Project Management For Startups

🌟 This isn't a Silicon Valley pipe dream. It's enterprise-grade execution with proven results. 💫 Here's what Siemens did differently:  📍 They didn't invest first.  📍 They piloted.  📍 Then they scaled what worked. The numbers tell the story:  📍 78+ pilot projects executed through their venture client unit  📍 40% successful adoption rate  📍 $80M+ in financial impact generated  📍 70+ startup solutions scaled without equity Real example:  ➡️ Konux partnership revolutionized railway maintenance  ➡️ Started with targeted pilot  ➡️ Scaled to full integration  ➡️ Now delivering predictive maintenance across rail infrastructure 💡 The fastest way to get to impact?  Treat innovation like procurement—not venture capital. Because smart corporates know:  📍 < 100 days from first contact to purchase order  📍 Zero equity dilution  📍 Pure business value That's how you build commercial pipelines, not innovation theatre. And Siemens still empower startups with its separate startup fund launched at CES in January. #CorporateInnovation #B2BScale #VentureClient2030

"Why is conventional geothermal not the answer? It’s restricted by geology. Conventional geothermal tends to work only in a few locations around the world with a high thermal gradient, tapping into shallow, high-heat resources. Wells are drilled into highly permeable reservoirs, drawing the hot fluids to surface where they generate the power and heat in the geothermal plant. Just 0.6% of the 45,000 oil and gas reservoirs in our database have these qualities. What are new technologies trying to do that’s different? Take geothermal global and realise the aspiration of geothermal anywhere. The holy grail is wells that can work in locations with an average thermal gradient. Two technologies are targeting low permeability rocks. Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) use fracking to stimulate the flow of hot fluids through the rocks; advanced geothermal systems (AGS) are testing closed-loop designs where water or other fluids are circulated through the hot rock without leaving the wellbore. Separately, a range of new drilling technologies are hoping to cut well costs, which account for up to 90% of geothermal project capital expenditure. Non-drilling projects include more effective heat exchangers to maximise output from lower temperature resources and co-location of geothermal with hydrogen production, direct air capture, underground thermal energy storage and critical mineral extraction to maximise the value of the geothermal resource. Most of the pilot projects are in Europe and the US where there are subsidies available. The level of spend on the pilot projects is currently tiny, amounting to just a few hundred million dollars. But if geothermal goes global, we estimate that cumulative investment through 2050 could be US$1 trillion. Which projects could signal the breakthrough? Both EGS and AGS technologies are being tested at commercial scale and could be moving towards widespread, location-agnostic deployment. Eavor’s AGS project at Geretsreid in Germany is one to watch. Its Eavorloop multilateral closed-loop well design is targeting 60 MWth of heat capacity and 8.2 MW of power by 2026 from a reservoir at 4.5 kilometres depth with a normal geothermal gradient. Success could see five similar installations following in short order. Another is Fervo Energy’s Project Red in Nevada which came onstream in 2023 and has already demonstrated EGS technologies at commercial scale. Its much larger Project Cape in Utah began drilling 29 wells in 2023 and aims to produce 400 MW from EGS by 2028. Both harness the much higher-than-average geothermal gradients in these locations. Are costs a challenge? Yes. Geothermal’s current levelised cost of electricity is well out of the money at about US$200/MWh. Should the pilot projects prove the concept, the hope is that scaling up lowers the LCOE by two-thirds to US$75/MWh by 2050." https://lnkd.in/gaK65ehR

