Web3 Wave: How to Capture the Next STEPN?
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Web3 Wave: How to Capture the Next STEPN?
The future's successor to STEPN won't be a copycat project, but one that captures the essence of its breakout success in 2022.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: 0xpine, Web3 Explorer
A bull market is the war cry for warriors,
a bear market is the epitaph for the weak.
Smart investors care little about bull or bear markets and are even more willing to position themselves during a "bear market." Web3 has arrived, beginning to gain traction among the few. As an early explorer, I hope to collect the Dragon Balls of the Web3 wave—whether right or wrong along the way, all experiences serve as valuable, hindsight-weighted nourishment. I aim to share my thoughts and iterations in detail, witnessing together with you the birth of a new throne amid this rising tide.
This article consists of three main parts:
1. Review: Reflecting on past project successes and failures
2. Exchange: Sharing latest insights and reflections
3. Analysis: Evaluating specific new projects
I first learned about STEPN in January 2022 through a post by MapleLeaf’s CEO on social media: running 9 kilometers could earn around 1,000 RMB. Later, I found out he was an angel investor in STEPN. My initial instinct was that STEPN was just like Qubu from 2018—an identical Ponzi scheme repackaged.
After deeper research, however, I realized its token model had thoroughly learned from Axie Infinity, moving beyond simple referral-based pyramid schemes. It offered high playability and extensibility while establishing a mapping between crypto and the real world. Sure enough, it later became blockchain's most breakout project ever. I boldly predict that this breakout signifies the beginning of the Web3 wave.
Why Did STEPN Succeed?
Since the 2020 DeFi summer, most crypto projects have failed to break out—they’ve merely seen capital shifting within the ecosystem. Only with the explosion of NFTs did we begin to see signs of mainstream adoption. Today’s market suffers from worsening liquidity, existing users lacking engagement, and new users showing low stickiness. Market players are actively seeking new growth engines, making Web3 breakout the most anticipated path forward—and thus the biggest opportunity of 2022.
Frequently, friends outside the crypto space ask me: What are blockchain’s real-world applications? How can one participate in Web3? For the past three months, I’ve been recommending STEPN, even proactively sharing it with fellow runners. STEPN’s viral spread reflects crypto practitioners’ deep desire for recognition from the broader market, as well as outsiders’ curiosity and longing amid traditional market saturation.
Some argue STEPN’s success stemmed solely from having Binance as its backer. But nothing happens purely by chance—even without Binance, other major players would have propelled such a project. Binance pushed hard because STEPN genuinely converts massive new users and reactivates dormant ones. Even a great parent needs a worthy child.
Clearly, STEPN’s success factors include:
1. Timing is critical: According to research by a Silicon Valley entrepreneurship scholar, timing is the most crucial factor in project success—entry timing determines everything. The crypto world had long awaited a breakout hit, and STEPN smoothly took the baton after NFTs and GameFi boomed.
2. Product-market fit: STEPN’s “move-to-earn” model satisfies people’s desire to earn money while promoting healthy lifestyles, fulfilling higher-level human needs like self-actualization.
3. Clever GTM strategy: KOLs across social platforms spontaneously shared content. Running check-ins easily triggered users’ “show-off” psychology, enabling rapid user acquisition and growth.
4. Major players stepping in: Binance seized the moment to aggressively promote STEPN. With the current market downturn, existing capital craves a celebration.
GTM Strategy Is Crucial
GTM stands for “Go-to-Market,” referring to a product’s market-entry strategy. DeFi developers often overlook GTM strategies, but in the Web3 wave, for any product aiming at mass adoption, crafting an efficient GTM strategy—alongside building community culture—is essential for sustained large-scale user growth.
Why does scale matter for application products? Because user scale creates network effects, determining the width of a product’s moat. The winner-takes-all effect in Web2 is obvious, so Web2 companies fight fiercely for user growth—staking claims early. Web3 is no different; leading players gain stronger competitive advantages. Hence, GTM strategy is paramount.
Thanks to token incentives, Web3 products may experience early explosions. But without rigorous GTM design, users easily churn when marginal rewards diminish, preventing sustainable growth. Thus, effective GTM strategies should be considered from two angles:
1. Composability
A key difference between Web3 and Web2 lies in openness. Web3 should move away from platform-centric thinking—not aiming to be an all-in-one giant—but rather focusing on modularization, becoming plug-ins or components within other Web3 products. Through free-market competition, superior products rise. Despite openness, comparative advantages create dominant winners.
