Experiencing 2017–2020: A Web3 Entrepreneur’s Revelation Through Bull and Bear Markets
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Experiencing 2017–2020: A Web3 Entrepreneur’s Revelation Through Bull and Bear Markets
Greed is the greatest enemy.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: hitesh.eth
Translation: TechFlow
Before getting into cryptocurrency, I was a serial entrepreneur. In 2016, I was running my third startup—Digital Gorkha, an app offering visitor management and security services for physical locations. We had secured some funding, but due to poor investor selection, we were forced to give up too much equity, which severely messed up our cap table and made future Series A fundraising nearly impossible. Despite solid user growth and revenue, the lack of technical moat cast serious doubt on the company’s long-term prospects.
As a founder, I watched helplessly as my startup collapsed. I began wondering if technological innovation could offer a way out. At the same time, my wedding was approaching, but I hadn’t earned any income in six months and was surviving only on support from college friends. My parents kept pressuring me—I was practically at the end of my rope.
Then one night, while browsing Google, I stumbled upon blockchain technology. With my background in cybersecurity, I was already familiar with cryptography and quickly grasped the fundamentals of blockchain. I read about various blockchain use cases and realized its enormous potential. A random blog post about blockchain-based identity systems sparked an idea. At that time, Digital Gorkha already had a visitor database covering over 20 cities and 100+ venues, logging more than 1,000 entries daily. I thought: what if we put these identity records on a blockchain? Maybe we could build a truly competitive product.
That’s how GetXS, a blockchain-based identity management system, was born. However, in 2016, India’s venture capital market showed little interest in blockchain. I pitched the project to well-known angel investors like Anupam Mittal and Kunal Shah, as well as major funds such as Accel and Sequoia—but received zero support. Looking back now, this project was essentially an early version of Worldcoin, yet I couldn’t raise a single dollar.
Six months later, our funds were almost gone, and we started taking on debt just to keep operating. The real estate developers who invested in Digital Gorkha weren’t interested in my blockchain experiments—they wanted to run the company their way. Meanwhile, my parents mocked me, questioning how someone without income could even think about getting married. Ultimately, under immense financial and psychological pressure, I sold 30% of my equity at a rock-bottom price, left the company I had built from scratch, and set out to find a job related to blockchain.
Descending Into the Crypto Abyss
To survive, I pursued three paths simultaneously: launching a blockchain-learning blog @ItsBlockchain; restarting GetXS as an independent project; and landing a blockchain consultant role in Bangalore. But the consulting job paid so little that I couldn’t even afford to live with my wife.
Then I remembered the 1 BTC I had bought back in October 2016. Three months later, when I checked its price, it had doubled. That’s when I first realized the massive potential of crypto. I dove deep into research and eventually invested in ETH and XRP. This was my first real investment—and within just one month, my portfolio grew tenfold. Realizing this was a life-changing opportunity, I threw myself entirely into the crypto space.
Four months later, I quit my job. I told my manager: “Instead of coming to the office every day doing nothing, I’d rather stay home and do something interesting that earns me four times my current salary.” I focused on growing @ItsBlockchain, transforming it from a personal blog into a full-fledged crypto content platform, especially around altcoins and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Once, after publishing an article titled “Top 10 Cryptocurrencies to Buy in August,” traffic surged so dramatically that our server crashed. I upgraded the server three times, and the article alone received over 150,000 visits that month. I realized there was massive demand in the crypto space. I started producing more similar recommendation content, and soon our site hit over a million monthly visitors.
At the time, the ICO market was exploding, and we had a huge email subscriber list and massive web traffic. I quickly capitalized on the crypto boom, monetizing this traffic through ads, sponsored posts, and crypto investment advisory services. In early 2017, my bank account was nearly empty; by year-end, @ItsBlockchain had generated over $1 million in revenue. Life was good—but greed quietly crept in.
The Harsh Lessons of the 2018 Bear Market
In early 2018, the surge in altcoins made everyone feel optimistic. I swapped 90% of my Bitcoin into over 40 different altcoins, planning to hold them long-term. That was my biggest mistake.
When the market began to quietly collapse, I assumed it was just a normal correction and remained confident in a rebound. I was busy traveling and enjoying life, assuming the market would keep rewarding me. I only followed tweets that confirmed my biases and ignored clear warning signs. The biggest illusion came from Bitcoin’s $6K support level—it retested that level 6–7 times, convincing everyone it was unbreakable. Everyone held tight, believing this was just a healthy pullback.
But reality was brutal. The market crashed fast, and Bitcoin plummeted to $3.2K. I completely broke down around $4K and sold all my crypto assets. In the end, my portfolio shrank to less than 5% of its peak value.
Losing Everything All Over Again
To recover my losses, I turned to futures trading. By early 2019, when Bitcoin rose to $13.5K, my portfolio had recovered to about 30% of its peak. But during the subsequent sideways market, technical analysis (TA) stopped working, and I began suffering frequent losses.
To make ends meet, I took a job writing analytical articles for Blockchain Whispers, which paid in Bitcoin. I could have saved those BTC, but instead, I poured every single one into futures trading. Then, in March 2020, Bitcoin’s flash crash wiped me out completely. My account was liquidated—I lost everything. I had no choice but to exit the crypto market, turn to filmmaking, and temporarily walk away from this love-hate industry.
Lessons Learned
Looking back, I’ve learned three crucial lessons:
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Greed is your worst enemy: When you’ve made life-changing money, take profits early. Don’t chase infinite gains.
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Maintain a modest lifestyle: Raising your standard of living too quickly intensifies the emotional crash when failure hits.
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Avoid emotional investing: The market won’t bend to your beliefs. Recognizing risk signals rationally is essential.
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hitesh.eth
