How much transparency is too much?

Recently, my partners and I thought it would be a good idea to blog about almost everything about our company. This includes things like the following:

1. Revenue
2. Expenses
3. Meeting discussions
4. Other misc info relevant to small business and mobile software development

We thought this would help other iPhone developers read about another company's journey. We would probably leave out detailed strategic information. But, I'm thinking that almost everything would be posted.

Small business suicide?

Any thought would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Have you checked to see if any other iPhone developers do this?

Who are your competitors? What could the information you put out help them and damage you competitively? How selective will you be in what's included or excluded?

What's your objective in doing this? You're trying to help others at the potential expense of hurting your own company? How come?

I could potentially see value in getting publicity within the iPhone developer community and creating greater awareness of your company. That makes sense. And potentially getting "something" back from other developers that could be a benefit to you by having that visibility and "giving" to them. Plus it's certainly a hot area so could get a lot of attention.

In Guy Kawasaki's book "Reality Check" ( http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Check-Outsmarting-Outmanaging-Outmarketing/dp/1591842239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265761981&sr=1-1 ) there's a chapter called "Financial Models for Underachievers" and Glenn Kelman of Redfin walked through his company's financials - costs- both their forecasts as well as actuals. The quote was, "Glenn Kelman of Redfin decided to bare his financial soul so that other enterpeneurs could get greater insight into the witchcraft called financial modeling."

It will be interesting to hear what others say.

Best of luck,

I am doing this with my startup here. Specifically, I write about how I am applying customer development and lean startup techniques to my startup. I found lots of gaps when attempting to apply theory to practice and decided to blog about it since no one else was.

I find that the writing helps me crystallize my own thinking and brings with it a level of accountability. It has also attracted many great readers and advice along the way which has been an added bonus.

The key is to be authentic and passionate about what you write.