How can crypto founders find excellent marketing talent for their companies?
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How can crypto founders find excellent marketing talent for their companies?
Excellent marketing talent needs to dive deep into crypto Twitter and must also be proficient in data analysis.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Nate, Head of Marketing and Growth at Eclipse
Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
One of the most common questions I get is, "How do you hire high-quality marketing talent?" Just in the past month alone, over 10 companies have reached out to me looking to hire early-stage marketers. At the same time, I’ve seen three projects part ways with their existing marketing leads or CMOs.
I completely understand where these people are coming from. In crypto, finding excellent marketing talent is extremely difficult—and finding a great CMO is even harder. This job is genuinely tough, and the pool of truly qualified candidates is very small. That said, I also believe much of this difficulty stems from founders who don’t know what qualities top marketers should possess. This article will focus on why it's so hard to find strong marketing talent, and what key traits a startup’s marketing leader must have.
Before diving in, I want to share research by @divine_economy, who accurately assessed where crypto stands today in terms of mass adoption.
I reference this tweet because many founders need a reality check. Since the FTX collapse, we've entered one of the worst bear markets in history, and the crypto industry has faced public scrutiny. We’re simply not as relevant as we were a few years ago. Step outside the crypto bubble and touch reality.
The current “cycle” is primarily driven by memecoins. The crypto market isn't like DeFi Summer a few years ago, when major innovations brought in large waves of new users and builders. Not to mention, the U.S. regulatory environment right now is a complete mess, hindering many companies from executing their product roadmaps effectively and launching truly new offerings. Do you really think we're seeing massive inflows of new users? I mean millions—not just a handful of newcomers trading joke coins?
To be honest, I don’t believe crypto will reclaim a place in mainstream cultural consciousness unless major crypto prices rise more than 30% from current levels. I say this because most of my friends don’t work in crypto. A few non-crypto friends have started using Phantom to trade shitcoins on Solana, but I haven’t seen the same level of interest among average people that existed before FTX. My personal benchmark for when crypto reconnects with ordinary people again? When my friends and family start frantically asking me what to buy. I see signs this could happen soon—but so far, it hasn’t.
Over the past two years, the size of your relevant marketing audience hasn’t grown significantly. New wallet addresses ≠ new users.
This is precisely why I think nearly every crypto project struggles with marketing. Have you invented a brand-new killer DApp that can attract millions of new users? I’m guessing you haven’t. So when this is an industry-wide problem, why do you expect your marketing lead to single-handedly bridge the gap between crypto and the general public overnight? Without sufficient organic demand, your marketing lead can’t magically pull users into your product. That doesn’t mean your marketer is useless, though.
A strong marketing leader must balance short-term and long-term thinking. In the short term, they need to make your brand resonate within the existing crypto community. You’re competing—directly and indirectly—with countless other projects for attention from a relatively small audience: Crypto Twitter. If you fail to capture Crypto Twitter’s attention, you lose. These are the core users you know will show up in the near term. This is how you survive.
But the real challenge comes when new users arrive—will you be ready to capture them? Either because you’ve built such an interesting innovation that it pulls entirely new people into the space, or because prices have risen enough to trigger widespread FOMO (fear of missing out). Therefore, the long-term focus must be building distribution channels so you’re prepared for those new users. Do you have distribution beyond Crypto Twitter? Do you genuinely believe your project will be useful to net-new users who know nothing about crypto? Most projects I’ve spoken with cannot confidently answer these questions. But you need to if you want to thrive.
This is where I sympathize with founders. Few people can handle—or even understand—both of these dimensions (short- and long-term) simultaneously. Those qualified to help solve this are exceedingly rare. Why is that?
To build marketing strategies that succeed both short- and long-term, a crypto marketer needs two fundamental skills:
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They must be deeply embedded in Crypto Twitter. This is where passionate crypto product users (trading shitcoins, regularly using DApps) and seasoned practitioners exchange ideas and track industry developments.
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They must be data-fluent. Capable of collecting, interpreting, and communicating data to your team. Data proves what you’re doing works—it’s not just gut feeling. Unfortunately, I find this trait usually exists only among professionals from outside the industry.
There may be exceptions, but I’ve interviewedpeople with no crypto experience—and even many with crypto experience—who fundamentally don’t understand Crypto Twitter. It’s a uniquely niche corner of internet culture, tied closely to complex research, computer nerds, and degenerate gambling. If you’ve never had your wallet drained, idled while waiting for a bridge to confirm, or interacted with crypto’s sharpest minds, you won’t succeed here immediately. You can’t communicate effectively with an audience you don’t understand.
On the other hand,most native crypto marketers I’ve encountered are terrible at data. They can’t build simple dashboards to quantify results. They don’t know how to run A/B tests. When data trends look off, they miss obvious red flags. Without these abilities, you can’t consistently test campaigns and iterate to improve your marketing strategy over time. Ironically, blockchain generates massive amounts of data, yet most people struggle to interpret it. By contrast, I find data analysis is often a core competency among employees from reputable non-Web3 companies.
The best analogy I can offer is this: Your marketing lead is driving a car (your marketing strategy). To be a great driver, they need to see the road ahead—and also have a sense of the broader direction toward the destination (a killer brand). Understanding Crypto Twitter is like seeing the road ahead; being data-fluent is like knowing how to use GPS. An ideal marketer might have many other skills—creativity, pop culture awareness, adaptability, management experience—but in my view, these two capabilities are absolutely essential for effectively steering marketing efforts.
Unfortunately, very few candidates meet this standard, because they typically need deep experience both inside and outside web3. You’re essentially searching for an F1 driver… but the talent pool consists mostly of teenagers who just got their driver’s license.
Almost every CMO or marketing lead job description (JD) I come across lacks this understanding. They use phrases like “drive our content strategy” and “oversee creation of marketing campaigns,” but during screening, they fail to properly evaluate the two qualifications I’ve outlined above. Instead, I hear interview questions like, “How can we be more like _____?” or “How do we get new users?”
You’re screening for the wrong things. An MBA won’t teach you anything about Crypto Twitter.
This is why marketing at most crypto projects feels repetitive and boring—because it fails to capture any real attention. A strong marketing leader will leverage their understanding of Crypto Twitter and use data to generate hypotheses and experiment. They won’t have a magic playbook on day one, but they’ll give you a hypothesis to execute and develop a thoughtful, tailored brand positioning specific to your project. They’ll stand out because they won’t shy away from bold moves others haven’t tried—even if founders/CEOs have doubts about the marketing approach. While they may draw inspiration from other projects, they certainly won’t copy them outright.
Most importantly, they’ll deeply understand that Crypto Twitter is just one important bet. To build a company that thrives across multiple cycles, you also need distribution elsewhere. Figuring out how to achieve that takes time and a sharp leader. Make sure you screen for the key traits that prove this level of sharpness: Crypto Twitter warrior and data guide.
Finally, a message to CEOs of crypto projects:
During all your time as CEO, you may have firmly believed you’re the best person for the job. You might have the sharpest mind, but you’re not necessarily the best marketer. For marketing, your audience isn’t just ultra-smart geniuses or VCs writing million-dollar checks—it’s everyone who interacts with your brand.
Once you find a qualified leader to run marketing, are you ready to relinquish partial control over brand direction? Because I can guarantee the most qualified candidate will disagree with you on many things—and they should. You need someone who understands your audience better than you do. This person will shape strategy and influence the entire company.
So, are you willing to have another true leader in your company? Or are you just looking for a scapegoat when things go wrong?
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