The Pilot Plan: Building a One-Quarter Build-in-Public Cadence

Marketing Academy · Field Work●Growth Marketing

All projects·From: Building in Public as a Growth Tactic

MiniBuild the Asset· 35 minutes

Zendesk

Objective: Build a one-quarter build-in-public plan for a real product beta: pick a sustainable cadence, sort a set of draft post ideas into safe-to-publish vs. hold, and lay out the first month's post calendar.

You're the growth marketer piloting a build-in-public cadence for a new Zendesk AI feature currently in private beta, ahead of general availability.

Choose a cadence (weekly, monthly, or milestone-based) that fits a small team and a pre-GA product, apply the share/keep-private framework to 6 draft post ideas, and fill in the first month's calendar.

Before you start

What you'll need

Free path (everything below is enough to finish)

Notion

FreemiumDraft and organize the post calendar and the share/keep-private checklist

Free tier handles a running content calendar and a review table with no setup cost

Google Sheets

FreeLog which numbers have been verified before they're posted

A simple verification log catches an unconfirmed number before it goes out, per the lesson's 'numbers you have not verified' rule

The process

2 steps

Step 01 of 02

Choosing what to share without leaking the moat

The lesson's share list is revenue/growth numbers, in-progress product decisions, real mistakes, and roadmap tradeoffs. Its keep-private list is anything that hands a competitor a working playbook (exact channel spend, the specific edge-dependent trick), individual customer/employee details, unverified numbers, and anything under active negotiation.

Here are 6 draft post ideas for the beta launch. Which are safe to publish as-is, and which need to be held or rewritten?

Notion— Set up a simple table: draft idea, share/hold decision, cited rule if held.

Procedure

List all 6 draft post ideas in one Notion table
For each, check it against the share list and the keep-private list
Mark SAFE for anything with a real, checkable number or an in-progress decision with no leaked specifics
Mark HOLD for anything revealing exact spend/targeting, an unverified projection, or a live negotiation, and cite which rule it breaks

Sample output

1. 'Beta hit 500 signups this week, up from 310 last week' — SAFE
2. 'In talks with 2 potential launch partners, more soon' — HOLD (active negotiation)
3. 'We're spending $9K/mo on LinkedIn ads at this exact targeting combo...' — HOLD (channel spend + moat)
4. 'Reversed our pricing tier decision after beta feedback, here's why' — SAFE (real mistake/decision)
5. 'Might hit 10K users by Q3 (unconfirmed estimate)' — HOLD (unverified number)
6. 'Beta users complained about setup time, we're cutting it from 12 min to 4' — SAFE

Healthy

3 of 6 drafts pass through untouched, 3 are held with a specific rule cited for each.

Unhealthy

Publishing the exact ad-spend draft because it 'shows momentum,' or holding the pricing-reversal post because it feels like bad news.

What this means

The share/hold line isn't about good news vs. bad news, it's about whether a competitor could clone the post or whether the number is actually verified.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
A draft names an exact channel spend or targeting combo	Hold it, or rewrite it to name the channel without the specific numbers that make it cloneable	5 min
A draft states a projected number as if it already happened	Hold until the number is actual, or clearly label it as a projection	5 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Step 02 of 02

Picking a sustainable posting cadence

The lesson's cadence framework: weekly (one small update, early-stage/pre-revenue), monthly (full metrics recap, post-revenue steady growth), or milestone-based (only at real thresholds, later-stage/lower audience appetite). Most solo founders and small teams do best with monthly.

Given a 2-person growth team supporting a pre-GA beta with no revenue yet, which cadence fits, and what does the first month's calendar look like?

Notion— Build a 4-week calendar table mapped to the 3 SAFE drafts plus new updates as the beta progresses.

Procedure

Pick weekly cadence, since the product is pre-revenue and early-stage, matching the lesson's guidance for that stage
Slot the 3 already-approved SAFE drafts into weeks 1, 2, and 4
Leave week 3 open for whatever real update happens that week, not a filler post
Note the commitment: hold this cadence for at least two quarters before judging results

Sample output

Week 1: 'Beta hit 500 signups, up from 310 last week'
Week 2: 'Reversed our pricing tier decision after beta feedback, here's why'
Week 3: [reserved for the week's real update]
Week 4: 'Cut setup time from 12 min to 4 min based on beta complaints'

Healthy

Every scheduled week has a real, specific update or is explicitly reserved rather than padded with a vague filler post.

Unhealthy

Committing to weekly, then posting a vague 'great progress!' update in week 3 just to hit the schedule.

What this means

The cadence only works if held for two quarters; a plan that looks right for one month but has no room for real content by month two isn't actually sustainable.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
A scheduled week has no real update available	Leave it reserved rather than posting a vague filler, or shift to a milestone-based post that week	5 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Final deliverable

A one-quarter build-in-public plan: chosen cadence with reasoning, 6 draft post ideas sorted into safe-to-publish vs. hold with rules cited, and a filled-in first-month post calendar.

See a reference example

Sample output

Freshworks beta cadence plan (excerpt)

CADENCE: Weekly (pre-revenue, early-stage, per the lesson's framework)

Week 1: 'AI ticket-routing beta hit 500 signups this week, up from 310'
Week 2: 'We reversed our pricing tier after beta feedback, here's the full reasoning'
Week 3: [reserved for that week's real update]
Week 4: 'Cut setup time from 12 minutes to 4 based on what beta users told us'

HELD: 2 drafts (exact ad-spend/targeting detail, unconfirmed Q3 user projection)

Success criteria

You're done when you can:

Picks one cadence (weekly, monthly, or milestone-based) and justifies it against the team's actual stage
Correctly holds any draft revealing exact channel spend, an unverified projection, or details under negotiation
First-month calendar has no filler post standing in for a week with no real update