Building an encryption BD team from 0 to 1: Practical experience sharing from a16z

Written by: Christian Crowley, Pyrs Carvolth, Maggie Hsu & Mehdi Hasan, a16zcrypto

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Building an effective business development (BD) and growth team in the crypto industry is no easy task. The unique dynamics of the crypto space make it difficult to directly replicate the organizational structures or hiring models of Web2. As fintech and financial services become more deeply involved in the crypto space, the landscape of this field is continuously evolving. The correct configuration of business development roles completely depends on the product your company is building and the desired outcomes.

For example, are you building products on a public chain with a focus on increasing Total Value Locked (TVL) and user numbers? Or, as an infrastructure provider, is your goal to help fintech companies and neobanks embed crypto functionality into their core products? Depending on the different answers to these questions, your business development and growth strategies will need to be adjusted accordingly.

Before recruiting, clarify the content your company is building, the metrics for success, and how the new BD or growth role will help achieve these goals.

This article is not a step-by-step guide for all types of crypto companies, but rather aims to share some guidance and practical lessons drawn from real experiences within the crypto ecosystem, to be shared with teams that are building and closely collaborating with founders.

But first, how does crypto change BD?

The business development (BD) and growth of the cryptocurrency industry are fundamentally different from traditional Web2, and the following key factors have completely changed the game:

Token Design: When and how to use tokens in partnership or joint incentive structures requires a deep understanding of the target ecosystem, as well as a solid grasp of one's own tokenomics. Proper use of tokens can drive user growth through partner products, while misuse may lead to high costs and minimal returns.

Distribution model: Distribution in the crypto space typically occurs on-chain, which means you need to design strategies around wallets, airdrops, and tasks, rather than relying on traditional email lists or paid advertisements.

Decentralized Governance: In certain cases, collaborative transactions need to be approved through decentralized governance, which means obtaining the support of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) rather than a traditional executive team. This often involves managing a broader and more complex group of stakeholders.

Open Source Ecosystem: The crypto industry typically operates in an open, permissionless ecosystem where most of the code is open source. This makes competition more transparent, and successful strategies can be quickly replicated.

These points are not applicable to all projects, and depending on your product, some points may be more important than others. However, they represent a hierarchy that fundamentally does not exist in traditional Web2 strategies. If any of these points are central to your product's growth, they will directly determine what kind of talent you need, which experiences to prioritize, and how quickly that talent can start working effectively.

Understand which of the above dynamics are critical to your product and can affect everything from how you enter the market to how you build partnerships and measure success.

Step 1: Clarify Role Requirements

First, understand the requirements and the goals you want to achieve through this recruitment.

Before initiating the recruitment process, the team needs to clearly understand why this new role can drive business success and what specific functions need to be recruited. Below are several common professional directions in the fields of business development and growth, along with their differences:

Business Development (BD): Focus on strategic transactions such as corporate partnerships, exchange listings, or wallet integrations that can help expand distribution channels and user access.

Growth: Focus on product-driven loops (such as self-reinforcing referral programs or network effects) and funnel optimization (enhancing each stage of the customer journey from awareness to conversion, retention to monetization).

Partnerships: Focus on product integration (e.g., embedding your product into other platforms or enabling partners to build on your platform), joint marketing programs, and collaborative marketing to enhance brand awareness or other strategic collaborations that can exponentially increase distribution.

Revenue: Focus on expanding customer sales scale after aligning products with the market.

Ecosystem: Broader in scope, typically includes developer relations (DevRel), foundation or community-driven incentive programs to encourage third-party applications, tools, and infrastructure, as well as grassroots community growth to expand the overall network.

These roles are not interchangeable. Although they all fall under the broad category of "business development" or "marketing promotion," each role requires completely different skills and success metrics. Trying to have one person take on all responsibilities at once can lead to role misalignment or poor performance. A common mistake is to expect a "strong BD talent" to simultaneously handle growth cycles, revenue operations, and ecosystem building, while in reality, divided attention often means that none of these tasks can be performed well. Therefore, before defining roles, clarify the impact you want it to have, and use precise job titles to avoid confusion. We have emphasized in other recruitment articles that this step is crucial for any role. This fundamental step is often overlooked at the beginning of the recruitment process, and neglect can snowball into a much larger issue. If you are not clear about what you actually need, it will affect all subsequent processes, from talent search, talent screening, setting candidate expectations to compensation structure.

