Finding the right talent at the right time is key to success.

Authors: 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 increasingly engage in the crypto space, the landscape is continuously evolving. The right configuration of business development roles entirely depends on the product your company is building and the desired outcomes.

For example, are you building a product on a public chain, focusing on increasing total value locked (TVL) and user numbers? Or are you an infrastructure provider aiming to help fintech companies and neobanks embed crypto functionality into their core products? Depending on the answers to these questions, your business development and growth strategies will need to be adjusted accordingly.

Before hiring, clarify what your company is building, how success will be measured, and how the new BD or growth role will help achieve those goals.

This article does not provide a step-by-step guide for all types of crypto companies but aims to share some guiding advice and practical lessons drawn from real experiences in the crypto ecosystem, to share with teams that are building and working closely with founders.

But first, how does crypto change BD?

Business development (BD) and growth in the crypto industry fundamentally differ from traditional Web2, with several key factors that have completely changed the game:

• Token Design: Knowing 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 your own tokenomics. Proper use of tokens can drive user growth through partner products, while misuse can lead to high costs with minimal returns.

• Distribution Models: Distribution in the crypto space typically occurs on-chain, meaning you need to design strategies around wallets, airdrops, and tasks, rather than relying on traditional email lists or paid advertising.

• Decentralized Governance: In some cases, collaborative deals need to be approved through decentralized governance, meaning support from decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) is required, rather than traditional executive teams. This often involves managing a broader and more complex group of stakeholders.

• Open Source Ecosystem: The crypto industry often operates in open, permissionless ecosystems, where much of the code is open source. This makes competition more transparent, and successful strategies easier to replicate quickly.

These points do not apply to all projects, and depending on your product, some may be more important than others. However, they represent layers that do 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 making an impact.

Understand which of the above dynamics are crucial for your product and can influence everything from how you go to market to how you build partnerships and measure success.

Step 1: Clarify Role Requirements

First, understand the needs and the goals you want to achieve through this hiring.

Before starting the hiring process, the team needs to clearly understand why this new role can drive business success and what specific functions need to be hired. Here are several common professional directions within business development and growth and their distinctions:

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

• Growth: Emphasizes product-driven loops (e.g., self-reinforcing referral programs or network effects) and funnel optimization (improving customer stages from awareness to conversion, retention to monetization).

• Partnerships: Focuses on product integrations (e.g., embedding your product into other platforms or enabling partners to build on your platform), joint marketing initiatives, and strategic collaborations that can amplify distribution.

• Revenue: Concentrates on scaling customer sales after achieving product-market fit.

• Ecosystem: Broader in scope, often including 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. While they all fall under the broad categories of "business development" or "marketing," each role requires completely different skills and success metrics. Trying to have one person take on all responsibilities can lead to role misalignment or poor performance. A common mistake is expecting "strong BD talent" to simultaneously handle growth loops, revenue operations, and ecosystem building, when in reality, divided attention often means none of these tasks will be done well. Therefore, before defining the role, clarify the impact you want it to have and use precise job titles to avoid confusion. We have emphasized in other hiring articles that this step is crucial for any role. This fundamental step is often overlooked at the start of the hiring process, and neglect can snowball. If you are unclear about what you truly need, it will affect all subsequent processes, from talent sourcing and screening to setting candidate expectations and compensation structures.

Key Consideration: The Significance of the First Hire

In the early stages of a startup, execution is critical. Fast-growing startups need individuals who can make the most of limited time, budget, and team resources, who can not only strategize but also actively participate in the work. This often includes proactive outreach, identifying and screening potential clients, leading exploratory calls, and deeply understanding customer problems and how your product addresses them.

Setting clear metrics and goals for the first hire is also important, and these goals should be directly related to the product. For example: the number of pilot agreements signed or integrations with relevant agreements, the number of potential clients in prioritized verticals, or achieving significant partnerships in key categories.

