To make your DApp successful, you must first have a solid plan and a clear vision of the problem your DApp will solve.
原文标题：《The ultimate guide for building and launching a successful dApp》
Written by Starknet
Compiled by: Starknet Chinese Community
Quick Facts
Build the right team and choose the right blockchain
Ensure projects have a clear vision, business and financing plan, and drive project development through community engagement and feedback
Focus on security and risk management, measure success and expansion through key performance indicators
Always pay attention to market trends and user needs to keep products relevant and competitive
introduction
If you have been following technology trends, you may have noticed the development of blockchain technology. Initially known for supporting cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology is now at the core of many decentralized applications (dApps), providing transparency, security, and freedom. With the rapid growth of blockchain, while the potential for innovation is huge, it also brings many challenges that need to be addressed.
For founders who are immersed in blockchain and dApps, a breakthrough idea can make them excited. However, it is equally important to combine this enthusiasm with careful planning and execution. This means understanding the world of blockchain and dApps, identifying real-world problems, and developing a unique value proposition - all of which are foundational steps to drive project success.
This guide will be your roadmap, guiding you through every step, from brainstorming and market research to clarifying the uniqueness of your project. Think of it as your assistant in turning your blockchain ideas into successful reality.
Conception and market research
To build a successful dApp, it’s essential to lay a solid foundation before you start coding. You’ll need to start by doing in-depth ideation and market research to ensure your project will meet a real need and stand out from the crowd. Here’s how to complete this critical first step:
Identify the problem and solution
Understand the market need: Find out the real problems that blockchain can help solve. Talk to potential users through surveys or interviews to make sure the problem you are solving is real and important.
Brainstorm and validate solutions: Be creative and come up with different ways to solve your problem using blockchain. Refine your ideas by getting expert feedback or doing some early testing. Look to successful dApps like Uniswap and Chainlink, which have successfully solved real-world problems, for guidance.
Develop a compelling value proposition: Articulate how your dApp solves the problem, making sure your value proposition highlights the unique benefits of your solution and explains why it is superior to existing options. This is your key opportunity to showcase why your dApp is the best choice.
Competitor Analysis: Understand what your competitors are doing and observe what they are doing well and what they may not be doing as well. Use this insight to find gaps or areas of improvement that your dApp can fill. Positioning your dApp as the best solution to these problems will help it stand out and attract attention.
Market Research
When developing your dApp, accurate market research is critical. Start by conducting a comprehensive market analysis. This includes identifying your target audience, understanding current market trends, and assessing the market size through resources such as market analysis reports.
Your research should also include an in-depth analysis of your competitors. Take a close look at their products, strategies, and market positioning. This will help you understand their strengths and weaknesses so you can develop a dApp that stands out and meets real needs.
Defining your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your unique selling proposition (USP) highlights what makes your dApp stand out. It should clearly state its unique benefits and why it is the best choice. Think of your USP as a way to make your dApp irresistible — make it clear, to the point, compelling, and appeal to your audience’s practical and emotional needs.
Business Model and Strategy
In the rapidly developing blockchain and crypto space, having a solid business model and strategy is key to the success of your project. The following in-depth points need to be kept in mind to lay the foundation for your road to success:
Business Model Canvas
Creating a business model canvas can serve as a blueprint for your project, helping you to visually sort out and optimize key elements, including defining the unique value of your project, determining your target audience, and choosing the most effective channels to reach your audience. At the same time, you also need to clarify revenue sources, key resources, core activities, partnerships, and cost structures.
Legal and regulatory considerations
Dealing with legal matters is essential to the effective operation of your project, but it’s not as scary as it sounds. You need to understand the local and international laws that affect your industry, ensure compliance, and protect your intellectual property through patents, trademarks, or copyrights. Although the current regulation of blockchain is not as clear and complete as it could be, this is not 2011, the relevant laws are in place, and every blockchain founder has the responsibility to comply with them.
Complying with these laws helps you avoid legal disputes and build trust with your users. It also ensures that your innovations are not copied by others.
Partnership and Ecosystem Building
Building a strong network drives project success in any industry, but this is especially true in the blockchain space where decentralization is highly valued and collaboration can bring more rewards.
Look for partners whose strengths complement your own and ensure win-win outcomes through sharing resources, exploring new markets or collaborative development. This collaboration may also lead to joint venture projects, joint marketing activities or shared technology development. You will reap long-term benefits by maintaining these relationships through regular communication and mutual support.
