Source: Marketing 101 for Startups: Token Launches, Memes, Reaching Devs & More
Organized & Compiled: lenaxin, ChainCatcher
Editor's note:
This article is translated from a16z's (Web3 Frontiers) program, focusing on the differences in marketing between the crypto field and traditional tech industry.
Guests on the program include: Amanda Tyler, Claire Kart, Kim Milosevich. They will deeply discuss reputation building, developer community operations, talent recruitment, token issuance, and shaping founder images, sharing effective methods and common misconceptions.
ChainCatcher has organized and compiled the content.
TL&DR
The biggest challenge in cryptocurrency marketing is the extremely small target audience.
The uniqueness of the crypto space lies in its small scale and low barriers to entry.
The essence of cryptocurrency marketing is ecological coordination.
The core of the cryptocurrency industry's activity strategy is precise positioning.
Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth strategies; the core of the developer community is precise value resonance.
Building an influential brand in the crypto field requires establishing a deep connection with founders.
When assessing Layer 2 strategies, resource endowments determine differentiation.
Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system.
The success of the developer ecosystem depends on building a closed loop of 'product-economy-community.'
The core of token issuance lies in balancing its dual attributes, which is both a marketing activity and a financial product.
The core of community operation strategy is to clarify the types of objects for long-term resource investment.
Advice for founders: shape the image of a domain expert rather than a product salesman.
For projects that require community co-construction, marketing intervention can come earlier.
Building a marketing team should follow the dual standard of 'versatile foundation + vertical specialization.'
High-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from founders or teams.
(1) Step into the Spotlight: Branding Leverage for Crypto Founders
Kim Milosevich: What role should we play as heads of marketing and communication? Should we be at the forefront or remain more behind the scenes?
Claire Kart: Tech marketers often work behind the scenes; while this approach is effective, in the crypto industry, technical founders tend to be silent, causing teams to miss exposure opportunities. In this early industry, finding the right talent is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Therefore, I choose to step into the spotlight; the crypto field especially relies on marketing and community, and users want to hear from executives.
Recruitment is equally challenging. Although the situation has improved, talented marketers in cryptocurrency remain scarce. Building a personal IP can bring talent referrals and attract active job seekers, significantly enhancing recruitment efficiency.
Amanda Tyler: Establishing a personal IP on Twitter significantly enhanced my recruitment efficiency; this direct method of building trust is especially suitable for early-stage startups. When candidates resonate with your values and experiences, a simple 'we can chat' becomes natural.
Claire Kart: People value the colleagues they work with more than the company itself when choosing a job. While corporate vision and job content are important, the final decisive factor is often the team. They may be indifferent to offers from unfamiliar companies, but if recommended by acquaintances, they will seriously consider even a startup.
(2) The uniqueness and basic logic of crypto marketing
Kim Milosevich: Is this a phenomenon unique to the crypto industry or a general rule? What is the core difference between crypto marketing and traditional tech marketing?
Claire Kart: I believe cryptocurrency is more like a personal cult. For example, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg invest a lot of energy in building personal IPs, writing books, promoting, etc. However, personal cults in the cryptocurrency field seem even stronger, and I can't quite explain why.
Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of the crypto space lies in its small scale and low barriers to entry. For example, in my twenties, I accumulated a large number of Instagram followers through a parenting blog, but upon transitioning to the crypto field, I immediately felt the 'big fish in a small pond' effect, where it is much easier to establish influence here.
This field is composed of multiple clearly defined subcultures, allowing newcomers to quickly identify target communities and key figures. In contrast, traditional fields, such as the circle where Zuckerberg is located, have higher barriers and require more professional endorsements. The cryptocurrency industry, still in its early stages, provides unique opportunities for content creators.
Kim Milosevich: As a project party, how should we create differentiation to accurately attract the target audience?
Amanda Tyler: The biggest challenge in cryptocurrency marketing is the extremely small target audience. In 2023, there are only 23,000 active crypto developers monthly, expected to grow to 30,000 in 2024, while less than 0.1% of the 28 million developers globally are involved in crypto. In such a highly vertical market, marketing must focus on the three core needs of developers:
Technology: Solve practical problems like composability in the Rollup ecosystem
Economics: Explore sustainable revenue models for public goods development
Value: Create a unique value proposition that attracts developers
Claire Kart: Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth strategies; the core of the developer community is precise value resonance. Economic incentives are just the starting point; what truly drives growth is the creation of a technical ideal where developers find career value and a sense of belonging. Once achieved, they will spontaneously promote ecosystem development.
