How do you sustain blockchain innovation?

Sustaining blockchain innovation requires focusing on solving real-world problems. Deeply understand end-user needs through research. Assess if blockchain is the right technical solution or if alternatives like databases may be better. Focus on simplifying processes and removing friction for users, not just cool tech demos. Plan for ecosystem support through education, partners, incentives. Identify incremental milestones to demonstrate utility over time. Promote interoperability to avoid fragmentation across stakeholders. Develop clear business models and go-to-market strategies. Be flexible to pivot based on user feedback. The key is delivering practical value centered on real needs, not hype.

Beyond understanding the problem and how blockchain can contribute to the solution of the problem, it is also vital to understand the implications of bringing blockchain into the picture. Even if blockchain is a superior solution on a specific use case, users (either consumers or businesses) may need the proper innovation appetite to overcome the additional effort and learning curve to deal with the new concepts. Education (unfortunately) is still critical, which slows down adoption tremendously.

To identify the potential use cases where blockchain technology could be beneficial, we need to consider three key aspects for each case. First, we need to assess whether a blockchain approach is technically feasible and whether it aligns with existing technological infrastructure. Secondly, we must determine whether implementing blockchain would provide significant value, such as improving the efficiency, security, and transparency of transactions, reducing costs, or increasing revenue. Lastly, if the first two aspects are favorable, we need to determine what type of blockchain would make the most sense for the specific use case, such as a public or private and permissionless or permissioned blockchain.

Define project goals, assess scalability, prioritize security features, examine development tools, consider interoperability, evaluate smart contract functionality, check community support, comply with regulations, and analyze costs before choosing a blockchain platform and architecture.

A successful test phase of innovative solutions always has four elements: (1) clarity on the group of users and use cases the product was developed for and focus on these, (2) a functionally limited product doing a few things near-perfect rather than everything half-baked, (3) interactive feedback with actual target users, and finally (4) roadshows, marketing, merch and general rah-rah to make an organization aware of the new product.

Communication is critical, especially in projects with stakeholders from multiple organizations with conflicting perspectives and agendas. Building up a network of organizations collaborating through blockchain is still quite herculean (e.g., supply chains). Other use cases may have a more limited footprint regarding cross-collaboration, for example, when the use case addresses the relationship between individual consumers and a single organization instead of business-to-business.

It's critical to focus the attention on what is essentially proving value. Too many ideas have been shared about "potential" blockchain use cases. As blockchain is potentially a superior platform for many use cases, more is needed to show that the B state is better than the A state. You need to show that there is a clear path between A->B to make adoption possible. Reasoning about those paths, and how to have users follow them, is the primary learning experience, in my opinion.

Consider the high level macro picture within the context of PESTLE factors, FinTech and the continuous quest for high productivity: https://Down2BASkills.com/high-productivity

In technology (very much unlike in life!) be prepared to ?kill your babies“: If you‘re experimenting with cool tech, accept when you got carried away with something that doesn’t get traction. This goes for small things like a seemingly stunning feature nobody wants, and big things like an entire solution. It‘s not always all about ?not taking no for an answer.“ You have to imagine yourself as a VC investor: A lot of the stuff you‘re working on is, objectively, crap. But a few things have the potential to go big. Focus on those.