Before product-market fit, the right BD goals can become complex. At this point, the temptation to pursue major partnerships is high, but this can backfire. Securing the wrong "big client" too early may 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 key to 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, BD goals will continue to evolve, but without clear metrics and milestones, it will be difficult to measure the progress of the new role. Tie these metrics to compensation, setting challenging yet achievable goals (if token compensation is involved, refer to our article on token compensation).

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

Step 2: Determine When and Who to Hire

Hiring a business development (BD) or growth lead can significantly enhance a company's development, but only if the conditions are right and the timing is appropriate. Before achieving product-market fit, the team needs a "hands-on" talent who can flexibly respond 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 executing effective strategies.

So how can founders make the first hire work?

• Before PMF: Hire adaptable talent to explore use cases and validate effective strategies.

• After PMF: Hire experts skilled in scaling, with a deep understanding of sales processes, replicable systems, and team management.

Here are some frequently asked questions we receive about hiring personnel, from qualifications to experience in the crypto industry. Each company will have different answers to these questions, but there are some patterns worth understanding that can help us avoid costly mistakes.

When should you hire a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or Chief Growth Officer (CGO)?

When hiring senior leadership, execution is most important in the early stages. Startups need resources that can personally get the work done, rather than just strategizing. Therefore, hiring a CRO or CGO too early can 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 be effective. However, most projects before PMF do not need these complex systems. If you are unsure whether you need a CRO or CGO, you may not need these roles for now. The early stage is better suited for "hands-on" talent who can both lead and execute, closing deals personally while starting to build the sales or growth team. Maintain discipline and consider hiring executives only after the business or GTM engine is ready.

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

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

If your product is at the application layer, familiarity with technical concepts is important, but a technical background is not mandatory.

How important is experience in the crypto 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. Additionally, for some projects, cultural fluency (e.g., understanding the native norms, popular memes, incentive mechanisms, and community dynamics of the crypto industry) may be key to success.

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

The crypto 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 fresh 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 Hiring Considerations:

• Is this person responsible for finding new deals (outreach) or managing existing deals (inreach)? This distinction is important because both require different skills.

• Are you building from scratch or expanding existing successful strategies? You may need someone who can handle ambiguity or someone skilled in optimizing existing strategies.

• What is your partnership strategy? Is this person responsible for a few deep integrations or a large number of light-touch collaborations? Clarifying needs (patience and depth vs. speed and breadth) can significantly impact role definition.

• Do they have a track record of success and practical experience in similar roles? Someone who has succeeded in different types of companies (stages, products, etc.) may not necessarily succeed in your company.

Common Mistakes:

• Hiring too senior (losing execution capability): Very senior hires often expect to lead teams and set strategies, while the real need in early stages is execution.

• Hiring too generalized (lack of GTM capability): Generalists without marketing experience may struggle to prioritize the most effective early strategies. Early GTM hiring typically requires sharp and hands-on skills.

• Unclear goal definitions (e.g., "do BD" without knowing what success looks like): Vague task definitions can lead candidates to failure. Clearly defining success is crucial.

Team Structure Design: Marketing Strategies in the Crypto Industry

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

Here are common questions and best practices regarding team structures for L1, L2 protocols, applications, and infrastructure projects.

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

In the early stages, a strong marketing lead may unify these functions, but as the team develops, separating these functions is a more reasonable choice.

• BD (Business Development): Focuses on deals and partnerships.

• Growth: Concentrates on funnel optimization and product-driven strategies.

• Marketing: Focuses on brand building and communication.

Each function has different rhythms 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 primarily manages existing customer relationships, including helping to resolve product issues, ensuring customers continue to derive value, and remain active (even purchasing more products). This function is particularly important for complex, highly customized, or SaaS products.

In the early stages, flexible product and development teams can often handle customer success work. However, if your product requires significant implementation support (e.g., infrastructure, development tools, or protocol integration), investing early in a dedicated customer success function may be worthwhile, even if it is not directly labeled as "customer success."

When should founders segment BD functions by market or vertical?

