Editor's Note: This article explores the entrepreneurial journey in the crypto industry, emphasizing that entrepreneurs need to define their development direction based on their unique advantages and personal strengths, rather than blindly following the industry's conventional path. The author mentions that successful founders are not just excellent salespeople, but also have belief and confidence to bring their stories to life. The article also points out that the current entrepreneurial environment is more fair compared to the past, especially with the power of AI tools, token democratization, and online distribution, giving founders worldwide the opportunity to succeed.
Below is the original content (slightly edited for readability):
Do you know this game? Finding your advantage in the crypto game. This is a brief and somewhat messy reflection on the "crypto game".
In fact, we can take a step back and look at it more broadly; these insights are completely applicable to the "startup game" as well. I hope this article can help ambitious founders, or those who are somewhat tired of the current state of crypto startups. I see more and more such people on my Twitter timeline, so the purpose of this article is to provide an obvious but slightly different perspective on how to approach the game we're all playing.
Life and business are just a game. That's why many smart people play some kind of game when they're young - from strategy games, MOBAs, to even MMORPGs. For me, MMORPGs were my favorite type, from exploring the world, to finding resources to become stronger, to gathering allies for missions, and ultimately becoming a household name in the game universe. These were activities I spent a lot of time on when I was young.
As people grow older, they often realize that life is like a video game, regardless of what type of game it is. Simply put, life itself is a game of decision-making, self-realization, and optimization, where you need to make choices to get what you want from life. And crypto - it's not much different.
The Current Meta-Game
Let's assume that the ultimate goal of most crypto participants is to make money and push the field forward. Knowing this, how do you optimize the crypto game?
Some of you may already know that for aspiring founders, the crypto game has a dependency path operation manual:
· Enter the industry, try to make your name known through:
(i) Working for a protocol, (ii) Attending conferences/parties, (iii) Speaking on Twitter; publicly showcasing your work
Start working on your protocol: (i) Find a big idea with a good token valuation reference, (ii) Get funding from a significant angel investor, (iii) Get funding from a significant venture capital firm
Prepare all technical and non-technical milestones until TGE (Token Generation Event), maintain heat/momentum, work on expanding the community, and gradually exit.
Sounds simple? Not really. This requires entering the right rooms, being with the right people, and often having the ability to forcibly shape a narrative that aligns with investor expectations to drive momentum. This will provide you with enough resources to defend your product - and ensure you prove it pushes the industry forward in some way.
Entrepreneurs are synonymous with salespeople, and salespeople are a colloquial term for storytellers. Pro tip: No startup is meaningful when it's first created. We (entrepreneurs) are all impostors who must tell a story (i.e., fiction) to attract imagination and capital, bring the future into reality, and make the rhythm meaningful. Every company I've founded had no meaning at its inception... until it did.
Or not. The only way to predict the future is to create it.
This doesn't mean lying. There's a real difference between entrepreneurs and fraudsters: entrepreneurs believe their stories will come true. This requires confidence... and a bit of delusion. It helps to be slightly detached from reality - assuming for some reason you're the only one who can see the future, and in the new world, your product/service will be needed and successful, despite overwhelming evidence (i.e., current reality) suggesting otherwise. This is what's called a [reality distortion field], if you will. - Scott
The danger here is getting lost in your own story.
In the process of convincing investors and other stakeholders, you may become a victim of your own delusion, which is especially true in the crypto game, because you can easily become a "successful founder" without necessarily having a "successful company".
If you're a good enough salesperson, you'll likely be able to get a return on your time investment even if the entire protocol/company remains in a continuous net loss state. This is essentially an enhanced version of the zero interest rate policy.
Reminder: You can only do this if you're in the right room, with the right people, and have the right support.
If you're a bit tired, keep reading.
Finding Your Role Positioning
Surprise! This game is the same in startup companies outside of crypto, but the issue is further amplified in our industry due to the dynamics of the token capital market, a topic worthy of a full article. The key is that you can choose to play this game in the current meta-game, and if you're good at this meta-game (having the right credentials, background, connections, etc.), that's completely understandable. Or you can choose to exit the system and enter a new meta-game.
I have some founder friends who are truly tired of the existing meta-game and ask me if there are other ways to win in the crypto game.
The answer is yes. In fact, I'm more optimistic than ever that this is possible.
Unless you're building the next robot defense company, I believe the current entrepreneurial environment is better than ever, and the competitive landscape globally has become more fair.
This change is driven by three factors:
- The rise of AI programming tools
- The return of token issuance democratization
- The power of online distribution significantly surpassing offline signals
In short - talented founders who might not be very good at the current crypto startup meta-game now have an unprecedented opportunity.
Smart founders from Romania or Vietnam, far from the kings of the current meta-game, now have a greater chance of winning than ever before. It's now easier than ever to self-fund product development, digital marketing, token issuance, and operate an extremely profitable/scalable crypto protocol/company.
So, if you're an aspiring founder exploring the crypto game, remember:
Leverage your unique advantages and unfair advantages. Define your role positioning based on your personal strengths, and resist the temptation to blindly follow the "basic template swordsman" path that everyone seems to be walking.
Live an original life and forge your own path.
