5 Ways Crypto Startups Can Stand Out That Most Businesses Fail To Do
In 1989, Italian artist Arturo Di Modica wanted to encourage confidence in the New York Stock Exchange. Seeking a symbol of American perseverance, strength, and momentum, the Charging Bull was sculpted and permanently installed in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. Millions of people have visited it since.
Times have changed and we now have an evolved icon. The Crypto Bull. It was unveiled at Miami’s BTC 2022 where crypto enthusiasts from all around the world came together and had a huge party.
With Crypto, there are plenty of reasons to avoid wearing red (Dad joke… bull, matador… get it?). Yet I believe we can all be Crypto Matadors.
When you consider that 27% of the Bitcoin universe is controlled by just .01% of all BTC holders, you can see the open space for an entrepreneur to create solutions that solve the inequality of crypto-power.
There are now over 10,000 different types of cryptocurrencies with 3,000 of them created since November 2021. You might be like I was where I knew there was an opportunity here but didn’t know where to start.
I needed to “do.”
I don’t learn from reading or listening. I have to get my hands dirty. So I started to buy crypto, set up my wallets, and eventually began placing some small bets in NFTs.
I learned that the space is complex, confusing, and packed with charlatans looking to snag my crypto.
A Discord message convinced me I could buy an Undead Pastel Ape NFT on the cheap and I seized the chance. The transaction failed as I didn’t have enough ETH in my Metamask wallet to cover the gas fees. I was gutted. But I was actually lucky as a friend told me the seller was an imposter and later reported on Discord!
That experience lit a fire in me to learn more. Many crypto startups fail to do the five things below.
Educate: come from a place of knowledge
Lean into reputable (often free) resources to learn about trends in your crypto focus. I was able to form a relationship with the Solana Foundation, just by participating in a public webinar about President Biden’s March 9, 2022, executive order on crypto. And through that relationship, I connected the person I met at the webinar with my local state representative to educate and push for crypto-friendly legislation.
Put yourself out there and you will be surprised at the considerable white space; that’s ripe for you to color in. With the Solana Foundation, they may soon present in my state legislation’s Crypto Caucus. And push for more crypto-related jobs in my community. How cool is that!?!
Solana has a market worth around $35 billion! Through the Solana Foundation, they are educating people on how to make the best use of the chain and this helps everyone win.
Focus: stay in your lane
If you are in the payment gateway space, great. Stay there and go only one degree out from your core area. Do not over-extend your business. Competition is fierce and operating from your current place of knowledge is a critical success factor. I‘ve consulted with brands interested in launching an NFT and continue to push back on them.
You can have the best idea, but without community (which often starts with Discord; they have 200 million active servers and 19 million MAUs 💥) it will not survive and thrive.
As you prepare to launch a crypto business, think through the value your business will unlock and how to leverage word of mouth. This will add velocity to your media budget, shape messaging, and act as a research tool you can mine for insights and future product extensions.
My consultancy launched NFTER as a passion project which leans on common UX experiences and available tech. You swipe like Tinder on random NFTs pulled from Opensea API to build a bank of NFTs you want to learn more about. You can even purchase them directly from the app. This experiment is adding in a human element that other tools (e.g. Raritysniper) don’t offer. Our app is based on real human behavior rather than software programming.
Protect: understand the vulnerabilities
I’ve seen the power of risk. And I’m sure you have. Most recently, the Ronin Hack could have been avoided with safer technology, yet somehow $622 million evaporated. With these events, we have an opportunity to create something of value that has not (yet) been identified.
Case in point, I was part of a team that helped launch a cold storage product in ’21. Most investors know that cold wallets are safer than hot wallets, yet they leave large amounts of crypto vulnerable. But why? We learned how education directly correlated to product adoption and usage.
There is a reason that mobile apps place so much value on MAUs rather than downloads. Ask yourself: how will my feature set evolve to meet changing patterns in crypto? Are there some dependencies I can eliminate? Look at how expertly Arculus displays its messaging compared to many other wallets in the space.
Participate: listen, engage, and be heard
If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a huge discrepancy in the industry. Men are 2x’s as likely to be involved in crypto and that is a problem. If you are building a crypto business, streamline your offerings based on a specific persona(s).
Today, many brands are only speaking to the active crypto users and negating the ones who just don’t understand crypto. Take the time to push for diversity in your outreach.
Earlier this week, we identified a category leader as being too general in their communications. And guess what, we are going in the polar opposite with content specific to niche audiences. I am a firm believer that diversity is key. With crypto, coming to a place of diversity may yield un-imagined growth for your business.
Purposeful: don’t chase the BTC, ETH, SOL, [insert crypto currency]
Just don’t. Even if Elon tweets a Shiba-Uno on SNL. Invest in crypto that provides a service to the world or is backed by a reputable source you trust. Meme coins provide very little value and purpose. More risk than reward. It’s wild but often times the weirder, the better.
A friend of mine recently helped launch an NSFW NFT (Hot Botties). If you own the NFT, you can talk dirty to him/her/them. Who would have thought this was possible? They found a way to hack together an NFT, tap into a niche audience, and make considerable ETH. As you embark on your journey, take off the training wheels.
Let the leash out on your imagination.