If a product is composable, it integrates seamlessly into the Web3 ecosystem. Composability depends largely on how well it interacts with super-users—other project teams, independent developers, community KOLs. If successfully integrated, not only does it accelerate user acquisition and growth, but also builds reputation, making it difficult for latecomers to replace. In Web3, openness is the best GTM strategy—and the widest moat.
2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
In 2003, Fred Reichheld introduced the concept of Net Promoter Score (NPS) in Harvard Business Review. Simply put, NPS measures how likely users are to recommend a product to others, reflecting brand reputation and user loyalty.
The formula is: NPS = Percentage of Promoters – Percentage of Detractors.
Web3 emphasizes individuality and stronger self-awareness. Hence, word-of-mouth matters more than traffic. This is mirrored in market valuations—many Web3 products achieve billion-dollar valuations with only thousands of daily active users. How to assess a Web3 product’s breakout potential? Early on, look at whether it fulfills users’ self-image, provides strong motivations for showing off, and encourages organic sharing.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, products satisfying higher-level needs—such as esteem, self-actualization, or aesthetic fulfillment—tend to have high NPS. If users voluntarily recommend a product, it gains trusted attention—a huge advantage in today’s scarce and expensive traffic landscape.
Case Study
As a “Keep for the blockchain,” STEPN has gained market validation. More hybrid models combining blockchain and Web2 concepts will follow—like blockchain-powered Twitter or blogging platforms. I’ll analyze these individually in future articles.
For now, let’s examine DeepGo, a chain-based snowball product combining the value of Nansen and Discord.
With an invite code, I joined DeepGo’s seed phase testing. Based on my evaluation framework, I’ll analyze it from four aspects:
1. Is the product addictive? After exploring, I found DeepGo highly playable. But will it attract industry super-users—will they feel they urgently need it?
2. Is the GTM strategy effective? Social products naturally enable strong interactions, allowing endless marketing tactics and easy viral growth. Can DeepGo lead the SocialFi movement?
3. Does the strategy allow scalability? If DeepGo becomes the hub for Web3 investors, combining traffic and liquidity, what expansions lie ahead? Will it gain sufficient bargaining power?
4. Can the token capture value? Tokens are central to ecosystems. While building defensive moats, do they possess inherent appreciation logic?
Product Value (8/10)
DeepGo possesses diverse appeal: “Imagine a free Nansen-style on-chain analytics tool fused with Snowball’s investment-social model and Discord-like decentralized communities—that’s DeepGo.”
On DeepGo, I’ve done many interesting things—all for free: connecting with others holding the same tokens in niche circles; analyzing and discussing with top-tier experts; instantly tracking whale movements and learning institutional investment strategies; subscribing to premium Mirror articles in one place, eliminating scattered information hunting...
A website gathering intelligent investors.
A place where real wealth is transparently priced.
A world where humans coexist and thrive on blockchain.
For regular users, DeepGo resembles a blockchain version of Snowball—a Social-to-Earn Web3 research community. For KOLs, it builds their on-chain reputation and loyal fanbase, serving as a foundational tool to easily launch DAOs. For crypto project teams, DeepGo hosts dedicated token-holder circles, offering more efficient community management than Discord.
Of course, the product still has issues—such as suboptimal user interaction—and ample room for improvement.
GTM Strategy (8/10)
I’ve immersed myself in the DeepGo community and communicated with its operations team. Their GTM strategy centers on product-led growth (PLG)—popularized in Silicon Valley—driving expansion via core product value.
Based on my understanding, for DeepGo to break out and become a star product, it must focus on three areas:
1. Data Identity as Plug-in
DeepGo analyzes the reputation of every on-chain address—investment returns, risk control, activity across Web3 communities. Such on-chain reputations can apply to numerous Web3 scenarios, including lending protocols and social apps.
Likely, DeepGo will resemble CyberConnect, building a social graph protocol accessible to more Web3 developers. CyberConnect, by opening protocol standards, gained 100,000 early users within months.
2. Tool Utility
For Web3 projects, DeepGo circles aggregate token holders. By compiling on-chain data and visualizing fund flows, it generates analytical charts of token holder behavior. This innovative evaluation method reveals liquidity quality and social热度, enhancing brand value and traffic for projects.
