This article is compiled from the Web3 Frontier program produced by a16z, focusing on the differences in marketing between the crypto space and traditional tech industries. The program features guests 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 image shaping, and share effective methods and common pitfalls.

TL;DR:

• The biggest challenge in crypto 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 crypto marketing is ecosystem coordination.

• The core of crypto event strategy is precise positioning.

• Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth, with the developer community's core being precise value resonance.

• To build an influential brand in crypto, a deep connection with the founder is essential.

• When evaluating Layer 2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation.

• Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system.

• The success of a developer ecosystem depends on creating a closed loop of "product-economy-community."

• The core of token launches is balancing their dual nature as both marketing activities and financial products.

• The core of community management strategy is to clarify the types of long-term resource investment targets.

• Advice for founders: Build an expert image in the field, not a product salesman.

• For projects that require community co-construction, marketing can be involved earlier.

• Marketing team building should follow a dual standard of "omnibus foundation + vertical specialization."

• High-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from the founder or team.

(I) Taking the Stage: The Brand Leverage of Crypto Founders

Kim Milosevich: As marketing and communications leads, what role should we play? 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 space, technical founders are mostly silent, causing the team to miss exposure opportunities. In this early-stage industry, finding the right talent is like finding a needle in a haystack. That's why I chose to step into the spotlight. The crypto space particularly relies on marketing and community, and users want to hear from executives.

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

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

Claire Kart: When people choose jobs, they care more about the people they will work with than the company itself. Although the company's vision and job content are important, the ultimate deciding factor is often the team. You might be indifferent to an offer from an unknown company, but if it's a referral from someone you know, even a startup will be seriously considered.

(II) The Uniqueness and Basic Logic of Crypto Marketing

Kim Milosevich: Is this a phenomenon unique to 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 form of personality cult. For example, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, they indeed put a lot of effort into building their personal brands, writing books, doing publicity, and so on. But the personality cult in the cryptocurrency space seems 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. Take me, for example. In my twenties, I accumulated a large number of Instagram followers through a parenting blog, but when I switched to the crypto space, I immediately felt the "big fish in a small pond" effect. It's much easier to build influence here.

This space is composed of several distinct subcultures, and newcomers can quickly identify target communities and key figures. In comparison, traditional fields like Zuckerberg's circle have higher barriers and require more professional endorsements. The early stage of the crypto industry provides unique opportunities for content creators.

Kim Milosevich: As a project, how should you build differentiation and precisely attract your target audience?

Amanda Tyler: The biggest challenge in crypto marketing is the extremely small target audience. In 2023, there were only 23,000 active crypto developers per month, expected to increase to 30,000 in 2024, while less than 0.1% of the global 28 million developers are involved in crypto. In such a highly vertical market, marketing must focus on the three core needs of developers:

• Technology: Solving practical issues such as composability in the Rollup ecosystem

• Economics: Exploring sustainable revenue models for public goods development

• Value: Creating a unique value proposition that attracts developers

Claire Kart: Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth, 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 technological utopia where developers can find professional value and a sense of belonging. Once achieved, they will spontaneously drive ecosystem development.

We need to abandon the mindset of pursuing scale in the internet age and instead adhere to a "depth-first" approach: understanding each core developer's technical preferences, even their pet's name, and delivering an exceptional experience for the first 10 users. Technological idealism itself is the best medium for dissemination. In this space, the power of 100 deeply engaged participants far outweighs that of 10,000 superficial users. True growth comes from these seemingly non-scalable deep connections.

(III) Growing in the Shadow of Ethereum: Positioning and Strategic Trade-offs of Layer 2

Kim Milosevich: Do Layer 2 projects need to deeply bind with the Ethereum community culture to achieve effective marketing?

Claire Kart: In terms of operating within the Ethereum ecosystem, Amanda has more experience. I worked on another Layer 1 project before joining Aztec and have been continuously thinking about this issue. The sentiment of the Ethereum community fluctuates like tides, sometimes filled with a belief in changing the world, and sometimes questioning due to foundation decisions. As a Layer 2 project, we are still exploring the best balance point for leveraging the momentum of the Ethereum community.

Amanda Tyler: The Rollup ecosystem is an extension of Ethereum culture, and its open nature has given rise to a unique "coopetition ecosystem"—all Layer 2s are collectively strengthening the Ethereum network. This requires marketing to balance dual positioning: highlighting commercial value while emphasizing the core mission of scaling Ethereum. The most effective way to prove this is through technical binding, such as defaulting to ETH for gas payments, which speaks louder than any slogan in demonstrating a symbiotic relationship with Ethereum.

