Search "github newsletter" and you'll likely land on GitHub's own signup page or a wall of 151 unfiltered repos. Neither one actually helps you find a newsletter worth reading. This article is the shortlist that search should have surfaced: real build-in-public newsletters worth following, why each one earns a spot, and a framework for deciding which ones belong in your inbox.
Building in public means sharing your product's progress, metrics, and setbacks in the open, usually through social media and newsletters, while you're still building. Newsletters have become the backbone of that practice because they turn scattered updates into a durable, searchable record a subscriber can follow at their own pace. Instead of scrolling a feed, readers get a digest that respects both their time and their inbox.
What Separates a Good Build-in-Public Newsletter From a Marketing Blast
A good build-in-public newsletter reads like a founder thinking out loud, not a press release. It shows the messy middle: the failed launch, the pricing experiment that flopped, the feature nobody expected to take off. That honesty is what separates an indie hacker newsletter from a corporate product update dressed up as transparency.
Here's what to look for before you hit subscribe.
- Editorial focus. Does it cover product launches, growth marketing, tooling, or some mix, and does that match what you need right now?
- Founder voice. Is a real person writing this, name and failures attached, or is it ghostwritten copy wearing a founder's byline?
- Cadence. Weekly digests suit people who want steady accountability. Monthly ones suit people who want less inbox noise.
- Relevance to your stage. Some newsletters are written for people still validating an idea. Others assume you're scaling a live product.
- Actionable takeaways. Does each issue leave you with something to try, or just something to read?
MyTools applies roughly this same filter when evaluating tools for its own directory of indie-built products, and the logic holds up just as well for newsletters as it does for software.
Indie Hackers Digest
Indie Hackers, the community founded by Courtney Seiter and later popularized under Stripe's ownership before becoming independent again, runs one of the longest-standing homes for solo founders sharing revenue numbers and lessons learned. Its digest and forum threads function like a newsletter in spirit even when delivered through the platform itself, pulling together the week's most useful founder stories. It's worth following because it favors raw numbers and honest post-mortems over polish, which is exactly what indie hackers tend to search for. Read more about the community directly at Indie Hackers.
Changelog Nightly
Changelog Nightly comes out of the long-running Changelog media network, which has covered open source and developer culture for over a decade through its podcast network and companion newsletters. It's built for developers who want a fast-scanning digest of what shipped, what broke, and what the open source world is talking about that day. If your build-in-public work is heavily technical, this newsletter keeps you fluent in the surrounding developer conversation without making you read a changelog across a dozen different repos yourself.
Ben's Bites
Ben's Bites started as a solo project from Ben Tossell, the builder known for founding Makerpad before it was acquired by Zapier, and grew into a daily briefing on AI product launches and tooling. It's worth following if your build-in-public product touches AI in any way, since it tracks new model releases and the tools indie makers are shipping around them. The tone stays close to its founder roots: short, opinionated, written by someone who has actually shipped products himself.
GitHub Topics "Awesome Newsletters" Lists
A cluster of community-maintained repositories under GitHub's topics system, tagged things like "awesome-ai-newsletters" and "awesome-submitlist," function as crowdsourced directories of newsletters across categories. They're not a newsletter themselves, but they're a legitimate discovery tool. Browsing these repos on GitHub Topics is how many indie hackers first stumble onto niche newsletters that never show up in a generic search. Treat this less as a single subscription and more as a recurring research habit, something you check every few months for new additions.
