Build in Public
How to Improve SaaS Positioning by Building in Public
Use build-in-public updates to expose positioning confusion, collect buyer language, and refine your SaaS message without treating social engagement as…
By Uriel Bitton · 4 min read
The short answer
Building in public can help refine SaaS positioning when you use public updates as messaging probes, not popularity tests. Share one clear problem, contrast, or product decision; watch how relevant buyers describe it; then validate recurring language and misunderstandings in customer conversations. Update one message at a time and judge the result by buyer understanding and behavior, not likes.
Building in public can help you improve SaaS positioning when you treat each update as a small messaging probe. Share one clear problem, contrast, or product decision; observe how relevant buyers interpret it; then validate repeated language and confusion in direct customer conversations. Do not optimize positioning for likes. Optimize for whether the right customer quickly understands who the product is for, what it replaces, and why it is different.
Use public work to expose positioning problems early
April Dunford defines positioning around how a product is different and better than alternatives for a particular set of customers. Her positioning guidance is useful for build-in-public founders because public updates force those choices into plain language. If readers repeatedly misunderstand the category, assume the wrong customer, or compare you with an unexpected alternative, you have found a positioning question worth investigating.
That does not mean the crowd is right. Buildside’s guide to reaching B2B buyers while building in public recommends separating buyer-relevant conversations from general founder engagement. Apply the same filter here: feedback from the target role matters more than broad applause.
Run the Contrast–Language–Proof loop
1. Publish one positioning contrast
Choose one positioning element instead of testing the entire pitch. Explain the problem you solve, the alternative customers use today, the outcome they want, or why your approach is different. A hypothetical example: “Most small agencies manage client approvals in email threads. We are building a shared approval queue because the problem is not sending files; it is knowing what is still blocked.”
Stripe’s guide to market positioning recommends connecting differentiated features to customer needs, keeping the value proposition clear, and refining positioning with target-audience feedback. A public update can make one of those assumptions visible enough to challenge.
2. Capture the language that comes back
Do not record only sentiment. Record interpretation. What category do relevant readers think you are in? Which alternative do they mention? Which phrase from your post do they repeat? What do they ask you to clarify? These are clues about how the market is decoding your message.
3. Validate the signal with buyers
Take recurring questions into customer conversations. Ask what the buyer would use if your product did not exist, how they describe the problem internally, what outcome matters, and what makes one option credible. Public replies help you find the question; direct research helps you decide whether the pattern is real.
Stripe’s startup messaging guide treats the value proposition, target audience, product description, and differentiation as connected parts of a startup’s key messages. That is why a useful positioning test should tell you more than whether people liked the wording.
4. Change one message and look for better understanding
Rewrite one surface: your homepage hero, product description, founder bio, sales opener, or next public update. Keep the underlying offer stable where possible. Then look for fewer clarification questions, more accurate comparisons, and more relevant conversations. Small samples can be noisy, so avoid declaring a positioning win from one high-performing post.
Ask positioning questions, not vanity questions
“Which tagline do you like?” mostly asks for taste. Better public questions expose how someone understands the market: “What would you use instead for this workflow?” “Which part sounds like the expensive problem?” or “When you read this, who do you think the product is for?” Keep the question bounded and give enough context for a relevant buyer to answer.
This fits Buildside’s founder-brand framework: repeatedly connect a customer problem, your point of view, proof from the work, and the product. Positioning becomes sharper when those repeated public explanations converge on language the right customers actually understand.
Keep product direction separate from public reaction
A public audience can contain customers, peers, competitors, supporters, and people outside your market. Do not let the loudest comment redefine the company. Use public building to find misunderstandings and language worth testing, then combine that evidence with customer interviews, sales conversations, product usage, and actual buying behavior.
For your next three build-in-public updates, test three separate ideas: the problem, the alternative, and the differentiated value. Write down how target buyers interpret each one. If the same confusion appears more than once, take it into a customer conversation and revise one message. That turns building in public from content output into a practical positioning feedback loop.
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Frequently asked questions
Can building in public help with SaaS positioning?
Yes. Public updates can expose whether relevant people understand the problem, category, alternative, and differentiated value you are trying to communicate. Treat those reactions as hypotheses to validate with target customers rather than as final positioning evidence.
What should I post to test my SaaS positioning?
Test one idea at a time: the customer problem, the alternative you replace, the outcome you deliver, or the reason your approach is different. Give enough product context for readers to interpret the message, then note the questions and comparisons that come back.
Should I change my positioning when a public post performs badly?
Not from one post. Weak reach, timing, format, or audience fit can all affect engagement. Look for repeated misunderstanding among relevant buyers, validate it in direct conversations, and then test a revised message on another surface such as your homepage or sales pitch.
What matters more than likes when testing positioning in public?
Look for signals of understanding: target buyers using the right category, recognizing the problem, comparing you with the alternatives you actually compete against, asking relevant product questions, or continuing into a qualified conversation.
A note from Uriel Bitton
Building in public gives founders a cheap place to notice where their message breaks. I would use public reactions to find confusion and better customer language, then validate those signals in direct buyer conversations before changing the positioning. The audience can help reveal the problem; it should not make the decision for you.
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