Building a Crypto BD Team from 0 to 1: Practical Experience Sharing from a16z

Authors: Christian Crowley , Pyrs Carvolth , Maggie Hsu & Mehdi Hasan , a16zcrypto

Translation: TechFlow

Building an effective business development (BD) and growth team in the crypto industry is no easy task. The unique dynamics of crypto make it difficult to simply copy Web2 organizational structures or hiring models. As fintech and financial services deepen their involvement in the crypto space, the landscape continues to evolve. The right configuration of BD roles depends entirely on the product your company is building and the outcomes you are targeting.

For example, are you building a product on a public chain, focusing on increasing total value locked (TVL) and user numbers? Or are you an infrastructure provider aiming to help fintech companies and neobanks embed crypto features into their core products? Depending on the answers to these questions, your BD and growth strategies will need to adjust accordingly.

Before hiring, clarify what your company is building, how you measure success, and how new BD or growth roles will help achieve those goals.

This article is not a step-by-step guide for every type of crypto company, but rather aims to share some guiding advice and practical lessons learned from real experience in the crypto ecosystem, with teams that are building and working closely with founders.

But first, how does crypto change BD?

Business development (BD) and growth in the crypto industry are fundamentally different from traditional Web2, with several key factors that completely change the game:

• Token Design: When and how to use tokens in partnerships or joint incentive structures requires a deep understanding of the target ecosystem, as well as a solid grasp of your own tokenomics. Proper use of tokens can drive user growth through partner products, while misuse can lead to costly and low-return experiments.

• Distribution Models: Distribution in crypto often happens on-chain, meaning you need to design strategies around wallets, airdrops, and tasks, rather than relying on traditional email lists or paid advertising.

• Decentralized Governance: In some cases, partnership deals require approval through decentralized governance, meaning you need the support of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) rather than a traditional executive team. This often involves managing a broader and more complex group of stakeholders.

• Open Source Ecosystem: The crypto industry typically operates in open, permissionless ecosystems, with most code being open source. This makes competition more transparent and successful strategies easier to quickly replicate.

These points do not apply to every project, and depending on your product, some may be more important than others. But they represent layers that simply do not exist in traditional Web2 strategies. If any of these points are core to your product’s growth, they will directly determine what kind of talent you need, which experiences to prioritize, and how quickly that talent can start contributing.

Understanding which of these dynamics are critical to your product can affect everything from how you go to market to how you build partnerships and measure success.

Step One: Clarify Role Requirements

First, understand the needs and what you want to achieve with this hire.

Before starting the hiring process, the team needs a clear understanding of why this new role will drive business success and what specific functions need to be hired for. Here are some common specializations within BD and growth, and their differences:

• Business Development (BD): Focuses on strategic deals such as enterprise partnerships, exchange listings, or wallet integrations that help expand distribution channels and user access.

• Growth: Focuses on product-driven loops (e.g., referral programs or network effects that reinforce user behavior) and funnel optimization (improving every stage from awareness to conversion, retention, and monetization).

• Partnerships: Focuses on product integrations (e.g., embedding your product into other platforms or enabling partners to build on your platform), joint go-to-market plans, co-marketing to boost brand awareness, or other strategic collaborations that multiply distribution.

• Revenue: Focuses on scaling customer sales after product-market fit.

• Ecosystem: Broader in scope, often including developer relations (DevRel), foundation or community-driven incentive programs to encourage third-party apps, tools, and infrastructure, as well as grassroots community growth to expand the overall network.

These roles are not interchangeable. While they all fall under the broad umbrella of “business development” or “go-to-market,” each requires completely different skills and success metrics. Trying to have one person handle all responsibilities can lead to role misalignment or underperformance. A common mistake is expecting a “strong BD talent” to also handle growth loops, revenue operations, and ecosystem building, when in reality, spreading focus usually means none of these tasks are done well. Therefore, before defining the role, clarify the impact you want it to have and use precise job titles to avoid confusion. As we have emphasized in other hiring articles, this step is critical for any role. This basic step is often overlooked at the start of the hiring process, and neglect can snowball over time. If you are unclear about what you really need, it will affect all subsequent processes, from sourcing and screening talent to setting candidate expectations and compensation structure.