We need to abandon the internet era's pursuit of scale and instead adhere to 'depth first': understand the technical preferences of each core developer, even their pet names, and maximize the experience of the top 10 users. Technical idealism itself is the best medium for dissemination. In this field, the strength of 100 deeply engaged participants far outweighs that of 10,000 shallow users; true growth comes from these seemingly non-scalable deep connections.
(3) Growing Under the Shadow of Ethereum: Layer 2 Positioning and Strategy Trade-offs
Kim Milosevich: Do Layer 2 projects need to deeply bind to Ethereum community culture to achieve effective marketing?
Claire Kart: Regarding Ethereum ecosystem operations, Amanda has richer experience. Before joining Aztec, I worked on another Layer 1 project and have been continuously thinking about this issue recently—Ethereum community sentiment fluctuates like tides, sometimes filled with belief in changing the world, and sometimes falling into doubt due to foundation decisions. As a Layer 2 project, we are still exploring the best balance of leveraging Ethereum community momentum.
Amanda Tyler: The Rollup ecosystem is an extension of Ethereum culture, and its open nature has given rise to a unique 'co-opetition ecology'—all Layer 2s are jointly strengthening the Ethereum network. This requires marketing to balance dual positioning: it must highlight commercial value while also emphasizing the core mission of expanding Ethereum. The most effective proof is technical binding, such as defaulting to ETH for Gas fees, which speaks to the symbiotic relationship with Ethereum more than any slogan.
Kim Milosevich: Is the rise of Layer 2 ecosystems reconstructing developers' value perception of Ethereum?
Claire Kart: When assessing Layer 2 strategies, resource endowments determine differentiation. Well-funded projects like BASE under Coinbase can independently build ecological brands using resources from publicly traded companies; while resource-limited Layer 2s need to deeply bind to Ethereum, leveraging its industry credibility for cold starts. This resource-oriented marketing strategy choice essentially reflects the 'Matthew Effect' in the crypto ecosystem—where the strong get stronger, and emerging projects must leverage wisely.
(4) DevRel × Marketing: The collaborative engine driving ecosystem growth
Kim Milosevich: How should community operations and developer relations (DevRel) form strategic synergies with marketing?
Claire Kart: I have practiced two team models: in a full-funnel marketing model, DevRel focuses on mid-to-late stage conversion, serving developers who are already familiar with the project and ready to deploy; while in Aztec, due to the high complexity of the product, DevRel is directly embedded in the product team. The latter allows for deep collaboration but needs to address two major pain points: ensuring user targeting consistency and avoiding disconnects between marketing acquisition and developer support stages.
Amanda Tyler: Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system. Developer documentation, as the primary touchpoint, needs to have a unified language style and conversion path. Currently, DevRel is evolving into a content creator role, addressing tool usage pain points through programming tutorial videos and other formats. Our practice shows that this type of content can effectively enhance developer engagement, proving that the industry needs to break down information barriers through interactive means. This evolution requires DevRel to possess stronger marketing thinking and execution capabilities.
Kim Milosevich: How should blockchain projects formulate effective on-chain developer support strategies?
Claire Kart: The success of the developer ecosystem depends on building a closed loop of 'product-economy-community.' In the privacy field, for instance, its specialization naturally filters out target developers. The cold start phase requires a dual approach: both uncovering commercial potential and tracking early developer progress, providing high-value support such as media exposure and strategic consulting at critical moments. Although this deep operation is difficult to scale, it is key to creating the project's moat.
Amanda Tyler: The essence of cryptocurrency marketing is ecological coordination. It is necessary to uncover developer stories while proactively identifying needs and driving product iterations. The core lies in deeply supporting developers to succeed: actively engage on platforms like GitHub and Twitter to first solve practical building issues, and only after the project matures, proceed with dissemination. This 'empower first, voice later' closed-loop model is the truly effective path for ecological construction.
(5) Coordinating Ecosystems and Controlling Noise: A Systematic Approach from Token Issuance to Brand Synergy
Kim Milosevich: How to accurately identify effective feedback in the information-overloaded crypto community?
Amanda Tyler: In order to track the early adoption of the new token standard, I have taken the following steps:
Analyze code repository clone records and discover a large number of newly created accounts
Filter out real developers and communicate directly about usage needs via Twitter
Synchronously validate technical documentation and deliver user feedback directly to the product team
The whole process reflects the working method of 'tracing developer needs to the front line.'