This article is compiled from the Web3 Frontier program produced by a16z, focusing on the differences in marketing between the crypto space and traditional tech industries. The program features guests 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 image shaping, and share effective methods and common pitfalls.

TL;DR:

• The biggest challenge in crypto 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 crypto marketing is ecosystem coordination.

• The core of crypto event strategy is precise positioning.

• Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth, with the developer community's core being precise value resonance.

• To build an influential brand in crypto, a deep connection with the founder is essential.

• When evaluating Layer 2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation.

• Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system.

• The success of a developer ecosystem depends on creating a closed loop of "product-economy-community."

• The core of token launches is balancing their dual nature as both marketing activities and financial products.

• The core of community management strategy is to clarify the types of long-term resource investment targets.

• Advice for founders: Build an expert image in the field, not a product salesman.

• For projects that require community co-construction, marketing can be involved earlier.

• Marketing team building should follow a dual standard of "omnibus foundation + vertical specialization."

• High-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from the founder or team.

(I) Taking the Stage: The Brand Leverage of Crypto Founders

Kim Milosevich: As marketing and communications leads, what role should we play? 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 space, technical founders are mostly silent, causing the team to miss exposure opportunities. In this early-stage industry, finding the right talent is like finding a needle in a haystack. That's why I chose to step into the spotlight. The crypto space particularly relies on marketing and community, and users want to hear from executives.

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

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

Claire Kart: When people choose jobs, they care more about the people they will work with than the company itself. Although the company's vision and job content are important, the ultimate deciding factor is often the team. You might be indifferent to an offer from an unknown company, but if it's a referral from someone you know, even a startup will be seriously considered.

(II) The Uniqueness and Basic Logic of Crypto Marketing

Kim Milosevich: Is this a phenomenon unique to 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 form of personality cult. For example, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, they indeed put a lot of effort into building their personal brands, writing books, doing publicity, and so on. But the personality cult in the cryptocurrency space seems 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. Take me, for example. In my twenties, I accumulated a large number of Instagram followers through a parenting blog, but when I switched to the crypto space, I immediately felt the "big fish in a small pond" effect. It's much easier to build influence here.

This space is composed of several distinct subcultures, and newcomers can quickly identify target communities and key figures. In comparison, traditional fields like Zuckerberg's circle have higher barriers and require more professional endorsements. The early stage of the crypto industry provides unique opportunities for content creators.

Kim Milosevich: As a project, how should you build differentiation and precisely attract your target audience?

Amanda Tyler: The biggest challenge in crypto marketing is the extremely small target audience. In 2023, there were only 23,000 active crypto developers per month, expected to increase to 30,000 in 2024, while less than 0.1% of the global 28 million developers are involved in crypto. In such a highly vertical market, marketing must focus on the three core needs of developers:

• Technology: Solving practical issues such as composability in the Rollup ecosystem

• Economics: Exploring sustainable revenue models for public goods development

• Value: Creating a unique value proposition that attracts developers

Claire Kart: Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth, 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 technological utopia where developers can find professional value and a sense of belonging. Once achieved, they will spontaneously drive ecosystem development.

We need to abandon the mindset of pursuing scale in the internet age and instead adhere to a "depth-first" approach: understanding each core developer's technical preferences, even their pet's name, and delivering an exceptional experience for the first 10 users. Technological idealism itself is the best medium for dissemination. In this space, the power of 100 deeply engaged participants far outweighs that of 10,000 superficial users. True growth comes from these seemingly non-scalable deep connections.

(III) Growing in the Shadow of Ethereum: Positioning and Strategic Trade-offs of Layer 2

Kim Milosevich: Do Layer 2 projects need to deeply bind with the Ethereum community culture to achieve effective marketing?

Claire Kart: In terms of operating within the Ethereum ecosystem, Amanda has more experience. I worked on another Layer 1 project before joining Aztec and have been continuously thinking about this issue. The sentiment of the Ethereum community fluctuates like tides, sometimes filled with a belief in changing the world, and sometimes questioning due to foundation decisions. As a Layer 2 project, we are still exploring the best balance point for leveraging the momentum of the Ethereum community.

Amanda Tyler: The Rollup ecosystem is an extension of Ethereum culture, and its open nature has given rise to a unique "coopetition ecosystem"—all Layer 2s are collectively strengthening the Ethereum network. This requires marketing to balance dual positioning: highlighting commercial value while emphasizing the core mission of scaling Ethereum. The most effective way to prove this is through technical binding, such as defaulting to ETH for gas payments, which speaks louder than any slogan in demonstrating a symbiotic relationship with Ethereum.