How to grow a protocol | Dan Romero (Co-founder, Farcaster)

TL;DR

Farcaster co-founder shares key principles for growing a protocol, emphasizing the importance of dogfooding, daily active users, and user feedback.

Transcript

thank you so going to be talking today about growing protocol but before we got started I had two questions for the audience so the first is how many people show hands are building a protocol here okay so a chunk of you and then um how many of you here have a far customer account that's a that's a good thing um we we're not out of the woods quite y... Read More

Key Insights

• 👻 Dogfooding, or being your own first user, allows for faster learning and increased accuracy in product development.
• 🤩 Daily Active Users (DAUs) are a key metric for measuring user engagement and retention in a protocol.
• 👤 Creating feedback loops with users, both through text and voice interactions, provides valuable insights for product improvements.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why is dogfooding important for building a successful protocol?

Dogfooding, or being your own first user, allows for a better understanding of pain points and a faster learning curve. It increases the accuracy of the product being built and provides valuable feedback for improvements.

Q: What are the key metrics for measuring retention in a protocol?

Important metrics for measuring retention in a protocol include day one, day seven, and day thirty user retention rates. These metrics indicate how many users continue to engage with the protocol over time.

Q: How do you balance user feedback through text and voice interactions?

Text interactions, such as Twitter DMs, provide a quick way to confirm pain points and gather initial feedback. Voice interactions, like 20-30 minute Zoom calls, allow for deeper conversations and more nuanced insights. Both types of interactions play a role in improving the product.

Q: What role does user adoption play in driving developer interest?

User adoption is crucial for attracting developers to a protocol. By demonstrating a growing user base, developers are more likely to see the potential of building on top of the protocol, leading to increased adoption and growth.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Dogfooding: Being your own first user and experiencing the pain points firsthand is essential for successful protocol building.

• Daily Active Users (DAUs): Focusing on increasing user engagement and retention through metrics like DAUs is crucial for protocol growth.

• User Feedback Loops: Actively seeking feedback from users, both through text and voice interactions, allows for faster improvements and iterations.

• Development-Centric Approach: Developers are driven by user adoption, so creating an exceptional developer experience is key for protocol growth.