Key Consideration: The Importance of the First Hire

In the early stages of a startup, execution is critical. Fast-growing startups need people who can make the most of limited time, budget, and team resources, who can not only set strategy but also roll up their sleeves and get things done. This often includes proactive outreach, finding and screening potential customers, leading exploratory calls, deeply understanding customer problems, and how your product solves them.

It’s also important to set clear metrics and goals for the first hire, which should be directly related to the product. For example: the number of signed pilot agreements or integrations with relevant protocols, the number of potential customers in priority verticals, or key partnerships in critical categories.

Before product-market fit, the right BD goals can become complex. At this stage, the temptation to pursue major partnerships is strong, but this can backfire. Landing the wrong “big customer” too early can cause the team to focus too much on single feature requests or custom integrations, neglecting other parts of the product that may be more critical for broader market adoption. While strategic deals can bring distribution, credibility, or early revenue, they can also distract the team from the iterative learning needed to find product-market fit.

As the product matures, BD goals will continue to evolve, but without clear metrics and milestones, it’s hard to measure the progress of a new role. Tie these metrics to compensation, setting goals that are both challenging and achievable (if token compensation is involved, refer to our article on token compensation).

After defining role expectations, the team can also consider the timing, qualifications, and experience required for the hire, which will be discussed in detail in the next section.

Step Two: Decide When and Whom to Hire

Hiring a business development (BD) or growth lead can accelerate a company’s development, but only if the conditions are right and the timing is appropriate. Before product-market fit, the team needs a “hands-on” talent who can flexibly explore use cases, test effective strategies, and assist with product feature development when necessary. After PMF, the focus shifts to scaling: building repeatable systems, clear metrics, and executing proven strategies.

So how can founders make their first hire count?

• Before PMF: Hire flexible, adaptable talent to explore use cases and validate effective strategies.

• After PMF: Hire experts skilled at scaling, well-versed in sales processes, repeatable systems, and team management.

Here are some frequently asked questions about hiring, from qualifications to crypto industry experience. Each company will answer these differently, but there are some patterns worth knowing to help avoid costly mistakes.

When should you hire a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or Chief Growth Officer (CGO)?

When hiring senior leadership, execution is most important in the early stages. Startups need resources who can personally get things done, not just set strategy. Therefore, hiring a CRO or CGO too early can result in high costs and low efficiency.

A true CRO/CGO needs a mature go-to-market (GTM) engine, including repeatable sales processes, customer success support, marketing resources, and a stable pipeline of leads to be fully effective. However, most pre-PMF projects do not need these complex systems. If you’re unsure whether you need a CRO or CGO, you probably don’t need these roles yet. Early-stage companies are better served by “hands-on” talent who can both lead and execute, personally closing deals while starting to build the sales or growth team. Stay disciplined and wait until the business or GTM engine is ready before considering executive hires.

Do GTM (go-to-market) hires need a technical background?

This depends on the nature of the product and the target user base. If your product targets developers or is an infrastructure protocol, technical experience is usually necessary and valuable, even at the CRO/CGO level.

If your product is at the application layer, familiarity with technical concepts is important, but a technical background is not required.

How important is crypto industry experience?

This depends on your product category. If you are building something like a Layer 1 or infrastructure protocol, crypto industry experience is usually indispensable, as the underlying technology is complex and closely tied to other foundational components of the ecosystem. Additionally, for some projects, cultural fluency (such as understanding crypto-native norms, memes, incentive mechanisms, and community dynamics) may be key to success.

However, don’t overlook great talent from outside the crypto industry. For many roles, crypto experience is not a hard requirement—candidates can learn the basics of wallets, protocols, and on-chain activity. However, some abilities cannot be taught, such as customer empathy and strong communication skills.

The crypto industry is still maturing, and experience may be scarce. Suitable talent from fintech, open source, gaming, or other frontier tech fields may bring fresh strategies precisely because they are not bound by traditional crypto thinking. Some of the strongest strategies often come from those who don’t stick to established rules.

More Early-Stage Hiring Considerations:

• Is this person responsible for finding new deals (outbound) or managing existing ones (inbound)? This distinction is important because each requires different skills.

• Are you building from scratch or scaling existing successful strategies? You may need someone who can handle ambiguity, or someone skilled at optimizing existing strategies.

