Why we decided to build our product in public
Today’s advice post is by Dan Lesley, Founder of Homestar. Dan has over 20 years building, growing, and selling SaaS tech startups.
When I launched Homestar, my CRM for real estate agents, I had no grand plans about building it publicly. The whole thing just kind of happened, sort of like those coffee chats that start with small talk and somehow end up changing your whole perspective. I’d seen other founders share their journey before, but honestly, I was just tired of the usual startup smoke and mirrors.
After running a few SaaS companies behind closed doors, I realized something had to change. My previous ventures taught me the hard way that product development rarely goes according to plan. I used to be that founder who kept everything secret until launch day. This time around, I wanted to try something different with Homestar.
Real estate agents are a unique bunch - I know because I’ve worked with them for years. They hustle hard in a cutthroat market. Getting their direct input while building Homestar just made sense. Showing them our early prototypes and half-baked ideas sparked conversations I never expected.
You can’t really build something useful without talking to the people who’ll use it. Our agents weren’t shy about telling us what sucked or what features they desperately needed. Some days their feedback completely changed our roadmap. We stopped guessing what they wanted and started building what they needed.
Going public with our process created this weird pressure - but the good kind. Once you tell people what you’re working on, you can’t just ghost them when things get tough. We had to own up to our struggles and keep pushing forward. Sometimes that meant admitting we messed up or that a feature was taking way longer than planned.
The funny thing about being transparent? It took pressure off in some ways. Instead of trying to maintain this perfect startup facade, we could just be real. When we hit roadblocks, our community often jumped in with suggestions or just words of encouragement. Made those frustrating dev days feel less isolating.
That genuine connection with our audience became invaluable:
- They got to see the unglamorous side of building a startup
- They shared our victories and setbacks
- They became personally invested in seeing us succeed
Our early users weren’t just beta testers - they became part of the Homestar story. They’d been there since we were basically just a rough prototype and some ambitious ideas.
We barely needed traditional marketing because people in the real estate world started talking about us organically. They followed along because they wanted to see what would happen next, not because we were pushing sales pitches at them.
Some days sharing our process feels awkward as hell. Nobody likes admitting they completely misjudged a feature or wasted time going down the wrong path. But those messy moments make the story real. Building a startup involves plenty of U-turns and face-plants along the way.
The constant feedback helped us avoid over-engineering things nobody wanted. We could quickly tell when we were overthinking solutions or missing the mark entirely. Our development became this ongoing conversation with the people who mattered most.
Building Homestar in public changed how I think about running a business. It’s scary showing people your unfinished work instead of waiting for everything to be perfect. But those raw, unpolished moments created the strongest connections.
Looking back, what started as an experiment became the core of how we operate. Homestar isn’t just another CRM - it’s a collaboration with the agents who shaped it from day one. We didn’t have to convince them to trust us because they were part of the process all along.
Sitting here writing this, I’m still processing everything we learned. Building something meaningful isn’t just about the product - it’s about the relationships you build along the way. No regrets about taking this path.