a16z Crypto Marketing Guide: How Founders Can Avoid Pitfalls from Developer Ecosystem to Token Issuance?

Source: Marketing 101 for Startups: Token Launches, Memes, Reaching Devs & More

Compiled by: lenaxin, ChainCatcher

Editor's Note:

This article is compiled from the a16z-produced podcast "Web3 Frontier," focusing on the marketing differences between the crypto space and traditional tech industries. Guests include Amanda Tyler, Claire Kart, and Kim Milosevich. They will delve into practical experiences in reputation building, developer community management, talent recruitment, token launches, and founder branding, sharing effective methods and common pitfalls.

ChainCatcher has organized and compiled the content.

TL&DR

1. The biggest challenge in cryptocurrency marketing is the extremely small target audience.
2. The uniqueness of the crypto circle lies in its small scale and low entry barriers.
3. The essence of cryptocurrency marketing is ecological coordination.
4. The core of activity strategy in the cryptocurrency industry lies in precise positioning.
5. Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth methods, with the core of the developer community being precise value resonance.
6. To build an influential brand in the crypto space, a deep connection with the founder is essential.
7. When evaluating Layer2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation.
8. Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system.
9. The success of the developer ecosystem depends on building a closed loop of "product-economy-community."
10. The core of token issuance lies in balancing its dual attributes, being both a marketing activity and a financial product.
11. The core of community operation strategy is to clarify the types of long-term resource investment targets.
12. Advice for founders: shape the image of a domain expert rather than a product salesperson.
13. For projects that require community co-construction, marketing intervention can come earlier.
14. Marketing team building should follow the dual standard of "generalist foundation + vertical specialization."
15. High-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from founders or the team.

(1) Stepping Into The Spotlight: The Brand Leverage of Crypto Founders

Kim Milosevich: What role should we play as marketing and communications leaders? Should we be in the spotlight, or more behind the scenes?

Claire Kart: Tech marketers often work behind the scenes, which is effective, but in the crypto industry, technical founders tend to be silent, leading teams to miss exposure opportunities. In this early industry, finding the right talent is like finding a needle in a haystack. Therefore, I choose to step into the spotlight; the crypto space especially relies on marketing and community, and users want to hear executives speak.

Recruitment is equally challenging. Although the situation has improved, excellent crypto marketing talent is still scarce. Building a personal brand can lead to talent referrals and attract proactive job seekers, significantly improving recruitment efficiency.

Amanda Tyler: Building a personal brand on Twitter has significantly improved my recruitment efficiency; this direct way of establishing trust is particularly suitable for early-stage startups. When candidates resonate with your values and experiences, a simple "let's chat" becomes a natural progression.

Claire Kart: People prioritize the colleagues they will work with over the company itself when choosing a job. While the company's vision and job content are important, the ultimate deciding factor is often the team. They may be indifferent to invitations 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 unique phenomenon in the crypto industry, or a universal rule? What is the core difference between crypto marketing and traditional tech marketing?

Claire Kart: I think cryptocurrency is more like a cult of personality. For example, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg invest a lot of energy in building their personal brands, writing books, promoting, etc. However, the cult of personality in the cryptocurrency space seems even more pronounced, though I can't quite explain why.

Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of the crypto circle lies in its small scale and low entry barriers. For instance, in my twenties, I accumulated a large number of Instagram followers through a parenting blog, but when I transitioned to the crypto space, I immediately felt the "big fish in a small pond" effect; it's much easier to establish influence here.

This field consists of several distinct subcultures, allowing newcomers to quickly identify target communities and key figures. In contrast, traditional fields, like the one Zuckerberg is in, have higher barriers and require more professional endorsements. The early stage of the crypto industry offers unique opportunities for content creators.

Kim Milosevich: As a project team, how should we create differentiation and accurately attract our 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 per month, expected to rise to 30,000 in 2024, while less than 0.1% of the 28 million developers worldwide are involved in crypto. In such a highly vertical market, marketing must focus on the three core needs of developers:

1. Technology: Solving practical issues like composability in the Rollup ecosystem.
2. Economics: Exploring sustainable revenue models for public goods development.
3. Value: Creating unique value propositions that appeal to developers.

Claire Kart: Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth methods, with the core of the developer community being precise value resonance. Economic incentives are just the starting point; what truly drives growth is building a technical utopia where developers can find career value and spiritual belonging. Once achieved, they will spontaneously drive ecosystem development.

We need to abandon the internet-era mindset of pursuing scale and instead adhere to a "depth-first" approach: understanding each core developer's technical preferences, even their pet names, and optimizing the experience for the top 10 users. Technical idealism itself is the best medium for communication. In this field, the power of 100 deeply engaged participants far outweighs that of 10,000 shallow users; real growth comes from these seemingly non-scalable deep connections.

