From juliet tech Published on November 27, 2024

"Developers are the starting point of adoption in crypto!"

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I confidently repeated this in almost every strategy meeting. With millions in our treasury, world-changing tech in our stack, and a stellar team, we were ready to change the world. 

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There was just one problem: we had no users. 

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Like many other projects in crypto, the leadership team agreed that "with more developers, adoption would follow”. I was hired a few months later.

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Five years into DevRel, I've reached a sobering realization: DevRels are holding crypto back from mainstream adoption. I, myself, have been part of the problem.

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The DevRel Trap Defined

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The DevRel Trap is a vicious cycle where blockchain projects prematurely hire Developer Relations teams to attract developers before validating their core use cases, operating under the flawed assumption that more developers automatically leads to more adoption.Rather than improving user experience, more DevRels in fact fragment the market further.

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The underlying assumption leading to the Crypto DevRel Trap

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Especially when done well, the DevRel Trap creates an echo chamber of technical marketing that alienates mainstream users while depleting resources that could be better spent on proven growth strategies.

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In Web2, companies build what their users tell them to build. But in a speculation-driven industry like Web3, our obsession with technical growth stems from historical correlations that have created dangerous assumptions. 

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Not only do airdrop incentives and their hungry bot-farm-armies create “usage”, an active developer ecosystem legitimizes the “tool makes sense”.