Kim Milosevich: How to build a complete lifecycle management system for token issuance?
Claire Kart: The core of token issuance is to balance its dual attributes. It is both a marketing activity and a financial product. The quality of the economic model design directly determines the project's fate and should choose between explosive or gradual paths based on the project's characteristics. On the implementation level, three key points must be grasped:
Engage in in-depth discussions with economists about the value positioning of tokens, avoiding rigid application;
Conduct in-depth research on the actual application scenarios and usage habits of different markets;
Establish a comprehensive post-listing management mechanism, including community sentiment management, team incentive mechanisms, and information disclosure standards, etc.
These challenges are essentially consistent with the governance requirements faced by publicly listed companies.
Kim Milosevich: How to build a complete lifecycle operation system for token issuance to ensure a complete closed loop from economic model design to community governance?
Claire Kart: The core of community operation strategy is to clarify the types of objects for long-term resource investment. As you mentioned, there are many bots and AI accounts now, making it difficult to determine if those actively speaking in the community are real users. Therefore, it is essential to accurately identify the target audience:
During the testnet phase, cultivate highly compatible early supporters.
For PoS networks, node operators and validators (whether institutional or individual stakers) are key opinion leaders.
Establish structured operational mechanisms, such as regular community conference calls
The key is to widely collect market feedback while learning to filter out noise. Attempting to respond to all online voices will only lead to a quagmire of ineffective information.
Kim Milosevich: What specific challenges do the separate structures of foundations and labs present to market teams in the crypto industry? How do we achieve brand synergy while maintaining organizational independence?
Amanda Tyler: In practical operations, I employ differentiated communication strategies to handle this dual structure:
On the laboratory side: cultivate technical leaders as channels for communication, such as setting up certified accounts for product leads to publish technical progress (like custom Gas token upgrades) and then re-share through the official account.
On the foundation side: focus on strategic communication at the brand level to shape industry perception.
This approach maintains the narrative independence of both while creating a collaborative effect in execution.
Claire Kart: This dual team structure has both advantages and disadvantages in practice. The advantage is that it can form strategic synergies with senior marketing talents within the ecosystem, for example, through marketing summits during DevCon to discuss development goals, maintaining ties with the technical team while sharing management pressure. However, the core pain point lies in resource duplication; during market downturns, maintaining two sets of executive teams (GC/CFO/CMO) will cause significant financial burdens.
(6) Brand is initiated by people: the dual layout of founder influence and marketing resources
Kim Milosevich: How should founders professionally build their personal IP image?
Amanda Tyler: The core advice for founders is to shape the image of a field expert rather than a product salesman. Specific methods:
Discuss industry pain points based on professional insights rather than directly selling products
Build influence through professional knowledge
Make good use of personal channels to convey in-depth perspectives
Taking the founder of Optimism as an example, their statements garner attention precisely because of their scarcity and professionalism—they do not often speak, but each time they provide valuable insights from a professional perspective. This restrained and professional way of voicing is worthy of emulation.
Claire Kart: I recommend that founders choose the most natural way to express themselves: those good at dialogue can do podcasts, those skilled in writing can write long articles, and those comfortable in front of the camera can make videos. There’s no need to force forms they aren't good at; for example, those who resist public speaking can avoid large venues. The key is to integrate personal style into professional content—adding humor for fun, and unique design for creative expression. Finding a relaxed yet professional output method, combined with a dissemination strategy, works best.
Kim Milosevich: How to help founders establish personal IP within their comfort zones while planning a gradual growth path?
Claire Kart: For founders just beginning to establish personal influence, I recommend starting from the easiest entry point: focus on doing one thing well, mobilizing all company resources to support, and creating several iconic moments to accumulate momentum. This is far more effective than forcing founders to post 10 tweets a day. The key is to have something to say, say it well, and naturally open the door.
Kim Milosevich: Should founders completely hand over the core content of their personal IP and company narrative (mission/values/positioning) to the marketing team?
Claire Kart: My core positioning is to assist founders in conveying their core vision. Founders must lead the expression of corporate DNA and technology roadmap; this is key to obtaining investment. We provide professional support—from ghostwriting services to strategic discussions—but always insist on founders producing original content, while the team is responsible for optimizing the packaging. Because what truly resonates with the market is the founder's genuine entrepreneurial intention, not overly packaged marketing jargon.
Amanda Tyler: To build an influential brand in the crypto field, it is essential to establish a deep connection with the founders. Only through one-on-one communication can we truly understand their core vision and entrepreneurial intention, thereby infusing the brand story with soul. This is the foundation of successful marketing; there are no shortcuts.
