Your startup has conducted a successful seed funding round. Congratulations. So what’s next?
Conventional wisdom may be to embark on a hiring spree, because of course: you need talent to build something great.
However, there’s a balance to be struck and this is a fine line to tread. Many critics will say crypto companies are overly opaque when it comes to communications. Meanwhile, filling the ranks with a vast number of bodies may help with execution, but it can confuse messaging.
The ultimate aim for a fast-growing startup should be to have as much capability as possible with as few employees as you can get away with. This is because you want a unified message across the organization and this is easier to achieve with a core group.
People in marketing, development and on the executive team should be reading from the same script essentially. So whether you’re building, selling or anything else: there is consistency in communications and everyone knows exactly what to say regarding the product.
It’s a matter of fact that a grand vision is harder to disseminate to consumers, press and other businesses if a large number of stakeholders are involved in communicating it. And in the world of crypto, there is a great need to talk transparently and openly due to the various pitfalls.
The leaders of any crypto startup have the unenviable task of determining where resources go and are largely responsible for the company’s vision, and marrying the two together can be difficult without the support of capable team members.
Customer service is of paramount importance in crypto as you need to deliver on promises and create an exceptional experience. To get there though, it’s vital that a team can execute on a roadmap which is visible to the public.
Any changes to the plan constitutes a need to, again, communicate clearly where things are being held up and what actions have been undertaken to rectify the situation.
Lofty claims and big aims may have sold well in the past, but we are entering into a new era of crypto where consumers are wondering where the technology actually is in terms of progress. Many investors are now more cynical than before and they want to see what can be shipped, not how blockchain holds potential to revolutionize particular use cases.
The best way to reassure retail and institutional investors alike is to build in public and emphasize the role of communication to public-facing employees. Trust is valuable currency in the crypto industry and though it might not pump a token in the short-term, it offers far more upside going into the future once projects start to deliver.
