Justin Vogel 🦁

I was recently asked what we understood early that made @safaryclub the successful community it is today 🦁 10 lessons from building the top web3 growth community🧵👇

officially in the 1000+ yapper club 🦁

Crypto founder expectations: "You’ve got 2 months to create a marketing strategy, get us listed on Binance, and hit $100M TVL — or you’re fired!" Meanwhile, 30 devs have been working on the protocol for years, and we’re still waiting on a frontend

I'm shocked that the first question from VCs to founders pitching right now is still "wen token?" Maybe I'm naive, but can someone explain to me how launching a token creates more shareholder value than building a revenue-generating business? Most TGEs this year have flopped, so clearly the TGE playbook isn't even working anymore Meanwhile, revenue is value. Profitability is value. Sustainable customer demand is value. Tokens might create temporary hype, but hype isn't value. And when the hype fades, what's left? Genuinely curious: why are we still chasing tokens instead of revenue?

Most people think GTM is about marketing It’s not. GTM is about *product* It’s the work of figuring out: 👉 Will this product solve a problem for this user, and get them to change behavior? And this is why so many crypto teams fail to get traction They start “doing marketing” before they’ve validated whether anyone even wants what they’re creating Then when adoption doesn’t happen, who gets blamed? The Marketer But the real issue is that most crypto teams don't have anyone doing this critical work Look around. There are almost no product managers in crypto Each team has 10 devs, 1 BD, 1 marketer but no one doing the actual work of defining user segments, validating pain points, or testing value props So the marketer gets tasked with doing a product job and a marketing job at the same time And of course it fails. Then the cycle repeats Good GTM is product work first, marketing second If you skip the first part, no amount of marketing can save you Let’s make this real with an example: You're building a digital collectibles marketplace for Pokémon cards The vision? "Everyone will buy and sell Pokémon cards here" Cool. But how do you actually get there? Start with your users. You're a marketplace—so two sides: - Collectors (buy for nostalgia) - Resellers (flip for profit) Then break that down into four clear segments: - Web2 Collectors: want physical nostalgia, not tech - Web3 Collectors: want digital ownership tied to identity - Web2 Resellers: flip on eBay/StockX, face high fees & logistics - Web3 Resellers: yield chasers, open to any tradable asset with upside Each group behaves differently But good GTM starts narrow: one segment, one value prop, one wedge Let’s say you choose Web2 resellers They already sell on StockX—but it’s painful. To sell a card: 1. Ship it to StockX 2. StockX authenticates it and lists it 3. Once it sells, StockX ships it to the buyer 4. If the buyer wants to resell, the process starts over That’s two shipments and one authentication for every sale. Slow, expensive, and platforms charge 20%–30% in fees. Now contrast that with your crypto-native model: - Ship once, authenticate once - Tokenize the card as an NFT - Trade it digitally as many times as you want - Only ship again when someone wants to redeem the physical item That’s your wedge: lower fees. instant trades. no repeat logistics. Now your GTM becomes a product question: 👉 Will web2 resellers change their behavior and use your platform to make more profit with less friction? If yes, you win unique supply If not, either the wedge is weak or you picked the wrong segment Marketing is what you do once you know people want what you're building And GTM is how you figure out what that is

Mindshare is a double-edged sword Every team wants it, but most aren't ready for it When you're small and still figuring things out, flying under the radar is a blessing You can experiment, ship fast, and recover from mistakes quietly But if you're still iterating and have max mindshare, suddenly every misstep becomes the story And you can quickly lose control over your own narrative hot take: crypto startups chase attention way too early They scale the spotlight before they’ve delivered anything real And when they inevitably fumble, they do it in front of *everyone* There’s a reason Web2 companies don’t go wide until they’ve nailed PMF You want your mindshare to match your market share If you grow awareness before value, all you're doing is accelerating disappointment Long-term success isn’t about going big fast; it’s about earning trust, one circle at a time Then when the time is right, light the fire 🔥

Teams overvalue their tech, and undervalue relationships

Every time I see a Milady anon post a heartfelt update about their recent engagement proposal, I’m violently reminded that these JPEG psychos are actually functioning adults with relationships and houseplants. Shatters my entire worldview 🤯

