Don't Plagiarize in the Crypto Startup World - How to Leverage Your Unique Strengths to Stand Out?

Original Article Title: Do you know the game?
Original Article Authors: @ManoppoMarco, Founder of @primitivecrypto
Original Article Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: This article explores the entrepreneurial journey in the crypto industry, emphasizing that entrepreneurs need to define their own development direction based on their unique strengths and personal abilities, rather than blindly following the industry's conventional path. The author mentions that successful founders need to be not only excellent salespeople but also have belief and confidence to make their story come true. The article also points out that the current entrepreneurial environment is more equitable compared to the past, especially with the power of AI tools, token democratization, and online distribution, enabling founders from around the world to have the opportunity to succeed.

The following is the original content (slightly reorganized for better readability):

Do you know the game? Find your advantage in the crypto game. This is a brief and somewhat messy reflection on the "crypto game."

In fact, we can take a step back and see that this content is also fully applicable to the "entrepreneurship game." I hope this article can help aspiring founders or those who are somewhat tired of the current state of crypto startups. I see more and more of these people on my Twitter timeline, so the purpose of this article is to provide an obvious but slightly different perspective on how to approach the game we are all playing.

Life and business are just a game. That's why many intelligent people play some kind of game when they are young—from strategy games, MOBAs, to even MMORPGs. For me, MMORPGs are my favorite type, from exploring the world, to finding resources to become stronger, to rallying allies for quests, and eventually becoming a household name in the game universe. These activities are where I spent a lot of time when I was young.

As we age, people often realize that life is like a video game, no matter what your game type is. In simple terms, life itself is a game of decision-making, self-realization, and optimization, where you need to make choices to get what you want out of life. And crypto—isn't that different either.

The Current Metagame

Let's assume that the ultimate goal of most crypto participants is to make money and drive this field forward. Knowing this, how can you optimize the crypto game?

Some of you may already know that as an aspiring founder, the crypto game has a playbook with a reliance pathway:

· Enter the industry, try to get your name out there in the following ways:

(i) Work for a protocol, (ii) Attend conferences/meetups, (iii) Speak on Twitter; publicly showcase your work

Start building your protocol: (i) Find a big idea with a good token valuation reference, (ii) Get funding from a key angel investor, (iii) Get funding from a key VC firm

Prepare all technical and non-technical milestones leading up to the TGE (Token Generation Event), maintain hype/momentum, work on expanding the community, while gradually exiting.

Sound simple? Far from it. This requires getting into the right rooms, with the right people, and often the ability to craft a narrative that forcefully aligns with investor demands to drive momentum. This will provide you with enough resources to advocate for your product—and ensure that you prove it has in some way pushed the industry forward.

Entrepreneur is synonymous with salesperson, and salesperson is a euphemism for storyteller. Pro Tip: No startup is meaningful when founded. We (founders) are all imposters who must tell a story (i.e., fiction) to captivate imagination and capital, to bring the future into the present and make the cadence meaningful. Every company I have built had no meaning at its inception... until it did,

or didn’t. The only way to predict the future is to go create it.

This is not the same as lying. There is a real distinction between an entrepreneur and a con artist: Entrepreneurs believe their story will come true. It takes confidence... and a touch of delusion. It's helpful to be slightly detached from reality—assume, for whatever reason, that you are the only one who can see the future and that in the new world, your product/service will be needed and successful, despite overwhelming evidence (i.e., current reality) suggesting otherwise. That's the so-called [Reality Distortion Field], if you will.—Scott

The danger here is becoming enchanted by your own story.

In the process of convincing investors and other stakeholders, you may fall victim to your own delusions, especially in the crypto game as you can easily become a "successful founder" without necessarily having a "successful company."

If you are an outstanding enough salesperson, even if the entire protocol/company remains in a net-loss position, you are likely to see a return on your time investment. This is essentially an amplified version of a zero-interest-rate policy.

Reminder: You can only do this when you are in the right room, with the right people, and with the right support.

If you are feeling a bit tired, keep reading.

Find Your Role Positioning

Surprise! This game is the same in non-crypto startup companies, but the issue is that our industry, due to the dynamics of the token capital markets, exacerbates this issue further. However, this topic is worth a full article. The key is you can choose to play this game within the current metagame, which is understandable if you excel at this metagame (having the right qualifications, background, connections, etc.), or you can choose to exit the system and enter a new metagame.

I have some founder friends who are truly tired of the existing metagame and asked me if there are alternative ways to win in the crypto game.

The answer is yes. In fact, I am more bullish than ever on the possibility right now.

Unless you are building the next robot defense company, I think the current startup landscape is better than ever, and the global competitive landscape has become more level.

This change is driven by three factors:

· Rise of AI programming tools

· Return of democratization of token issuance

· Power of online distribution significantly outweighing offline signals

In short — talented founders who may not be as skilled in the current crypto startup metagame now have an unprecedented opportunity.

Smart founders from Romania or Vietnam, though far from the kings of the current metagame, have a greater chance of success than ever before. It is now easier than ever to self-fund product development, digitally market, issue tokens, and operate a highly profitable/scalable crypto protocol/company.

Therefore, if you are an ambitious founder navigating the crypto game, remember:

Utilize your unique strengths and unfair advantages. Define your role positioning based on your personal strengths and resist the temptation to blindly follow the path of the "basic template swordsman" that everyone seems to be on.

Live an original life, carve out your own path.

「Original Post Link」