Build Proof, Not Products: Why Showing Your Work Beats Shipping Features

When everyone can build, what separates you? Not the product. The proof.

Proof that you understand the problem. Proof that you've done the thinking. Proof that you've shipped before and learned from it.

You will learn more from building something absolutely awful than reading another 10,000 tweets about how to build things.

— @jackbutcher

Your Worst Work Is Your Best Marketing

The vibe coder who builds ten things in public — including the failures — is more credible than the one who ships a polished product in silence. The public trail is the proof. The iterations are the resume.

Chances are: The first person you hire will be bad. The first product you ship will be bad. The first presentation you give will be bad. Just make sure there's a second one.

— @jackbutcher

The Portfolio Effect

How to build a great product: 1. Build a terrible product 2. Keep shipping

— @jackbutcher

Each thing you ship — good or bad — adds to a body of work. That body of work compounds. It builds trust. It builds audience. It builds the distribution you need for the product that actually works.

Publishing your ideas is like building a portfolio of early stage investments. Lots of them will amount to nothing, some will go 100x.

— @jackbutcher

Build proof. The product comes later.