a16z Crypto Marketing Guide: What Founders Should Do from 0 to 100?

Author: a16z

Compiled by: lenaxin, ChainCatcher

Editor's Note:

This article is compiled from the "Web3 Frontier" program produced by a16z, focusing on the marketing differences between the crypto space and traditional tech industries. This article is for informational sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice. Readers are advised to strictly comply with the laws and regulations of their respective locations.

The guests of the program include: Amanda Tyler, Claire Kart, Kim Milosevich. They will deeply explore practical experiences in reputation building, developer community operations, talent recruitment, token issuance, and founder image shaping, and share effective methods and common pitfalls.

TL&DR

• The biggest challenge in cryptocurrency marketing is the extremely small target audience.
• The uniqueness of the crypto circle lies in its small scale and low threshold.
• The essence of cryptocurrency marketing is ecological coordination.
• The core of the cryptocurrency industry activity strategy is precise positioning.
• Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth methods, with the core of the developer community being precise value resonance.
• To build an influential brand in the crypto space, it is essential to establish a deep connection with the founders.
• When assessing Layer2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation.
• Developer relations (DevRel) should be deeply integrated into the marketing system.
• The success of the developer ecosystem depends on building a closed loop of "product-economy-community."
• The core of token issuance lies in balancing its dual attributes, being both a marketing activity and a financial product.
• The core of community operation strategy is to clarify the types of targets for long-term resource investment.
• Advice for founders: shape the image of a domain expert rather than a product salesperson.
• For projects that require community co-construction, marketing intervention can occur earlier.
• Marketing team building should follow the dual standard of "generalist foundation + vertical specialization."
• High-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from founders or teams.

1. Step into the Spotlight: The Brand Leverage of Crypto Founders

Kim Milosevich: As the head of marketing and communications, 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 industry, technical founders tend to be silent, leading the team to miss exposure opportunities. In this early-stage industry, finding the right talent is like finding a needle in a haystack. Therefore, I choose to step into the spotlight; the crypto space relies heavily on marketing and community, and users want to hear executives speak.

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

Amanda Tyler: Building personal IP on Twitter has significantly improved my recruitment efficiency; this direct way of establishing trust is particularly suitable for early-stage startups. When candidates resonate with your values and experiences, a simple "let's chat" comes naturally.

Claire Kart: People prioritize the colleagues they will work with over the company itself when choosing a job. While corporate vision and job content are important, the ultimate deciding factor is often the team. They may be indifferent to offers from unfamiliar companies, but if it's a recommendation from a friend, they will seriously consider even a startup.

2. The Uniqueness and Basic Logic of Crypto Marketing

Kim Milosevich: Is this a phenomenon unique to the crypto industry, or is it 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 personal worship. For example, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg invest a lot of energy in building personal IP, writing books, promoting, etc. But the personal worship in the cryptocurrency field seems even more pronounced, though I can't quite explain why.

Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of the crypto circle lies in its small scale and low threshold. For instance, in my twenties, I accumulated a large number of Instagram followers through a parenting blog, but after transitioning to the crypto field, I immediately felt the "big fish in a small pond" effect; it's much easier to establish influence here.

This field consists of several clearly defined subcultures, allowing newcomers to quickly identify target communities and key figures. In contrast, traditional fields, like the one Zuckerberg is in, 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 party, how should we create differentiation and accurately attract the target audience?

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

· Technology: Solving practical problems like composability in the Rollup ecosystem.

· Economy: Exploring sustainable revenue models for public product development.

· Value: Creating a unique value proposition that is attractive to developers.

Claire Kart: Crypto marketing needs to redefine growth methods, 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 technical utopia where developers can find career value and spiritual belonging. Once achieved, they will spontaneously drive ecosystem development.

We need to abandon the internet era's scale-driven mindset and adhere to "depth first": understanding each core developer's technical preferences, even their pet names, and perfecting the experience of the top 10 users. Technical idealism itself is the best medium for communication. In this field, the power of 100 deeply engaged participants far outweighs that of 10,000 shallow users; real growth comes from these seemingly non-scalable deep connections.

