Startups that find product-market fit can do well in any industry, but that’s not enough if you’re a web3 company. No, you have to go beyond and find real use cases for the emerging technology.
And according to Staci Warden, CEO of Algorand Foundation, the startups that went after real use cases — like asset tokenization — will grow, particularly now that the crypto industry is striving to emerge from the bear market.
There’s a lot more activity during bull markets as crypto tourists enter the industry in hopes of making it big. But that energy tapered off over the past few years as the market turned.
“We’ve lost some protocols, but I think those that are still with us, they have a very good sense of product-market fit and are trying to go after real use cases,” Warden told me on the Chain Reaction podcast recently.
Many protocols and companies have taken the time to be regulated and work on bridging the real world and the world of crypto, Warden said. “I don’t love that expression ‘real world,’ because I think crypto is part of the real world, but I think we’re seeing more and more engagement there.”
Warden thinks one of the biggest avenues for real world use cases is tokenization of assets and areas that aren’t even tradable yet.