Breaking Down the Crypto Growth Funnel ✅ Awareness / Lead Generation Like in any funnel, awareness is the starting point. You’ll measure reach and CAC, but the key challenge is filtering hype from genuine intent—are users curious, or ready to commit? ✅ KOLs & Influencers Not all influence converts. Paying a random KOL rarely drives authentic engagement, especially if their audience doesn’t trust the endorsement. Instead, partner with aligned micro-influencers or internal experts who naturally advocate for your project. ✅ Advertising Crypto ads face restrictions from Google, Meta, and others, plus community skepticism due to scammy ad formats. Yet, marketers find success on X, Reddit, TikTok, LinkedIn, or even crypto-native platforms like Brave ads, Spindl (in Coinbase/Base), and Farcaster MiniApps. Some even optimize content for AI search visibility—a new acquisition frontier. ✅ Referrals Referral programs thrive in crypto because rewards are instant and onchain, creating transparent and aligned incentives. Projects like Blackbird turn referrals into lasting loyalty loops and community engagement. Word-of-mouth is a core driver—users evangelize products they genuinely enjoy. You can track this via Net Promoter Score (NPS) or signup surveys. In crypto, referrals form an inverted funnel: users bring in more users, powering compounding network effects. ✅ Tokens as a Growth Driver Tokens remain the most distinctive growth lever. They attract users, developers, and liquidity—helping projects overcome the cold-start problem. While speculation isn’t the goal, rising token prices can signal community strength and momentum, making ecosystems more attractive to builders. ✅ Consideration / Interest This stage is where education wins. Crypto decisions—buying tokens, staking, or using wallets—require trust and understanding. That’s why players like Coinbase Learn or Alchemy University invest heavily in educational content. Effective education goes beyond features; it explains security, governance, tokenomics, and usability. Interactive onboarding, tooltips, demo environments, and testnets help users explore safely before committing. Smart teams also optimize for LLM visibility, ensuring AI tools can reference their documentation. Qualified interest is shown not by clicks but actions of intent—joining a waitlist with a wallet or depositing test funds. ✅ Conversion Conversion means completing the intended action—downloading a wallet, buying a token, or deploying code. Define it precisely for your goals and track by channel to optimize ROI. Attribution is tougher in crypto, where users move from offchain to onchain. New tools like Addressable now link campaigns to wallet actions, offering a clearer view of performance. While web2 tracking faces privacy hurdles, onchain transparency (without exposing identity) provides an edge: crypto marketers can finally see how awareness turns into real, measurable adoption. Source: a16z

Over the last 6 years in crypto, I've worked with nearly 30 founders on token launch strategies from scratch. Unfortunately, very few of them understand why they need a token and how to leverage blockchain technology effectively to solve specific problems or identify market opportunities. Statistics show that approximately 90% of startups with completed pre-seed/seed funding attempt to launch a token prematurely before establishing product-market fit or developing their go-to-market strategy. Most of them view the token solely as a fundraising tool rather than as a utility token or an additional monetization/engagement mechanism for their product. Furthermore, few founders grasp the concepts of "marketing" and "community building" or recognize their significance in growing their business. Founders commonly prioritize technology, while those with more experience tend to focus on distribution. This is unsurprising, as many founders come from strong technical backgrounds rather than having experience launching successful businesses. Is there a way to solve this problem? Absolutely, yes! 1. First, identify a market problem or opportunity and explore how blockchain technology can address it. 2. Conduct market research to understand local and global competitors, market size, and the value proposition. Develop a product-market fit and go-to-market strategy. 3. Validate your hypothesis by testing it with an early prototype. Consider token design and implementation if relevant. Ensure you've secured pre-seed/seed funding at this stage. 4. Scale your prototype to an MVP, begin traction, and grow your core community. Prepare to fundraise and pitch to investors who understand your product niche. 5. Raise capital from VCs by clearly articulating the investor's potential returns, exit strategies, and the ideal time to invest. Outline your scaling plan and audience growth strategy. 6. Design token utility and distribution plans as your product gains traction. 7. Leverage the token and capital from the token round to bootstrap your product and monetization mechanics, emphasizing community ownership and community-driven products in the decentralized world.

🚀 Early-Stage Founders: Does this sound familiar? ✅ You’ve proven product-market fit with early adopters. ✅ You have funding to take the next step. ✅ You’ve built an MVP - or at least a high-quality mock-up. ✅ You understand product and development basics. ❌ But… you’re not technical enough to build it yourself or even confidently vet the right person to help? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. It’s an exciting yet daunting moment: turning your idea (and the funding behind it) into reality. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥: 🫶 Hire a fractional CTO + a mid-level engineer: • Use the fCTO to hire the right engineer and create the product roadmap. • Over time, the engineer can grow into a tech lead, while the fCTO scales down • This gives you ownership of your IP and dev setup from day one • Done remotely or hybrid, you can flex costs a bit 🫶 Commit to hiring a founding engineer locally: • Offer share options to attract talent and compensate for early stage wage brackets • Build trust by working 2–3 days a week in person for better communication 🫶 Hire a senior engineer remotely: • Look for someone who can act like a CTO (but without the title) and still code • Portugal, for instance, has been a hotspot for talented founding engineers—ask me for a JD template if you need one! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝: ☠️ Hiring a freelance developer with a thin track record: • Loyalty, commitment, and quality can be unpredictable. ☠️ Outsourcing to an agency: • While it can work with significant investment, it often leaves you detached from the development process and creates challenges when transitioning in-house. Need guidance or just want to chat about next steps? Message me - I’d love to help!