Check out the Starknet ecosystem: https://www.starknet.io/dapps/
Token Economics
First, you must consider whether your dApp needs a token. Tokens can serve as an effective financing tool and even provide actual functional value in the dApp. But not every dApp needs a token.
If you decide to launch a token, you must carefully plan your token economics. You need to design a well-thought-out, sustainable, and thriving token economics system for your project. First, define the role and function of the token in the ecosystem (token model). Then, design incentive mechanisms that reward participants and users for active interaction and encourage them to stay active and engaged. Next, plan your token distribution strategy (i.e., how to distribute tokens to stakeholders) and token supply management to ensure balance and health, avoiding inflation or deflation, which can affect the stability of the project.
Technology Development
As you start working on the technical aspects of the project, your focus should be on choosing the right platform, assembling a good team, and ensuring solid testing practices.
Choosing the right blockchain platform
Choosing the right blockchain platform is crucial and is the foundation of your project. Here are the factors to consider:
Evaluate platforms: Each blockchain has its strengths — for example, Solana is faster than Ethereum, but less decentralized. If you value speed, low transaction costs, and decentralization, it is recommended to choose Ethereum's second layer network (L2), such as Starknet.
Scalability: Make sure the blockchain you choose can handle growth and not get congested during peak usage. To attract users, you need to build your platform on a chain that can scale. Transactions on Starknet are nearly instantaneous, and transaction fees on the network have recently been as low as $0.005!
Come to Starknet and start building your dApp: https://www.starknet.io/developers/
Security: Look for platforms with strong security features, such as encryption and robust consensus mechanisms. Also, look at how quickly the platform has solved problems in the past. If building on L2, prioritize using validity rollup platforms, which cryptographically prove that every transaction processed and settled on L1 is valid. In contrast, optimistic rollups operate on the assumption that transactions are legitimate and are relatively less secure.
Community: A large and active community is a huge advantage. This means there is plenty of support, resources, and experienced developers who can help you.
User Experience: This may seem like the next step after you choose the blockchain you want to build your dApp on, but in fact, this step is just as crucial here. We are used to seamless user experience in regular applications, and account abstraction is a mechanism that can bring that experience to the blockchain. For example, Starknet provides native account abstraction, that is, it is the default setting of the network. For users, this means implementing features such as signing transactions using face and fingerprint ID instead of complex private keys, and will also support more familiar security features such as two-factor authentication (2FA) and three-factor authentication (3FA).
Recruiting the right team
Finding and building the right team is crucial to realizing your dApp. You can find the most suitable top talents through freelancing platforms such as LinkedIn and Upwork, technical communities on GitHub, and various social events. Most importantly, don’t forget about crypto conferences! These conferences are very important in the industry. When it comes to project development, you can choose from the following options:
In-house development: Build an in-house team to have full control over the development process.
Outsourcing: Hiring an outside agency or consultant to handle specific tasks or provide expertise.
Hybrid approach: Combining internal and outsourced resources to balance flexibility and control.
When you build your ideal team, make sure your team has the following roles:
Front-end and back-end developers: Developers who are proficient in user interface design and server-side logic.
Blockchain Integration Specialist: Expert in writing and deploying smart contracts, wallet management, and transaction security.
UI/UX Designer: A designer responsible for designing intuitive and attractive interfaces. This is particularly important for blockchain applications, which have always been challenging in terms of user experience compared to traditional applications.
Testing and Quality Assurance
Ensuring the reliability and security of dApps is critical. One way to do this is to use testnets, such as Starknet’s Sepolia, Ethereum’s Ropsten, and the Binance Smart Chain testnet, which are independent blockchains designed for testing purposes. Testnets provide a risk-free environment for testing with test tokens, simulating real-world conditions and helping to identify and resolve issues before mainnet deployment.
In addition to using the testnet, comprehensive testing also includes
Unit testing: Verifies individual components, ensuring they perform correctly when run independently.
Integration testing: Checks the interactions between components to ensure they work together seamlessly.
End-to-end testing: Simulate real user scenarios to confirm that the dApp performs well under real conditions.
Financing and Fundraising
In the fast-moving technology sector, securing funding and raising funds for your project is critical. Understanding your funding options can have a significant impact on the success of your project. Here are some common funding options:
Self-Funding and Seed Round Financing
Self-funding means using personal savings to launch your business. This approach gives you full control over your business and prevents you from taking on debt or selling equity. It enables you to test ideas and make initial progress with limited funding, but requires careful management of your resources.
