Building in public

You’ve probably seen me post a bunch of updates about our game “Wake Up” and buildspace.

I recently completed the 6-week nights and weekends session with buildspace along with their IRL event at SF and here’s another update capturing some of my thoughts on the exhilarating experience.

Background

As a creator, I love building things and learning through the process. However, when it comes to sharing my creations, that's a muscle that I rarely use. Most of my projects tend to be neatly tucked away in my personal Trello board.

But buildspace changed that.

It started off with a pretty straightforward question: "Build your idea over six weeks. You in?"

My friend Helen and I decided to bring our game "Wake Up" into our first season at buildspace. And we were amazed with how our game creation process morphed after that.

This exercise pushed us out of our comfort zone and made us rethink how we create.

Here are my top takeaways from the experience:

Just build a V1 and ship it

As a creator, it is easy to get caught up in the perfection trap. We want to make sure our projects are perfect before we share them with the world. However, perfection can hinder progress. The best way to learn and grow is to get your work out there and get feedback.

Better to ship something than nothing at all.

The Loop

Buildspace introduced us to a simple but effective process for iterating on our game:

Create → Launch → Measure → Learn → Repeat.

This loop helped us to iterate on our game quickly and efficiently.

People are awesome

Building in public can be daunting, but it's also incredibly rewarding. When you share your work with others, you're inviting them to participate in your journey. They'll give you feedback, ask questions, and offer support. This can be a great way to learn and grow as a creator.

People are awesome

I know, I know I said it already, but I need to say it again and this time give a shoutout to some of the most talented and amazing people I got a chance to meet in real life for the IRL event at SF. They were the best part of the experience and I am so glad I got chance to meet them all!

Alec Dilanchian , if it weren't for you I wouldn't have been a part of this, so thank you. And Helen Dong I wouldn't have booked those SF tickets at such a short notice it weren't for you :D , so thank you too!

What’s next?

Like I said - buildspace has been a phenomenal force in helping me get out of my safe space and start sharing my work.

I’ve been currently exploring an amazing tool called Framer for two of my upcoming projects. This one here is the V1 of my portfolio.

It’s not complete (& creators - don’t fret - it never will be). I’ve still got a couple of sections I’d like to build out and tweak, but with my given deadline I’m happy with what I’ve got so far.

I have already signed up for S4! And if you’d like to be a part of this exciting journey you can jump onboard here.