Claire Kart: Tech marketers often work behind the scenes, which is effective in many cases. However, in the crypto industry, technical founders are often silent, causing the team to miss opportunities for exposure. In this nascent 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 building, 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 chat" becomes natural.

Claire Kart: When people choose a job, 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, you'll seriously consider it, even if it's a startup.

II. 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 think crypto is more like a form of personality cult. Take Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, for example. They have indeed invested a lot of effort in building their personal brands, writing books, and doing publicity. But the personality cult in the crypto space seems even stronger, and I can't quite explain why.

Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of the crypto space lies in its small size 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 well-defined subcultures, and newcomers can quickly identify target communities and key figures. In comparison, traditional fields like the one Zuckerberg is in have higher barriers to entry 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 we create differentiation and precisely attract our 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. Among the 28 million developers worldwide, less than 0.1% 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 the way growth is achieved. The core of the developer community is 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 promote the ecosystem's development.

We need to abandon the mindset of pursuing scale from the internet era 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 Layer2

Kim Milosevich: Do Layer2 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. Before joining Aztec, I worked on another Layer1 project and have been continuously thinking about this issue recently—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 Layer2 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 Layer2s are collectively strengthening the Ethereum network. This requires marketing to balance a 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 using ETH for gas fees, which demonstrates a symbiotic relationship with Ethereum more than any slogan ever could.

Kim Milosevich: Is the rise of the Layer2 ecosystem reshaping developers' perceptions of Ethereum's value?

Claire Kart: When evaluating Layer2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation. Well-funded projects like BASE, under Coinbase, can leverage the resources of a publicly traded company to build an independent ecosystem brand. In contrast, resource-constrained Layer2s need to deeply bind with Ethereum to leverage its industry credibility for a cold start. This resource-oriented marketing strategy choice essentially reflects the "Matthew Effect" in the crypto ecosystem—where the strong get stronger, and emerging projects must use leverage wisely.

IV. DevRel × Marketing: The Synergistic Engine Driving Ecosystem Growth

Kim Milosevich: How should community operations and developer relations (DevRel) strategically collaborate with marketing?

Claire Kart: I have practiced two team models: In the full-funnel marketing model, DevRel focuses on mid-to-late-stage conversion, serving developers who already understand the project and are ready to deploy. At Aztec, due to the high complexity of the product, DevRel is directly embedded in the product team. Although this allows for deep collaboration, it needs to solve two major pain points: ensuring consistent user positioning 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 first point of contact, 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. We have found that this type of content can effectively increase developer engagement, proving that the industry needs interactive ways to break down information barriers. This evolution requires DevRel to have stronger marketing thinking and execution capabilities.

Kim Milosevich: How should blockchain projects develop effective on-chain developer support strategies?

Claire Kart: The success of a developer ecosystem depends on building a closed loop of "product-economics-community." Taking the privacy field as an example, its professionalism naturally filters out target developers. During the cold start phase, a dual approach is needed: discovering commercial potential while tracking the progress of early developers, providing high-value support such as media exposure and strategic consulting at critical moments. Although this deep operation is difficult to scale, it is the key to building a project's moat.

Amanda Tyler: The essence of crypto marketing is ecosystem coordination. It is not only about discovering developer stories but also actively identifying needs and driving product iteration. The core is to help developers succeed through deep support: actively intervening on platforms like GitHub and Twitter to solve actual construction problems first, and then disseminating when the project is mature. This "empower first, speak later" closed-loop model is truly an effective path for ecosystem construction.

V. Coordinating the Ecosystem and Controlling Noise: From Token Launch to Brand Synergy in Systems Thinking

Kim Milosevich: How can we accurately identify effective feedback in the information-overloaded crypto community?

Amanda Tyler: To track the early adoption of new token standards, I take the following steps:

Analyze code repository clone records to identify a large number of new accounts.

Screen out real developers and communicate their usage needs directly through Twitter.

Synchronize the verification of technical documentation and relay user feedback directly to the product team.

The entire process reflects a "developer needs traceability" approach.

Kim Milosevich: How can we build a complete full-cycle management system for token launches?

Claire Kart: The core of token launches lies in balancing their dual nature. They are both marketing activities and financial products. The quality of the economic model design directly determines the fate of the project, and the project needs to choose between explosive or gradual approaches based on its characteristics. In terms of implementation, three keys are essential:

Engage deeply with economists on the value positioning of the token to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach;

Conduct in-depth research on the actual application scenarios and usage habits of different markets;

Establish a comprehensive post-launch management mechanism, including community sentiment management, team incentive mechanisms, and information disclosure norms.