3. Growing Under Ethereum's Shadow: Positioning and Strategic Trade-offs of Layer2

Kim Milosevich: Do Layer2 projects need to deeply bind with Ethereum community culture to achieve effective marketing?

Claire Kart: Amanda has more experience in operating within the Ethereum ecosystem. Before joining Aztec, I worked on another Layer1 project, and I have been continuously pondering this question—Ethereum community sentiment fluctuates like the tide, sometimes filled with the belief of changing the world, and sometimes mired in doubt due to foundation decisions. As a Layer2 project, we are still exploring the best balance of leveraging Ethereum community momentum.

Amanda Tyler: The Rollup ecosystem is an extension of Ethereum culture, and its open nature has given rise to a unique "co-opetition ecosystem"—all Layer2s are growing the Ethereum network together. This requires marketing to balance dual positioning: highlighting commercial value while emphasizing the core mission of expanding Ethereum. The most effective proof is technical binding, such as defaulting to using ETH for gas fees, which demonstrates the symbiotic relationship with Ethereum better than any slogan.

Kim Milosevich: Is the rise of the Layer2 ecosystem reconstructing developers' perception of Ethereum's value?

Claire Kart: When assessing Layer2 strategies, resource endowment determines differentiation. Well-funded projects like BASE under Coinbase can independently build ecological brands using resources from publicly listed companies; whereas resource-limited Layer2s need to deeply bind with Ethereum to leverage its industry credibility for cold starts. This resource-oriented marketing strategy choice essentially reflects the "Matthew Effect" in the crypto ecosystem—stronger becomes stronger, while emerging projects must leverage effectively.

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

Kim Milosevich: How should community operations and developer relations (DevRel) form strategic synergy with marketing?

Claire Kart: I have practiced two team models: in a full-funnel marketing model, DevRel focuses on mid-to-late stage conversion, serving developers who are already familiar with the project and ready to deploy; while at Aztec, due to the high complexity of the product, DevRel is directly embedded in the product team. The latter allows for deep collaboration but needs to address two major pain points: ensuring user targeting consistency 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 primary touchpoint, needs to have a unified language style and conversion path. Currently, DevRel is evolving into a content creator role, addressing tool usage pain points through programming tutorial videos and other forms. Our practice has shown that this type of content can effectively enhance developer engagement, proving that the industry needs interactive ways to break down information barriers. This evolution requires DevRel to possess stronger marketing thinking and execution capabilities.

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

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

Amanda Tyler: The essence of cryptocurrency marketing is ecological coordination. It is essential to uncover developer stories while proactively 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 first solve practical building challenges, and then spreading the word once the project matures. This "empower first, voice later" closed-loop model is the truly effective path for ecosystem building.

5. Coordinating Ecology and Controlling Noise: Systematic Thinking from Token Issuance to Brand Synergy

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

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

· Analyze code repository clone records to discover a large number of newly created accounts;

· Filter out real developers and communicate directly through Twitter about usage needs;

· Synchronize and verify technical documentation, and relay user feedback directly to the product team;

The entire process reflects the "developer demand frontline tracing" working method.

Kim Milosevich: How to build a complete token issuance lifecycle management system?

Claire Kart: The core of token issuance lies in balancing its dual attributes. It is both a marketing activity and a financial product. The quality of the economic model design directly determines the fate of the project, requiring the selection of either explosive or gradual paths based on project characteristics. Implementation should focus on three key points:

· Engage deeply with economists to discuss the value positioning of the token, avoiding rigid application;

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

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

These challenges are essentially consistent with the governance requirements faced by publicly listed companies.

Kim Milosevich: How to build a full-cycle operational system for token issuance, ensuring a complete closed loop from economic model design to community governance?

Claire Kart: The core of community operation strategy is to clarify the types of targets for long-term resource investment. As you mentioned, there are now many bots and AI accounts, making it difficult to determine who is a real user actively speaking in the community. Therefore, it is essential to accurately target the audience:

· Cultivate highly aligned early supporters during the testnet phase;

· For PoS networks, node operators and validators (whether institutional or individual stakers) are key opinion leaders;

· Establish structured operational mechanisms, such as regular community conference calls.

The key is to collect market feedback widely while learning to filter out noise. If you try to respond to every online voice, you will only fall into the quagmire of ineffective information.

