100+ Web3 Founders in Survey: Product-Market Fit and Timing Are Most Existential Challenges

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloccelerate has completed a survey of 100+ Web3 founders, concluding that finding product-market fit (PMF) and managing product-market timing are the biggest existential challenges. These challenges outweigh fundraising, regulation / compliance, security, recruiting, and performance of the underlying technology.

Survey Content:

The survey covered 13 questions which elicited both open-ended responses and structured rankings of common challenges faced by web3 founders. Responses to the survey reveal factual information (e.g., years in the industry), opinions (e.g., what is THE single most existential problem facing the space?), and preferences (e.g., what help do you need most right now?)

Survey Findings:

Finding PMF was voted as the most "existential" problem by vote concentration. More than 20% of respondents considered it the largest existential problem. It was also consistently the most pressing challenge across all startup stages captured by the survey (bootstrapped - Series B). Even for later stage companies who typically are expected to have found PMF, this was considered a challenge.

The next most pressing challenge was product-market timing. Many of the qualitative comments focused on the "bear market", and how dramatic fluctuations in the crypto market make it difficult to build and launch products. This is particularly difficult to manage because many founders start building in anticipation of positive market conditions but have to carefully time their marketing, fundraising, token launches, etc.

Despite common narratives, fundraising was NOT seen as an existential issue. 26% of respondents considered fundraising to be "not a problem" and more than 50% considered it to be "a challenge but not existential".

Another surprising finding was that most respondents did not consider the scalability or performance of the underlying technology to be existential. More than 40% of respondents rated this "not a problem" despite the industry focus on developing / funding infrastructure.

A full report of survey results can be found at: https://bloccelerate.vc/2023-founder-survey-results/

Survey Respondents:

Survey respondents include 100+ Web3 CEOs & founders representing a broad spectrum of Web3 and blockchain projects across different regions. Respondents represented startups from the earliest stages to post-Series B. 70% of respondents were seed stage or earlier.

BCVC Web3 Founder Summit:

Last Friday, Bloccelerate hosted 140+ Web3 founders, investors, and experts at the Harvard Club of New York City to discuss the challenges and priorities captured in the survey results. The summit was comprised of panels and fireside chats that featured: Co-founder of Ethereum and CEO & Founder of Consensys, Joe Lubin; Representative Wiley Nickel, member of the House Financial Services Committee; Sreeram Kannan, Co-founder of EigenLayer; Robert Leshner, Founder of Superstate and DeFi protocol Compound; Steven Goldfeder, CEO and Co-founder of Offchain Labs (developer of Arbitrum); Emin Gün Sirer, CEO & Founder of Ava Labs; and many others. The event was made possible by SVB, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Vouch Insurance, Quantstamp, Zircuit, and Dinara.

About Bloccelerate:

Bloccelerate is a blockchain-focused research-driven venture capital firm. Bloccelerate has been investing in blockchain projects since 2018 with an emphasis on technical and business infrastructure that helps grow the web3 economy.

Contact information:
Bloccelerate VC
[email protected] 

SOURCE Bloccelerate VC