(3) Growing Under the Shadow of Ethereum: Layer2's Positioning and Strategic Trade-offs

Kim Milosevich: Do Layer2 projects need to deeply bind with Ethereum community culture to achieve effective marketing?

Claire Kart: Amanda has more experience in operating within the Ethereum ecosystem. Before joining Aztec, I worked on another Layer1 project and have been continuously pondering this question—Ethereum community sentiment fluctuates like tides, sometimes filled with the belief of changing the world, and at other times mired in doubts due to foundation decisions. As a Layer2 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 fostered a unique "coopetition ecosystem"—all Layer2s are collectively strengthening the Ethereum network. This requires marketing to balance dual positioning: highlighting commercial value while emphasizing the core mission of expanding Ethereum. The most effective proof is technical binding, such as defaulting to ETH for Gas fees, which demonstrates the symbiotic relationship with Ethereum better than any slogan.

Kim Milosevich: Is the rise of the Layer2 ecosystem reconstructing developers' value perception of Ethereum?

Claire Kart: When evaluating Layer2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation. Well-funded projects like BASE under Coinbase can independently build ecological brands using resources from public companies; however, resource-limited Layer2s need to deeply bind with 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 rich get richer, and emerging projects must leverage effectively.

(4) DevRel × Marketing: The Collaborative Engine Driving Ecosystem Growth

Kim Milosevich: How should community operations and developer relations (DevRel) form strategic synergy with marketing?

Claire Kart: I have practiced two team models: in a full-funnel marketing model, DevRel focuses on mid-to-late stage conversions, serving developers who are already familiar with the project and ready to deploy; whereas at 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 disconnection between marketing acquisition and developer support.

Amanda Tyler: Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system. Developer documentation, as the primary touchpoint, needs to have a unified control over language style and conversion paths. Currently, DevRel is evolving into a content creator role, addressing tool usage pain points through programming tutorial videos and other formats. Our practice has shown that this type of content can effectively enhance developer engagement, proving that the industry needs interactive ways to break down information barriers. 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." Taking the privacy field as an example, its professionalism naturally filters target developers. During the cold start phase, a dual approach is needed: both to explore commercial potential and to track early developer progress, providing high-value support such as media exposure and strategic consulting at critical moments. This deep operation, while difficult to scale, is key to building a project's moat.

Amanda Tyler: The essence of cryptocurrency marketing is ecological coordination. It is essential to uncover developer stories while proactively identifying needs and driving product iteration. The core lies in helping developers succeed through deep support: actively intervening on platforms like GitHub and Twitter, first solving practical construction problems, and then spreading the word once the project matures. This "empower first, then voice" closed-loop model is the truly effective path for ecological construction.

(5) Coordinating Ecology 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: To track the early adoption of new token standards, I took the following steps:

1. Analyzed code repository clone records and discovered a large number of new accounts.
2. Filtered out real developers and communicated directly via Twitter about usage needs.
3. Synchronized and verified technical documentation, delivering user feedback directly to the product team.

The entire process reflects the "developer demand frontline tracing" work method.

Kim Milosevich: How to build a complete token issuance lifecycle management system?

Claire Kart: The core of token issuance lies in balancing its dual attributes. It is both a marketing activity and a financial product. The quality of the economic model design directly determines the fate of the project, requiring the selection of explosive or gradual paths based on project characteristics. On the implementation side, three key points must be grasped:

1. Engage deeply with economists to discuss the value positioning of the token, avoiding rigid application;
2. Study the actual application scenarios and usage habits in different markets;
3. Establish a comprehensive post-listing management mechanism, including community sentiment management, team incentive mechanisms, and information disclosure norms.

These challenges are essentially consistent with the governance requirements faced by public companies.

Kim Milosevich: How to build a full-cycle operational system for token issuance, ensuring 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 long-term resource investment targets. As you mentioned, there are now many bots and AI accounts, making it difficult to determine who is a real user actively speaking in the community. Therefore, it is essential to accurately target the audience:

1. Cultivate highly aligned early supporters during the testnet phase.
2. For PoS networks, node operators and validators (whether institutional or individual stakers) are key opinion leaders.
3. Establish structured operational mechanisms, such as regular community calls.

The key is to widely collect market feedback while learning to filter out noise. If you try to respond to every online voice, you will only sink into a quagmire of ineffective information.

Kim Milosevich: What specific challenges does the separation of foundations and labs in the crypto industry bring to marketing teams? How to achieve brand synergy while maintaining organizational independence?

Amanda Tyler: In practice, I adopt differentiated communication strategies to handle this dual structure:

1. On the lab side: Cultivate technical leaders as communication channels, such as setting up verified accounts for product leads to publish technical progress (like custom Gas token upgrades), and then amplifying through official accounts.
2. 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 synergistic effect in execution.

