4 Years of Web3 Startup Experience: 7 Painful Lessons I've Learned

Author: Rishabh Gupta

Translation: Jiahuan, ChainCatcher

As a rookie founder, I poured years of effort into three infrastructure projects that ultimately failed. In 2025, I began building a consumer product that people actually wanted to use. Here are my hard-earned lessons on user acquisition and fundraising.

I’ve been in this industry for about four years.

In 2023, when "account abstraction" was the hottest topic in the space, I started developing within the EVM ecosystem. Back then, everyone was building SDKs (software development kits) for account abstraction wallets. Rollup scaling solutions were also booming—Optimism, Arbitrum, and various RaaS (Rollup-as-a-Service) platforms dominated.

As a math enthusiast, I was deeply drawn to ZK (zero-knowledge proofs), believing they would change the world (and I still firmly believe they will).

I once mistakenly believed: complexity == credibility.

When VCs asked about use cases, I confidently listed zkML (zero-knowledge machine learning), zk identity, zk voting—but to this day, no one actually uses these. I mistook impressive technology for useful products.

Over time, I came to believe that the more complex an idea, the greater its chance of success.

VCs also told me that in crypto, building infrastructure was the only path to success.

It took me nearly two years and over 500 rejections to realize this wasn’t right for me.

Entering the Solana Ecosystem

This was a completely new ecosystem for me—where people care about real use cases. Even meme coins are fine because revenue matters.

Speed matters. Distribution matters.

Having built consumer apps on Solana for seven months, here are my takeaways:

1. Build for young, early-adopter users

Try building for young people who naturally embrace new products.

In consumer crypto, this often means traders actively in the trenches or users aged 13–21.

A 2024 Consumer Technology Association study found that 86% of Gen Z (ages 11–26) consider technology central to life—higher than any older generation. They own more devices and are more willing to spend on tech products.

They’re more open to trying new apps, experimenting with features, and changing habits.

Users over 25 are typically less willing to adopt new workflows unless strongly incentivized.

(Note: This may not apply if you're targeting institutional clients.)

Research shows social activity peaks around ages 20–21. This means products built for youth have inherently higher virality potential.

2. Make your product inherently shareable to reduce marketing costs

If you don’t have a large marketing or advertising budget, your product itself must be the distribution channel.

In crypto, virality is especially crucial because:

KOL marketing is extremely expensive.

Trust levels are very low.

Everyone expects rewards or incentives.

If your product gives users a reason to spontaneously share it with friends or communities, you gain free promotion without burning cash. It’s difficult, but worth optimizing from day one.

3. Ship requested features as quickly as possible

Fix poor experiences or bugs immediately, especially pain points blocking usage.

I used to batch patches at the end of each day. Once, a user DM’d me: “Since your app doesn’t have this feature, I’ll just use product Y for now.”

Once users switch to a competitor and form habits, it’s hard to win them back.

So try fixing issues immediately (ideally within 2–5 hours).

If multiple users request a feasible feature:

Build it within 2–3 days.

Tell them it was launched based on their feedback.

Even offer small rewards.

This builds deep trust. Users begin to feel the product “belongs to them”—an emotional ownership that’s incredibly powerful in early-stage products.

4. App naming is extremely important

It seems simple, but many (including me) have messed this up.

An app name should be highly memorable and easy to share verbally.

My previous product was called “Encifher”—extremely hard to remember, even investors and partners misspelled it when creating groups.

So we later changed it to encrypt.trade. Simple, memorable, and sexy.

5. Talking to users is hard, but essential

Finding and engaging users is extremely difficult, especially when what you’re building isn’t part of the current “hot narrative.”

When I started working on privacy, it wasn’t popular. I cold-DMed nearly 1,000 people: maybe 10 out of 100 replied. Only 3–4 provided meaningful help.

I talked to anyone who showed even slight interest

I iterated the product together with them

Crafting Cold-DMs is also an iterative process. Key points to note:

Start with an enthusiastic greeting.

Lead with highlights (funding, volume, etc.).

Mention where you found them.

Include a friendly call to action.

Always follow up.

There’s no perfect Cold-DM—you must A/B test to find what works for your target audience.

Here’s a decent Cold-DM template to use: but know this process is slow and exhausting.

In crypto, few people reply to DMs because scams are everywhere.

Low response rates are normal (frustrating, I know).

Nevertheless, you must do it.

Your goal at this stage isn’t 1,000 users.

Your goal is 10–20 early users who care about the problem, are willing to try your product, and give honest feedback.

These early users become your support system.

Early products often break—these users will help you survive that phase.

6. Iterate quickly

The crypto industry moves fast, and attention spans are short.

You must study user behavior, not just listen to their words:

What are they repeatedly doing?

What workarounds are they already using?

What are they already willing to pay for? (Many ideas sound good, but if users won’t pay, it won’t survive.)

7. Make your website stupidly simple

Never assume any prior knowledge from users.

As a developer, after staring at your product for hundreds of hours, things seem obvious—but for first-time visitors, everything is foreign.

Avoid introducing new jargon or complex flows.

Minimize clicks.

Core value should be clear within five seconds of landing.

Conclusion

Building consumer crypto products is both fun and challenging. Speed of iteration, user-centric thinking, and marketing ability matter far more than perfect technology. It’s completely different from B2B.