only to famous founder accounts, where your reply is number 400 and the readers are founders.

5. Message everyone who replies or follows, up to 100 messages a day

Every day, send a short personal message to each buyer who replied to you, reposted you, answered your question or followed you. Then fill the rest of your 100 messages a day with buyers from your sheet. Posts and replies get you noticed. Messages turn that into conversations, and conversations turn into trials.

Work down this list, in this order, until you reach 100:

1. Every buyer who replied to your posts or replies today.
2. Every buyer who answered a question post or reposted you.
3. Every new follower who does your buyer's job. Check their bio.
4. Buyers from your sheet who posted about the problem this week.
5. Buyers you cannot message on X, by email or LinkedIn.

Know X's limits. Many accounts accept message requests only from people they follow or from verified accounts, and some accept none. If X will not let you message someone, reply to their post instead, or find their email on their website. A free account can send up to 500 messages a day, so 100 is safe. Send them one at a time, never the same text twice. If you send more than about 50 emails a day to strangers, send them from a warmed-up domain.

In each message, say one true thing about what they did, then ask one question about the problem. No link and no pitch in the first message. If they answer and the problem is real for them, offer to set up their free trial with them on a 15-minute call. People who start with you are more likely to reach the result and keep using it. This is how most founders get their first 100 users. Follow up twice, 3 days apart, with one new line each time, and stop when someone says no.

AI makes 100 possible. Paste 10 people at a time into ChatGPT or Claude, each with what they did (their reply, their post, their bio), and the template below. Read each draft, make the first line true, and send it yourself. That is about a minute a message. Log each one in your sheet.

Hi [first name],Thanks for [your reply about X / answering my question / the follow]. [One true line about them: their post, their work, what they said.]Quick question: how do you deal with [the problem] today?[Only if they answer and it fits:] I'm building [product] for exactly this. Happy to set it up with you in 15 minutes if it's useful.[Your name]

• Tool: X messages, Gmail, your Google Sheet, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: about 1 hour 40 minutes a day for 100 messages, plus the calls they book.
• You will have: 700 messages a week, 2,800 after 4 weeks, each logged with who it went to and why.
• It worked if: you get at least 3 conversations from every 100 messages, and by week 2 at least 1 trial or call from every 100. Below 2 conversations per 100, a low reply rate, rewrite the first line so it is more about them.
• Common mistake: a link to your SaaS in the first message, or the same text pasted to everyone. The other mistake is messaging only other founders because they are the ones who reply.

6. Share your numbers every Sunday and count who they bring

Every Sunday, post one update with your real numbers, then fill in one row of a sheet: posts, replies, messages, conversations, trials, and how many of your last 50 new followers are buyers. That last number tells you whether you are building in public for buyers or for other founders.

The Sunday numbers post is the classic build-in-public post, and it works once a week. Share signups, paying users and MRR, one thing you learned from a buyer and what you will build next. You do not have to share your revenue. If you worry about copycats, share counts of users and trials, and keep how you find users to yourself.

Week [N] of [product]:[signups] signups · [trials] trials · [paying] paying · $[MRR] MRRWhat a [buyer] told me this week: [one line, in their words]
What I changed because of it: [one line]
Next week: [one thing][One question to buyers.]

Then count. On the phone app, tap the bar-chart icon under each post to see its views, engagements and profile visits; a free account shows these for each post. Ask every new signup "Where did you hear about us?", and check signups from your tagged X link. Open your Followers list and read the bios of the last 50 people who followed you. Count how many do your buyer's job.

Week | Posts | Replies | Messages | Buyers in last 50 new followers | Conversations | Trials or calls | New paying users
Conversations by post kind: problem + build | fix | decision | video | number | replies | messages

The rules, after 56 posts, 1,400 replies and 2,800 messages:

• Fewer than 10 of your last 50 new followers are buyers: your posts are reaching founders. Move every post to the "problem and what you built for it" and "fix" kinds, and reply more to buyers, less to founders.
• A post kind started 0 conversations: stop it, and give its slots to the kind that started the most.
• 0 conversations with buyers in total: X is not where your buyers talk. Move the daily hours to LinkedIn or Reddit, and keep only the Sunday post on X.

When a conversation turns into a paying user, ask for a testimonial and make it a post, with their permission. If you have not launched yet, point the Sunday post at a waitlist. Once you have about 20 active users, your followers are a ready audience for a Show HN or a Product Hunt launch. Once a month, do a wider marketing review.

• Tool: X post analytics (the bar-chart icon on each post, in the app) and Google Sheets.
• Time: 45 minutes each Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week, and a short list of post kinds that start conversations with buyers.
• It worked if: you can name the post, reply or message behind every conversation and every new paying user.
• Common mistake: judging by follower count. 1,000 followers who are all founders bring fewer signups than 50 buyers who talk to you.

Where Scout7 helps

Scout7 speeds up steps 3 and 4. Nothing goes live without your approval.

Step 3. Scout7 connects your X account, makes image posts with captions in your voice, and schedules your posts to X alongside LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Reddit, in one calendar. You approve every post and add your own true detail.

Step 4. Join Conversations searches social platforms for live discussions about your problem, groups them by the kind of reply that fits, and drafts a reply in your voice. On X, use the draft as your list of points, read the post yourself, and write the reply in your own words, because X does not allow automated replies.

Your build-in-public checklist for the next 4 weeks on X

0 of 17 done

Work through this list with an AI assistant

It drafts the work and keeps track of what is done.

Do this with ChatGPT(opens in a new tab)Do this with Claude(opens in a new tab)

Step 1 · Check that your buyers are on X, and list 100 of them

• Write down 10 phrases your buyers use for the problem.
• Search X for each phrase and count the buyers who posted about it in the last 30 days.
• List and follow 100 buyers and 30 accounts your buyers follow.
• Every dayAdd 5 new buyers to your sheet.

Step 2 · Rewrite your X profile so buyers see who you help

• Rewrite your name, bio, website link and pinned post for your buyer.
• Show your profile to 5 people for 5 seconds and fix what they missed.

Step 3 · Post twice a day about what you are building for your buyers

• List 50 post ideas from what your buyers said.
• Every dayPublish 2 posts about what you built for your buyers' problem.
• Every dayAnswer every reply to your posts within the first hour.

Step 4 · Reply to 50 posts a day by your buyers

• Every dayWrite 50 replies on posts by your buyers and the accounts they follow.

Step 5 · Message everyone who replies or follows, up to 100 a day

• Every dayMessage every buyer who replied, reposted, answered a question or followed you today.
• Every dayFill the rest of your 100 messages with buyers from your sheet.
• Every dayFollow up with everyone who has not replied, up to twice, 3 days apart.

Step 6 · Share your numbers every Sunday and count who they bring

• Add "Where did you hear about us?" to your signup.
• Every SundayPost your week's numbers.
• Every SundayFill in one row of the Sunday sheet.
• After 2,800 messagesApply the three rules and decide where next month's hours go.

Copy listDownloadReset