Building in public works for solopreneurs, bootstrapped startups, and service companies / indie hackers attracting other solopreneurs, boostrappers, etc.
It does not work for hyperscaling venture-backed startups.
Because growth eventually slows and sh*t eventually hits the fan, and then what? You stop building in public, eroding all the "trust" you built.
It works in fair weather times not in famine.
There's a middle ground called "marketing" - check that out. It let's you control the narrative more than being beholden to raw transparency at all times.
Build-in-public is probably the wrong move for startups, where the attention they command is finite
Ironically, Build-in-public may be best for established companies: you can pre-announce features, get early feedback from the userbase, identify all edge-cases, get buy-in from the community, and then finally: Launch with precision