Lenny's Newsletter
Lenny Rachitsky's newsletter grew out of his time leading product at Airbnb and has become one of the most cited resources for product-led growth and go-to-market thinking, now reaching a large paid subscriber base on Substack. It's not exclusively about build-in-public founders, but its interviews with operators and its tactical breakdowns of growth loops are directly useful to any solo founder trying to land their first thousand users. It earns a place here because so much of what indie hackers need to learn about audience building traces back to the product and growth fundamentals Lenny covers in depth.
| Newsletter | Focus Area | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Indie Hackers Digest | Founder stories, revenue transparency | Early-stage solo founders wanting peer proof |
| Changelog Nightly | Developer and open source news | Technical builders who want daily signal |
| Ben's Bites | AI product launches and tooling | Founders building AI-adjacent products |
| GitHub Topics newsletter lists | Crowdsourced newsletter discovery | Anyone hunting niche newsletters by category |
| Lenny's Newsletter | Product strategy and growth | Founders past MVP, focused on growth |
MyTools' Newsletter for Indie Makers (Coming Soon)
MyTools is building its own newsletter for the same reason it built its directory of indie products in the first place: indie makers deserve a place to find tools and read updates written by people actually building, not by a media company covering the space from the outside. The newsletter will draw on the audience already following @karakhanyans across social channels, and it's planned to focus on curated tool discoveries, product updates from newly listed indie tools, and short commentary on what's working in the build-in-public space right now.
This is a first-party pick in the truest sense. There's no invented subscriber count and no launch date promised here, just a transparent heads-up that it's coming, shaped by the same editorial judgment MyTools already applies across its build in public guide and its growing catalogue of AI-powered products for solo founders. If you want a notification when it opens for subscribers, the best way to stay close is to watch MyTools' build in public resource page, where updates on the newsletter will be posted first.
Want a preview of the kind of builder story this newsletter will carry? This video captures the same spirit of sharing the real numbers behind a growing publication.
How to Choose Which Ones to Subscribe To
You don't need all five in your inbox. Pick based on where you are and what you're trying to learn.
- Match your stage. If you're still validating an idea, prioritize Indie Hackers Digest for peer-validated stories over Lenny's Newsletter, which assumes you already have traction to optimize.
- Match your content appetite. If a full inbox stresses you out, pick one weekly digest and one monthly deep-dive rather than five overlapping daily sends.
- Match your goals. Chasing tool discovery points you toward GitHub Topics lists and MyTools' upcoming newsletter. Chasing growth tactics points you toward Lenny's Newsletter. Chasing technical signal points you toward Changelog Nightly.
- Give it a real trial. Subscribe, read four to six issues before deciding, then unsubscribe from anything you're skimming past without clicking through.
For a broader base of tools alongside these reading habits, MyTools also maintains a solo founder resources hub and a running list of no-code tools built for indie hackers worth pairing with whatever you subscribe to.
FAQs
What is a build-in-public newsletter? It's a recurring email that documents a founder's product progress, revenue, and lessons in the open, usually written in first person by the person actually building the product.
What does "building in public" actually mean? It means sharing the process of building a product, including metrics and mistakes, rather than only announcing polished results after the fact.
Why subscribe to a newsletter instead of just following social media? Newsletters compress scattered posts into a single, searchable digest that respects your time and doesn't get lost in an algorithmic feed.
How often do build-in-public newsletters typically publish? It varies by publication. Some send daily briefings, others send weekly digests, and some send monthly deep-dives. Check each newsletter's own archive before subscribing to confirm its current cadence.
Who is @karakhanyans and what is MyTools' newsletter about? @karakhanyans is the builder behind MyTools, an indie tool directory, and the newsletter in development will focus on curated tool discoveries and updates for the indie maker audience already following that work.
Is Indie Hackers still active? Yes. Indie Hackers continues to run as an active community and forum for solo founders, with new founder stories posted regularly at indiehackers.com.
Are these newsletters free to subscribe to? Each publication sets its own terms, and most of the ones listed here offer a free tier, but check the specific newsletter's current signup page rather than assuming.
Can following these newsletters help me find new indie tools? Yes, especially the GitHub Topics newsletter lists and MyTools' upcoming newsletter, both of which are built around tool and product discovery rather than general commentary.
Building an audience as a solo founder rarely happens through one channel alone. A good newsletter habit, paired with an active build in public practice and a directory that actually works for indie builders, compounds faster than any single channel on its own. Subscribe to one or two from this list, give them a real trial, and let your own reading habits guide the rest.