Key Consideration: The Significance of the First Hire

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, execution is crucial. Fast-growing startups need people who can fully utilize limited time, budget, and team resources; those who can not only formulate strategies but also actively participate in the work. This often includes proactive outreach, identifying and screening potential clients, leading exploratory calls, gaining deep insights into client issues, and understanding how your product addresses those issues.

It is also important to set clear metrics and goals for the first recruitment, which should be directly related to the product. For example: the number of pilot agreements signed or integrated with relevant agreements, the number of potential customers in prioritized verticals, or reaching important partnerships in key categories.

Before achieving product-market fit, the right BD goals can become complex. At this point, the temptation to pursue significant partnerships is strong, but this may backfire. Securing the wrong "big clients" too early can cause the team to focus too much on a single feature requirement or custom integration, neglecting other more critical aspects of the product that may be essential for broader market adoption. While strategic deals can bring distribution, credibility, or early revenue, they can also distract the team from the iterative learning needed to find product-market fit.

As the product matures, the BD objectives will continuously evolve, but without clear metrics and milestones, it is challenging to measure the progress of the new roles. Linking these metrics to compensation, setting goals that are both challenging and achievable (if token compensation is involved, please refer to our article on token compensation).

After defining role expectations, the team can also consider the timing, qualifications, and experience of hiring, which will be discussed in detail in the next section.

Step Two: Determine when and whom to hire

Recruiting a business development (BD) or growth leader can make a company's development more efficient, but the premise is that the conditions are suitable and the timing is right. Before achieving product-market fit, the team needs a "practical" talent who can respond flexibly to explore use cases, test effective strategies, and assist in product feature development when necessary. After PMF, the focus shifts to scaling: establishing replicable systems, clear metrics, and concentrating on executing effective strategies.

So how can the founders make the first recruitment work?

Before PMF: Recruit flexible and adaptable talents, explore usage scenarios and validate effective strategies.

After PMF: Hire experts skilled in scaling, deeply knowledgeable in sales processes, replicable systems, and team management.

Here are some common questions we are often asked about recruiters, from qualifications to experience in the crypto industry. Each company has different answers to these questions, but there are some trends worth understanding that can help us avoid costly mistakes.

When is it necessary to hire a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or a Chief Growth Officer (CGO)?

When recruiting senior leaders, the most important factor in the early stages is execution ability. Startups need resources that can personally get the work done, rather than just formulate strategies. Therefore, hiring a CRO or CGO too early may lead to high costs and inefficient results.

A true CRO/CGO requires a mature go-to-market (GTM) engine, including a replicable sales process, customer success support, marketing resources, and a stable lead pipeline, to function effectively. However, most projects that are before PMF do not need these complex systems. If you are unsure whether you need a CRO or CGO, then you probably do not need these roles for the time being. Early-stage projects are more suited for "doers" who can both lead and execute, as they can personally close deals while starting to build a sales or growth team. Stay disciplined and wait until the business or GTM engine is ready before considering hiring executives.

Do GTM (Go-To-Market) talents need to have a technical background?

It depends on the nature of the product and the target user group. If your product is aimed at a developer user group, or belongs to infrastructure protocols, then technical experience is usually necessary and valuable, even at the CRO/CGO level.

If your product is at the application layer, it is certainly important to be familiar with technical concepts, but a technical background is not necessary.

How important is experience in the cryptocurrency industry?

It depends on your product category. If you are building products like Layer 1 or infrastructure protocols, then experience in the crypto industry is often indispensable, as the underlying technology is complex and closely related to other foundational components of the ecosystem. Furthermore, for certain projects, cultural fluency (such as understanding the native norms, popular memes, incentive mechanisms, and community dynamics of the crypto industry) may be key to success.

However, do not overlook the excellent talent from outside the crypto industry. For many roles, crypto experience is not a strict requirement—candidates can learn the basics of wallets, protocols, and on-chain activities. However, some skills cannot be acquired through training, such as customer empathy and strong communication skills.

The cryptocurrency industry is still maturing, and experience may be relatively scarce. Suitable talent from fintech, open source, gaming, or other cutting-edge technology fields may bring new strategies, precisely because they are not constrained by traditional crypto thinking. Some of the strongest strategies often come from those who do not adhere to established rules.

More early recruitment considerations:

Is this person responsible for finding new trades (outbound) or managing existing trades (inbound)? This distinction is important because the two require different skills.

Are you building from scratch or expanding on an existing successful strategy? You may need people who can handle ambiguity, or those who excel at optimizing existing strategies.

