In 2015 when Ethereum raised funds, the method was simple: send money to a Bitcoin address. The total addressable market was everyone with Bitcoin. Shortly after Ethereum launched the ERC-20 standard, it became popular to raise in ETH in exchange for an ERC-20 token. When the number of investible opportunities is small, you can capture most of the attention and capital. During this phase we saw $50M–$250M raises.
The next phase: the institutionalization of token sales. With token sales formalizing under securities laws — standard Regulation D and Regulation S — the go-to-market became product announcements, podcasts, and later rewards programs. Raises between $15M–$120M, average check size $50K.
Once blockchains were ready to launch, a new playbook developed:
- Blockchain funds a team to launch an AMM/DEX
- Blockchain builds or funds a bridge to bring tradable assets
- Blockchain funds a loan protocol, a perp protocol
- Blockchain hires KOLs
- Blockchain launches incentive programs
The Problem With Playbooks
The market grows tired. They all start to look the same. The only differentiation becomes marketing.
Avalanche spent $180M on Rush, $200M on Blizzard Fund, $290M on Multiverse. The input capital should result in a measurable, sustainable return in market cap. What occurs in reality: the playbook attracts mercenary capital that leaves as soon as it generates a return.
Without pump.fun, Solana would have a much harder time retaining its market cap. Without Uniswap, Aave, and Maker — Ethereum. pump.fun generated $800M+ in revenue and accounted for 56% of all DEX trading at one point. Blockchain metrics should have been viewed through the lens of traditional startup metrics all along.
When infrastructure is commoditized, value must accrue elsewhere.
The Hyperliquid Reverse Playbook
Hyperliquid implemented the opposite approach. They launched a successful perpetuals exchange atop their own L1. Before the token launched, they hit:
- $600M+ in cumulative revenue
- $4B+ in daily trading volume
- 300,000+ users
- $40B+ in weekly perp trading volume
Token launch came after product success. Not before.
The New Framework
If we view blockchains through the lens of traditional startups, the only things that matter are DAUs, ARPU, and CAC.
The standard blockchain starter kit of AMMs and loan protocols gives you too broad a plane to measure. The best applications occur organically. If there was a reliable template, it would be of little value in a venture-funded environment.
The new playbook:
- Pick something in the ecosystem that is working. If nothing, hack away.
- Package it into a product — institutional, SaaS, whatever fits.
- Is it better than alternatives? If not, make it better.
- Hire the right team to take it to market.
- Track DAUs, CAC, ARPU. Make numbers go up.
A retail strategy is not as effective as it once was. The cost of a user’s attention is too high. The only solution is a hands-on business development approach — identify target customers, sell them a product they need.
Products onchain need to be better, faster, cheaper than traditional alternatives. Something the blockchain ecosystem has long ignored.
When it feels like there’s a playbook in the space, it’s time to pivot. Think differently. Think bigger.