Kim Milosevich: What specific challenges does the separation of foundations and labs in the crypto industry pose for marketing teams? How to achieve brand synergy while maintaining organizational independence?

Amanda Tyler: In practice, I adopt differentiated communication strategies to handle this dual structure:

On the lab side: Cultivate technical leaders as communication channels, such as setting up certified accounts for product heads to publish technical progress (like custom gas token upgrades), and then re-disseminate through official accounts.

· On the foundation side: Focus on strategic communication at the brand level to shape industry perception.

· This approach maintains narrative independence for both while creating a synergistic effect in execution.

Claire Kart: This dual team structure has mixed benefits in practice. The advantage is that it can form strategic synergy with seasoned marketing talent within the ecosystem, such as discussing development goals during marketing summits at DevCon, maintaining ties with the technical team while sharing management pressure. However, the core pain point lies in resource redundancy; maintaining two sets of executive teams (GC/CFO/CMO) during market downturns can create significant financial burdens.

6. Brands Start with People: The Dual Layout of Founders' Influence and Marketing Resources

Kim Milosevich: How should founders professionally build their personal IP image?

Amanda Tyler: The core advice for founders is to shape the image of a domain expert rather than a product salesperson. Specific methods include:

· Discuss industry pain points based on professional insights rather than directly selling products;

· Build influence through professional knowledge publicly;

· Make good use of personal channels to convey in-depth viewpoints.

Take the founder of Optimism as an example; their speeches attract attention precisely because of their rarity and professionalism—they don’t speak often, but when they do, they provide valuable insights from a professional perspective. This restrained yet professional way of speaking is worth emulating.

Claire Kart: I suggest founders choose the most natural way to express themselves: those good at dialogue can do podcasts, those skilled in writing can write long articles, and those comfortable on camera can make videos. There’s no need to force forms they are not good at; for example, those who resist public speaking can avoid large venues. The key is to incorporate personal style into professional content—adding humor for fun, or unique expressions for creativity. Finding a relaxed yet professional way to output, combined with a communication strategy, yields the best results.

Kim Milosevich: How to help founders build personal IP within their comfort zone while planning a gradual growth path?

Claire Kart: For founders just starting to build personal influence, I recommend starting from the easiest entry point: focus on doing one thing well, mobilize the entire company's resources for support, and create a few iconic moments to accumulate momentum. This is far more effective than forcing founders to tweet 10 times a day. The key is to have something to say, say it well, and naturally open up the situation.

Kim Milosevich: Should founders completely hand over the core content of the company's narrative (mission/values/positioning) to the marketing team to build?

Claire Kart: My core positioning is to assist founders in conveying their core vision. Founders must lead the expression of the company's DNA and technical roadmap, which is key to obtaining investment. We provide professional support—from ghostwriting services to strategic discussions—but always insist that founders produce original content, while the team is responsible for optimizing the packaging. Because what truly moves the market is always the founder's genuine entrepreneurial intention, not overly packaged marketing rhetoric.

Amanda Tyler: To build an influential brand in the crypto space, it is essential to establish a deep connection with the founders. Only through one-on-one communication can we truly understand their core vision and entrepreneurial intentions, thereby injecting soul into the brand story. This is the foundation of successful marketing; there are no shortcuts.

Kim Milosevich: A key question about marketing resource allocation: when should a full-time marketing leader be recruited? When should consultants or agencies be brought in?

Amanda Tyler: The uniqueness of cryptocurrency marketing is that it often starts marketing concepts and visions before the product is mature. This stage requires continuous trial and error to find the most suitable communication methods.

My personal suggestion: the best time to kick off marketing is six months before the product launch. Promoting a non-existent product too early can lead to market skepticism, while delaying it misses opportunities. The key is to find the golden timing for storytellers and communicators based on understanding the product delivery cycle.

Claire Kart: For projects that require community co-construction, marketing intervention can happen earlier. For example, when running a decentralized testnet, even without a "formal product" or mainnet, it is necessary to attract node operators to participate.

