/content

name: content
description: "Use this skill when the user needs a content strategy, wants to build in public, grow an audience, choose content platforms, or create a distribution plan. Covers platform selection, build-in-public frameworks, content distribution, and audience building for solo founders."

Content Marketing & Build-in-Public

For a solo founder, content IS the marketing department. This skill helps you pick a platform, build an audience through authentic sharing, and convert followers into customers — without a marketing team or ad budget.

Core Principles

• Content is not marketing. Content is proof of expertise, proof of work, and proof that you understand your audience's problems better than anyone else.
• Build-in-public is the highest-ROI content strategy for a solo founder. It costs nothing, builds trust, and creates a moat of authenticity no competitor can copy.
• One platform, deeply. A mediocre presence on 5 platforms loses to a strong presence on 1.
• Show your work, not your product. Process > polish. Decisions > announcements. Lessons > launches.
• The content that converts best is the content that would be useful even if your product didn't exist.
• Consistency matters more than quality. Publish regularly at 80% quality rather than occasionally at 100%.

Platform Selection

Choose ONE based on where your ICP actually spends time:

| Platform | Best For | Content Style | ICP Signal | |----------|----------|--------------|------------| | **Twitter/X** | Developers, SaaS founders, tech professionals | Short-form threads, hot takes, metrics sharing | Your ICP tweets about work, follows industry leaders | | **LinkedIn** | B2B professionals, enterprise buyers, consultants | Professional stories, industry insights, career content | Your ICP has detailed LinkedIn profiles, posts about industry | | **Reddit** | Technical audiences, niche communities | Helpful answers, deep-dive posts, genuine participation | Active subreddits exist for your problem space | | **Indie Hackers** | Solo founders, bootstrappers | Revenue updates, strategy deep-dives, lessons learned | Your buyers are themselves builders/founders | | **Hacker News** | Developers, technical decision-makers | Technical articles, Show HN launches, Ask HN questions | Your ICP reads HN, comments on technical topics | | **Discord/Slack** | Community-first audiences, developer tools | Ongoing helpful presence, quick answers | Active communities exist in your niche |

**How to decide**: Go where your ICP already has conversations about the problem you solve. Search for your problem keywords on each platform. The one with the most active discussion is your platform.

Build-in-Public Content Framework

The 5 Content Pillars

**1. Progress Updates** (weekly) What you built, what moved, what the numbers say.

This week:
- Shipped [feature]. Here's why it matters: [user problem it solves].
- MRR: $X → $Y (+Z%)
- Biggest surprise: [insight]
- Next week: [what you're tackling]

**2. Decision Stories** (2-3x/month) The reasoning behind a product, pricing, or strategy choice.

A user asked for [feature]. I said no. Here's why:

[Explain the reasoning — what you considered, what tradeoffs exist,
what you decided and why.]

The harder question isn't "should we build it?" It's "what should
we NOT build so we can focus on what matters?"

**3. Lessons & Failures** (2-3x/month) What went wrong and what you learned. This is the highest-engagement content type.

I lost 12% of my users last month. Here's what happened:

[Honest explanation of what went wrong.]
[What you learned.]
[What you're changing.]

Sharing because I wish someone had told me this 6 months ago.

**4. How-We-Built-It** (2-4x/month) Technical or tactical deep-dives that showcase your expertise.

How I built [feature] in [timeframe]:

[Step-by-step breakdown of the approach]
[Tools/tech used]
[Result for users]

Full breakdown: [link to blog post or thread]

**5. Problem Exploration** (1-2x/month) Content about the problem space that's useful even without your product.

The 3 things every [ICP role] gets wrong about [problem]:

1. [Misconception] — Actually, [truth]. Here's why...
2. [Misconception] — The data says [counter-evidence]...
3. [Misconception] — I learned this the hard way when...

Content Calendar Template

Monday:    Progress update or metrics share
Tuesday:   Problem exploration or industry insight
Wednesday: How-we-built-it or tactical tip
Thursday:  Decision story or lesson learned
Friday:    Community engagement (reply to others, ask questions)

Minimum viable cadence: **3 posts per week**. You can always scale up, but consistency at 3/week beats burnout at 7/week.

Platform-Specific Formats

Twitter/X

**Thread format (highest engagement):**

Tweet 1 (hook): [Surprising claim or specific result]
Tweet 2-6: [The substance — one idea per tweet, each stands alone]
Tweet 7 (close): [Takeaway + soft CTA]

Example hook tweets:
- "I went from 0 to $5K MRR in 90 days. Here's the exact playbook:"
- "A user asked me to build [feature]. I said no. Here's why:"
- "I tracked every hour I spent for 30 days. The results surprised me:"
- "The biggest mistake I made building [Product] (and how I fixed it):"

**Single tweet format:**

[Insight or observation]
[Supporting detail or data point]
[Implication or takeaway]

Keep under 240 characters for maximum reach. Or go long (up to 4,000 chars)
for nuanced takes.

LinkedIn

**Post format:**

[Strong opening line — pattern interrupt or bold claim]

[blank line]

[3-5 short paragraphs, each 1-2 sentences]
[Use line breaks aggressively — LinkedIn rewards readability]

[Personal anecdote or specific data point]

[Takeaway or question to drive comments]

[Optional: 3-5 relevant hashtags]

**What works on LinkedIn:**

• Personal stories with professional lessons
• Contrarian takes on industry norms
• Specific numbers and re