If you’re self-funding, building an MVP (minimum viable product), a simple version of your product that solves a core problem, can help you gather valuable user feedback and make improvements without breaking the bank.
As your business grows, seed financing becomes essential, usually from angel investors, venture capital firms, or seed funds to provide early funds to cover expenses and support product development. This type of investment helps you scale operations and accelerate growth, usually in exchange for equity.
You need a solid business plan and early market presence to attract seed investors. With this funding, you can improve your MVP and better demonstrate its potential to investors and the market. Both self-funding and seed rounds require strategic planning, but they are both key to driving startup success.
Venture Capital and Angel Investment
Getting funding from angel investors and venture capital (VC) firms can be a huge boost to your startup. But before you approach investors, make sure you have a solid business plan and a well-prepared financing proposal. Here are the key things to focus on:
Business plan key points:
Business Overview: Describe your business and the problem it solves.
Market Analysis: Gain in-depth understanding of target markets, industry trends, and competition.
Products or Services: Describe the product or service you offer and what makes it unique.
Business Model: Explain your revenue sources and revenue generation strategies.
Financial Forecasts: Estimates of revenues, expenses, and profitability.
Financing plan highlights:
Problem and Solution: The problem you want to solve and the corresponding solution.
Market opportunity: the size and potential of the market.
Business highlights: Any achievements or milestones achieved.
Business model: the way of generating income.
Financials: Key financial indicators and forecasts.
Team situation: Your team and their relevant professional experience.
Use this template to help you write a convincing business plan.
Once your business plan and financing proposal are ready, approach investors with a proven track record in your industry, such as:
Sequoia Capital
Andreessen Horowitz（a16z)
Accel
Little Perkins
Benchmark capital
Techstars
Tailor your financing plan to their interests and make sure it’s clear, data-driven, captures their interests, and covers both opportunities and risks.
Funding and Ecological Fund
Blockchain grants are a great way to get funding for your innovative projects. These grants usually come from government agencies, non-profit organizations, and blockchain foundations. To apply for these grants, you need to submit a proposal that clearly outlines the goals of your project, its technical approach, and its impact, customized to the requirements of each grant program.
Similarly, ecosystem funds and support programs are critical to the development of projects, providing financial support, technical resources, and networking opportunities. For example, Starknet has a Seed Grant Program to help developers and projects accelerate development.
Application portal for the Seed Grant Program: https://forms.monday.com/forms/34e1d6aab0c5a173758aa66ee34660cf?r=apse2
The Seed Grant Program provides up to $25,000 USDC funding to projects with MVP or proof of concept. Applicants should be active in the Starknet community or have joined StarkNet's related programs. Submit a clear plan for the use of grant funds, and after evaluation, you will receive a notification of the results within two weeks.
Marketing and community building
Marketing and community building are key factors in the success of your project. A strong brand image and effective marketing can attract and retain users, while a vibrant community can provide support and feedback for your project.
Brand and Positioning
To build a solid brand image:
First, be clear about who you are and the values you stand for.
Design a unique logo, choose your brand colors, and write a mission statement that reflects your values and resonates with your audience. And don’t forget to keep it creative and have fun — after all, this is the industry that gave birth to memecoins and NFTs.
Tell your story and show your audience what makes your project different from your competitors.
Share the “why” behind it and how your project aims to make a difference. This is very important in the blockchain space. The industry loves founders who have bold visions that go beyond the product.
Marketing strategy
Now, let’s talk about marketing strategy. Leverage digital marketing channels to reach a wide audience and get your message out there.
Leverage social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn to keep your community informed and engaged. Create valuable content, such as blogs, videos, and infographics, to educate your audience and establish your professional image. Don’t forget to perform search engine optimization (SEO) on this content to increase visibility.
In addition, you can also promote your project by cooperating with KOLs and carry out public relations activities to obtain media coverage and enhance the credibility of your project.
Community Engagement
A vibrant community can make a huge difference, providing users with a platform to interact, share ideas, and support each other. It’s not enough to simply create an online community, you must make an ongoing effort to keep it active and engaged. Here are some strategies for building and nurturing a community:
Community accounts: You’ll need to create accounts on each relevant channel — typically Discord for topic-specific channels, Q&A sessions, and active discussions; Telegram for real-time updates and group chats; and of course, don’t forget X.
