Why Startup?
In my third-year summer, I realized I just had one year left to try anything without friction, and college is the safest time to fail. I want to own a company, which could be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a startup. I decided to start a business/startup.
My experience at a CEX, Bitkub online, and went to SCB 10X BlockCamp made me have connections with fascinating mentors and friends in the blockchain community. Therefore, I thought it is worth taking a shot at building the Web3 project.
The Problem
I began by identifying a problem that I wanted to tackle. It is really difficult for me to handle my crypto and track their values across portfolios. I can stake your money first, then LP tokens. I can have up to five wallets in five separate chains. I'm curious if this is a problem that only affects myself or other cryptocurrency users.
After 50+ user interviews, it is evident that this is a widespread issue that everyone is dealing with. Everyone must manually track everything in an excel spreadsheet. "It takes me 1 whole day per month simply to conduct accounting, which is 3% of my time," is an example of a response.
BlockBooks Lab
We are here to introduce BlockBooks Lab. A tool for Web 3.0 companies to organize and manage their financials, pushing the motto, “Accounting on Web 3.0 made easy”.
We are creating a system where builders spend little to no time on administrative tasks, allowing them to know their money, focus on building, and be confident to bet big and be bold.
My Contributions
I assembled a five-person team to work on BlockBooks. I work as a product manager, designer, business strategist, and salesperson, among other things. This is a glimpse of my achievement with BlockBooks.
- Conducted 50+ user interviews and acquired 10+ mailing lists for crypto accounting SaaS that reduces administrative tasks for founders by 90%, and released a beta demo.
- Gathered 10+ requirements and created a 4-month product technical roadmap to bridge the R&D pipeline by driving product development, marketing, and business development across 8 team members.
- Placed 2nd out of 1700+ teams in the sponsor prize for best API use case at the Ethereum Global Hackathon.
Design
Demo
You can check out BlockBooks’s demo in the link below or ETHGlobal home page.
https://dev.blockbooks.software/transaction
https://ethglobal.com/showcase/blockbooks-lab-q6z84
Marketing
You can read more about BlockBooks’s vision on Twitter and Medium.
https://twitter.com/BlockBooksLab
https://medium.com/@blockbookslab/introducing-blockbooks-lab-fbad37116a2
The Pivot Point
I realized that BlockBooks is a sales-led product, and the concept is regarded as "tarpit," which means that having a convincing answer to "why now?" and "why this team?" is critical. Due to my coworkers' decreased availability, I chose to postpone the project.
Key Takeaways for myself
What I did do well?
-
Because my team is in Asian timezone, my meetings take place between 6 and 8 a.m. I am rigorous and well-managed to keep the team motivated with the processes.
-
I enjoy being a team builder and manager. I'm good at communicating, setting expectations, and reaching out to mentors as necessary.
-
Despite my lack of confidence, I pushed myself to the edge by reaching out to and chatting with notable mentors. What I could improve?
-
As a sales-driven product, I require more networks and sales personnel. I could improve my knowledge of go-to-market strategies.
-
Working on a startup requires no waiting, not even for your teammates. Waiting is important to ensure the team is on the same page, but it is best for each person to own each aspect and catch up at times.
-
At the outset of a startup, I need to focus more on product development and finding a large dev team/a CTO will be really beneficial.
-
In the future, I will not create a startup with distant teammates. The diversity of communication and timezone differences necessitate extra work to keep everyone on track. It is preferable to put that effort into creating products.
Conclusion
I had a wonderful time creating BlockBooks. I know what has to be addressed for my next startup and what questions investors will ask. I'll be joining an incredible team to help them expand and, maybe, to grow one of my own teams in the future.
Why Startup?
In my third-year summer, I realized I just had one year left to try anything without friction, and college is the safest time to fail. I want to own a company, which could be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a startup. I decided to start a business/startup.
My experience at a CEX, Bitkub online, and went to SCB 10X BlockCamp made me have connections with fascinating mentors and friends in the blockchain community. Therefore, I thought it is worth taking a shot at building the Web3 project.
The Problem
I began by identifying a problem that I wanted to tackle. It is really difficult for me to handle my crypto and track their values across portfolios. I can stake your money first, then LP tokens. I can have up to five wallets in five separate chains. I'm curious if this is a problem that only affects myself or other cryptocurrency users.
After 50+ user interviews, it is evident that this is a widespread issue that everyone is dealing with. Everyone must manually track everything in an excel spreadsheet. "It takes me 1 whole day per month simply to conduct accounting, which is 3% of my time," is an example of a response.
BlockBooks Lab
We are here to introduce BlockBooks Lab. A tool for Web 3.0 companies to organize and manage their financials, pushing the motto, “Accounting on Web 3.0 made easy”.
We are creating a system where builders spend little to no time on administrative tasks, allowing them to know their money, focus on building, and be confident to bet big and be bold.
My Contributions
I assembled a five-person team to work on BlockBooks. I work as a product manager, designer, business strategist, and salesperson, among other things. This is a glimpse of my achievement with BlockBooks.
- Conducted 50+ user interviews and acquired 10+ mailing lists for crypto accounting SaaS that reduces administrative tasks for founders by 90%, and released a beta demo.
- Gathered 10+ requirements and created a 4-month product technical roadmap to bridge the R&D pipeline by driving product development, marketing, and business development across 8 team members.
- Placed 2nd out of 1700+ teams in the sponsor prize for best API use case at the Ethereum Global Hackathon.
Design
Demo
You can check out BlockBooks’s demo in the link below or ETHGlobal home page.
https://dev.blockbooks.software/transaction
https://ethglobal.com/showcase/blockbooks-lab-q6z84
Marketing
You can read more about BlockBooks’s vision on Twitter and Medium.
https://twitter.com/BlockBooksLab
https://medium.com/@blockbookslab/introducing-blockbooks-lab-fbad37116a2
The Pivot Point
I realized that BlockBooks is a sales-led product, and the concept is regarded as "tarpit," which means that having a convincing answer to "why now?" and "why this team?" is critical. Due to my coworkers' decreased availability, I chose to postpone the project.
Key Takeaways for myself
What I did do well?
-
Because my team is in Asian timezone, my meetings take place between 6 and 8 a.m. I am rigorous and well-managed to keep the team motivated with the processes.
-
I enjoy being a team builder and manager. I'm good at communicating, setting expectations, and reaching out to mentors as necessary.
-
Despite my lack of confidence, I pushed myself to the edge by reaching out to and chatting with notable mentors. What I could improve?
-
As a sales-driven product, I require more networks and sales personnel. I could improve my knowledge of go-to-market strategies.
-
Working on a startup requires no waiting, not even for your teammates. Waiting is important to ensure the team is on the same page, but it is best for each person to own each aspect and catch up at times.
-
At the outset of a startup, I need to focus more on product development and finding a large dev team/a CTO will be really beneficial.
-
In the future, I will not create a startup with distant teammates. The diversity of communication and timezone differences necessitate extra work to keep everyone on track. It is preferable to put that effort into creating products.
Conclusion
I had a wonderful time creating BlockBooks. I know what has to be addressed for my next startup and what questions investors will ask. I'll be joining an incredible team to help them expand and, maybe, to grow one of my own teams in the future.