Wherever you stand on the Movement drama, here’s the uncomfortable truth: When you TGE, you step into the arena. And the arena is swampy Exchanges and agencies take their pound of flesh upfront Others smile to your face while dealing in bad faith behind closed doors. You know they’re sketchy, but you have no choice but to engage Some actors are on your side… until they aren’t. Others just want a quick pump, then vanish And yet VCs keep pushing founders to TGE early with underbuilt products, unready teams, and no armor for what’s coming So let’s stop pretending to be surprised when these teams get dragged into the muck A premature TGE isn’t a milestone, it’s a trap And the snakes are always waiting

Learning communities often mirror the people who join the very first batch That’s why even today, people still ask me: What was Batch 1 of Safary Club like? Now, 3 years later, we’re kicking off Cohort 1 of Safary Certification and it couldn’t be more impressive. 40+ countries. CMOs, BD leads, rising stars. A truly global mix And here’s a (maybe hot) take: I expect Safary Certification will have even more clout than Safary Club Why? Every Safary Club batch has mixed today’s leaders with tomorrow’s big names And because crypto moves so fast, a lot of the “up-and-comers” surpassed their idols in months, not years Getting certified now means you're swapping ideas with the next breakout leaders — before the rest of the world knows their names See this as a chance to invest in yourself Several of you will soon become the very people you admire most today🦁

Our work isn’t done until devs start making memes about crypto marketers getting paid TOO MUCH

Founders: "We don’t need data, we just ship" Also founders: "Why isn’t anyone using our product?" Me: There's this little thing called cause and effect

Most teams keep their growth playbooks private Huge shoutout to @max_apy for sharing how they reach and activate DeFi users with personalized messaging at scale!

The best distribution relies on owned channels But owned channels don't have social media scale X communities offer the best of both worlds e.g. *Owned distribution* on top of Twitter itself Here’s the play: > creators post > their network sees it > more people discover the group > creators get more distribution for posts > new creators are incentivized to post there No financial incentives needed. Just interest + community dynamics This creates a persistent, always-on UGC flywheel curated by your community, not your team @monad, @LFJ_gg, @SeiNetwork are doing this at the brand level @safaryclub is winning on the topic level (web3 growth) Let the community create The algorithm decides what gets boosted And your brand becomes the hub for value creation & discovery

A shocking number of teams try to build marketing strategies... .... without ever speaking to a single customer Marketing = scaling the messages people care about You can't market until you know what they want

This panel was a fan favorite at the Safary Summit! Growth leaders at top VCs reveal exactly how they coach crypto founders to turn marketing into traction This is a must-watch for protocol marketers on how to get founder buy‑in!

two spam emails I got today: one thinks i'm interested in a seascape villa (true) the other thinks i'm broke (also true) user targeting is too good 😔

You: We're struggling with marketing Your content: • 99% dev updates • 1% memes Me: I have a theory...

Sales isn’t about selling—it’s about connection. If they like you and trust you, they’ll buy. Simple as that

One of my favorite stories from this past week: Someone spun up a Telegram group for the Safary Certification. Then built it a website. Then turned it into a full-blown community. We’ve never met before. But I was instantly impressed Here’s how @sirsamjenks built something from nothing—and got my attention in the process: When we launched the Safary Certification, Sam took it upon himself to create a TG group for people who signed up or were curious about it He called it The Waiting Room What started as 10 people quickly grew to 40 Now it’s 125+ And as Sam nurtured the group, it became a vibrant space—people sharing ideas, building in public, connecting over crypto marketing It's organic, useful, and most importantly, fun It's a true community, the way they’re supposed to be Then literally the next day — Sam vibe-coded an entire website for the group He curated ideas from the chat. Added new growth resources. Made it public. Just like that, The Waiting Room became more than a chat—it turned into a full-blown growth hub. And here’s the wild part: Sam and I have never met. He didn’t wait for an invite or an incentive He saw an opportunity—and just made it happen And by doing it well, he got my attention—he didn’t make it into Batch 8, but I’ve definitely got my eye on him for Batch 9 👀 So if you’re trying to break in, stand out, or make connections in crypto, this is your reminder: 👉 You can just do things Create value → attract energy → build momentum That’s exactly what Sam did. And it’s working. It’s been less than 2 weeks, but it’s clear this group will take on a life of its own with Sam at the helm. Big kudos to you, Sam! Let’s definitely fix that “never met” part soon 🙂