What you'll find here: how building in public works

This is the third of three posts for anyone who just got here. The first is who I am and why I do this in public. The second is the two companies I'm building. This one is about the rules: what you'll see, how often, and what you won't.

The three of them are season 0. The context. What comes next is the story as it happens.

What building in public means to me

Everything I wrote about SpeakOn, Donna, Kimik, and TurboCar I wrote afterward, when I already knew how it ended. That makes it easy to sound smart.

Here the rule is different: I share the decision when I make it, not once I know whether it worked. The number goes out as it is, even if it's small or bad. And if I set myself a deadline, it stays in writing.

Here's an example of what this looks like in practice, from the first week:

• We tested 4 sandwiches at home. 2 made the cut. I published it anyway.
• Logo, packaging, and all the design for Braid & Berry: around 1,000 dollars. That's the number, period.
• For the second company: 7 of 112 ideas are left, and on September 28 I gave myself a deadline to decide that same week.

That's what you'll see. Not an edited version where everything works out.

The weekly rhythm

Sunday: the episode

Every Sunday at 10 a.m. (Mexico City time), a new episode goes up on YouTube: Building 2 Companies in Public, week by week. It's not a podcast. It's me on camera with what happened: the kitchen, the tests, the screens, the numbers.

Every episode follows the same order:

1. The opening: the most tense moment of the week, no intro.
2. The dashboard: the week's numbers for both companies, on a card that looks the same every week.
3. The decision: the main decision of the week. What options I had, what I chose, why, and the rule I take away for next time.
4. The number: a single number, explained in depth.
5. The mistake and the win: something that went wrong and something that went right.
6. What I saw: something I learned or saw that week: a business, a conversation, a model. Only when there's something worth sharing.
7. A story: something from the past (a company, an investment) that connects to that week's decision. Also only when it fits.
8. The question: how the opening played out, what's coming next week, and a question for you. Your answers show up on the dashboard in the next episode.

During the week: the clips

Each episode gets cut into short videos for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, in Spanish. On LinkedIn and X I post in English: the week's numbers, the decisions, and the stories.

Every day: the log

On the site there's a log called Now. It's one- or two-sentence entries, dated, every time something happens: a recipe that made the cut, an NDA, a name that got locked in. It's the rawest version of everything.

And each company has its own page with the stage, the status, the next step, and the steps of the process marked as done, now, or next: Braid & Berry and the second company.

On the blog: the long decisions

When a decision takes more than a minute to explain, it goes on the blog. For example, why the logo comes first or the eight rounds to narrow 112 ideas down to 7.

Tuesday: the newsletter

Every Tuesday I send a short email with four things from the week:

• The decision.
• The number.
• The mistake.
• The win.

It takes 5 minutes to read. If you're only going to follow one thing, make it this. Subscribe on the newsletter page.

What I will share

• Real numbers. Costs, tests that pass and tests that don't, and sales once there are some.
• Decisions before the outcome. Why I chose something when I chose it, not the polished version after the fact.
• Mistakes. Current ones and old ones. Most of what I know came from there.
• My criteria. How I filter ideas, what questions I ask myself, what I learned investing in 32 startups. When something works as a tool, I post it to Resources.
• Deadlines. What I set out to do and by when.

What I won't share

There are three lines I don't cross:

• Nothing about other people without their permission. The people I work with didn't sign up to be part of my story. That's why, for example, the potential partner for the Braid & Berry kitchen isn't named here. If she ever wants to be, she will be.
• Nothing about my family. They're not part of this.
• Nothing about politics. That's not what this site is about.

I also won't share deals that aren't public or private conversations. What I will share is what they meant for the decision.

How to follow along

If you just got here, in this order:

1. The Start Here page. The story on a timeline, what I'm building, and the posts to start with.
2. The newsletter. One email every Tuesday, with what happened that week.
3. The Sunday episode on YouTube, and the clips on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X. All the links are at carlosgotlib.com/links.
4. Each company's page, if you want to see what step each one is on without waiting for Sunday.

And if something I share is useful to you, or you think I'm getting it wrong, reply to the Tuesday email. I read it.