In the last post (Part 1), I gave you my research context, my 2 research questions, and the 8 NFT projects I interviewed for this 8-part blog series. In this blog (Part 2), I’ll dive into the first theme to build trust with your NFT community: let the community know about the team and intentions behind the project.
Before launching an NFT collection, teams must earn community trust. In the most basic sense, when someone buys an NFT from your project, they demonstrate that they trust you with their money.
In all 8 interviews, I learned that when you start an NFT project you must be proactive to gain credibility. There are three ways you can be proactive.
1. Dox Yourself to the Community
Doxxing is the act of revealing one’s real life identity online (typically your face and real name).
The participants that doxxed themselves believe doing so was crucial to create trust early on because they did not hide their identities and reputation from the public. By doxxing themselves, they remain accountable to their work and assure community members they won’t rugpull as it could damage their reputation.
In regards to doxxing, DEADPXLZ’s founder, AF states, “I think it’s a very important factor to establish trust right off the bat by putting a face to a project.” He continues, “People actually understand who you are, as a person, because that’s what dictates your work and the way that you conduct yourself.”
Because there is no full scale solution to enable anonymity with proof of reputation, doxxing is one method to build trust early in the project.
At the time of the interviews, half of the participants were doxed, while the other half was not. More of the interviewees have doxxed themselves since.
Although some of the participants gained the confidence of their community by revealing their identity, not all participants did and they were still able to gain community trust.
2. Share Your Previous Experience
When your team shares their previous experience, the community, i.e. potential buyers, becomes confident that your team has the ability to execute the vision for the project.
AF states, “another thing that establishes trust from my point of view, is the professional experience of the project creators. What did you do?” Other interviewees would agree with AF’s statement. UglyBros’s co-founder, Sergio, shared his professional experience owning an agency to the community. He says, “Personally, I own a fitness business where we had over 500 clients and 40 plus trainers, so I’m very good at managing things.” Sergio elaborated, “So when somebody is like ‘Oh, what makes you different from other people?’ I say ‘Okay, first of all, here’s my resume.’”
AF and Sergio leveraged their previous professional experience to prove they have the necessary skills to accomplish the project goals.
NFT projects are no different from startup businesses.
The more information you are able to provide about who you are, the more the community will trust your NFT project.
3. Communicate Your Intentions for the Project and Create a Roadmap.
The dynamics of NFTs as a business model place the community as both a customer and an investor (without stake in the business entity itself).
To establish trust with your community, sharing both your intentions and a roadmap are crucial, similar to how startups attract venture capital funding.
Goofy and Tekky Gang’s founder, Cris stated, “I built a nice looking website, I wrote a bio saying a little bit about myself, my intentions, and what I was planning to do. So people would know a little bit about me.”
Think of your intentions as your mission or purpose. What is the main goal? This may change with community influence, but your mission creates a vision your community can rally behind.
On the way to that goal, creating a roadmap provides transparency to the community and gives you and your team milestones to accomplish.
Sergio explains, “A roadmap doesn’t constitute financial advice. But it does get people like, ‘Oh snap. Okay.’ Where are we going with this, which is pretty good.” He continues, “[Your] roadmap is just an indication of where you’re going.”
Your roadmap can be your plan or a list of milestones you’ll hit. The roadmap should cover 6 months to a year to provide insight and transparency on what your game plan is. Without this, the project can be perceived as aimless.
The mission of your project aligns the community on the purpose and the roadmap provides the direction on how your team will get there. By doing both of these, you create a guide for your team and the community.
Conclusion
There are three ways the community can learn about the people and intentions behind the project.
- Dox yourself to the community
- Share your previous experience
- Communicate your intentions and create a roadmap.
Sergio summarizes all three of these best, “Once you get to know the people behind the project and what they’re doing and what they have planned. Then you realize, like, ‘OK.’ I like the project because of the art and the roadmap, but now I know the person and that’s the beauty about… building confidence.”
The next blog (Part 3) will cover theme 2: Be Online, Active, and Responsive Throughout the Day on Twitter & Discord. This will be published tomorrow.