Take your community to the next level

Who are you and what are you currently working on?

I'm Alex and one of the founders of comoon.xyz. We are building analytics software that helps blockchain companies better understand their communities and grow based on data. Before comoon, I worked in various consulting roles, including as a venture builder for start-ups.

How did you come up with the idea of starting a Web3 project?

Lucian, my co-founder, and I have been interested in crypto and Web3 for a long time. We were active in different communities and knew the challenges as users. When we decided to start a business together, we looked at the challenges on the community manager side and realized that there was a great need for analytics software.

What problem do you want to solve with this?

It's easy to say in hindsight what didn't work out well or what could or should have been done better. But things often happen the way they happen and that's (mostly) a good thing. During the development of Heylama we tried out different hypotheses and functions and of course it would have been helpful not to have to do some of them. Ultimately, all of our attempts led to a learning experience that we could build on or we were able to try out a new approach again. In that sense there is no right or wrong for me. I see the things that didn't work out well or mistakes that were made as lessons learned and grow from them. The important thing is to get support or ask for it. During the founding process of Heylama, for example, Antler helped to make contacts and advance initial processes.

What prior knowledge is required and what “hurdles” do you have to accept?

It is important to be part of the Web3 community yourself and to understand the individual platforms on which Web3 communities are active. We also work with blockchain data, which requires technical knowledge of individual chains. In addition, it is important to identify the exact problem, set the appropriate focus and then develop a solution. The end product is a web application, which means you have to be able to translate customer needs into a clean UI/UX, which can be very challenging with analytics software.

What is unique about your idea and why will it be a success? What is the next big goal?

Despite the bear market, Web3 communities are still active and new communities are emerging every day that will soon need our solution. Traditional companies and brands are also discovering the benefits of Web3 and communities to increase customer engagement and loyalty. We are in the best position to help both Web3 natives and Web3 explorers with a data solution. Our focus is on further developing the product and onboarding new customers. Our product is currently in beta and will be launched in Q2 2023.

Looking back, what are you proud of and have you already celebrated your first successes?

We already work with leading Web3 companies who highly value our software. We are proud that we were able to build a good reputation in our target segment in a short time and that we can help our early customers. We have already been invited as speakers at conferences and trade fairs. A highlight was the invitation to NFT.London 2022. We are also very happy that we enjoy the support of a global VC who stands together behind our vision.

What advice would you give to other startup founders who are just starting out? Especially in this industry?

It makes sense to take time at the beginning to understand the target segment very deeply and be focused. Web3 is very complex, with different applications (DeFi, gaming, NFTs, ...), at the beginning you should focus on solving a problem for a top target group and at the same time building a vision. In the current environment, traction is extremely important and that requires focus.

How did nxt milestone help/support you?

nxt milestone supported us in the successful application for the IBB start-up bonus and will also support us in the subsequent process after the start-up bonus has been successfully awarded.

What did you like about our work?

We were extremely satisfied with nxt milestone. The nxt milestone team has presented a very clear process as to how the application for the IBB start-up BONUS will work. We particularly liked the content and technical familiarization with the subject area of Web3, which meant that any questions we had could be resolved very quickly. The resulting business plan only had to be optimized in small details. This meant we were able to save a few weeks of working time, which we could invest very well in our company development.