What is your partner strategy? Is this person responsible for a small amount of deep integration or a large number of light-touch collaborations? Clearly defining the needs (patience and depth vs. speed and breadth) can significantly affect role definition.

Do they have a successful track record and practical experience in similar roles? Successful individuals in different types of companies (stages, products, etc.) may not necessarily achieve success in your company.

Common errors:

Overly Senior Recruitment (Loss of Execution Ability): Very senior candidates often expect to lead teams and formulate strategies, while the actual need in the early stages is execution.

Recruitment is too generalized (lacking GTM capabilities): Generalized talent without marketing experience may struggle to prioritize the most effective early strategies. Early GTM recruitment typically requires sharp and hands-on skills.

The definition of goals is unclear (for example, "doing BD" without knowing what the success criteria are): vague task setting can lead candidates into a situation of failure. Clearly defining success is crucial.

Team Structure Design: Marketing Strategies in the Cryptocurrency Industry

As startups grow in scale, founders often ask how to build a go-to-market (GTM) team. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, there are some successful patterns and pitfalls to avoid that are worth referencing.

The following are frequently asked questions and best practices regarding the team structure of L1, L2 protocols, applications, and infrastructure projects.

Should BD, growth, and marketing be managed by the same person?

In the early stages, it may be feasible for a strong marketing manager to oversee everything, but as the team grows, it is more reasonable to separate these functions.

BD (Business Development): Focused on trading and partnerships.

Growth: Focus on funnel optimization and product-driven strategies.

Marketing: Focus on brand building and communication.

Each function has its own rhythm and metrics, so long-term bundling may lead to underperformance in certain areas.

Do you need early customer success or integration support functions?

For clarity, customer success is primarily responsible for managing existing customer relationships, including helping to resolve product issues, ensuring customers continue to receive value, and remain engaged (even purchasing more products). This function is particularly important for complex, highly customized, or SaaS products.

In the early stages, flexible products and development teams are often able to handle customer success work. However, if your product requires a significant amount of implementation support (such as infrastructure, development tools, or protocol integration), it may be worth investing early in a dedicated customer success function, even if it is not directly referred to as 'customer success'.

When should founders segment BD functions by market or vertical?

Some teams are categorized by industry, such as DeFi, NFTs, gaming, banking, and financial institutions. This approach is suitable for finding market traction after identifying core use cases, rather than before. Otherwise, there may be an overemphasis on an unproven area.

If your product is not yet mature or your user base is not yet established, keep the team flat. An experienced BD manager can cover multiple areas at the same time.

What are the best practices of Layer 1/Layer 2 protocol teams?

The business development of the protocol team faces unique challenges, as they are not just building a product, but establishing a network. This often means that BD is not a single function, but rather multiple complementary roles working together to drive network growth.

The following are common team divisions:

Core BD Team: Focused on attracting developers and projects to build on L1/L2.

Ecosystem Team: Responsible for funding, community building, and governance.

Technical Integration Team: Supports the deployment of partner projects on the network.

Regional Team: Handling local languages and regional promotions, addressing region-specific needs.

How does the team plan geographical expansion?

Unlike traditional product launches, crypto projects are typically global from day one. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize regions where users have already adopted the product. It is not advisable to forcibly establish full-time regional marketing positions before a significant market traction or interest is evident in a particular area.

However, based on product demand, hiring a junior community manager in countries with high initial interest may enhance local user engagement. The specific timing depends on the actual product adoption in the region and future growth potential.

How to handle governance / community marketing?

Governance is the process of coordinating decisions through a decentralized community, which is a unique characteristic of the crypto space and is only relevant to certain projects. Traditional business development relies on hierarchical decision-making and direct negotiations, while governance-driven business development emphasizes community participation and blockchain transparency.

For example, when a protocol expands across blockchain networks, community governance plays an important role through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) or protocol governance mechanisms. DeFi protocols such as Uniswap and Aave decide on multi-chain deployment, protocol upgrades, fund management, and token issuance parameters through DAOs and token holder voting.

Successful BD leaders need to be responsible for proposals, activating representatives, and driving governance votes—this is both a part of BD and a part of community outreach, including communication and campaign activities.

Here are some nuances regarding BD and governance that candidates should pay attention to.

It’s not just about sales; product capability is also needed: the governance forum is filled with proposals at different stages, which may involve years of building and iteration. Each vote requires candidates to understand the historical context of the proposals and how they fit into the evolution of the theme. Having only sales experience is not enough; candidates also need to possess product capability to tell compelling stories and handle post-vote activities (such as explaining the voting results and their impact on the protocol).

