Building it in public, numbers and all.
An indie maker's build-in-public log — real revenue, what shipped, and what broke. For solo founders and builders who learn from a P&L, not a launch tweet.
Read by makers at
$4,128
$4,128 MRR · 312 users · v2.1 · churn 3.4%
// in every Tuesday log
The Numbers
MRR, churn, signups, refunds — the real dashboard, screenshotted, not a curated highlight reel. Down weeks included.
Shipped
What went out this week, what broke in production at 2am, and the commit that fixed it. Changelog with feelings.
The Lesson
One mistake I made so you can skip it — pricing, hiring, a bad integration, a feature nobody wanted. Cost included.
Issue № 54 · Mar 17, 2026 · 6 min read
I cut my pricing page from 3 tiers to 1 and revenue went up.
"Three tiers gave people a decision to make. One tier gave them a yes-or-no. It turns out a yes-or-no converts 41% better when you're a nobody they've never heard of."
Weekly signups · before vs after the change
The build log
54 issues · since 2025№ 53 · Mar 10 · $3,940 MRR
The integration that cost me a weekend and 11 users.
A postmortem with the Sentry logs. · 7 min
№ 52 · Mar 3 · $3,710 MRR
Annual plans saved my runway. Here's the math.
Cash today vs. churn tomorrow. · 6 min
№ 51 · Feb 24 · $3,402 MRR
I fired my biggest customer. Best decision of Q1.
When 40% of revenue is a liability. · 8 min
№ 50 · Feb 17 · $3,188 MRR
50 issues in: what I'd tell myself at issue 1.
The retro nobody asked for. · 9 min
№ 49 · Feb 10 · $2,961 MRR
My churn was a copy problem, not a product one.
One onboarding email, -1.8pp churn. · 5 min
№ 48 · Feb 3 · $2,744 MRR
I shipped on a Friday. You already know how this ends.
A cautionary tale, with timestamps. · 6 min
"The only build-in-public letter that shows the down weeks. Jonas's pricing teardown made me $1,200/mo — I'm not exaggerating."
"Real numbers, real mistakes, zero hustle-porn. I read it before I read my own dashboard on Tuesdays."
"The Builder thread is the most useful Slack I'm not in. The office hours alone are worth the $9."
62.1%
avg. open rate
11,204
subscribers
54
issues shipped
6.1 min
avg. read time
Read free. Go Builder for $9.
The Tuesday log is free, forever. Builder is the full metrics, the teardowns, and the room where makers actually help.
Builder
$9/mo
or $90/yr — two months free
- ✓ The full metrics archive, as CSV
- ✓ Teardown deep-dives
- ✓ The makers' private thread
- ✓ Monthly office hours
Fair questions
Free vs Builder — what's gated?+
The full Tuesday log — Numbers, Shipped, and the Lesson — is free every week. Builder unlocks the complete metrics history as downloadable CSV, the long-form teardown deep-dives, the makers' thread, and monthly office hours.
How often, and do you actually share real numbers?+
Every Tuesday at 6am ET, and yes — real MRR, real churn, real refunds, screenshotted from the actual dashboard. The down months are in there too; that's the whole point.
Can I expense Builder as a business cost?+
Easily — you'll get a proper itemized receipt on signup. Most subscribers file it under software or professional development without a second thought.
Will you sell my email to sponsors?+
No. If a sponsor ever runs, it's a clearly-marked block inside the issue — they never get your address. No list sales, no data brokers, one-click unsubscribe.
Cancel anytime — do I keep the archive I paid for?+
Any CSV or teardown you downloaded is yours to keep. Cancel whenever and you'll drop back to the free log at the next renewal — no clawbacks, no dark patterns.