Organize events: Organize AMA events to connect with users; organize hackathons to encourage collaboration and innovation. At the same time, organize peripheral activities in related crypto conferences, offline gatherings, and other activities. Any activities that can bring the community together can be considered.
Encourage user participation: Invite community members to create and share content, such as comments and creative works. Overall, if you can foster a sense of participation among community members, they can become unofficial ambassadors of the project.
Incorporate Feedback: Actively seek and incorporate user feedback to continuously improve the project.
Startup strategy
Finally, let’s talk about launch strategy. A successful launch plan is an important milestone that involves careful planning and execution to create the greatest impact. If you are launching a token, there are many platforms that can help you with this process, helping you raise funds and generate widespread attention.
Even if you have plans to issue a token, you don’t have to do it right away. Sometimes it’s valuable to launch your dApp beforehand. This way you can prove to the community that you’re serious about your product. The point is not only to generate revenue through tokens, but also to establish the dApp itself as a solution to a specific market problem.
That’s why it’s critical to maintain the same level of commitment even after a dApp launches. A well-executed launch strategy sets the stage for a project’s future success, ensuring that its excitement and growth momentum continues.
Deployment and maintenance
Deploying and maintaining a dApp involves key steps such as final checks, deployment, and ongoing updates to ensure it runs smoothly and securely on the mainnet. Here’s a detailed breakdown:
Mainnet deployment
Before deploying your dApp to mainnet, make sure you understand the process to avoid any issues:
Comprehensive testing: Perform unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing to identify and fix issues in a timely manner.
Check smart contracts: Ensure the security and optimization of the contracts.
Deploy to mainnet: transfer the contract from the testnet to the mainnet.
Beyond that, make sure you have enough gas to process transactions in a timely manner, and keep your team and users up to date on deployment timelines and any expected downtime.
Continuous development and updates
After deployment, continuous development and updates are essential to maintain momentum. Add new features, improve functionality, and fix bugs to ensure your dApp remains relevant and competitive. Engage with the community to gather user feedback through community forums, social media, and direct communication to guide updates to meet user needs.
Security and Risk Management
Security cannot be compromised. Make sure to:
Schedule security audits regularly to identify and fix vulnerabilities.
Partner with a trusted security firm to ensure your smart contracts and infrastructure are impenetrable.
Implement best practices like code reviews, secure coding standards, and continuous monitoring to ensure your dApp is secure and protects user data and assets.
Stay up to date on the latest security trends.
Measuring success and scaling
So how do you make sure your project is on track? Once you’ve launched your dApp, you need to keep tracking it to make sure it’s on track by measuring its success and figuring out how to make it better (i.e. scale). Let’s break it down into a few key areas.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
To effectively measure success, you must identify and set clear KPIs that align with your business goals. Whether you’re tracking how many users you’ve attracted (engagement), how active your users are (retention), or tracking how many users are converting (conversion rate), KPIs are how you evaluate your performance.
Regularly checking KPIs like user activity and growth will help you understand what’s performing well and what needs tweaking. If you’re having a hard time understanding these numbers and statistics, use tools like Google Analytics and social media to help you better understand these metrics.
Expansion strategy
When it’s time to scale, start by exploring new markets and user groups. Find areas where people will enjoy your product and target those areas to drive growth. Then, go one step further and partner with complementary businesses, influencers, and platforms to gain new user groups and boost your credibility. In addition, integrating with popular tools and platforms can make things smoother and attract a wider audience.
Feedback and iteration
Launching a dApp is not the end, it also requires continuous improvement. Stay connected with users through surveys, comments, and direct feedback to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences, challenges, pain points, areas for improvement, and new feature requests. Based on this feedback and performance metrics, make informed updates and adjustments. This will help keep the product fresh and relevant, ensuring that the product continues to meet user needs and keep users happy.
in conclusion
To make your dApp successful, start with a solid plan and a clear vision of the problem your dApp is going to solve. Understand your audience, design a user-friendly interface, and make sure the smart contracts are fully functional and secure. Don’t be shy about testing your dApp, and make sure you have an excellent marketing plan to promote your project.
For aspiring blockchain founders, remember: persistence pays off. Keep a close eye on the latest market trends, actively seek user feedback, and be ready to adapt to new things. Networking and connecting with other blockchain professionals can also provide you with valuable support.
The future of dApps and blockchain is incredibly exciting as industries like finance and entertainment adopt blockchain more broadly. Watch for innovations in scalability and new smart contract applications. Seize these opportunities and keep exploring new technological advances.
