Tony Dinh and the Product Portfolio
How sharing products, experiments, and failures can document a portfolio without making attention the only business model.
6 min read · Sources included
The pattern
Tony Dinh has documented the development of several independent products through social posts, long-form updates, demos, and revenue retrospectives. His public record includes products that worked, small experiments that failed, and changes in how he chose to spend his time.
The important pattern is not a single viral post. It is the connection between repeated product work and repeated documentation.
Products create the material
When Dinh described building Xnapper, the public material came from the actual product: screenshots, mobile demos, feature decisions, and audience response. Working on multiple products also created different kinds of artifacts to discuss.
This is a useful correction for beginners who believe they must invent a content calendar before they have work to show. The products created the content surface.
Attention is not identical to customers
In a 2022 retrospective, Dinh explicitly noted that only part of his audience matched the customers for his products. He described Build in Public primarily as a way to document the journey and share knowledge, with marketing as a useful side effect.
That distinction matters. A post can perform well among other builders and still reach few people who need the product. Audience growth and customer discovery should be measured separately.
What beginners can borrow
Keep a long-form record
Fast posts create discovery; periodic retrospectives preserve context. Use a website, newsletter archive, or README to explain how several updates connect.
Show failed experiments
A portfolio becomes more credible when it records what did not continue and why. Failure also helps readers understand the selection process behind successful projects.
Let marketing remain a side effect
Build something useful first. Share it clearly. Do not force every engineering decision to maximize engagement.
Compare audience with users
Track who reacts, who tries the product, who returns, and who pays as different groups. Do not treat a follower count as product validation.
Dinh tells the broader story in his solopreneur retrospective and explains the role of public documentation in his first-year reflection.