My team and I have been building Bridge Network for almost a year now. And there have been many indications that Bridge is a flourishing company. True, but then we have to fight against numerous odds to keep it that way. I imagine any company will have these kinds of stories, more so, companies building in the crypto, blockchain, and cross-chain space. The odds are stacked!
My combined experience in blockchain and crypto spans over 4 years. The most part of the last year has been me in the driver’s seat of a cross-chain company, building and growing it despite the odds. As much as it has been a wild and bumpy ride, like running every other tech company, it has been extremely fulfilling. I have garnered valuable insights building Bridge Network. In fact, we are on course to raise a substantial amount of investment from reputable VCs e.g FTX to enable us to scale.
I’m using this piece to highlight a number of odds that’ll be stacked against you while you attempt to build a cross-chain infrastructure or company. It’s to help you know what to expect and prepare for them in advance. This puts you in the best position to overcome those odds or challenges when they come. If I and my partners can do it with Bridge Network, you can definitely do it too.
I’d love to hear your thoughts after reading this. Now let’s dive in.
What are the Odds and What Should You Do About Them?
Odds 1: Market Saturation
As much as the blockchain and crypto industry is still in the very early stages, there are a lot of companies playing in them. The market is saturated in the sense that there are enough cross-chain companies focusing on the current crop of crypto-curious users we have. If I need a cross-chain platform, there are a handful of options including Bridge Network.
What Should You Do?
While you should find ways to acquire already crypto-interested users who need your service, there are loads of people who have not had any interactions with it. Educating these larger segments about crypto as a means of acquiring them as users is a great way to go. They tend to be even more loyal in the long run. And every company’s dream is that your user lifetime value is in numerous multiples of their cost of acquisition.
Also, remember to be self-aware enough to strive to achieve a better product than your competitors. At Bridge, we focus squarely on our product. It’s a mantra that I have succeeded in spreading across the company. We come to work obsessing about building something that our customers want and would love to use.
Odds 2: Security and Design
From the news, I’m sure you’ve heard of numerous attempts to hack blockchain companies. Some of these were successful while others weren’t. Unfortunately, these kinds of attempts are not going to stop. As blockchain and cross-chain become more popular, more shady people will attempt to hack & disrupt their operations.
What Should You Do?
Invest in your security and infrastructure. With the kind of platform you have chosen to build and the tech you’ve opted to use, there’s no room for ‘what ifs’. Invest heavily in your platform’s security and design. This also means investing in your talent, which is also a problem we’ll see in the next point, but how do we solve that? Keep reading.
A security audit was carried out on our systems and it was reported to be all clear. I and my team and I have hired some of the best talents to work on our product. Hence, we have no choice but to stick to the highest level of quality work.
Odds 3: Talent and Fundraising
Talent is scarce and will always be. Getting investment is hard. These two truths exist. It is even especially true for web3 companies because it’s a relatively new technology and not all tech talents or investors are interested or have learned to build or market web3, blockchain, or cross-chain companies. So, the talent and investor pool is further watered down. Now, you have to pursue talent and investors and fight for them to come work for you.
What should you do?
Start with building a great company culture that doesn’t see employees and investors as resources. Build a company that sees them as humans first. Remember that when you invest in your talent, you’re investing in your product’s quality by extension. Because this talent you hire will build your product.
For investors, highlight what they stand to gain the most. This means you should have a clear path to making money for shareholders. Also, don’t forget to always emphasize the vision of the company. Investors love the idea of being part of a well-defined vision. We had a clearly defined vision of Bridge which I’ve also been able to help investors and employees see.
These are some of the odds I’ve been able to cover. They are the same odds I and my team have faced building Bridge Network and I hope you find them useful in the process of building your product and company too. You can reach out to me faster via LinkedIn if you have any questions or thoughts.
Favour Uzoaru is the Cofounder, COO Bridge Network.
About Bridge Network: Bridge network is a trustless ecosystem of cross-chain applications powering seamless transactions across various blockchains in the world of defi. Bridge allows users to transfer native tokens & NFTs cross-chain, manage assets, trade, earn & access opportunities in the multichain-verse from one easy-to-use platform.