• What is your partnership strategy? Is this person responsible for a few deep integrations or many light-touch collaborations? Clarifying the need (patience and depth vs. speed and breadth) can significantly impact the role definition.

• Do they have a track record and practical experience of success in similar roles? People who succeed in different types of companies (stage, product, etc.) may not necessarily succeed in yours.

Common Mistakes:

• Hiring too senior (losing execution): Very senior hires often expect to lead teams and set strategy, while the real need at the early stage is execution.

• Hiring too generalized (lacking GTM skills): Generalists without go-to-market experience may struggle to prioritize the most effective early strategies. Early GTM hires usually need sharp and hands-on skills.

• Unclear goal definition (e.g., “do BD” without knowing what success looks like): Vague task setting puts hires in a position to fail. Defining success clearly is critical.

Team Structure Design: Go-to-Market Strategies in Crypto

As startups grow, founders often ask how to build a go-to-market (GTM) team. While there is no single answer, there are some successful patterns and pitfalls to avoid.

Below are common questions and best practices regarding team structures for L1, L2 protocols, applications, and infrastructure projects.

Should BD, growth, and marketing be managed by the same person?

In the early stages, a strong go-to-market lead may be able to manage all three, but as the team grows, it makes more sense to separate these functions.

• BD (Business Development): Focuses on deals and partnerships.

• Growth: Focuses on funnel optimization and product-driven strategies.

• Marketing: Focuses on brand building and communications.

Each function has a different cadence and metrics, so long-term bundling may lead to underperformance in some areas.

Do you need early customer success or integration support functions?

For clarity, customer success mainly manages existing customer relationships, including helping solve product issues, ensuring customers continue to get value, and keeping them engaged (even buying more products). This function is especially important for complex, highly customized, or SaaS products.

In the early stages, flexible product and development teams can usually handle customer success work. However, if your product requires significant implementation support (such as infrastructure, developer tools, or protocol integrations), investing early in a dedicated customer success function may be worthwhile, even if it’s not directly called “customer success.”

When should founders segment BD functions by market or vertical?

Some teams segment by industry, such as DeFi, NFT, gaming, banking, and financial institutions. This approach is suitable after finding market traction in core use cases, not before. Otherwise, you may over-focus on an unproven area.

If your product is not yet mature or the user base is not established, keep the team flat. An experienced BD lead can cover multiple areas at once.

What are the best practices for Layer 1/Layer 2 protocol teams?

Protocol teams face unique BD challenges because they are not just building products but networks. This usually means BD is not a single function but multiple complementary roles working together to drive network growth.

Here are common team divisions:

• Core BD Team: Focuses on attracting developers and projects to build on the L1/L2.

• Ecosystem Team: Responsible for grants, community building, and governance.

• Technical Integration Team: Supports partner projects deploying on the network.

• Regional Teams: Handle local language and regional promotion, addressing region-specific needs.

How should teams plan for geographic expansion?

Unlike traditional product launches, crypto projects are usually global from day one. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize regions where there is already user adoption. Until significant market traction or interest appears in a region, it is not recommended to set up full-time regional GTM positions.

However, depending on product needs, hiring a junior community manager in countries with early interest may enhance local user engagement. The specific timing depends on actual product adoption and future growth potential in the region.

How to handle governance/community go-to-market?

Governance is the process of coordinating decisions through decentralized communities, a unique feature of crypto relevant only to certain projects. Traditional BD relies on hierarchical decision-making and direct negotiation, while governance-driven BD emphasizes community participation and blockchain transparency.

For example, when protocols expand across blockchain networks, community governance plays a key role through DAOs or protocol governance mechanisms. DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Aave use DAOs and token holder voting to decide on multi-chain deployments, protocol upgrades, fund management, and token issuance parameters.

Successful BD leads need to be responsible for proposals, activating delegates, and driving governance votes—this is both part of BD and community advocacy, including communication and campaigning.

Below are some nuances candidates should be aware of regarding BD and governance.

• It’s not just sales, but also product skills: Governance forums are full of proposals at different stages, which may involve years of building and iteration. Each vote requires candidates to understand the proposal’s history and how it fits into the evolving narrative. Sales experience alone is not enough; candidates also need product skills to tell compelling stories and handle post-vote activities (such as explaining voting results and their impact on the protocol).