Kim Milosevich: Key questions regarding marketing resource allocation: When should we recruit a full-time marketing head? When should we bring in consultants or agencies?
Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of cryptocurrency marketing lies in the fact that marketing concepts and visions often begin before the product is mature. This stage requires constant trial and error to find the most suitable dissemination methods.
Personal advice: The best time to kick off marketing is six months before product launch. Promoting a non-existent product too early can lead to market skepticism, while being too late misses opportunities. The key is to find the golden timing for storytellers and communicators based on an understanding of the product delivery cycle.
Claire Kart: For projects that require community co-construction, marketing intervention can come earlier. For example, when running a decentralized testnet, even without a 'formal product' or mainnet, it is necessary to attract node operators to participate.
I usually help founders clarify their core needs:
If the project requires ongoing community operations (such as weekly reviews, progress synchronization), dedicated personnel may be needed to drive it.
If it is only a temporary need, consultants or agencies may be more suitable.
The key is to distinguish between real needs and external pressures, as hiring out of anxiety often yields poor results.
Amanda Tyler: In the crypto industry, collaborating with marketing agencies presents unique challenges. Due to the highly specialized domain knowledge, a significant amount of time must be invested in training the agency's team to ensure they truly understand the product characteristics—otherwise, it is challenging to produce effective results.
Claire Kart: Marketing agencies in the crypto industry are mainly divided into two categories: comprehensive large companies and boutique teams in vertical fields. Professional marketers are more suitable for collaboration with boutique teams, which can produce high-quality results tailored to specific needs, especially studios with long-term cooperation have higher value. However, founders often face decision-making risks regardless of the type chosen due to a lack of industry experience.
(7) Marketing Startup Method for Startups: From Agency Collaboration to Team Building
Kim Milosevich: How can founders without marketing experience effectively select and manage professional marketing agencies?
Claire Kart: Many founders have a cognitive bias: they believe that as long as they sign a marketing agency contract, all market issues will be resolved.
Amanda Tyler: When collaborating with small boutique agencies, I summarize an efficient working model: provide them with clear boundary and narrative briefs for small campaigns. This limited-scope commissioning method can avoid internal narrative confusion and ensure execution quality, becoming my most favored collaboration paradigm.
Kim Milosevich: As the first full-time marketing head of a startup, how should I plan recruitment priorities when building the team? What core capabilities are required for the marketing head in a startup team?
Claire Kart: When a startup team is recruiting a marketing head for the first time, my core principle is: only choose versatile talents I have previously worked with. Such candidates must meet three key conditions: deeply understand my working style, possess seamless collaboration abilities, and be willing to take hands-on roles (even the CMO needs to operate social media in the early stages). Practice has proven that this kind of familiar collaboration can quickly open doors—compared to the risk of using newcomers, the tacit collaboration with familiar comrades can better withstand startup pressures, avoiding team rhythm disruptions due to poor hiring.
Kim Milosevich: How to balance professional depth and functional flexibility in early-stage recruitment for startup teams?
Amanda Tyler: Marketing team building should follow the dual standard of 'versatile foundation + vertical specialization': each member should be capable of basic tasks like tweet writing, email formatting, and voice broadcasting while also possessing professional depth in specific verticals. This team structure, divided by field rather than function, has been proven in our practice to maximize the efficiency of small teams. There are no traditional job boundaries, allowing each member to be both a generalist and an expert in their field.
Kim Milosevich: When recruiting cryptocurrency talent, is it necessary to require a 'native industry' background?
Amanda Tyler: It depends on the specific project needs. For communication roles (like writing or PR), industry knowledge can be fully acquired through learning. We all started from scratch; no one is born understanding cryptocurrency. The key is to have a passion for continuous learning: for instance, I still maintain the habit of reading all industry updates daily. If I can do it, our communication manager can too.
Kim Milosevich: How to balance the professional background of technical talent with compatibility in the cryptocurrency industry? How should cryptocurrency projects plan the timing and functional positioning for introducing editorial talent?
Claire Kart: Recruitment in the crypto industry should return to the essence of business. SaaS projects aimed at developers can fully bring in mature marketing talent from traditional tech fields, such as experts skilled in developer community operations. Rather than sticking to rigid indicators like 'must have a crypto background,' it is better to focus on the transferability of candidates' professional abilities. The rich SaaS talent resources in tech hubs like San Francisco can quickly supply proven marketing talent for crypto projects.
