Ghostwritten Sample

Title: Why Public Engagements Matters 

By Sarah Martinez, Founder & CEO of DataFlow

Three months ago,I did one of the craziest things one could ever think of. I started sharing our company revenue numbers publicly.

I shared our wins,losses,monthly recurring revenue,customer churn rate,failed product launches,and everything you could think of with random strangers I bumped Into.

My advisors told me that our competitors might use this against us.Another predicted,”Investors might lose trust and withdraw capital.”

However,they were all wrong.

Our Twitter followers grew from a meagre 400 to 14,000 while the inbound customer inquiries tripled. Surprisingly,two venture capital firms reached out to us while three highly trained engineers joined us because of our honesty and transparency.

Public engagement isn't just about marketing strategy but a fundamental shift in how startups can stand out amongst the crowd.

What Public Engagement Actually Means 

Public engagement totally means sharing the metrics such as the decisions,failures,achievements behind your journey openly.

Examples includes;

•Sharing monthly revenue dashboards on Twitter.

•Written blog posts about product descriptions that backfired.

•Social media posts about rejected investor pitches. 

•Sharing customer feedback whether positive or negative.

The goal isn't to overshare for attention but to create genuine connection by being humane.

The Trust Paradox 

“Control the narrative.Share only the good news.Project confidence even when you're terrified.” All this are rules meant to abide young startup founders.

However,this creates alot of problems.Everyone knows the process of starting a startup is really frustrating. And when founders share only the good news,people don't believe them because the whole perfection is fake.

E.g.,Our revenue during the month of August was really disastrous.Customer churn spiked up to 8% which is more than double our usual rate. All this happened because of a feature we'd launched that we thought it might appeal but instead attracted backlash from our customers.

I posted about it,explained what went wrong and gave an assurance of our steadfast commitment to handling the issue.

The responses were indeed appalling.Customers thanked us for being honest.Interested prospects said they appreciate because they knew we always own up to mistakes.Investors called us “matured lads.”

That vulnerability alone created more trust than six months of polished press releases.

The Unexpected Benefits 

Beyond trust,public engagement had alot of advantages that I didn't quite anticipate.

1:Brand & Customer Cordial Relationship - When hints about our upcoming products are being shared online, our audience feedback tells if we're headed in the right direction. Three irrelevant features in our codes were replaced because the feedback from Twitter showed us problems we'd missed out on.

Cost saved:$200,000

2:Magnetic Hub For Great Talent - People want to work for companies that are honest and transparent in their day-to-day dealings. We've also figured out that most of our candidates have already read our journey,values,challenges and mostly,our core goals and objectives.

“I've been following your team for six months now and it's feels like I was initially meant to be here,” This were the words of the last engineer we'd hired.

3:Genuine Investor Relationship - When an investor starts following you up,it's a sign that you're no longer an amateur.They've watched you solve problems and seen how you'll approach challenges. Two of our recent investor conversations started with,”I've been following up on your updates…”

4:Content Ecosystem - Every month,every single part of journey are being documented on our various social media platforms. This content strategy generates alot of inbound leads for us in return.

What To Share And What To Keep Private 

Public engagement doesn't mean you need to spill out every single thing about your life. 

What's Meant To Be Shared;

•Monthly revenue and growth metrics 

•Decisions about company services

•Lessons learnt from failure

What's Meant To Be Kept Private;

•Personal data of the customer,employees and investors

•Conversations with investors 

•Strategic details about how match competition 

•And anything that violates confidentiality

Are There Risks Attached?

Yes,there are alot of risks being attached with regular engagement with the public.

1:Competitors gain advantage:They watch your every move and copy ideas that might look like threats.

Counter-argument:Executions matter more than just copied ideas.

2:Frequent Public Embarrassment:Everyone knows of your failures.

Counter-argument:Sharing your failures and setbacks shows you're determined and you've got nothing to lose.

3:It's time-consuming.

Counter-argument:What you share externally often clarifies your internal thoughts.

4:You'll attract critics: People will surely disagree with you even if they're wrong.

Counter-argument:Ignore the trolls,listen to thoughtful criticism and remember that your goal is to create what resonates well with your audience.

If you're considering how to start engaging with the public,here's a few tips you could begin with without overthinking too much;

Week 1: Just observe

Follow up on founders who regularly engage in the public.Observe how they flow and interact without being overwhelmed.

Recommendations: Pieter Levels(@levelsio), Anne-Laure Le Cunff(@anthilemoon), Tony Dinh(@tdinh_me)

Week 2: Share something insightful 

Post a behind the scene detail on either a major decision you took,a lesson learnt and end it interactively to keep it engaging.

Week 3:Create a rhythm 

Decide on a particular cadence whether weekly lessons, daily progress logs and always remember that consistency matters alot.

Week 4: Engage on responses

Respond to feedback. Thank those who might have sent you words of advice. The whole part of public engagement also deals with the community you'd setup.

The Long Term Compounding 

Regular public engagement compounds over time.Month one,you gain 50 followers,Month 6,2,000. Month twelve,15,000.

But followers count aren't the real metrics but your achievements instead which are;

•Potential customers who signed up because of your honesty and transparency.

•Investors who funded you because they'd watched you execute for months

•Competitors who had no chance against your services.

These achievements don't show up in spreadsheets but in momentum.

My Advice?

Start messy. The biggest mistake is waiting till you have everything figured out.

You don't need;

•A perfect social media strategy

•Impressive metrics

•Lots of followers 

Start today.Share one thing.Then another tomorrow because your willingness and honesty is all you've got to take that step forward.

Three months ago,sharing our revenue numbers terrified me. Today,it's one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Your journey matters because people love to hear new things everyday. But the question is. Are you brave enough to tell them?

Sarah Martinez is the founder and CEO of DataFlow,a data analytics platform for small businesses.Follow her journey:@sarahmartinez