I had worked with numerous Blockchain startups for the last 3 years. It all started from China where I helped overseas projects to explore the local opportunities and then, later, grew into a decentralised consulting ecosystem that works with projects from all over the world.

I started being involved in much larger number of startups that wanted to build and grow their business in different markets like China, South Korea, Europe, the US, the UK, Africa, etc. They also had completely different needs: business modelling, unique selling point definition, strategy building, fundraising, and marketing.

My goal is always to determine each project’s weaknesses as early as possible to fight with such and make their business more resilient. Despite each startup being a unique case and learning opportunity, I couldn’t help noticing some common mistakes. Thus, I though sharing some business strategy ABCs might be quite helpful for many blockchain startups.

Chasing the Trend, Not the Business

Blockchain is evolving extremely fast and every year we go through some new and hot trends. This year it’s NFT, for example. I know many founders try to jump into this overheated “boat” and seize such a lucrative opportunity as fast as possible. However, we all know there are frontrunners and latecomers.

During such hypes, we, obviously, get a lot of requests from potential clients asking us to help them build something in this overheated environment. What we do ask first is “why are you building this business?” And that comes to the first “A” from the “ABCs” of launching a startup: PURPOSE.

PURPOSE: Why are you building this project?

I always ask people to be honest with me and, firstly, with themselves. If they want a quick earning, it’s fine, but it’s a quick earning, not building a business. I’m personally not the kind who likes quick money, I prefer growing something with a long-term vision. There’re of course exceptions, such are short-term projects, events, non-profit activities and charity programs. Even with NFT we’re currently doing a few short-term oriented projects but that have some long-term impact. It’s absolutely necessary to understand why are you building this business. Otherwise, you’re out there with no vision, with no goal.

I always say to founders to think & plan long-term. You need a clear vision on where you’re heading to, what you’re trying to achieve with your project. Remember that silly question that people ask you “where do you see yourself in 5/10/15 years?” That’s the one! You need to have the answer to this question.

However, when I say that you need to think & plan long-term, I also say act short-term. Trends are appearing all the time, market is changing as well, your target audience might be slightly changing their mind. So many different short-term factors that can boost your business as well as kill your business. Without acting short-term, you can’t seize the opportunities that are bing opened to you daily. Be active and driven.

FAS 5W/6W

Earlier I introduced a simple methodology to do a strategy checklist for your business and called it 5W as it has 5 simple questions all starting from W. This time I thought that one part was always missing and decided to upgrade it to 6W.

1st W: What is your product/service?

Your product shall respond to and solve a real and urgent problem that exists on the market. Really solves, meaning that you have some evidence (e.g. reviews, people lining up for your solution, research, etc).

This product/service should have unique features and offers that are different from your competitors, something that makes you to stand out.

Your solution’s message should also be clear to your target audience, they need to really understand what you’re offering. Otherwise how would they buy something they don’t understand, right?

Are you planning to earn money? Most likely yes, if you’re a for-profit business. Thus, it’s important to have a well-defined revenue model. Your potential investors will ask you about it one of the first things. If you’re a non-profit business then you would need to thing about self-funding or donations mechanisms that will help you to sustain and grow your non-profit business.

2d W: Who are you offering it to?

In other words, who will benefit from your product/service ?As I was keep mentioning these words “Target Audience”, it’s needed to give more explanation here.

In order to sell something you need to understand the buyer. Who this person/business is and how to communicate with him/her. Behind each business there will be also a decision-making person who you would need to talk to if you are in a B2B segment. So what are the steps?

You build target audience profiles (e.g. “pre-MVP startups”, “MVP-stage startups”, “row-idea stage startups”) and under such categories defining decision makers. If you’re in B2C, it’s easier, you have individual decision-makers groups (e.g. “individual lecturers”, “podcasters”, “influencers beginners”)

Then you go through the following checklist (if B2B from both perspectives individual decision-maker under the target business segment and the business itself):

Demographics (location, age, gender (people))
Preferences (likes/dislikes)
Behaviour (what activities they participate in, what devices they use, where spend their time, etc)
Painpoints (define what they are suffering with)
Urgent needs (what do they need to solve quickly)

3. Once you defined and described your TA profiles, you should have a clear understanding on who are you talking with. It will be easier to formulate and address a clear message to the TA that they will understand and appreciate as well as actually build a solution that solves the problem that they have.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP) / Unique Selling Point(USP)

While addressing the needs of your TA, you need to think about what you actually offer to them so unique that they would choose you over the competitors. Ask yourself, what makes you special?

Defining a UVP is an individual process and there’s no certain answer on how to do it. Although I have my methods that usually help projects to find and define their UVP.

First of all, I recommend on analysing all your competitors, both direct and indirect, see what they have on their plate. Compare their positionings, visions, offers, their public messages and activities that they perform. See what can bring you a spotlight among all these market participants.

UVP isn’t always about technology or core product, it can also be about your target market or specific niche that you choose, UX that might be much more intuitive than your competitors have. You might begin talking casually to your TA while others keep up a more professional communication. There are many ways to differentiate yourself, it might challenging, but absolutely necessary.

3d W: Where are you operating?

After you settled your TA, it needed to choose where to launch your business. I always say that there should be a few conditions met for you to think that the market is the right choice.

You’re located in this country
You know this market very well
You have good connections there
You have a strong partner(s) there
You speak the language
absolute must: your TA lives there

You don’t need to meet all these criteria, but at least a few from the list would be a must.

4th W: When are you launching?

We know that the right timing is one of the basics for a startup to succeed. But what is this right timing?

Defining whether the time is right:

Does your TA need your solution NOW?
Do they need it URGENT?

Defining whether your project has a long-term value:

Will they use it in FUTURE?
HOW LONG will they use it for?

Answer these 4 simple questions and see if the timing is right and if your TA is ready to purchase what you’re offering. Long-term value is also a crucial variable in this equation as it shows how much money and for how long you can earn from each customer. Having a lower customer acquisition cost together with a higher customer long-term value would be an ideal case for your business.

5th W: Which channels will you use

There can be multiple channels that you can use to grow your business:

Partnerships
Social media
Events
Communities
WOM
Other

The main rule to remember here is that your TA should actually use these channels.

6th W: What resources do you need?

First thing that you need to do is to learn how to prioritise resources that you need for your business. We always say resources are scarce and thus you need to make sure that you take a maximum out of them.

When I was starting FAS | Fintech Advisory Services without any funds and budget (it was also a kind of personal challenge to grow business with 0 funds), I knew that our major resources are people and we need to get them. While office, for example, never was and never will be a priority. We are believers of decentralised and remote working environment who feel unfair to charge SMEs (that we’re working with) for our fancy office. Thus we went with a no-office approach that we remain now as well.

You need to see what are those resources that will boost your business with less efforts. These can be people, connections / network, funds, equipment, technology, office / venue, and other categories. Concentrating on the ones that matter will save you a lot of time and make your business operate efficiently.

Ready? Go! — Test Launch

After you settled all your preliminary business operations and strategies, it’s time to start trying. Do a test launch with your first MVP, see what your TA thinks about it. You can find a brief on Market Validation in my article on How to Find a Market Fit for Your Startup? And I will talk in short about validation, user retention, conversion, and pivoting in my next article.

Conclusion

Remembering and paying attention to your project’s fundamentals can make many business processes smoother. We are all so busy when we start a company and keep forgetting about such basics that will define future success of your business. That was one of the reasons why I thought of 5W/6W approach at first. It is a very simple methodology to keep vital business startegy parts defined and build an initial base for your entrepreneur journey.

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ABCs for Launching Your Blockchain Startup Smoothly