Amanda Tyler: Content creators and technical documentation engineers must operate based on a clear strategic roadmap to work effectively. Many companies only hire technical documentation personnel to translate product roadmaps, but these talents often lack the ability to integrate short-term goals into a six-month strategic vision.
Claire Kart: When considering hiring content creators, three aspects must be deeply considered: first, clarify the specific pain points that need to be addressed through writing in the current business; second, define the job responsibilities, avoiding vague statements like 'responsible for writing'; and most importantly, establish a supporting collaboration mechanism, as high-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from founders or teams, and cannot be solved just by hiring a writer.
Kim Milosevich: How to ensure that newly introduced content creators effectively play their roles in a decentralized team structure?
Claire Kart: When founders consider hiring full-time content creators, they need to clarify the specific requirements for the first deliverable. In reality, many such needs do not actually require establishing full-time positions. Founders often fall into two traps: seeking agencies or full-time hires too early, and overlooking the potential of existing resource networks. A more pragmatic approach is to prioritize project-based collaborations or temporary support solutions, especially when the needs involve only single content outputs; blindly hiring full-time staff often leads to resource mismatches.
(8) Grounding and Resonance: From Local Operations to Integrated Communication in Community Culture
Kim Milosevich: How can cryptocurrency projects efficiently build global operational capabilities?
Claire Kart: The core of global operations in cryptocurrency lies in building local trust networks. When entering new markets, it is necessary to introduce local partners through reliable channels—the differences in business customs across countries are significant: some regions are more accepting of long-term cooperation based on trust, rather than American standardized contracts. A lack of local relationships will lead to cultural misjudgments and communication failures. The optimal path is to rely on existing resource networks for endorsements, rather than starting from scratch with unknown developers.
Amanda Tyler: By establishing localized Discord channels, we effectively identify and cultivate a group of highly active community members. The specific operational model is: first systematically train local members to master project documentation, gradually building a decentralized cultural communication network. This type of localized operation based on daily collaboration tools is essentially creating a new online relationship network, naturally nurturing the community ecosystem through high-frequency interactions.
Claire Kart: Community operations need to discover and cultivate core supporters. When the project enters an important development phase, those actively participating contributors can become effective talent sources. By incorporating them into a formal system through mechanisms like technical ambassadors or local event organizers, it can maintain community engagement and establish initial market resources. When professional service providers need to be introduced, these foundational relationship networks can provide reference suggestions, reducing the difficulties of starting from scratch. The value of post-funding models lies in their realistic assessment approach.
Kim Milosevich: What is the strategic positioning and execution methodology in the cryptocurrency industry?
Amanda Tyler: The core of the cryptocurrency industry activity strategy lies in precise positioning. Large events may help with brand exposure, but the return on investment is difficult to measure; in contrast, small high-end events can achieve business cooperation and key networking at a lower cost. Mature projects should focus on high-value participants, while emerging projects need to avoid blindly attending exhibitions and instead create boutique events in vertical fields. Essentially, it is about pursuing quality rather than scale.
Claire Kart: The cryptocurrency activity strategy should focus on three key points:
Plan in sync with the product roadmap to ensure major releases and important events complement each other;
Standardize budget usage, avoiding simply using event funds for relationship maintenance; all sponsorships must align with clear ecological strategic directions;
Focus on efficient event formats, engaging with core audiences through small closed-door meetings while also hosting professional events like developer conferences.
Offline events allow the team to directly observe developer feedback, identify potential users, and even discover regional communities, creating opportunities for global expansion.
Kim Milosevich: How does cryptocurrency marketing balance technical professionalism with community entertainment expressions?
Claire Kart: Cryptocurrency marketing should make good use of meme culture as a unique narrative tool. Memes can cleverly translate complex concepts while also strengthening community belonging. The key lies in establishing a balanced mechanism: core accounts maintain a professional tone, while allowing operators reasonable creative space, which can enhance work motivation and produce high-quality content. Memes should be considered an organic part of the overall communication strategy, testing and selecting expressions that resonate with the industry rather than using them sporadically.
Amanda Tyler: Our meme strategy maintains moderate participation: primarily supporting content dissemination for ecosystem projects, with relatively restrained original creations. We follow three guidelines in execution: maintain a positive communication tone, avoid any negative teasing; adhere to brand tone in the industry entertainment atmosphere; and track industry trends through internal meme sharing. This balanced approach allows us to integrate into community culture while effectively controlling dissemination risks.
