Dear Blockchain/Metaverse startup, it's not just you -- this really is a wierd industry. Here's a few things that may help...

Perhaps you have an idea for an NFT marketplace or a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization).

Maybe you’re thinking of launching a token or creating a Metaverse app/game powered by blockchain technology…

Fantastic! You’re launching into an exciting new market on the verge of explosive growth that is disrupting the global economy and countless industries along with it.

If you’re involved in an early stage Web3/Blockchain venture then it’s likely that you have some working knowledge of the technology behind all of this acceleration and disruption. You have some idea of how deep the rabbit hole actually goes.

It’s too bad external brain drives don’t exist yet. If you’re just entering this space, you’ll likely wish they did. You'll definitely need way more than Johnny Mnemonic’s 320 GB ;)

That’s the thing about the Web3/Blockchain industry –

it’s onion skins of protocols, tooling, L1 blockchains, L2 sidechains, consensus mechanisms, game theory, gas fees, meme coins, white papers, security audits, outrageously expensive jpegs, community management, that dog coin, that other dog coin, hodling, fud, hype, conspiracy theories, overuse of the word “revolutionize”, Zero-Knowledge Rollups, smart contracts, staking, Howey tests, hackers, outlaws, degens, whales, zealots, anarchists, and so on.

It’s an exotic, worldwide, ideo/socio-technological apparatus that is shifting and morphing on a daily basis. It’s pure chaos and rampant disruption. It’s also innovation, inspiration, imagination, and a generational wealth opportunity.

It is as beautiful and exciting as it is strange.

Looking back across my 20+ year career as a technologist and entrepreneur, I can confidently say that the blockchain industry is absolutely the weirdest animal I have ever encountered.

The biggest mistake you can make as a blockchain/Web 3 startup is thinking that blockchain is just a technology.?

Generally speaking, the tech is a means to an end for a very well defined ideology that is fiercely defended by an army of zealous supporters.

The sort of people who toil in obscurity for years without pay to turn a single, 9-page PDF posted on an internet forum by an anonymous person/persons calling themselves, “Satoshi Nakamoto”, into an entirely new industry worth trillions of dollars.

No CEO, no marketing campaign, no corporations, no IP rights. Just a decentralized hive of believers contributing to open-source software. That is by any definition of the word - Astounding.

Does decentralization work? Yes it does.

Around the ideological kernel, made possible by the decentralized network structure of blockchain tech you have another key component — a new kind of online community.

Not just an email subscriber list but an active and engaged throng of enthusiasts who can be wooed into becoming hyper-inspired evangelists for your product or a bristling mob of malcontents if you fumble your narrative.

No, it’s not just technology. It’s a black swan event that has bestowed upon us an alchemical formula powerful enough to undo hundreds of years of financial status quo, redefine social contracts, and the very definition of human culture.

Roughly 6 years ago I discovered how deeply the ideology behind blockchain resonated with me. I decided to devote the rest of my career to its ethos of decentralization, self-sovereignty/privacy, and meritocracy.

As technology pushes humanity deeper and deeper into a digital realm it’s deeply concerning that only a handful of for-profit corporations own and control access to information, our data, our digital identities, and the digital record of our (once private) daily interactions.

Blockchain offers us an alternative, serendipitously right when we need it most.

This topic is currently in the spotlight with the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk. I wonder how Mr. Musk will champion free speech without turning Twitter into 4Chan? Obviously, users will need to authenticate but how to do that without compromising privacy and autonomy? Hmm ;)

Web 2 Startup Strategies Are Not the Best Fit for Web 3

I’ve held the role of CTO several times in my career. Both in traditional tech (Web 2) and in the blockchain industry. By far, being a Web 3 CTO is vastly more challenging.

A CTO role in a Web 2 venture where the foundational infrastructure of the technology and the market is for the most part stable and established you can simply focus on the fundamentals.

Building and leading teams, product development, outmaneuvering competitors, liasoning with exec teams towards business goals, etc. Web 2 has no ideology to consider other than giving consumers a product they want that works well.

The challenge for Web 3 CTOs and founders is that you must contend with everything required for a Web 2 venture plus navigating a hyper-fast moving river of complex technical innovation, managing a community, avoiding regulatory missteps, as well as fitting the product vision into the bigger ideological narrative of the industry.

That’s on a good day in an already established Web 3 venture.

In short, the blockchain industry is extremely difficult to navigate effectively for a startup without industry experience or expert guidance.

Over the past several years as a Blockchain/Web 3 consultant and more recently as co-founder of NovaRelic I’ve noticed a repeating pattern in client engagement.

The client is a small team of founders who have an idea for a blockchain based product. They may or may not have a CTO on board. If they do, that CTO may or may not be versed in blockchain technology. In all cases, there is a very large knowledge gap. Most of the time they don’t know what they don’t know.

Typically they are pre-funding and are looking to build an MVP. They also need assistance with a pitch deck, investor outreach, and funding.

The repeating pattern is that 9 times out of 10 the end result after consultation and negotiation is a retainer payment or down payment on an MVP build and either a profit sharing agreement or equity stake in the company.

Most of the time what I am bringing to the table isn’t just myself but my network of fellow engineers, investors, community managers, marketing ninjas, exchange listing contacts, graphic designers and token economics/game theory experts, etc.

This is of course a different kind of engagement compared to a Web 2 startup. In the Web 2 world as a consultant I was simply an engineer who helped build a product. I did my part, got paid and that was that.

Not too long ago I worked for a blockchain startup in the role of co-CTO. I was one of 2 CTOs. I’d never heard of such a configuration and thought it was odd at first. Now that I see the bigger pattern it makes sense. It really is almost too much to contend with for a single CTO.

It was in that startup that I had the great fortune of meeting two outstanding individuals Ben Foley and Joshua Saterfield,?who are now co-founders with me at NovaRelic.

Our strategy is simple. To lean into this increasingly common pattern and build a service model that better fits the unique needs of a blockchain/web 3/metaverse startup.

The Expert Alliance: A Better Model for Blockchain Startups

We call our approach the Expert Alliance model. It looks a lot like a CTO-as-a-service approach and instead of one person, startups get a collective of domain experts deliver the following in a unified offering:

• Accurate, actionable insight specific to the eccentric nuances of the industry.?
• Rapid prototyping and development of MVPs and beta products.?
• Assistance with branding, messaging and narrative.?
• Sound guidance on token economics.
• Advisory on various fundraising methods as well as execution of a token launch or liquidity generation event.
• Intros to blockchain savvy attorneys.
• Exposure to in-house investor networks.
• White paper and pitch deck creation.

Any recruiter will tell you that demand for skilled blockchain talent is off the charts. The result of classic supply and demand dynamics along with it being a complex technology and an entirely new kind of industry.

Our goal is to offset that demand premium on the front-end with a reasonable retainer and a back-end equity/profit sharing stake.

The Benefits?

• Get a custom set of solutions that answers all the questions and puts out all the fires ASAP.
• Gain a partner task force who are incentivized towards short term and long term success.
• Avoid the brain damage of trying to suss it all out on your own.?
• You can hold off on hiring a full-time CTO.
• Discover key opportunity strategies and unforeseen roadblocks faster which results in better product to market fit in a shorter amount of time.
• The freedom to focus more on the actual problem you are solving with your product.
• Sidestep the noise, hype, and common pitfalls inherent to a complex and nascent industry.

At NovaRelic we believe this is a better model for startups building with Web 3/Blockchain.

If you’re working in a blockchain startup or know someone who is -- Let's talk!