Building in Public Is the New Career Story
Back in 1989 (yes, I’m the boomer here), I won an award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for a product launch where we cleverly used the original 1937 version of A Star Is Born to introduce a minicomputer.
It was exactly the kind of thing that mattered to a resume back in the day — where institutional validation and recognition made it easier to climb the corporate ladder.
The ladder I climbed doesn’t exist anymore. AI is reimagining work and the path through it. Today, all people control is their career story.
But a story is only as good as the credibility behind it. In my day, that credibility came from institutions — awards, titles, the company name on your badge. For Gen Z and younger millennials, it comes from peers: the people who watch you work, share what you’ve built, and vouch for you.
“Building in public” is one of the ways someone gets peer recognition — by literally building a business and sharing the whole story of success and/or failure “in public.”
It takes courage and vulnerability to share this way.
So I went looking for a young entrepreneur who was building something and willing to make it “public” here on my Substack.
I was lucky to find Issac Enriquez, founder and CEO of Work-Tree. In fairness, I met Issac a decade ago in a bar, where he was bartending. My good friend Rick and I got to talking with him, and I encouraged him to go into tech sales. Earlier this year, Issac contacted me to tell me he’d built a successful career in sales — and was starting a company called Work-Tree to take on LinkedIn with a new professional network built for Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
I love big ideas, and Work-Tree is looking to disrupt an industry. I’ve been advising him since the beginning of this story — so I offered to follow his journey here, and he said yes. Here’s why this is such an interesting story: It’s the biggest risk of his life, leaving corporate to start a company as a husband and father of two young kids.
It’s never been less expensive to start a software or AI company; there are literally tens of thousands of “Issacs” out there today. Let’s see what we can learn from our Issac’s journey.
“My wife believed in me.”
I instinctively knew this, but hearing the words made it all seem more real, more human.
Getting started as an entrepreneur begins at home, according to Issac.
“I built a comfortable life with my wife and our kids,” he said. “I knew there was a sacrifice involved, but my wife believed in me and she told me to take the leap.”
Having that kind of support matters, because: “It’s a lot more sacrifice than I thought,” he told me. “Every so often I struggle with the idea of, like, can I do this? Or, am I crazy to leave all that behind?”
In my mind I’m thinking: it’s worth it, Issac — and then he says: “This discomfort, I’m only feeling it because I’m pushing myself to new levels — growth only comes with putting yourself out there.”
And suddenly Issac is like a seasoned CEO: “You have to be okay with the fact that you’re scared — don’t run from it. You have to lean into it. And then you take that leap.”
I’ve found there is a common theme in my career helping companies and CEOs tell their stories: entrepreneurs like Issac are drawn to the mission of their idea as a source of confidence.
The Dream: Recreating “Luck” at Scale
Issac worked in sales at LinkedIn and Glassdoor — and could see how LinkedIn content, in particular, was being “performative,” to use his word. Sometimes when I look at my LinkedIn feed, I wonder if LinkedIn has become a social network, not a professional network.
That’s why Issac launched Work-Tree — to be an uplifting place for younger people who don’t have the resources or experience to be “performative.”
“I worked hard but I realized some of it was luck,” he said. “I want Work-Tree to help as many people as possible, get more perspectives and more mentors so people don’t have to get lucky to get ahead.”
Here are three things Issac did to give himself a fighting chance:
He talked to about 100 people to validate his idea. “You’re on to something” was a common refrain, Issac shared with me.
He tried to figure out what it would cost to build an MVP to get to market. He learned from talking to seasoned technologists that vibe-coding wouldn’t work, even though he’d built a prototype on Lovable. Ultimately he settled on a $10,000 budget to launch his idea. More on raising cash and what it means to have an MVP in a future newsletter.
He formed an advisory team and found some interns. (I helped him find people who could help him.) Issac got his hands dirty and found marketing partners and a brand ambassador team.
“I knew early on that I couldn’t do it alone,” he said. “Being truthful and vulnerable with myself to go and ask for help was a very important part of this process.”
First-Time Leader
If you’re a first-time manager, this will sound familiar: “I’ve never led a team of people in the traditional sense,” he said. “The most difficult thing is balancing, and not wanting to do everything and letting go a little bit.”
His advice to anyone following his story: “Be prepared to wear a lot of hats. Stay organized. Remember your why.”
Now I understand why “Building in Public” is the New Career Story
At this point in talking to Issac, I start to understand why the idea of “building in public” is so important: You have to learn about yourself and how you get things done. And whether you “have it” or not as a leader of people.
So I tell Issac this: If you ever have to interview again for a job for the rest of your life, you will always be a better candidate because of this experience.
What’s Next: Raising Money, Building an MVP, Product Launch
How good a manager are you?
Where do you rank on the Six Drivers of Consistency? Take the Self-assessment.
How to be a Great First-Time Manager: The Culture Platform
The only purpose-built mentorship system for first-time managers of people.
The corporate ladder has been dismantled rung by rung by AI. For millennials and Gen Z, the predictable career path has vaporized — and most managers are navigating it alone, without any formal training.
I’ve managed about 5,000 people in my career, and I was consistently ranked in the top quartile of all managers at Cisco, one of the world’s best places to work. I’ve walked in your shoes as a manager.
I left Cisco to answer one question with research and evidence: what does the manager of the future look like?
My research — conducted with thousands of young people at companies like Amazon, Google, Disney, and DoorDash — identified Six Drivers of Consistency that separate great managers from the rest, at a 95% confidence level.
That research became The Culture Platform: a complete mentorship system — Framework, Feedback, and Tools — purpose-built for first-time managers who want to separate themselves and be a great manager of high-performance teams.
ManagerMentor • All Rights Reserved • The Culture Platform, Inc. • 2026
Enjoyed his story and reminder about sharing our vulnerabilities-I find it easier to share my personal flaws than professional ones as I haven’t had supportive workplaces. But our Substack articles is a place where we can share experiences that hopefully help others
Issac’s founder story is inspiring and full of wisdom for entrepreneurs of any age. Nice job capturing and sharing his insights.