How to grow a protocol | Dan Romero (Co-founder, Farcaster) | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

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

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.

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

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.