10 FAQs on State of web3 BD in 2025

1. "Do I really need a dedicated BD person this early, or can the founders handle it?"

Look, every founder thinks they're the BD person until they're drowning in 47 unread Telegram messages while trying to fix that smart contract bug that's been haunting them since Tuesday. The hard truth? Yes, you absolutely need someone dedicated to BD, even if it's part-time.

Why? Because Web3 partnerships aren't built on quarterly check-ins and templated emails. They're constructed in the digital equivalent of 2am bar conversations—continuous, slightly chaotic Telegram threads where deals are made between meme exchanges and technical debates. Having someone whose job is literally "be extremely online and likable" is no longer optional.

That said, if your runway looks more like a sidewalk, having a founder who can temporarily wear the BD hat isn't catastrophic—just recognize you're operating at 40% efficiency while they juggle other existential priorities.

2. "What channels actually work for Web3 BD outreach in 2025?"

If you're still sending LinkedIn connection requests with 200-word notes about your revolutionary protocol, please stop. The hierarchy of Web3 BD channels in 2025 looks something like:

Telegram (still king, despite everyone's prediction of its demise)
Token-gated Discord communities (where actual decision-makers hide)
Farcaster for warm introductions (surprisingly effective)
IRL events (yes, face-to-face still works, shocking I know)
Twitter/X (good for initial visibility, terrible for actual deal-making)

Email sits somewhere around #27, right after carrier pigeons but before LinkedIn. Web3 operates on instant messaging platforms because the industry moves too quickly for "I'll get back to you next week" communication styles. Your BD strategy should reflect this reality—immediate, conversational, and persistently present.

3. "How do I structure a partnership proposal that won't get laughed at?"

Remember when partnership decks were 20 slides of market analysis and integration diagrams? Yeah, no one has time for that in 2025.

The winning formula now is embarrassingly simple:

A 3-paragraph Telegram message explaining the specific value add
A short list of action items from both sides
A meme that shows you understand their community culture

I'm only half-joking. The formal partnership deck still exists, but it's now the confirmation of what's already been agreed to in chat, not the opening offer.

The most successful BD professionals I know operate with a "show, don't tell" mentality—they create quick demos or proof-of-concepts before ever mentioning the word "partnership." One BD lead I worked with increased their success rate by 40% simply by leading with tangible examples instead of hypothetical benefits. In Web3, theoretical value propositions hold about as much weight as a promise to go to the gym tomorrow.

4. "What metrics should I track beyond the obvious 'number of deals'?"

Tracking only "deals closed" in Web3 BD is like measuring your health solely by whether you're currently alive or not—technically accurate but missing a lot of nuance.

The metrics that actually matter in 2025:

Time-to-response (in minutes, not days)
Community cross-pollination (are their users becoming your users?)
Protocol integration depth (surface-level or deeply embedded?)
Partnership durability through market cycles
Telegram group activity half-life (how quickly do co-created groups die?)

One metric I've found particularly revealing is "conversation revival rate"—how often you can successfully restart a stalled deal discussion. In the frenetic Web3 landscape, conversations don't die, they hibernate. Your ability to warm them back up without awkwardness is a superpower worth measuring.

5. "How do I compete with established protocols for partnerships?"

Ah yes, the classic David vs. Goliath scenario, except Goliath has a $50M treasury, 14 dedicated BD people, and the ability to offer fat token grants.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: you can't compete on resources, so stop trying. Your advantage is speed and specificity. The big protocols move like aircraft carriers—impressive but slow to change direction. Your startup is a speedboat.

The most successful small protocols I've seen:

Create absurdly specific integration proposals tailored to one partner
Build the integration first, then show it working
Focus on partners one tier below the most obvious ones
Leverage their community as the value proposition

I watched a tiny DeFi protocol secure a partnership with a top-10 chain simply because they built a demo over a weekend that solved a specific pain point. Meanwhile, the bigger competitor was still scheduling their third internal alignment call. In Web3 BD, sometimes the best strategy is just shipping while others are still talking.

6. "How much of my partnership strategy should involve token incentives in 2025?"

Token incentives in partnerships are like hot sauce—powerful when used correctly, but dump too much and you've ruined everything.

