Build in Public #2: Outside the Bubble

Rediscovering, rebuilding, and redefining myself

November wasn’t about shipping fast.
It was about slowing down enough to understand who I’m becoming.

I rediscovered old habits (meditation, sport), built new ones (networking again!), and had the kind of deep conversations you can only have when your brain finally gets some oxygen.

This month wasn’t just about projects.
It was about identity, and the person I’m growing into while chasing the One Million Goal.

What’s on My Desk

Fractional CPTO

I’m still supporting Testbusters as fractional CPTO, but November made something very clear: if I truly want to build the next chapter of my life, I need to protect my time.

So for a while, I’m reducing my fractional hours.

Not because I’m stepping away but because I’m stepping towards something else: the space to think, create, and experiment again.

The silence I found this month is rare.
And I don’t want to lose it.

Babytales

November forced us to make a tough call:
we temporarily stopped development on BabyTales.

Why? Printing.

Gelato, our current provider, kept losing orders. One lost in October. Three lost in November while sending books to influencers (we are trying to promote it through some UGC).

We love this project too much to let the customer experience depend on luck.
So we’re stepping aside, fixing the foundations, and finding a partner who can match the care we put into every story.

Sometimes building also means admitting that something isn’t working, and choosing the slower, better path.

HeyBloom

Not much to announce yet: I’m still using HeyBloom only for myself.

But even in this tiny private beta of one, it’s already saving me a lot of time, and that’s usually a good sign.

More soon.

Anapana: Stealth Project Revealed

Anapana. Italian Meditation App.

Time to share something I’ve been quietly working on for months.

Back in June, a friend sent me a story from Virginia, an Italian creator talking about psychophysical well-being. She was looking for a cofounder for her mobile app.

She wrote me: “You would be perfect working together.”

I was already thinking about quitting my job and starting something on my own or in micro teams, so I sent her an email.

A few days later, we met for a coffee in Milan. She had already shipped the first version of Anapana, and it was doing well. But she needed someone who could take care of product, tech, and growth, and she was looking for a real cofounder.

And here’s the truth:
I didn’t say yes because of the idea.
I said yes because of the person.

We talked about mission, values, purpose… and we realized we were incredibly aligned. Just a couple of hours after that coffee, we both texted:
“I’m in.”

That’s when Anapana officially started for me.

We relaunched the app in August, and now we’re entering a phase I love the most: the deep product work.

We’re refining the product based on data and user behavior (retention loops, activation paths, content structure,…). You’ll hear more about this soon.

Revenue will remain private because this is a shared project, but I’ll share all the other important metrics.

If you’re curious to experience Anapana, you can download the app on your phone:

• Anapana Studio for iPhone

• Anapana Studio for Android

Take the 7-day trial and see how the practice feels for you… and please send me any feedback you have, it helps us a lot.

Metrics Snapshot

• BabyTales: €19.90 (–60%). Printing issues hit hard.

• HeyBloom: €0. Still in private “Marco-only” beta.

• Anapana: 21,100 registered users 🤓

Revenue didn’t grow this month, but my understanding of what I’m building did.

One Million Goal passed 394 subscribers this month (+74 in November, +23%).

Here’s the breakdown:

• LinkedIn posts: +29

• Substack recs: +28

• Daily notes: +10

• Google SEO: +5

• Claude: +1

• Instagram: +1

• Twitter: +0 (even with 2–3 tweets/day… the algorithm said “nope”)

So far, the winners are LinkedIn, Substack and daily notes. Now I just need to fine-tune the daily notes format until it feels natural and consistent.

Reflections

Conversations that changed the month

November gave me something I hadn’t felt in years: the mental space to listen again.

I found myself having long, meaningful conversations, the kind you normally postpone because life is too loud.

I talked with Matteo, a good friend from my Talent Garden days, about purpose and identity, and how social media gently pushes us toward versions of ourselves that don’t always match who we really want to be.

I talked with Carlo, whom I met at CES years ago, about how meditation changed him on a deeper level, and why he decided to build a consistent practice. His story landed exactly at the right moment.

Then there was Fabio, who made me rethink what it really means to be an indie hacker. We spoke about micro-teams, about working on multiple things at once, and why that’s not a flaw but a feature.

And in Turin, during the event, something unexpected happened: I went there to talk about AI, but instead people ended up asking me about courage, agency, and why someone would choose the solopreneur path. Their curiosity made me reflect more than they probably realized.

All these conversations had a common effect: they helped me see how much of the world I hadn’t been listening to.

When you’re a C-level, your world becomes narrow: colleagues, meetings, decisions, 1:1, product reviews, strategy,... It’s a beautiful bubble, but still a bubble.

November broke that.

What I’ve Been Reading

I didn’t read much this month. November was more about talking, thinking, and studying. But I revisited two books that hit differently this time.

Peak, secrets from the new science of expertise - Anders Ericsson

I went back to it because I used one of the studies during the live-build in Turin. Still one of the best books for understanding how skills are actually formed.

The Surrender Experiment - Michael Singer

A friend recommended it. Singer’s story about letting life unfold instead of forcing everything… I’m halfway through. More thoughts next month.

Elena Verna Meetup by Learnn

I also listened to a meetup with Elena Verna, organized by Learnn and it was one of the best crash courses in modern growth I’ve heard in a while. Luca Mastella shared a great recap, and here are a few highlights that stayed with me:

• In AI, you need to rediscover product-market fit every 2–3 months. User expectations evolve faster than your roadmap.

• Time to value is collapsing: from 20 minutes → to 30 seconds. If users don’t feel a “wow moment” instantly, they’re gone.

• Distribution > building. If you don’t design distribution into the product on day zero, you might never see traction.

• Build in public is becoming essential. People buy the team, not just the product.

• Shipping speed is the new moat.

• Vibe coding is now an actual job role at Lovable (!!).

• The rise of “Mom & Pop SaaS”: you don’t need to build a unicorn; a small, profitable SaaS can be a great life.

• Freemium in AI = marketing budget, not expense.

• And this one hit me hard: context switching is a competitive advantage in fast-evolving environments… not a flaw.

Honestly… listening to her felt like she was describing exactly what solopreneurs and indie hackers are already practicing every day, for years.

Distribution, build in public, shipping fast, vibe coding, small profitable SaaS, context switching… these aren’t just trends. They’re the toolkit of our generation of builders.

What’s Next

• This Wednesday, I’ll be interviewed by Marco Imperato on the Product Heroes podcast (🇮🇹) .

• Keep working on Anapana: growth, retention, and activation.

• Fix the Babytales printing provider situation.

• Share more about my product approach for Anapana.

• Keep experimenting: this is still the beginning of the OMG journey.

Closing Thoughts

November made one thing very clear: the part of me that’s growing is not the one sitting in meetings, writing strategic plans, or running 1:1s.

It’s the part of me that wants to build again. To get my hands dirty. To learn by shipping, not just by thinking.

During my talk in Turin, I shared this slide… and it still captures exactly how I feel right now:

“It was obvious that the part of me that was growing wasn’t the one in the trenches of strategies, 1:1s, and product reviews… but the part that wanted to get my hands dirty again.

I knew that only by doing that I could build new skills, and:
– if it goes well → it will bring me closer to the One Million Goal
– if it goes badly → I’ll become a better CPTO

In both cases… I win.

That’s the mindset I’m taking into December: stay curious, stay brave, keep building.

See you in the next update 👋

Marco