• Governance and “whale” influence: Candidates must be skilled at relationship and community building, while clearly explaining value to stakeholders. This often requires direct outreach to win support from large holders (“whales”) while also gaining recognition from smaller holders through governance forums and community channels (such as X and Discord).

• On-chain and off-chain dynamics: Many successful community forums rely not only on online interaction but also on offline feedback. Proposals often start with off-chain discussion but end with binding on-chain votes. This hybrid approach builds deep relationships and trust, but is also subject to scrutiny from the broader crypto community.

• The key is transparency, ensuring that even if most conversations happen off-chain, all potential voters clearly understand where discussions are taking place and how certain decisions are made. In many cases, engaging with the community during the discussion phase is crucial. Candidates must be able to develop clear, data-driven proposals to make or respond to specific governance proposals, while also being able to handle and address public rebuttals.

• Coordination challenges: Compared to traditional negotiations, crypto governance involves multiple types of stakeholders and cross-timezone coordination, which can lead to decision fatigue or stalled progress. Candidates need patience, organizational skills, and a high attention to detail.

Common Mistakes:

• Bundling BD, growth, and marketing together for too long instead of letting them each have their own focus. Failing to separate functions in time can lead to underperformance in some areas, as each function requires deeper skills and focus after achieving market traction.

• Prematurely segmenting by vertical or region before product-market fit is clear. Specializing too early before product-market fit can waste resources by chasing the wrong markets before understanding where demand is strongest.

• Lack of technical support: For products requiring significant integration support, failing to provide technical support will limit GTM effectiveness.

Interview Process: Best Practices

Hiring business development (BD), growth, or marketing talent is not just about reviewing resumes, but evaluating candidates’ thinking, communication, and practical skills through real scenarios. A good interview process should be structured enough to fairly compare candidates, but flexible enough to adapt for exceptional candidates. When encountering candidates with highly relevant experience or unique perspectives, it is worthwhile to adjust the process to dig deeper into their potential.

Key Steps in the Interview Process:

1. Case Study

Have candidates analyze a case related to your product, preferably based on real or anonymized deal scenarios.

• Prioritize real cases over theoretical hypotheticals.

• Ask candidates to share specific deals they led, GTM strategies they executed, or community activities they drove.

• Observe how they demonstrate ownership and adaptability, and clearly communicate their work outcomes.

1. Role Play

Have candidates develop an outreach strategy or handle a complex inbound request. For example, provide a vague inbound message (such as a protocol wanting to “explore partnership opportunities”) and ask the candidate how they would assess the opportunity, build a pitch, and advance the collaboration.

1. Cross-functional Interviews

Depending on the company stage, arrange cross-functional interviews with marketing, product, legal, and other teams that need to collaborate with BD. While some partnerships may look great initially, they can fail without product support or legal compliance.

1. Meet the Founders

For early BD hires, especially the first BD talent, meeting with the founders is crucial to ensure alignment with the company’s goals and values. As the team grows, founders don’t need to meet every candidate, but the hiring process should still ensure new members can integrate and work efficiently with the team.

Why do these methods work?

• They test both strategic thinking and execution ability.

• They show how candidates communicate under pressure.

• They allow key stakeholders to align early.

The core of business development is to learn quickly, focus on what matters, and dig deep when needed. In interviews, don’t expect candidates to already fully understand your product, but look for qualities that show they can adapt, solve problems, and thrive in a fast-changing environment.

Take enough time to seriously evaluate candidates while maintaining timely feedback. The hiring process reflects the company’s image, and even small details will accumulate over time to affect your reputation as a founder and team.

The key theme here is timing: hiring the right person at the right time can rapidly accelerate company growth, while a wrong hire can set you back.

Before product-market fit (PMF), teams need hands-on candidates to test, learn, and close early deals; after PMF, the focus shifts to scaling repeatable systems and teams. At the same time, clarity is critical: BD, growth, and marketing require different skills, and long-term bundling of these functions is a common trap. In addition, the complexity of the crypto industry (such as tokens, governance, and open source dynamics) makes targeted hiring based on product and stage even more important.