Starting your own cryptocurrency can be a daunting experience at first. In this article, we’re going to review the top three things you should keep in mind when starting your first project.
- Planning and organization save thousands
- Build a great product
- Understand your financials
Planning and Organization Saves Thousands
A common issue I’ve found with most founders is they leap immediately from idea to execution without proper planning. Planning is more than simply writing down the details–it’s identifying the specific actions that will move your project forward through all stakeholders that touch it as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
For example, have you thoroughly mapped out your product’s utilities and token flow? Have you reached out to developers to ask them what should be prepared in advance? Have you tested the financials and identified a budget?
For most founders, the answers to the above questions are usually no. One thought process that has served me well is that of an “internal” and “external” customer. For example, I treat all of my vendors and suppliers the same way as I do customers. Why? Because my success depends on them. When planning, if I view my suppliers as customers and it’s my job to set them up for success. In addition, this can be a very quick way of identifying bad suppliers. For example, if you gave them everything necessary to be successful and they still couldn’t do the job, what message does that send to you?
The organization is equally important in that the more organized and centralized your information, the more efficient your communications. Miscommunications drive delays in execution through time-consuming meetings, unexpected interruptions, rework, and more. Simply taking the time to document everything thoroughly and enable clear communication will save you an untold amount of time.
Build a Great Product
Before moving forward into development, take the time to first identify what problems your product is actually solving for users. This is critical from a standpoint of how people see value. For example, if you want a user to spend money on a specific utility, you have to show them why that utility will provide more value for them either immediately or in the future than the money in their pocket.
Building a great product ensures you have something very strong when you go to market. However, it’s easier said than done. Don’t skip a few critical steps:
- Identify your target market and pain points
- Align your product around those pain points
- Ensure all of your messaging hits on these pain points constantly
Maintaining focus on who your utilities are for (your platform’s users) is often a major point of failure for most project founders. Everything should not be built with your preferences in mind, but that of the end user.
Understand Your Financials
Any founder who wants to launch with a strong project must take the time to run their numbers. What does this mean? It means:
- Having an actual budget
- Properly doing utilities and measuring buying/selling pressure with math vs guessing
- Taking your tokenomics seriously as they can make or break you
- Using caution when raising money, ensuring you’re not raising a lot more than you need
Most founders skip this stage, never even taking the time to use a professional for help with their tokenomics model. Instead, they ask their smart contract developer in many instances. The problem? Your smart contract developer is likely brilliant at development, yet doesn’t spend a ton of time thinking about financials.
