Why you should build your business publicly (pt. 2)
Plus: a new fragrance launch, Spotify's partnerships with podcasters, and more 🔗
Hello and welcome back to Brandscape!
Recently, I came across an Instagram account for a new beverage brand called Journée (@drinkjournee). Founders Nicole and Chris post behind-the-scenes videos about their process building a functional beverage. They’re based in France but plan to launch their brand in the U.S. After watching their videos, I thought about the second-ever issue of this newsletter featuring Beny Yogurt, a pre-launch prebiotic yogurt brand (which I can’t wait to try).
What do both Journée and Beny have? A shared strategy centered around building in public.
Building in public can take on many different forms depending on the founder’s preference and where their potential customers are. Tech founders, for example, may find more success on LinkedIn or X while CPG founders may find more success on TikTok or Instagram.
If you’re not convinced yet, here’s an overview of why building in public works and a few examples of brands employing this strategy.
Why building in public works:
Humanizes your brand 🙂 Founder-led content (day in the life videos, updates about product development, etc.) help put a face to a name (or brand, in this case).
Demonstrates transparency 🔍 People want to know the why behind the products they buy. Founder-led content is a great way to tell this story and gain customers’ trust.
Creates loyal + engaged customers from day one 🤝 Those who feel they have a stake in what you’re creating will be your biggest supporters.
Allows for real-time feedback 🗣️ Analyzing feedback in comment sections can help you better understand who your customers are and achieve stronger product-market fit.
Brands building in public that I have my eye on:
Founder Kiki Couchman began documenting the process of starting Beny last fall. Since then, she’s amassed followings on Instagram and TikTok comprised of those interested in seeing a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to start a CPG brand.
“I think people really relate to a story, particularly for consumer products. They want to buy something, and they want to say, ‘Hey, I was following this brand, and I was part of this journey.’ And especially something as mundane as yogurt — you're eating it every day, you want to feel like it's a little more elevated, because you know the backstory behind it.”
— Kiki Couchman on why founder-led content works
Last week, Kiki shared a video announcing that they’re in the midst of a name change due to unforeseen circumstances. Despite this roadblock in the process, this is a great example of the benefits of building in public. Kiki shared the news on Instagram and asked her 12,000+ followers for name ideas. This partial crowdsourcing effort simply would not be possible without building in public.
Chara is a pre-launch probiotic, high protein greek yogurt brand. Chara’s founder is engaging her audience through TikTok content surrounding product development, brand identity, and the buildout of a vintage VW Chara van.
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bazaar_nyc 🍽️
Bazaar is a Brooklyn-based South Asian supper club founded by Nirupa Konijeti. Each dinner she hosts centers around a different fusion theme. On Instagram, she shares dinner party photos, hosting tips, and videos like this:
If you’re on TikTok, you’ve likely seen videos from Elly, the founder and self-proclaimed candy connoisseur behind lil sweet treat. Her early content focused on the renovation of their West Village flagship. Now, she’s expanding her business at an impressively quick rate. lil sweet treat now has multiple Manhattan locations and will open in Boston soon.
If you’re interested in reading more about this story, I highly recommend
’s interview with Elly:
Series 👥
Series is a new agentic AI-powered networking platform founded by Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow, two juniors at Yale. After a user creates a profile, their AI agents connect people to each other based on experiences, interests, and mutual benefit.
Nathaneo and Sean have been building in public on LinkedIn and Instagram, and they’re now focused on bringing Series to college campuses like UPenn. I think building relationships with college students or even establishing an ambassador-type program is smart. Just think of the success of platforms like Marriage Pact and Bumble on college campuses that have a similar infrastructure in place.
What other founders/brands have you seen building in public? Let me know in the comments!
Headlines of the week 🗞️
A new fragrance brand founded by the former head of brand marketing at Madhappy launches on Thursday, May 1. Alex Brands is positioning Rite of Way as a fashion-forward label that can become a part of people’s “fragrance wardrobes.”
Photo: Business of Fashion Spotify has paid podcasters more than $100 million since the start of this year. This is part of their push to expand video podcast offerings on the app.
OpenAI released a new shopping tool for ChatGPT. The chatbot can now aggregate product previews, comparisons, and links to purchase. This comes after Perplexity implemented a similar tool last fall.
Thanks for reading!
— Henry
Brandscape is a weekly newsletter covering marketing, brand, consumer insights, and design — all through the lens of a college student.
So good!
loved this Henry !!