Building in Public: How Three Founders Used Transparency to Create Customer Champions

Most B2C startups try to appear larger and more established than they actually are, hiding their small team size and early-stage struggles. Amy Cameron, Head of Marketing at Sylvi AI, discovered that radical transparency about their three-person team became one of their most powerful competitive advantages, creating unprecedented user loyalty and word-of-mouth growth.

Speaking on the Levels Podcast, Amy shared how embracing their startup reality rather than hiding it transformed customer relationships and accelerated their growth trajectory.

The Power of Radical Transparency

Amy's approach to customer communication involves complete honesty about Sylvi's team structure and capabilities:

"I think just for them also, well, I hope, but having access to like the founding team and knowing that it's us behind, I think like every time someone emails and says, there's a bug or like, how do I do this? I emailed them straight back and I'm like, Tom's going to go and fix this. Like, Tom is the only one that can fix it. He's the only one working on it."

This transparency extends to direct acknowledgment of their resource constraints:

"And I think people are baffled that like there's three of us on this team. Tom's the only product guy. Tom will go away and fix your bug."

Rather than treating their small size as a weakness to hide, Sylvi positions it as a unique advantage that creates intimacy impossible at larger companies.

Creating Emotional Investment Through Access

The direct access to founders creates emotional connections that go far beyond typical customer-company relationships:

"And I think that level of kind of like intimacy with our community has really made us kind of get to where we are today, having users like that go and tell everyone they know about this app."

Users become invested in the company's success because they feel personally connected to the people building it:

"They become invested in you, you become invested in them, you want to build something for them."

This bidirectional investment creates a virtuous cycle where users actively contribute to the company's growth rather than simply consuming the product.

The WhatsApp Community as Building in Public

Sylvi's WhatsApp community serves as their primary "building in public" venue:

"We've got a WhatsApp chat with them... You'll have direct access to Tom, who was the founder, give us feedback at any point. We'll let you know about new features coming out."

The community provides:

• Real-time founder access for questions and feedback
• Early feature previews before public release
• Behind-the-scenes insights into product development
• Direct influence on product roadmap decisions

This level of transparency would be impossible to maintain at scale, making it a genuine competitive moat during their early stage.

Differentiating Through Human Scale

Amy positions their small team as a differentiator against larger, more impersonal competitors:

"Obviously we are also an AI app, but I think where we differentiate ourselves is like there's three best friends, well, me and my boyfriend and one of our friends behind this app. We are not replacing jobs with AI. are not, in fact, we're hiring."

This human-scale messaging resonates particularly well during times when users feel alienated by large tech companies' approach to AI and automation.

The Authentic Response Advantage

The personal touch in customer support creates memorable experiences:

"And it's so funny the responses that you get to those emails. Some people are like, I haven't had time today, I'm so sorry. And then other people are like, this is so rude. I don't have to use it every day."

Users respond to streak reminder emails as if they're talking to friends rather than a corporate entity, indicating the success of their personal approach.

Word-of-Mouth Multiplication

The transparency strategy creates users who become active advocates:

"And they're like, I know the founder and I'm in this group. And the word of mouth marketing that we got from this group was massive."

Users don't just recommend the app—they share the story of being personally connected to the founders, making their recommendations more compelling and authentic.

Building Product in Public Through Community

Sylvi's product development process is essentially conducted in public through their user community:

"Their feedback and how they learn has paved every feature that we've brought in... We've got a couple of features coming out in the next couple of months that I can tell you guys about that like our customers have just been like, please build this."

This transparency about product development:

• Validates features before significant development investment
• Creates anticipation for upcoming releases
• Makes users feel heard and valued in the process
• Reduces development risk through early feedback

The Customer Interview Advantage

Amy's team conducts extensive customer interviews that feel more like conversations between friends:

"We got on calls with all of them. So we did customer interviews and just sat with them for an hour, finding out more about them and how they learn and why they're learning."

The personal investment in understanding each user creates relationships that extend far beyond typical customer research, generating insights that would be impossible to obtain through surveys or analytics alone.

Scaling Transparency Thoughtfully

As Sylvi grows, they face the challenge of maintaining transparency while managing increased volume:

"And it's such a manual process, but I cannot stress how insightful it's been for myself or Sam to be talking to people in the app."

They acknowledge that their current approach won't scale indefinitely but plan to maintain the core principles:

• Founder involvement in key community touchpoints
• Direct feedback channels for engaged users
• Transparent communication about company developments
• Personal touch in customer support

The Hiring Transparency

Even their hiring process becomes part of the "building in public" narrative:

"We're bringing on a creative director in June, which is super exciting... I won't be a lone ship anymore."

Sharing hiring updates with the community creates anticipation and allows users to feel invested in the company's growth trajectory.

Building in Public During Fundraising

Amy discusses their funding process openly with their community:

"As you said at the beginning, we have just we're just closing out our pre seed round."

This transparency about funding milestones helps users understand the company's trajectory while maintaining the personal connection that defines their brand.

The Competitive Moat of Intimacy

The transparency approach creates a competitive advantage that's difficult for larger companies to replicate:

• Personal relationships at scale are impossible for big corporations
• Direct founder access becomes prohibitively expensive as companies grow
• Community intimacy requires dedicated time that larger teams can't maintain
• Authentic storytelling is harder when filtered through corporate communications

Implementation Framework for Building in Public

Based on Sylvi's approach, here's how B2C startups can implement transparency effectively:

Phase 1: Embrace Your Reality

• Acknowledge your team size and constraints openly
• Position limitations as advantages (agility, personal attention)
• Share the human story behind your product

Phase 2: Create Direct Access

• Establish WhatsApp or Discord communities for engaged users
• Ensure founders participate regularly in community discussions
• Respond personally to customer support inquiries

Phase 3: Share the Journey

• Update community on product development progress
• Ask for feedback on upcoming features
• Celebrate milestones and acknowledge challenges

Phase 4: Build Relationships

• Conduct personal interviews with power users
• Remember individual user stories and preferences
• Treat community members as friends, not just customers

Phase 5: Scale Thoughtfully

• Maintain founder involvement even as team grows
• Create systems that preserve personal touch
• Document and train team on transparency principles

Key Takeaways

Amy's building in public approach offers valuable lessons for early-stage B2C companies:

• Embrace your small size - Turn resource constraints into relationship advantages

• Create direct founder access - Personal connections drive loyalty and advocacy

• Share the development journey - Users become invested when they feel involved

• Respond personally - Treat customers as friends rather than ticket numbers

• Build emotional investment - Help users feel connected to your success

• Use transparency as differentiation - Stand out by being human in an automated world

Building in public isn't just a marketing strategy—it's a fundamental approach to customer relationships that can create sustainable competitive advantages during the early stages of company growth.

The key is authentic transparency rather than performative openness, creating genuine connections that drive both user satisfaction and business growth.

Listen to the full conversation to hear more about Amy Cameron's approach to building authentic customer relationships through transparency.