Stealth mode was my biggest business mistake
My Linkedin status has been "stealth mode" for years... that was a mistake.
Here is what I learned:
Fear of being copied
Why did I change my status to stealth mode?
Why was I secretive about the things I was doing?
When I switched to stealth I was working on a Fintech startup.
I feared someone would steal my ideas.
And actually, some tried... after pitching my idea to startup accelerators.
But here is what I learned in hindsight:
nobody executed the way I saw my startup and no one succeeded.
Fear of being judged
I was doing freelance work to pay the bills.
I thought clients would not want to work with me as I was also working on a startup.
I was good at what I did, delivering results for my customers.
Working on a startup was probably not going to be a problem for the majority of my clients then.
Lack of accountability
Now that I made a 180 switch from stealth to public, I experience more motivation.
People regularly ask me how it's going, giving me support and advice. That is motivating and keeps me more accountable.
Information aggregation
Another benefit I overlooked of being stealthy is the missed opportunity of important information reaching you.
When you are public, people send you info and articles concerning your startup you may have otherwise missed.
The Network effect
If people don't know what you do, they can't make introductions, big mistake.
Staying top of mind
Regular updates keep you and your project top of mind.
This adds up to the network effect and the information aggregation effect.
Missed opportunity of Discoverability
I just experienced the wonderful feeling of Discoverability.
It's an amazing feeling someone reaching out to you because they love what you do.
I love the concept of taking "public notes", which is basically creating content while learning something.
While I was learning about tree products, I was writing on www.Treetarian.com . An entrepreneur in the field of tree products discovered my website and we did the first podcast and other collaborations.
That experience opened up my eyes to how some serendipity can create momentum.
Building in public
I have been consuming a lot of content from indie hackers building in public lately. Sure they have their challenges of copycats and people with bad intentions.
But in the end, I have to admit that being very open about what you are working most likely the best path to take.