The pendulum has swung back and forth over the years. 2021 was "throw tokens at everything," 2022-23 was "tokens are dead, long live real utility," and in 2025, we've reached a more nuanced middle ground.

The current wisdom:

Short-term liquidity incentives create short-term partnerships
Locked, vesting tokens with mutual alignment create lasting ones
Non-token value props should still represent 60%+ of the partnership value
Performance-based token incentives outperform flat grants

I've watched partnerships crumble the moment the token incentives dried up, and I've seen others flourish years after the initial token exchange. The difference wasn't the amount of tokens—it was whether the tokens were the primary reason for the partnership or just the cherry on top of genuine product alignment.

7. "Do I need a different BD approach for centralized vs. decentralized partners?"

Yes, and pretending otherwise is like using the same strategy for dating and job interviews—technically possible but likely to create awkward situations.

Working with centralized entities (exchanges, centralized services, traditional companies) requires:

Clarity on legal agreements
Official points of contact
Traditional timelines and processes
Risk-focused discussions

Meanwhile, decentralized protocols need:

Community-focused value propositions
Governance-aware implementation plans
Technical integration depth
DAO engagement strategies

I once watched a BD person try to push a centralized exchange through a DAO governance vote as if they were dealing with a decentralized protocol. The resulting confusion set the partnership back months. Know your audience—their organizational structure determines everything from communication cadence to decision-making processes.

8. "How technical does a BD person need to be in Web3 in 2025?"

Let me put it this way: you don't need to be able to write a smart contract from scratch, but if terms like "composability," "fork choice rule," or "state transition" make your eyes glaze over, you're going to have a bad time.

Web3 BD in 2025 requires enough technical knowledge to:

Understand the actual integration points between protocols
Identify true technical differentiation vs. marketing fluff
Translate developer concerns into partnership terms
Know when engineering estimates are realistic

I've witnessed painfully awkward moments when BD people couldn't answer basic technical questions, instantly losing credibility with potential partners. The bar has risen significantly—surface-level understanding isn't enough anymore when technical teams from both sides are often in the same Telegram groups evaluating the partnership's feasibility in real time.

9. "How do I build a BD process that works with our development cycles?"

The classic tension: BD wants to promise the moon to close deals, engineering wants to promise a small rock to ensure delivery, and somehow you need to build a process that doesn't make everyone hate each other.

The most functional Web3 BD processes I've seen:

Involve technical leads in partnership scoping from day one
Work from a pre-approved "partnership feature menu" that engineering has already vetted
Use integration tiers with clear technical requirements for each
Implement "partnership spec documents" that both BD and engineering sign off on

One approach that's worked well is the "partnership budget" concept—engineering allocates a certain amount of bandwidth each sprint specifically for partnership integrations, and BD can "spend" that budget however they choose across different deals. It creates the right incentives for BD to prioritize high-impact partnerships rather than just maximizing deal quantity.

10. "How do I measure ROI on BD activities when token values fluctuate wildly?"

Ah, the ultimate Web3 BD challenge—trying to maintain partnership momentum when your token (and your partner's token) might swing 30% in value while you're on a lunch break.

The most resilient approaches:

Define partnership KPIs in non-token terms (users shared, transactions processed)
Create dollar-denominated value metrics alongside token metrics
Implement partnership success tiers that adjust based on market conditions
Focus on relative performance metrics rather than absolute numbers

I've seen partnerships structured with "market adjustment clauses" that automatically recalibrate token incentives based on rolling averages of token prices. Creative? Yes. Necessary? Also yes, unless you enjoy renegotiating terms every time the market hiccups.

The most consistent BD teams don't ignore token volatility—they build systems that account for it, creating partnerships with enough fundamental value alignment that they survive regardless of whether both tokens are pumping or momentarily crashing to earth.

The reality of Web3 BD in 2025 is that it's both more structured and more chaotic than ever before. The partnerships that last aren't built on hype cycles or temporary market conditions—they're built on genuine product alignment, clear communication processes, and enough flexibility to weather the inevitable strangeness of this ecosystem we've all decided to call home.

Now go forth and BD—your Telegram notifications await.

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