Quick facts about me:
Business guy with tech affinity
2 years in Venture Capital
1 1/2 years in Crypto
Looking for any commercial role ranging from product marketing to growth to partnerships
So, I'm currently ending my tenure at a crypto identity startup and am actively looking for a new project to join. I want to continue working fully-remote, salary expectation is ±$100k total (base, commission, token etc.), and I won't join if I don't believe in the potential of the project.
Updated & presentable CV
Lots of on-chain activity and preferably Twitter / Farcaster following
Semi-weekly outreach to new projects
Tracking everything in a Notion page
ALWAYS trying to get intro's instead of just applying
Over-prepare for interviews
1) The CV:
You don't have too much wiggle room with your CV since it's based on actual experiences but you definitely can and have to make it very professional and you have the chance to highlight what you want a recruiter to see.
If you're searching for a creative role e.g. UX or Design, you will have to step it up.
The same can be true for someone applying in a very Degen space - a standard CV like mine won't impress.
Check for comparison or inspiration mine HERE.
What I wanted to highlight:
Venture Capital Experience
Crypto Experience
Prior Remote Work
Tech Affinity
2) On-Chain Activity & Following:
This one isn't easy.
I am personally just very interested in dApps and in particular DeFi, so it isn't too difficult for me to have lots of activity on my wallet that I can show. If you just haven't found the crypto application for you yet, don't worry and move on. This is not a dealbreaker, just a plus that I wanted to focus on.
I hate posting stuff and thus don't have a following outside of LinkedIn, which isn't very relevant for crypto. If you have the affinity for this, please give it a serious shot and especially on Farcaster, there is still lots of potential to find your niche where you can be a voice that is heard. Many application forms will ask for your Twitter account and it is a bit embarrassing to share mine with no profile pic, followers or activity. But hey, a day has 24 hours and it's just not what I enjoy. Big Bonus if you do, and in that case you should definitely highlight it.
"If you want to avoid criticism, create less.
If you want to avoid irrelevance, create more."
3), 4) and 5) The Outreach
I keep multiple blockers in my calendar that I dedicated for sending out applications and the process was pretty straight forward.
Check the latest listings: Web3 Career and Cryptocurrency Jobs were my Go To's
Screen what interests me: well-funded ecosystems, pref in the Privacy space
Check if I know someone well enough for a warm intro: fortunately I spent lots of time in 2023 at crypto conferences and it helps a lot!
Send out the application with my tested messages: every time I send out an application I copy-paste the included messages to Notion and then reuse and finetune.
Document and review database: my Notion page is a standard database with the fields Name - Position - Status - Why? - Why not? - Link
Note: Many projects will just never answer, so don't waste too much time on follow-ups.
6) Interview Preparation 🎉
Best case, you already did significant research while filling out the application to write a very custom cover letter / message, but realistically, this takes a lot of time and I copy-pasted a lot. If you're more diligent than me, congrats, you can reuse lots of that collected info for the interview prep!
This part is actually the most fun IMO. You found a project you really want to be part of and they invited you to a call to check out if you're a fit. The first call will generally be with an HR person / recruiter and thus won't go into too much detail. Main topics are the following:
Please lead me through your CV (this usually includes the reason you're looking for something new)
What do you know about us?
What are your weaknesses?
What do you NOT like to do?
What was the biggest achievement during your last job?
The first call is very similar across projects and it's mainly the recruiter checking if colleagues will like you (Hint: Smile) and that you're not some imposter with an exaggerated CV.
After that, it gets real and you need to really dig in! You should most definitely aim to over-prepare and show that you want to be part of the project. Few commercial people do that much prep and hence it's an easy but impressive way to stand out! I don't have the magic bullet for this but check their latest developments via Twitter, understand the team structure, read through their documentation, ask unanswered questions on their Discord/Telegram and really be clear about the value that you can add.
Bonus: here are some cool other things that you can do:
If you know which project you want to join, then be vocal about it on socials! I know more than a handful of people that were hired because they advocated for a project on Twitter. Keep your DM's open and be active!
Not sure which project is good and has funding? Go to the portfolio pages of great crypto VCs and often times they already have a careers page summarizing the open positions of their portfolio startups e.g. a16z crypto.
Similar to VCs, Accelerators & Incubators love to help their founders find young talent and thus often have a job board or match-making platforms like the one from Alliance.
Found your dream project but they don't have the right job listed? Do a cold outreach! Find their founders / right team members on socials or try your luck with a careers@projectdomain email address.
