Over my last 7 years in crypto, I've helped numerous protocols and web3 projects with initial traction/go-to-market and helped achieve product-market fit/scale new network effects. I've seen firsthand how impactful marketing can be for early-stage web3 projects trying to create flywheels. Early-stage founders also need more understanding of core personas, user mapping, and journeys. Often, crypto projects have to deal with 10 or more different personas – from developers, end-users, token community, validators, governance participants, etc. Founders tend to underestimate these skills while focusing on tech. Similarly, crypto investors rarely offer hands-on marketing support to teams since it's not their expertise.

This leaves a huge gap where promising ideas fail to get traction or things fall flat after a year or two of running the show. My journey has equipped me to help bridge this gap with founders of early-stage startups even before I joined web3. 

By fusing marketing knowledge with an investment mindset, I can get into deals unattainable to other investors while adding value.

Investing in SGV is also a natural fit with my interests as an active user of crypto networks/end-user applications and observer of where consumer social is heading. I've had a lifelong passion for experimenting with emerging social platforms before discovering crypto. Going back years and years, I was an early adopter of networks like Orkut, MySpace, SecondLife, Twitter, Vine, Facebook, Path, Gowalla, Foursquare, ProductHunt, Instagram, TikTok, and more. 

On the crypto side, I avidly use Farcaster/Warpcast, Lens, Zora, ENS, Interface, 0xppl, Mirror, Sound, IYK, and more, emerging daily across various protocols.

Emergence of Farcaster Frames

Farcaster’s Frames is disrupting and reshaping the approach to building consumer crypto apps by enabling the builder to build embedded applications within Farcaster. 

Since its launch on Friday, Jan 26th (aka Frame Friday), numerous Frames, i.e. micro-interactions, have gone viral on Farcaster. (on its Warpcast client)

The launch of Frames has mobilized dormant builder energy across the crypto ecosystem. 

My very first frame was courtesy Paragraph for people to subscribe to my onchain newsletter.

Farcaster

Pratik 🎩 on Warpcast

Huge thank you to @farcaster Frames (the team - @dwr.eth and @v), now you can subscribe to my onchain newsletter right here! 💌 💌 💌 https://0xpratik.com/

Investing in the Fabric of Social

                  [Via: The rise of web3 social by Albiverse] 

Given what drives user adoption and retention, SGV believes infrastructure has received disproportionate funding and attention thus far, while the application layer enabling social experiences remains overlooked. While money pours predominantly into L1s and L2s, we see massive potential in teams building the middleware tools, gaming integrations, identity frameworks, and other consumer fabric upon which the next generation of onchain social applications will run.

SGV aims to support startups designing with status in mind, facilitating portable reputation, visible social proof, and user-generated content incentives that retain communities. History shows networks taking this into account tend to outlast those focused narrowly on functional utility. The application layer and middleware tools enabling consumer experiences should be more appreciated. Just as picks-and-shovel companies unlocked value during the gold rush before mainstream adoption, Web3 social infrastructure is now coming online, or, to be precise, onchain.

Investment Direction

SGV plans to fund two layers of the stack:

Onchain Social Applications

Innovations across gaming, content sharing, events, communities, and consumer use cases.

Onchain Social Middleware

Picks and shovels like APIs, analytics, authentication, algorithms, and other tools that make building Web3/onchain social experiences easier. 

The Future of Onchain Social

Hype often starts slowly before hitting an inflection point. I believe onchain social will follow a similar path - infrastructure first, killer apps second, and mainstream adoption later. With Ethereum and the broader EVM ecosystem scaling and consumer understanding growing, the landscape looks ripe for new ideas to take flight. We're also seeing promising developments like ERC-6551, which allows NFT profiles to own assets and interact across web3 without changes needed by developers. ERC-6551 has already been widely implemented, notably by Lens Protocol on Polygon, and could further accelerate adoption in the ecosystem. 

Getting in early with Social Graph Ventures allows me to help that future while benefiting if the thesis proves correct. Though there are considerable risks,

I'm eager to play a small role in what could become a consumer movement as meaningful as past internet revolutions. The building blocks now exist; it's time for creators and builders to grab hold and assemble.

Web3 will enable entirely new social experience categories grounded in user ownership, control, and agency -- not exploitation. We're still extremely early, but the potential for more transparent and equitable digital interaction models feels boundless!

I look forward to how we can reshape social connectivity and community participation on the internet into something more transparent, equitable, user-owned, and onchain.

If you're building a crypto consumer/ web3/ onchain social product, I'd love to hear about it! Feel free to reach out to exchange ideas or say gm! My DMs are always open to connect.

Follow SGV on X OR join our public group on Telegram.

Big thanks my friends for reviewing this draft and sharing valuable feedback: Neeraj Thakur, Jakub Rusiecki, Jennifer Kim Tran, Niall Yorke, Gajesh Naik, Siddharth Jain, Kunal Gandhi, and Gaurang Desai. 🙏

There are playbooks around and set processes some follow, but we must remember that web3 is still super dynamic. The projects consistently evolve. With that, marketing to devs becomes uniquely challenging. Unlike mainstream (or end) users susceptible to hype, devs prioritize functionality over flashy promises. Devs often possess deep technical expertise, making it even more complex to do any marketing. 

