Why Telegram is the New LinkedIn for Web3 BD (And Why That's a Problem)

If you're in Web3 BD and still primarily using LinkedIn for outreach, I have some bad news for you - you're probably talking to an empty room. The real party moved to Telegram about three years ago, and like any good party that's gone on too long, it's starting to get a bit messy.

The Great Migration

Remember when business development meant carefully crafted LinkedIn messages that sat unread for weeks? Now we're living in a world where deals worth hundreds of Ks start with a casual "gm ☀️" in a Telegram group. It's faster, more immediate, and infinitely more chaotic.

As someone who's watched countless BD teams try to navigate this shift, I can tell you the evolution has been... interesting. Picture trying to run a Fortune 500 sales pipeline through WhatsApp, and you'll start to get the idea. Except in web3, it's not just possible - it's mandatory.

The Numbers Don't Lie (They Just Get Lost in the Chat)

Let me paint you a picture of a typical day in our web3 bd team that has sold $1m+ of deals:

294 active conversations
1559 group chats
3-4 different deal stages happening simultaneously
Countless "quick call" messages scattered across the chat list
At least one "sorry, I missed your message from last week" moment

And that's just before lunch.

The Hidden Cost of "Always On"

Here's the thing about Telegram BD that nobody talks about: it's simultaneously the most efficient and most wasteful way to do business development. How's that for a paradox?

On one hand, you can close deals faster than ever. The informal nature of Telegram means you can skip the ceremonial dance of formal emails and scheduled calls. A deal that might take weeks of email chains can happen in hours of Telegram messages.

But there's a dark side (and no, I'm not just talking about Telegram's dark mode). The same speed and informality that makes deals happen faster also makes them easier to lose track of. I've seen entire partnerships disappear into the void because someone "read the message but forgot to reply" - the BD equivalent of "the dog ate my homework."

The Three Horsemen of the BD Apocalypse

The Eternal Scroll of DoomYou know that moment when you know you had an important conversation but can't remember if it was in a direct message, a group chat, or that one thread you started but never finished? Yeah, that's not just you.
The Multi-Group ParadoxSomehow, every significant deal ends up spawning 2-3 chats, one main large group, a couple of side DMs, each with slightly different participants and slightly different contexts. It's like playing chess in four dimensions while blindfolded.
The "I'll Reply Later" TrapThe road to failed deals is paved with messages you meant to reply to "in just a minute." Spoiler alert: that minute often turns into never. You won’t even realize how much revenue is silently falling through the cracks.

The Evolution We Need

The shift to Telegram isn't just a change in platform - it's a fundamental shift in how business relationships are built and maintained in web3. The old tools and processes don't just need updating; they need complete reinvention.

Think about it: we're using consumer messaging apps to handle complex business relationships worth millions. It's like using a spoon to build a house - technically possible, but probably not optimal.

Looking Forward

The good news? The industry is adapting. Teams are developing new workflows, new tools (shameless plug: like what we're building at Dise), and new approaches to managing the beautiful chaos that is web3 BD in 2025.

The better news? If you're struggling with this, you're not alone. Every successful BD team in web3 has gone through the same evolution, from "How do I keep track of all this?" to "Actually, this could work better than the old way."

Because here's the truth: Telegram isn't just the new LinkedIn for Web3 BD - it's potentially better. But only if we build the right systems around it.

In the next part of this series, we'll dive into how to actually structure this chaos into a manageable pipeline. Until then, try not to lose any more deals in your chat history. And if you do... well, at least now you know you're not the only one.

Breaking Free from the Chaos

Here's where I get to drop a truth bomb that's also a shameless plug (hey, at least we are honest about it). At Dise, we've been obsessing over this exact problem - not because we're particularly masochistic, but because we watched our own BD team slowly lose their minds trying to manage deals through Telegram. Turns out, when you build a tool to save your own sanity, other people might want to use it too. Who knew?

Our solution essentially turns your Telegram into a proper BD powerhouse, complete with pipeline management, team collaboration, and the ability to actually find that one critical message from three weeks ago without performing a digital archaeological dig. Task management, AI automations, we’ve got the whole thing. It's like giving your Telegram a professional degree in business development, minus the student debt.

You can chat with the team for early access now.

Coming up next: "Building Your First BD Process: From Chaos to Pipeline" - where we'll explore how to turn your Telegram chaos into something that actually resembles a professional workflow.

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