“Build it and they will come” has never worked. Seasoned product leaders know better—they bet on Product Ops. Remember the last time an enterprise customer was upset because your new feature broke their workflow? Or when a product launch got stuck because customer support wasn’t aligned? In the best product organizations, Product Ops is crucial for getting the most out of every product initiative. If you don’t have a Product Ops function yet, here’s why you should: 1. Scale your product managers When product managers don't have to focus on improving processes, they can spend more time on strategic work––speaking with top customers, building partnerships, evaluating new business opportunities, driving cross-functional alignment, etc. 2. Build Better Products Product Ops creates Voice of Customer (VoC) processes, funneling real-world insights to your product teams for more informed decision-making. 3. Increase Product Impact Done right, Product Ops partners with both business and technology leaders to design processes that maximize growth. Product development lifecycle processes are just one example. 4. Ship Faster By establishing streamlined systems and workflows, Product Ops enables faster alignment and decision-making—so you can bring more products to market, sooner. Bottom Line: If you want to avoid miscommunication, stalled releases, and underutilized features, it’s time to double down on Product Ops. What’s been your experience? Let me know in the comments! #productoperations #productmanagement

Dear founders, you can't launch a token overnight, unless your last name ends with Trump. We're currently in what is known as "Bitcoin Season" with the Altcoin Season Index falling to 38 as of today. This phase is marked by Bitcoin maintaining strong dominance, with institutional investors gravitating toward Bitcoin ETFs and cautious market sentiments due to macroeconomic influences. The harsh reality is that over 50% of all altcoins have failed, with 14,039 out of 24,000 listed on CoinGecko for instance, since 2014 now deactivated. Token launches need careful preparation, and the market conditions right now only highlight the importance of being ready before you step into the spotlight. Here are tips on how you can increase your TGE success rate: ♒ Building on Established Ecosystems The narrative is shifting toward projects that not only launch tokens but integrate deeply your project with existing platforms like Ethereum, Sui Foundation, Solana Foundation, or L2 chains. Look for developer or community grants if your short on capital. This attracts users from those established communities to discover your project. ♒Cross-Chain Interoperability Projects that can seamlessly operate across multiple blockchains are gaining momentum, as they cater to the need for broader accessibility and flexibility. For example, projects that can operate on both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) are able to tap into both ecosystems’ liquidity and user bases. ♒Plan Early & Showcase Utility through Organic PR Host weekly AMAs on X and build a community months before the token launch to stir interest early. Waiting until the last minute to announce can attract only short-term speculators. Plan ahead to draw in long-term holders. Share how the token fits into your platform’s ecosystem, using detailed examples from the whitepaper. As they say: “a token with no real utility is just a pump-and-dump waiting to happen.” ♒ Build Strong Relations with Journalists Before launching, reach out to journalists who are genuinely interested in your tech. Get them to review your platform organically and tech stack to establish credibility. Focusing on industry outlets for more earned media traction—avoid relying on sponsored content. Write compelling, opinionated articles on industry trends to spark discussions on mainstream media like Reddit. Redditors thrive on strong opinions. (who doesn't love a good debate ) ♒ Set your terms straight with Investors** most important point A well-structured vesting schedule is crucial to prevent large token dumps, which can destabilize the market and erode investor confidence. Implementing token vesting schedules for team members and advisors may prevent large token dumps. A short-sighted approach can mean a sharp sell-off or worse, an empty liquidity pool. If you want the full checklist to be prepared, comment TGE below 🔥 #altcoin #PR #tokenlaunch #strategy