The open nature of web3 means there is no unified tech stack. As this developer overview map (from Maria Shen x Electric Capital's 2023 Developer Report) shows, most devs piece together components multi-chain, i.e, across protocols, languages, libraries, and toolsets:

Electric Capital Developer Report 2023

Electric Capital Developer Report 2023 - Multi-chain developers build for more than one chain

https://www.developerreport.com

Web3 devs use diverse technical tool sets in the multi-chain environment, but their focus areas vary, whether building for DeFi, NFTs, LSTs, GameFi, Onchain Social, Storage, or more verticals. 

Below, I explore key reasons marketing web3 dev infrastructure is tremendously tricky, but can work in your favor if you do things right.

1. All problems are messaging problems (and the quick pace in crypto just makes it more difficult)

I firmly believe what Shreyas says about messaging that all problems are messaging problems. This particularly rings true in dev marketing, where communicating complex technical concepts and selling the value prop often prove difficult—failing to grasp devs' specialized needs through messaging risks any initial traction. 

Conversely, new frameworks, governance proposals, paradigms, and tools constantly emerge in web3, invariably leading to outdated marketing campaigns. The sheer volume of new languages, APIs, SDKs, RPCs, and infrastructure to track makes positioning difficult.

2. Developers Care About Building, Not Hype

Web3 devs don't care about the new integration/feature you just launched! 🤷

They care about building apps, not empty marketing promises. They make calculated, practical choices based on resources -- documentation, capabilities, and proven utility. 

Generic messaging and hype fall entirely flat with this audience.

You might get some initial traction from hackathon bounties or prizes, but it immediately fizzles out once the incentives dry out.

3. Highly Technical Target Audience Requires Specialization

Electric Capital Developer Report 2023

Electric Capital Developer Report 2023 - 22,411 monthly active open-source developers contribute to crypto

https://www.developerreport.com

Open-source generally means the devs are pretty hands-on and hardcore -- they appreciate high technical standards.  Communicating complex cryptographic concepts effectively is table stakes.

Grasping developers' attention requires demonstrating deep specialization in certain concepts.

It could be from zk-proofs to L2 scaling, account abstraction, consensus protocols, and mechanism design. 

Marketing must match devs' rigorous technical standards OR at least sit with a few of them (whom you can access) to break down the concepts in your own way.

4. Developers Value Anonymity   

Anonymity is sacred for many web3 devs.

As a result, typical marketing levers like advertising, promotional campaigns have limited applicability.

You could still target specific communities where they exist, but inorganic outreach is nearly impossible. 

5. High Attrition During Onboarding  

The game is about being relentlessly resourceful! (h/t: OG PG!)

More so in the case of web3 devs.

The resourcefulness needs to be aligned with developer goals. A long learning curve can cause devs to drop off during onboarding itself. I have seen this time and time again.

• Do devs have tools? ⚒

• Can they share feedback? 🔄

• Do they have access to all the libraries?

• Do they have suitable templates to kickstart?

• Do they have access to the proper documentation?

• Do they have the basic infrastructure to reach MVP quickly?

Answer these questions honestly, and you will be golden!

6. Developer Funnel Optimization

Building an efficient developer acquisition funnel is paramount. This starts with understanding the devs' needs and pain. Addressing these concerns through funnel messaging boosts conversion rates.

Dave McClure of 500 Startups came up with Pirate Metrics 17 years ago. I still use it, adding modifiers wherever I can.

Here's what I came up for web3 developer acquisition:

In the acquisition stage, devs are attracted through initial touchpoints through either video content, blog posts, an X thread, or a Reddit AMA, drawing them to the website/ engaging them in dev-centric events like hackathons. Community onboarding further involves newcomers joining Discord servers or Gitter Communities, Telegram channels, attending workshops or webinars and interactive tutorials.

The activation phase hinges on providing robust Q&A and development support through dedicated channels like Discord, Governance Forums, or Slack, alongside simplifying access to APIs and SDKs via direct application interfaces and developer portals. 

To ensure retention, ongoing engagement is critical through technical community calls, newsletters, community events, and personalized outreach, especially for developers actively using the API/SDKs and building MVPs. This stage is critical for monitoring onchain developer usage patterns and supporting active developers.

The referral stage leverages a structured referral program, offering incentives for developers to bring in their peers, and focuses on maximizing Average Revenue Per Developer, modified from ARPU, through onchain pricing models or network fees if it is a protocol for certain premium features, ensuring a sustainable revenue model for the protocol and a thriving developer community.

In 2018, when I joined Near Protocol, I was involved in the genesis of the Whiteboard Series with Near, alongside Alex, Illia, and Sasha.

WBS is a series of technical deep dive sessions with top L1s and L2s in the ecosystem. When we started this, we aimed to bring all the L1s together, as there wasn't substantial technical content on the core infrastructure design of these protocols. That was the opportunity. I was responsible for everything behind the scenes, marketing and distribution. We did whiteboard sessions predominantly in Near's SOMA office in SF, and some of them were also shot at premier events like ETH Denver 2019 and Consensus 2019.