Additionally, projects can screen KOLs via on-chain reputation, significantly improving transparency and efficiency in collaboration and airdrops. Once sufficient traffic accumulates, DeepGo can partner with other platforms to drive referrals while offering users expanded services.
A community management tool that boosts stickiness.
A more transparent and efficient KOL collaboration tool.
A tool fully leveraging Web3’s authentic transparency.
3. Breakout Partnerships
In investing circles, users tend to cluster, giving rise to platforms like Snowball and eToro. To become the hub for Web3 investors, DeepGo should target traditional investors—partnering with influencers like Snowball KOLs to build their Web3 on-chain reputations.
Amid poor stock performance, many traditional investors are turning curious about Web3 but lack entry points. Attracting Snowball influencers won’t be hard. Social products offer countless marketing opportunities. By integrating advanced features like NFTs and Social-to-Earn, DeepGo can easily acquire a wave of external users.
Strategic Scalability (8/10)
Recently, increasing numbers of newcomers are joining Web3, often choosing to join or form DAOs—social DAOs, developer DAOs, investment DAOs, etc. Within decentralized autonomous organizations, newcomers better grasp the full Web3 landscape. It’s foreseeable that 2022 will likely be the year of DAO.
DeepGo’s circles represent early-stage DAOs, but that’s insufficient. DeepGo’s roadmap mentions transforming into DAO infrastructure and a DAO launcher by Q3 2022—an exciting prospect. While many DAO tools exist today, most are gimmicky and lack stickiness. I’ve tried numerous so-called DAO tools, yet none surpass Web2 tools like Notion or Discord.
Built on on-chain behavior reputation, DeepGo users maintain high engagement through circle-based socialization. With traffic and liquidity, if DeepGo further integrates with more Web3 infrastructure, it could easily evolve into a DAO operating system (DAO_OS).
Each DAO brings massive incremental users, eventually forming a DAO economy—similar to a blockchain, spawning numerous applications. In this way, DeepGo’s value could multiply tenfold.
Token Value (9/10)
DeepGo secured seed funding from NGC Ventures, hasn’t launched on exchanges, and remains in product beta. According to the whitepaper, DeepGo’s token is deeply integrated with its application scenarios—most users will naturally become token holders.
DeepGo token appreciation primarily comes from:
a. DAO War: The more DeepGo tokens held, the greater one’s influence in DeepGo’s DAO economy.
b. Liquidity Control Rights: Holding more DeepGo tokens grants larger quotas for directing or allocating liquidity. As a Web3 aggregator, DeepGo will provide liquidity services to various protocols.
c. Profit Buyback: DeepGo’s treasury will quarterly buy back and burn tokens. Treasury profits stem from demand for core functions like group formation and DAO creation.
Through social connectivity, DeepGo captures Web3’s network effects, building a strong moat. Combined with sound tokenomics, its defensibility grows even stronger.
Overall Project Evaluation
DeepGo has the potential to become metaverse infrastructure—the average person’s gateway to Web3. Focusing on investment is a wise entry point. Whether insiders or newcomers, users are easily FOMO’d by transparent displays of real wealth, offering limitless scalability.
Most investors enjoy sharing. If a product fulfills users’ self-image, emphasizes “show-off sharing” and “uniqueness,” and incorporates advanced gameplay, it greatly enhances secondary virality—accelerating DeepGo’s growth.
By building on-chain reputation, capturing Web3 network effects, and evolving into a Web3 aggregator, DeepGo is attempting something rare—seizing a massive opportunity while facing significant challenges. Will DeepGo spark a breakout? Let’s wait and see.
Two words for 2022: Breakout!
After STEPN’s boom, many X-to-E copycats emerged, but they’re meaningless. “The next breakthrough beyond STEPN won’t come from clones, but from grasping the essence of 2022’s breakout trend.” Missing this insight means being scammed again; seeing through it instantly allows continuous unicorn hunting.
Great Web3 products shouldn’t be confined to niches. Their goal should be reshaping traditional business, thriving broadly to achieve mass breakout. Sadly, most current crypto projects neglect GTM strategy and fail to recognize breakout value. Ironically, the most admired tools today remain Web2 platforms like Discord and Notion—centralized, no tokens, yet more open and composable than many Web3 products.
“Some rush toward exams by starlight, others resign and return home,” since NFTs surged in 2021, old-school crypto players have faded, and a new generation has taken center stage. Times change. How do we capture the next STEPN? We must rethink the rules of the game—to stay relevant in the Web3 wave.
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