Claire Kart: Tech marketers often work behind the scenes, which is effective in many cases. However, in the crypto industry, technical founders are often silent, causing the team to miss opportunities for exposure. In this nascent 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 building, 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 chat" becomes natural.

Claire Kart: When people choose a job, 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, you'll seriously consider it, even if it's a startup.

II. 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 think crypto is more like a form of personality cult. Take Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, for example. They have indeed invested a lot of effort in building their personal brands, writing books, and doing publicity. But the personality cult in the crypto space seems even stronger, and I can't quite explain why.

Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of the crypto space lies in its small size 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 well-defined subcultures, and newcomers can quickly identify target communities and key figures. In comparison, traditional fields like the one Zuckerberg is in have higher barriers to entry 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 we create differentiation and precisely attract our 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. Among the 28 million developers worldwide, less than 0.1% 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 the way growth is achieved. The core of the developer community is 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 promote the ecosystem's development.

We need to abandon the mindset of pursuing scale from the internet era 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 Layer2

Kim Milosevich: Do Layer2 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. Before joining Aztec, I worked on another Layer1 project and have been continuously thinking about this issue recently—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 Layer2 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 Layer2s are collectively strengthening the Ethereum network. This requires marketing to balance a 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 using ETH for gas fees, which demonstrates a symbiotic relationship with Ethereum more than any slogan ever could.

Kim Milosevich: Is the rise of the Layer2 ecosystem reshaping developers' perceptions of Ethereum's value?

Claire Kart: When evaluating Layer2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation. Well-funded projects like BASE, under Coinbase, can leverage the resources of a publicly traded company to build an independent ecosystem brand. In contrast, resource-constrained Layer2s need to deeply bind with Ethereum to leverage its industry credibility for a cold start. This resource-oriented marketing strategy choice essentially reflects the "Matthew Effect" in the crypto ecosystem—where the strong get stronger, and emerging projects must use leverage wisely.

IV. DevRel × Marketing: The Synergistic Engine Driving Ecosystem Growth

Kim Milosevich: How should community operations and developer relations (DevRel) strategically collaborate with marketing?

Claire Kart: I have practiced two team models: In the full-funnel marketing model, DevRel focuses on mid-to-late-stage conversion, serving developers who already understand the project and are ready to deploy. At Aztec, due to the high complexity of the product, DevRel is directly embedded in the product team. Although this allows for deep collaboration, it needs to solve two major pain points: ensuring consistent user positioning 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 first point of contact, 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. We have found that this type of content can effectively increase developer engagement, proving that the industry needs interactive ways to break down information barriers. This evolution requires DevRel to have stronger marketing thinking and execution capabilities.

Kim Milosevich: How should blockchain projects develop effective on-chain developer support strategies?

Claire Kart: The success of a developer ecosystem depends on building a closed loop of "product-economics-community." Taking the privacy field as an example, its professionalism naturally filters out target developers. During the cold start phase, a dual approach is needed: discovering commercial potential while tracking the progress of early developers, providing high-value support such as media exposure and strategic consulting at critical moments. Although this deep operation is difficult to scale, it is the key to building a project's moat.

Amanda Tyler: The essence of crypto marketing is ecosystem coordination. It is not only about discovering developer stories but also actively identifying needs and driving product iteration. The core is to help developers succeed through deep support: actively intervening on platforms like GitHub and Twitter to solve actual construction problems first, and then disseminating when the project is mature. This "empower first, speak later" closed-loop model is truly an effective path for ecosystem construction.

V. Coordinating the Ecosystem and Controlling Noise: From Token Launch to Brand Synergy in Systems Thinking

Kim Milosevich: How can we accurately identify effective feedback in the information-overloaded crypto community?

Amanda Tyler: To track the early adoption of new token standards, I take the following steps:

Analyze code repository clone records to identify a large number of new accounts.

Screen out real developers and communicate their usage needs directly through Twitter.

Synchronize the verification of technical documentation and relay user feedback directly to the product team.

The entire process reflects a "developer needs traceability" approach.

Kim Milosevich: How can we build a complete full-cycle management system for token launches?

Claire Kart: The core of token launches lies in balancing their dual nature. They are both marketing activities and financial products. The quality of the economic model design directly determines the fate of the project, and the project needs to choose between explosive or gradual approaches based on its characteristics. In terms of implementation, three keys are essential:

Engage deeply with economists on the value positioning of the token to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach;

Conduct in-depth research on the actual application scenarios and usage habits of different markets;

Establish a comprehensive post-launch management mechanism, including community sentiment management, team incentive mechanisms, and information disclosure norms.