The bear’s dominance is not a factor in global crypto adoption. This has fueled a surge in new crypto entrepreneurs looking to start their own products. We asked those who already succeeded in the cryptocurrency-related businesses what newbies in the crypto market should keep in mind when starting their entrepreneurial path in this fast-evolving world.
Your product is your passion and your focus should be on it
In technology, IT, and crypto, as in any other business, it’s essential to love what you do because it’s the only possibility to go all the way. Remember that the concept of digital money was created dozens of years before Bitcoin’s birth. But, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency to gain public acceptance and attention.
“What matters is to create a product you would use yourself and be proud to recommend it to your friends without hesitation. You have to believe in yourself — don’t be afraid or to pay attention to haters, the environment, the weather, or any other turmoil,” Co-founder of TTM Group Vladislav Utushkin believes. He recalls how everyone thought Ethereum would fail when it first came to life. Today, Ether is the world’s second most important and capitalized cryptocurrency.
“Use a step-by-step strategy on your personal path, go forward in small steps, and in the end, you will surely reach your goal. It’s imperative to set a goal, most people usually have a problem with that — and just jump into the abyss. Remember Forest Gump? “Never, ever take your eye off the ball”! That’s, basically, all you need to know about ping-pong — excellent advice, in my opinion.”
Keep your mind open
Even though an entrepreneur may have business experience, crypto markets can erase everything he has learned. Therefore, it is vital not to harden in your convictions, to be flexible, adaptive and ready to learn from someone else’s experience.
“Crypto is a very new market, where many business models are not seen in the traditional field. To a large extent, the successful experience of other industries is invalid for the crypto industry, so it is especially important to acquire knowledge and a large amount of information about the industry,” Founder and CEO of Star Consulting Jenny Yang underlines.
Star Consulting’s Founder and CEO Jenny Yang
She advises that you do extensive market research, communicate with industry pioneers and other players with a lot successful projects so you can gain firsthand knowledge about the industry.
“Thus, they would know where the market pain points are, what problems need to be solved, how to efficiently obtain financing, how to formulate a GMT strategy that is in line with the field, and so on. This can help you avoid many traps, save a lot of time and improve your chances of success.”
A strong team is essential
One of the most difficult tasks for entrepreneurs is to recruit a team. Every leader wants to build a team of friendly professionals and engaged people that work together as one entity.
When the founder and his deputy managers have differing management styles, it can cause problems in making decisions. An atmosphere of conflict can lead to problems for the entire team as well as the business process.
First, you need to find experienced department heads. Second, you can find additional employees by leveraging the knowledge of department leaders.
“Challenge number one is to find an appropriate candidate. There are a lot of candidates on the market who think that they deserve huge salaries and enormous bonuses but they actually cannot deliver properly, so there are overexpectations on their own skills,” Max Kei, CEO Debifi, believes.
Attention to the regulatory landscape
It’s no secret that the crypto market is not yet as regulated as the financial or banking sector. Global regulators have been paying increasing attention to crypto and their regulation. Legislative initiatives are appearing almost monthly in the crypto industry. Companies involved in cryptocurrency must keep an eye on regulatory developments and stay abreast of them. They run the risk to be legalized too much.
Michael Christine is Chief Executive Officer of MNNT
“The biggest piece of advice that I give every single company right now trying to break into the crypto space is to hire a lawyer early. In the last two years, I’ve seen many companies launch projects that could land them in serious legal trouble in the future. Particularly, due to ever-changing financial regulatory rules being applied in the space. So, my advice to anyone trying to break into the crypto space is to do it right the first time so you’re not burning resources in the future to fix past mistakes,” Michael Christine, Chief Executive Officer at MNNT, recommends.
Not the end goal, money is
Any corporation’s ultimate goal is to make money. However, money is not the only goal for a business.
A side benefit to long-term success is making money. However, it should not be the primary goal.
“My main advice is “Do not fall for easy money” without proper understanding of what you should do. Be humble and remember what your primary goal is. If your goal is just to make easy money, then it means that you actually don’t care about your product, users. You just care about yourself,” Max Kei, CEO Debifi, believes.
Image: Vladislav Utushkin - Cofounder of TTM Group