Claire Kart: This dual-team structure has mixed advantages and disadvantages in practice. The advantage is that it can form strategic synergy with experienced marketing talents within the ecosystem, such as discussing development goals during marketing summits at DevCon, maintaining ties with the technical team while sharing management pressure. However, the core pain point lies in resource duplication; maintaining two sets of executive teams (GC/CFO/CMO) during market downturns can create significant financial burdens.

(6) Brands Start with People: The Dual Layout of Founders' Influence and Marketing Resources

Kim Milosevich: How should founders professionally build their personal IP image?

Amanda Tyler: The core advice for founders is: shape the image of a domain expert rather than a product salesperson. Specific methods include:

1. Discuss industry pain points based on professional insights rather than directly selling products.
2. Build influence through professional knowledge sharing.
3. Make good use of personal channels to convey deep insights.

Taking the founder of Optimism as an example, their statements attract attention precisely because of their rarity and professionalism—they don't speak often, but when they do, they provide valuable insights from a professional perspective. This restrained yet professional way of speaking is worth emulating.

Claire Kart: I suggest 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 are not good at; for example, those who resist public speaking can avoid large venues. The key is to incorporate personal style into professional content—adding humor for fun, unique expressions for creativity. Finding a relaxed yet professional way to output, combined with a communication strategy, yields the best results.

Kim Milosevich: How to help founders establish personal IP within their comfort zone while planning a gradual growth path?

Claire Kart: For founders just starting to build personal influence, I recommend beginning with the easiest entry point: focus on doing one thing well, mobilizing company resources to support it, and creating a few iconic moments to build 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 up the situation.

Kim Milosevich: Should founders completely hand over the core content of their personal IP and the company's 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 the company's DNA and technical roadmap, which is key to securing investment. We provide professional support—from ghostwriting services to strategic discussions—but always insist that founders produce original content, while the team optimizes the packaging. Because what truly moves the market is the founder's genuine entrepreneurial intention, not overly packaged marketing rhetoric.

Amanda Tyler: To build an influential brand in the crypto space, a deep connection with the founder is essential. Only through one-on-one communication can we truly understand their core vision and entrepreneurial intent, thus injecting soul into the brand story. This is the foundation of successful marketing; there are no shortcuts.

Kim Milosevich: Regarding the key question of marketing resource allocation: when should a full-time marketing leader be recruited? When should consultants or agencies be brought in?

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 continuous trial and error to find the most suitable communication methods.

My personal suggestion: the best time to kick off marketing is six months before the product launch. Promoting a non-existent product too early can lead to market skepticism, while delaying it can result in missed 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 core needs:

• If the project requires ongoing community operations (like weekly reviews and progress synchronization), a dedicated person may be needed to drive it.
• If it is only a temporary need, a consultant or agency may be more suitable.

The key is to distinguish between real needs and external pressures, as hiring out of anxiety often leads to poor results.

Amanda Tyler: In the crypto industry, collaborating with marketing agencies presents unique challenges. Due to the specialized knowledge required, a significant amount of time must be invested in training the other team to ensure they truly understand the product features—otherwise, it is difficult to produce effective results.

Claire Kart: Marketing agencies in the crypto industry can be broadly divided into two categories: comprehensive large firms and specialized boutique teams. Professional marketers are better suited to work with boutique teams, which can produce high-quality results tailored to specific needs, especially when long-term collaboration is involved. However, founders face decision-making risks regardless of which type they choose due to a lack of industry experience.

(7) Marketing Start-up Methods for Startups: From Agency Collaboration to Team Building

Kim Milosevich: How can founders lacking marketing experience effectively select and manage professional marketing agencies?

Claire Kart: Many founders have a cognitive bias: they believe that signing a marketing agency contract will solve all market problems.

Amanda Tyler: When collaborating with small boutique agencies, I have summarized an efficient working model: providing them with clear boundaries and a well-defined narrative in small campaign briefs. This limited-scope commission approach can avoid internal narrative confusion and ensure execution quality, making it my most advocated collaboration model.

Kim Milosevich: As the first full-time marketing leader of a startup, how should I prioritize recruitment when building a team? What core capabilities should the marketing leader of a startup possess?

Claire Kart: When a startup team first recruits a marketing leader, my core principle is to only choose versatile talents I have previously worked with. These candidates must meet three key conditions: deeply understand my working style, possess seamless collaboration abilities, and be willing to get hands-on (even at the early stage, the CMO needs to operate social media). Practice has proven that this familiarity can quickly open up the situation—compared to the risk of using newcomers, the tacit cooperation with familiar allies can better withstand the pressures of entrepreneurship and avoid team rhythm disruptions caused by poor hiring.

Kim Milosevich: How to balance professional depth and functional flexibility in early-stage startup recruitment?