I usually help founders clarify core needs:

· If the project requires continuous community operation (like weekly reviews, progress synchronization), a dedicated person may be needed to drive it;

· If it’s just a phased need, consultants or agencies may be more suitable.

The key is to distinguish between real needs and external pressures, as hiring out of anxiety often leads to poor results.

Amanda Tyler: In the crypto industry, collaborating with marketing agencies presents unique challenges. Due to the specialized knowledge required, a significant amount of time must be invested in training the other team's understanding of product characteristics—otherwise, it is difficult to produce effective results.

Claire Kart: Marketing agencies in the crypto industry mainly fall into two categories: comprehensive large companies and boutique teams in vertical fields. Professional marketers are better suited to work with boutique teams, which can produce high-quality results tailored to specific needs, especially when long-term collaboration is involved. However, founders face decision-making risks regardless of the choice due to a lack of industry experience.

7. Marketing Start-up Methods for Startups: From Agency Collaboration to Team Building

Kim Milosevich: How can founders lacking marketing experience effectively select and manage professional marketing agencies?

Claire Kart: Many founders have a cognitive bias: they believe that signing a marketing agency contract will solve all market problems.

Amanda Tyler: When collaborating with small boutique agencies, I summarize an efficient working model: provide them with clear boundaries and a well-defined narrative for small campaign briefs. This limited-scope commissioning method can avoid internal narrative confusion and ensure execution quality, making it my most advocated collaboration paradigm.

Kim Milosevich: As the first full-time marketing leader of a startup, how should one plan recruitment priorities when building a team? What core abilities should a marketing leader in a startup possess?

Claire Kart: When a startup team first recruits a marketing leader, my core principle is to only choose versatile talents I have previously worked with. Such candidates must meet three key conditions: deeply understand my working style, possess seamless collaboration abilities, and be willing to get hands-on (even the CMO needs to operate social media in the early stages). Practice has proven that this kind of familiar collaboration can quickly open up the situation—compared to the risk of using newcomers, the tacit cooperation with familiar comrades can better withstand the pressures of entrepreneurship and avoid team rhythm disruptions caused by improper hiring.

Kim Milosevich: How to balance professional depth and functional flexibility in early-stage startup team recruitment?

Amanda Tyler: Marketing team building should follow the dual standard of "generalist foundation + vertical specialization": each member should be capable of basic tasks like tweet writing, email formatting, and voice live streaming, while also possessing professional depth in specific vertical fields. This team structure, divided by field rather than function, has been validated in our practice to maximize the effectiveness of small teams. By not setting traditional job boundaries, each member can be both a generalist and a domain expert.

Kim Milosevich: When recruiting cryptocurrency talent, is it necessary to require an "industry-native" background?

Amanda Tyler: It depends on the specific project needs. For communication roles (like writing or PR), industry knowledge can be learned. We all started from scratch; no one is born understanding cryptocurrency. The key is to have a passion for continuous learning: I still maintain the habit of reading all industry updates daily. If I can do it, our communications manager can too.

Kim Milosevich: How to balance the professional background of technical talent with their adaptability to the cryptocurrency industry? How should cryptocurrency projects plan the timing and functional positioning for bringing in editorial talent?

Claire Kart: Recruitment in the crypto industry should return to the essence of the business. SaaS projects targeting developers can completely bring in mature marketing talent from traditional tech fields, such as experts in developer community operations. Rather than sticking to rigid indicators like "must have a crypto background," it is better to focus on the transferability of candidates' professional abilities. The rich SaaS talent resources in tech hubs like San Francisco can quickly supply proven marketing talent for crypto projects.

Amanda Tyler: Content creators and technical documentation engineers must work based on a clear strategic roadmap. Many companies only hire technical documentation personnel to translate product roadmaps, but these talents often lack the ability to integrate short-term goals into a six-month strategic vision.

Claire Kart: When considering hiring content creators, it is essential to think deeply about three levels: first, clarify the specific pain points that need to be addressed through writing in the current business; second, define the scope of job responsibilities, avoiding vague descriptions like "responsible for writing"; and most importantly, establish supporting collaboration mechanisms, as high-quality content creation requires continuous content support and feedback from founders or teams, and cannot be solved simply by hiring a writer.