I’ve had 10+ calls this month with crypto projects asking the same question: "How do we improve our marketing and build our community?" Instead of repeating myself over and over, I’m sharing the playbook here. 1/ If you don’t care about your community, they won’t care about your project. Make your community experience fun and engaging. Build a story or lore they can resonate with—something bigger than just a protocol or token. Would you enjoy your own community? If not, start fixing it now. 2/ If your Twitter account only talks about your product, you’re posting ads—and people hate ads. Think about it: You skip YouTube ads, right? Same logic here. Constantly pitching your product = ignored tweets. Instead, post content that entertains, informs, or sparks curiosity. 3/ Your community creates better content than your team. Repost their best memes, insights, or ideas. Why? 1️⃣ It’s probably better than your team’s content (yes, really). 2️⃣ It shows you value their contributions. Example: Reposting a killer meme from a community member validates their effort and signals that you care. That builds loyalty and engagement. 4/ Your biggest competitor? Not other protocols, but memes, influencers, and trends on Crypto Twitter (CT). People come to CT for jokes, Cobie’s tweets, and viral posts—not to hear about your product. If your content doesn’t entertain, inform, or intrigue, you’ve already lost their attention. 5/ At first, your community will be tiny—maybe 10 or 20 people. That’s perfect! Focus on building 1:1 relationships with early supporters. Show gratitude, listen to feedback, and create a strong foundation. If you can’t win over 10 people, you’ll never grow to 10,000. 6/ Copying another project’s strategy is a losing game. Why? Every project is unique. Your product, audience, and timing differ from theirs. Trends move fast—chasing yesterday’s playbook leaves you behind. Build your strategy from first principles and focus on what works for your project, not theirs. 7/ Good tech isn’t enough—create an engagement mechanism inside your platform to hook users. Tactics we’ve seen work: Onboarding tours that teach users. Referral programs for viral growth. Gamified tasks to boost engagement. Fun features like mini-games or competitions. Examples: Zenrock: 45k+ users onboarded. Supernormal: 90k+ users and counting. Build tools and experiences. Community-building and marketing are about creating systems that connect with real people. Projects that do this well build loyalty and scale sustainably. Those that don’t? They stay stuck posting ads and wondering why no one cares. The playbook is here—go execute. We have done this time and time again, 157+ projects, 52M$+ raised, 2.3M+ users… so if you’re a Web3 founder serious about building (have funding), shoot me a DM to see if we are a fit.

Your ops stack can make or break your startup. Building a startup is exhilarating, but it's the unsexy parts that often determine success. Here's what we've learned at Clarify after 9 months of building our foundation. 🏗️ 🔍 Do your homework: Don't just copy your friends' stack. What works for them might not work for you. We evaluated alternatives for each tool. It took time, but saved us from "referral hell" and tool regret later on. ⚒️ Get your hands dirty: Resist the urge to hire an "ops person" right away. I set up and ran our system for months. It was tough, but gave me invaluable insights into our operations. ⚖️ Balance innovation and stability: As a startup, it's tempting to try every shiny new tool. Be cautious with core systems (HR, finance, etc.). We're bold with low-impact tools, conservative with the essentials. 🔗 Integration is key: Great individual tools don't always play nice together. We prioritize integration capabilities when choosing new tools. 🧑💻 Adoption > features: The fanciest tool is useless if your team hates using it. We involve key team members in tool decisions and provide thorough onboarding. 🌱 Plan for scale, but don't overdo it: Early on, we over-engineered our stack, preparing for 100+ employees when we were just 10. Now we choose tools that can grow with us, but optimize for our current needs. 🛡️ Security isn't optional: In the rush of startup life, it's easy to backburner security. Big mistake. We bake security considerations into every tool choice from day one. ♻️ Continuous improvement is key: Your ops stack isn't set-it-and-forget-it. We do quarterly reviews, gathering feedback and reassessing our needs. Remember, your stack shapes employee experience, operational efficiency, and your ability to make data-driven decisions. It's about building a foundation for scale. Here's where we landed after 9 months: 📨 Email: Google Workspace 🤝 HRIS: Rippling (onboarding, payroll, devices) 💬 Comms: Slack (pro tip: custom emojis boost culture) ✍️ Docs: Notion + Google Docs (company wiki vs. collaborative editing) 🛣️ Project management: Linear (roadmaps, projects, milestones) 🎨 Design: Figma (open access) 💰 Banking: JPMorganChase + Mercury (stability meets UX) 💳 Credit cards: Ramp (expense management on steroids) 🤔 Financial planning: Causal (because spreadsheets don't cut it forever) 📅 Calendars: Cal.com, Inc. + CalendarBridge (bye-bye, scheduling headaches) Takeaway: Stay flexible and keep optimizing – your needs will evolve. For folks building a company: What's been your biggest ops stack challenge or win?

A Product Operations leader reached out for advice on building their team and evaluating solutions to connect decentralized products. Smart timing to ask before they buy. ❌ The mistake I see too often: Companies buy a tool first, then try to figure out their structure and taxonomy afterward. 🙃 Result? They end up organizing roadmaps and portfolio tracking around what the tool can do, not what they actually need. Here's what I've learned after working with dozens of Product teams - the ones that succeed do this instead: ✅ Define your hierarchy of needs first (roadmapping, outcome metrics, portfolio management, etc.) ✅ Establish your data structure and taxonomy upfront ✅ THEN evaluate tools against your requirements Why this matters: I've watched teams spend months trying to force their needs into a tool's limitations instead of finding tools that amplify their strategy. Your Product Operations needs should drive your tool selection, not the other way around. What's the biggest Product Operations tool mistake you've seen (or made)? #ProductOperations #ProductManagement #ProductStrategy #producttools #AItools