Amanda Tyler: Marketing team building should follow the dual standard of "generalist foundation + vertical specialization": each member should be capable of basic tasks like tweet writing, email formatting, and voice live streaming, while also possessing professional depth in specific verticals. This team structure, divided by field rather than function, has been validated in our practice to maximize the efficiency of small teams. By not setting traditional job boundaries, each member can be both a generalist and a domain expert.

Kim Milosevich: When recruiting cryptocurrency talent, is it necessary to require an "industry-native" background?

Amanda Tyler: It depends on the specific project needs. For communication roles (like writing or PR), industry knowledge can be learned. We all started from scratch; no one is born understanding cryptocurrency. The key is to have a passion for continuous learning: I still maintain the habit of reading all industry updates daily. If I can do it, our communications manager can too.

Kim Milosevich: How to balance the professional background of technical talent with their adaptability to 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 the business. SaaS projects aimed at developers can completely bring in mature marketing talent from traditional tech fields, such as experts in developer community operations. Instead of sticking to rigid indicators like "must have a crypto background," it is better to focus on the transferability of candidates' professional skills. 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 work based on a clear strategic roadmap to be effective. Many companies only hire technical documentation personnel to convert 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 levels must be deeply thought out: first, clarify the specific pain points that need to be addressed through writing in the current business; second, define the scope of job responsibilities, avoiding vague descriptions like "responsible for writing"; and most importantly, establish supporting collaboration mechanisms, because high-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from founders or the team, and cannot be solved simply 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 first need to clarify the specific requirements for the initial deliverables. In reality, many of these needs do not require establishing full-time positions. Founders often fall into two misconceptions: one is seeking agencies or full-time hires too early, and the other is overlooking the potential of existing resource networks. A more pragmatic approach is to prioritize project-based collaborations or temporary support solutions, especially when the need only involves a one-time content output; blindly hiring full-time personnel often leads to resource mismatches.

(8) Implementation and Resonance: Integrating Local Operations with Community Culture in Communication

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 essential to introduce local partners through reliable channels—business practices vary significantly across countries: some regions are more accepting of trust-based long-term cooperation rather than American standardized contracts. Lacking local relationships can lead to cultural misjudgments and communication failures. The optimal path is to leverage existing resource networks for endorsements rather than cold-starting unfamiliar development.

Amanda Tyler: By establishing localized Discord channels, we effectively identified and cultivated 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 localized operation based on daily collaboration tools is essentially creating a new type of online relationship network, naturally nurturing the community ecosystem through high-frequency interactions.

Claire Kart: Community operations need to discover and cultivate core supporters. When a project enters a critical development stage, those actively participating contributors can become effective talent sources. By incorporating them into formal systems through mechanisms like technical ambassadors or local event organizers, we can maintain community engagement while establishing initial market resources. When professional service providers need to be introduced, these foundational relationship networks can provide references, reducing the difficulties of starting from scratch. The value of post-funding models lies in their pragmatic assessment methods.

Kim Milosevich: What is the strategic positioning and execution methodology for activities in the cryptocurrency industry?

Amanda Tyler: The core of activity strategy in the cryptocurrency industry lies in precise positioning. Large events can 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 should avoid blindly exhibiting and instead create boutique events in vertical fields. Essentially, it is about pursuing quality over scale.

Claire Kart: Cryptocurrency activity strategies should grasp three key points:

1. Plan in sync with the product roadmap, ensuring major releases and important events complement each other;
2. Standardize budget usage, avoiding simply using event funds for relationship maintenance; all sponsorships must align with clear ecological strategic directions;
3. Focus on efficient event formats, engaging core audiences through small closed-door meetings while also hosting professional events like developer conferences.

Offline events allow teams 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 expression?

Claire Kart: Cryptocurrency marketing needs to effectively utilize meme culture as a unique narrative tool. Memes can cleverly transform complex concepts while reinforcing community belonging. The key is to establish a balancing mechanism: core accounts maintain a professional tone but allow operators reasonable creative space, which can enhance work enthusiasm and produce quality content. Memes should be 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 ecological projects while our own creations are relatively restrained. In execution, we follow three principles: maintain a positive communication tone, avoid any negative mockery; uphold brand tone within the industry's entertainment atmosphere; and track industry trends through internal meme sharing. This balanced approach allows us to integrate into community culture while effectively controlling communication risks.

Disclaimer

The content of this article does not represent the views of ChainCatcher. The opinions, data, and conclusions in the text represent the personal positions of the original authors or interviewees. The compiler maintains a neutral stance and does not endorse their accuracy. This does not constitute any professional advice or guidance; readers should exercise caution based on independent judgment. This compilation is limited to knowledge-sharing purposes; readers should strictly adhere to the laws and regulations of their respective regions and refrain from participating in any illegal financial activities.