I was there at Near until Episode 25. They have continued pushing these. (currently at #52) 

Though the views won't tell you the story, it is the perfect example of -- being the top acquisition channel for a highly technical developer audience.

Today, the Whiteboard Series with Near has become industry defining content, with people mentioning it in conversations to date.

pratik 🦇🔊

@0xpratik

this is where it all started

it’s still the first result when someone types ‘whiteboard series’ on google

@AliaksandrH

#genesis

tuba 🦈

@0xtuba

near protocol's whiteboard series on youtube is actually one of the best educational material on blockchain consensus in practice

16

9:33 PM • Sep 16, 2022

Anish Agnihotri

@_anishagnihotri

The single best technical resource I’ve come across in crypto is the NEAR whiteboard series.

Get the best minds into a room for an hour to explain their protocols on a whiteboard.

youtube.com

Whiteboard Series with NEAR | Technical Deep Dive Sessions

The Whiteboard Series with NEAR is a set of video interviews with the Web3 founders solving some of blockchain's biggest challenges. They are technical deep ...

230

5:42 PM • Jan 25, 2024

Joe || DevHub | ShardDog | Ready Layer One

@joespano_

100% this...NEAR has been about crypto collaboration. The rhetoric has never been about killing anything, see the whiteboard series on YouTube. Even Solana's co-founder has cited the NEAR team as helping in the early days. Building in crypto shouldn't be a zero sum game.

chronear

@chronear

No one from NEAR ever proclaimed NEAR to be "ETH-killer", these labels were mostly popularised by insecure maxis; everyone I know has massive respect for ETH, which is why we've implemented account abstraction, human readable names, smart contract wallets, sharding, Aurora, etc.

49

9:17 AM • Mar 1, 2023

7. Grassroots Community Building   

Community is the ultimate moat in web3.

Successful projects selflessly build environments for builders to collaborate. Developer retention improves significantly with communal support during testing/troubleshooting. 

This begins with having the right ‘Dev Community GTM’ in place. 

Here is how you can go about it:

Building a high-impact developer community via:

1. Running/ sponsoring Hackathons at key dev events

   ETHGlobal, ETHDenver, SFDeveloperWeek, and others.

2. Focusing on dev-dense cities/countries 

   Top-tier dev cities worldwide: Bangalore, Beijing, Singapore, Kyiv, Lisbon, Tokyo, Guangzhou, Hyderabad, Berlin, Tel Aviv, SF, Denver, NYC, Austin, LA, Seattle, and Toronto.

   Electric Capital Developer Report 2023

   Electric Capital Developer Report 2023 - There are several hubs of crypto developer activity worldwide

   https://www.developerreport.com

   

3. Ramp up ( partner) with dev-focused bootcamps

   There are many. Encode Club, Alchemy University, ConsenSys Academy, and others.

I also highly recommend reading Nader's post on building high impact developer communities, which covers everything from 0 to 1 to 10 for developer community building.

Building High Impact Developer Communities

A GUIDE TO GROWING DEVELOPER ECOSYSTEMS

https://nader.substack.com

8. Establishing Deep KOL (Tech/DevRel) Relationships

Key Opinion Leaders provide invaluable perspectives into the Developer Experience challenges facing projects. KOL partnerships lend credibility and reduce friction during critical onboarding phases.

There are a bunch of outstanding DevRel engineers on X. For instance, I found this list curated by Angel Jones, which could be a starting point for projects to reach out to DevRels with specific needs.  The critical point to remember here is to be genuine and think about adding value to their community and then aligning your goals with their objectives.

9. Meeting Developers Where They Are

Being active on dev-centric platforms helps.

A specific tactic here is seeding answers ( potentially questions) on platforms like StackOverflow, Reddit, and Quora. Some of them are also onchain, on Farcaster. First, I'd list all the communities/channels and specific questions asked and then strategize how to be a part of the conversation.

You can explore more creative ways to engage based on what's current to you -- say you're launching an NFT feature, a DEX upgrade, or an onchain leaderboard.

Establishing a presence on these platforms requires you to deploy different content strategies against what you would do on general and established social channels. What works as mostly broadcasts on Twitter and Discord might not work in specific high-networked communities.

It is an iterative process, and navigation depends on consistency. 

10. Finally, TRUST!

Outreach of any kind is a hard no for developers, but it all comes down to one word: TRUST!

Once you win their trust or have a hold on them, I would find ways to get their attention to create a soft feedback loop.

Once they are in your closed group, inviting them to write guest posts, podcast interviews, and AMAs becomes super easy. The more developers are exposed, the more trust they instill in you.

In conclusion, web3 developer marketing requires deep empathy, technical understanding, and tailored messaging catering to developers' values.

Projects willing to invest and conquer these challenges gain access to the world’s most talented builders.

I'm still learning, but I am also curious to hear what other obstacles you think make marketing to web3 developers uniquely tricky and how you've tried overcoming them.

Feel free to reach out to me on X. (DMs are always open)