Governance and the Influence of "Whales": Candidates must excel in relationship and community building while being able to clearly articulate value to stakeholders. This often requires directly reaching out to gain support from large holders ("whales") while winning the endorsement of smaller holders through governance discussion boards and community channels such as X and Discord.

On-chain and off-chain dynamics: Many successful community forums rely not only on online interactions but also on offline feedback. Proposals often start discussions off-chain but ultimately undergo binding votes on-chain. This hybrid approach builds strong relationships and trust while also being scrutinized by the broader crypto community.

The key is transparency and ensuring that even if most conversations take place off-chain, all potential voters can clearly understand where the discussions are happening and how certain decisions are made. In many cases, engaging with the community during the discussion phase is crucial. Candidates must be able to formulate clear and data-driven proposals to present or respond to specific governance proposals, while also having the skills to handle and address public rebuttals.

Coordination Challenges: Compared to traditional negotiations, crypto governance involves multiple different types of stakeholders and cross-time zone coordination, which can lead to decision fatigue or stalled progress. Candidates need patience, organizational skills, and a high level of attention to detail.

Common errors:

Long-term bundling of business development, growth, and marketing together, rather than allowing them to have their own focus. Failing to separate functions in a timely manner may lead to underperformance in certain areas, as each function requires deeper skills and focus after gaining market traction.

Before the product-market fit is clearly defined, it is premature to segment by vertical industry or region. Early specialization before clarifying product-market fit may lead to resource waste, as it involves pursuing the wrong market before understanding where the demand is strongest.

Lack of technical support: For products that require substantial integration support, failure to provide technical support will limit the effectiveness of market promotion.

Interview Process: Best Practices

Recruiting business development (BD), growth, or marketing talent is not just about looking at resumes, but also about assessing candidates' thinking, communication, and practical skills through real scenarios. An excellent interview process should be structured enough to fairly compare candidates, while also being flexible to adapt to particularly outstanding candidates. When encountering candidates with highly relevant experience or unique perspectives, it is worthwhile to appropriately adjust the process to explore their potential in depth.

Key steps in the interview process:

Case Analysis

Have candidates analyze based on cases related to your product, preferably based on real or anonymized transaction scenarios.

Prioritize real cases over theoretical assumptions.

Let candidates share specific transactions they led, marketing strategies they executed, or community activities they drove.

Observe how they demonstrate responsibility and adaptability, and clearly communicate work results.

Simulation demonstration

Ask the candidate to develop an outreach strategy or handle a complex inbound request. For example, provide a vague inbound message (such as a certain protocol wishing to "explore collaboration opportunities") and have the candidate explain how to evaluate the opportunity, build a proposal, and advance the collaboration.

Cross-functional interview

Arrange cross-functional interviews with marketing, product, legal, and other teams that need to collaborate with BD according to the company's stage. While some collaborations may look great in the early stages, they may fail without product support or legal compliance assurances.

Meet with the founder

For early BD recruitment, especially for the first BD talent, meeting with the founder is crucial to ensure that the candidate aligns with the company's goals and values. As the team expands, the founder does not need to meet every candidate, but the recruitment process must still ensure that new members can integrate into the team and work efficiently.

Why are these methods effective?

Simultaneously test strategic thinking and execution ability.

Demonstrate the candidate's communication skills under pressure.

Reach consensus among key stakeholders in advance.

The core of business development lies in rapid learning, focusing on important matters, and digging deep when necessary. In interviews, do not expect candidates to have a complete understanding of your product, but rather look for qualities that can adapt, solve problems, and cope with a rapidly changing environment.

Take enough time to carefully evaluate candidates while maintaining timely feedback. The recruitment process reflects the company's image, and even small details can accumulate over time to affect your founders and team's reputation.

The key theme here is timing: hiring the right people at the right time can quickly drive company growth, while incorrect hiring can lead to setbacks.

Before achieving Product-Market Fit (PMF), the team needs hands-on candidates to test, learn, and complete early trades; after PMF, the focus shifts to scaling replicable systems and teams. At the same time, clarity is crucial: BD, growth, and marketing require different skills, and bundling these functions long-term is a common pitfall. Furthermore, the complexity of the crypto industry (such as tokens, governance, and open-source dynamics) makes targeted recruitment based on product and stage even more important.