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

If your product is not yet mature or your user base is not established, keeping the team flat is sufficient. An experienced BD lead can cover multiple areas simultaneously.

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

Protocol teams face unique challenges in business development because they are not just building products but establishing networks. This often means that BD is not a single function but rather multiple complementary roles working together to drive network growth.

Here are common team divisions:

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

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

• Technical Integration Team: Supports partner projects in deploying on the network.

• Regional Teams: Handle local language and regional promotion, addressing region-specific needs.

How does the team plan for geographic expansion?

Unlike traditional product launches, crypto projects are often global from day one. Therefore, prioritizing regions where users have already adopted the product is crucial. It is not advisable to forcefully set up full-time regional marketing positions before significant market traction or interest is evident in a region.

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

How to handle governance/community marketing?

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

For example, when protocols expand across blockchain networks, community governance plays a crucial role through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) or protocol governance mechanisms. DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Aave decide on multi-chain deployments, protocol upgrades, fund management, and token issuance parameters through DAO and token holder voting.

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

Here are some nuances candidates should be aware of regarding BD and governance.

• Not just sales, but also product capability: Governance forums are filled with proposals at different stages, which may involve years of building and iteration. Each vote requires candidates to understand the historical context of proposals and how they fit into thematic evolution. Sales experience alone is insufficient; candidates also need product capability to tell compelling stories and handle post-vote activities (e.g., explaining voting results and their implications for the protocol).

• Governance and "whale" influence: Candidates must excel in relationship and community building while clearly explaining value to stakeholders. This often requires direct outreach to secure support from large holders ("whales") while winning the approval of smaller holders through governance discussion boards and community channels (like 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 with off-chain discussions but ultimately undergo binding votes on-chain. This hybrid approach builds deep relationships and trust while being scrutinized by the broader crypto community.

• The key is transparency, ensuring that even if most conversations happen off-chain, all potential voters clearly understand where discussions are taking place 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, data-driven proposals to present or respond to specific governance proposals while also possessing the skills to handle and address public rebuttals.

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

Common Mistakes:

• Long-term bundling of business development, growth, and marketing without 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.

• Premature segmentation by vertical industry or geography before product-market fit is clear. Specializing too early before clarifying product-market fit may lead to wasted resources, chasing the wrong markets before understanding where demand is strongest.

• Lack of technical support: For products requiring significant integration support, failing to provide technical assistance will limit the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

Interview Process: Best Practices

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

Key Steps in the Interview Process:

1. Case Analysis

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

• Prioritize real cases over theoretical assumptions.

• Ask candidates to share specific deals they led, marketing strategies they executed, or community activities they drove.

• Observe how they demonstrate accountability and adaptability while clearly communicating their work outcomes.

1. Simulated Presentation

Have candidates develop an outreach strategy or handle a complex inbound request. For example, provide a vague inbound inquiry (such as a protocol wanting to "explore collaboration opportunities") and ask candidates to explain how they would assess the opportunity, build a pitch, and advance the collaboration.

3. Cross-Functional Interviews

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

4. Meeting with Founders

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

Why These Methods Work:

• Simultaneously test strategic thinking and execution capability.

• Showcase candidates' communication skills under pressure.

• Allow key stakeholders to reach consensus early.

The core of business development lies in rapid learning, focusing on what matters, and digging deep when necessary. In interviews, do not expect candidates to fully understand your product; instead, look for qualities that demonstrate adaptability, problem-solving, and the ability to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.

Take enough time to thoroughly assess candidates while maintaining timely feedback. The hiring process reflects the company's image, and even small details can accumulate over time to impact your founders' and team's reputation.

The key theme here is timing: hiring the right person at the right time can rapidly propel company growth, while a wrong hire may lead to setbacks.

Before achieving product-market fit (PMF), the team needs hands-on candidates to test, learn, and close early deals; 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 long-term bundling of these functions is a common pitfall. Additionally, the complexity of the crypto industry (such as tokens, governance, and open-source dynamics) makes targeted hiring based on product and stage even more important.

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