Kim Milosevich: How to ensure that newly introduced content creators effectively play their roles in a decentralized team structure?

Claire Kart: When founders consider hiring full-time content creators, they first need to clarify the specific requirements for the initial deliverables. In reality, many such needs do not require establishing full-time positions. Founders often fall into two misconceptions: one is seeking agencies or full-time hires too early, and the other is overlooking the potential of existing resource networks. A more pragmatic approach is to prioritize project-based collaboration or temporary support solutions, especially when the need only involves a one-time content output; blindly hiring full-time personnel often leads to resource mismatch.

8. Grounding and Resonance: Integrated Communication from Local Operations to Community Culture

Kim Milosevich: How can cryptocurrency projects efficiently build global operational capabilities?

Claire Kart: The core of global operations in cryptocurrency lies in building local trust networks. When entering new markets, it is essential to introduce local partners through reliable channels—business customs vary significantly across countries: some regions are more accepting of long-term collaborations based on trust rather than American standardized contracts. A lack of local relationships can lead to cultural misjudgments and communication failures. The optimal path is to leverage existing resource networks for endorsements rather than cold-starting unfamiliar developers.

Amanda Tyler: We effectively identified and cultivated a group of highly active community members by establishing localized Discord channels. The specific operational model is: first, systematically train local members to master project documentation, gradually building a decentralized cultural communication network. This localized operation based on daily collaboration tools is essentially creating a new type of online relationship network, naturally nurturing community ecology through high-frequency interactions.

Claire Kart: Community operations need to discover and cultivate core supporters. When a project reaches an important development stage, those actively participating contributors can become effective talent sources. By incorporating them into formal systems through mechanisms like technical ambassadors or local event organizers, we can maintain community engagement while establishing initial market resources. When professional service providers need to be introduced, these foundational relationship networks can provide reference suggestions, reducing the difficulties of starting from scratch. The value of post-funding models lies in their pragmatic assessment methods.

Kim Milosevich: What is the strategic positioning and execution methodology for activities in the cryptocurrency industry?

Amanda Tyler: The core of activity strategy in the cryptocurrency industry is precise positioning. Large-scale events can help with brand exposure, but the return on investment is difficult to measure; in contrast, small high-end events can achieve business cooperation and key networking at a lower cost. Mature projects should focus on high-value participants, while emerging projects should avoid blindly exhibiting and instead create boutique events in vertical fields. Essentially, it is about pursuing quality rather than scale.

Claire Kart: Cryptocurrency activity strategies should grasp three key points:

· Plan in sync with the product roadmap, ensuring major releases and important activities complement each other;

· Standardize budget usage, avoiding simply using event funds for relationship maintenance; all sponsorships must align with clear ecological strategic directions;

· Focus on efficient activity formats, engaging core audiences through small closed-door meetings while hosting professional events like developer conferences.

Offline activities allow teams to directly observe developer feedback, identify potential users, and even discover regional communities, bringing opportunities for global expansion.

Kim Milosevich: How does cryptocurrency marketing balance technical professionalism with community entertainment expression?

Claire Kart: Cryptocurrency marketing needs to make good use of meme culture as a unique narrative tool. Memes can cleverly transform complex concepts while reinforcing community belonging. The key is to establish a balancing mechanism: core accounts maintain a professional tone while allowing operators reasonable creative space, which can enhance work enthusiasm and produce quality content. Memes should be an organic part of the overall communication strategy, testing and selecting expressions that resonate with the industry rather than using them sporadically.

Amanda Tyler: Our meme strategy maintains moderate participation: primarily supporting content dissemination for ecological projects while being relatively restrained in our own creations. In execution, we follow three principles: maintain a positive and constructive communication tone, avoid any negative mockery; uphold brand tone within the industry entertainment atmosphere; and track industry trends through internal meme sharing. This balanced approach allows us to integrate into community culture while effectively controlling communication risks.

Click to learn about job openings at ChainCatcher

Recommended Reading:

Comprehensively Penetrating Wall Street: How Block Utilizes S&P 500 Qualification to Drive Trillions of Capital into BTC

Brother Ma Ji, and Yi Nengjing Return, Is the NFT Market Entering a Deep Shift Period?