The NEAR Ecosystem Can Evolve If We All Work Together
Can we work collaboratively such that we can all shine together?
NEAR is in a strong position at the moment, with many talented teams building on the platform and a lot of potential for growth and success. However, with so many teams in the ecosystem working on different ideas, it’s difficult for the folks behind each project to be experts at every aspect of their platform. In other words, it’s hard to be a world-class designer, engineer and marketer all at once, so it makes sense for us to seek each other out to help us find common ground for collaboration and cooperation.
Let’s talk about pain points
One of the biggest challenges for teams in the NEAR ecosystem is the need to constantly reinvent the wheel, particularly when it comes to developing technology pieces that are not directly related to the core of their dApp.
Developing technology pieces that are not part of the core of a dApp can be particularly challenging because teams may not have the necessary expertise or resources to do so. For example, a team may need to build a marketplace from scratch or develop some other common blockchain solution frequently built by other teams, even though these are not core to their dApp. This can take time and resources (especially financial) away from the development of the dApp itself, and can lead to delays and other challenges.
Building a product that is both intuitive and accessible to your target audience can be a challenge. If your user experience is not simple enough, it can be difficult to win over users and achieve widespread adoption of your dApp. Unfortunately, few teams have the necessary expertise in-house to effectively design and test their user experience, and as a result, many dApps in the NEAR ecosystem struggle with this issue. This can lead to functional but complex products that require users to “get with the program and learn crypto” in order to use them, which can be off-putting and even end up alienating mainstream users.
Legal, regulatory, and compliance issues can be difficult for teams in the NEAR ecosystem to navigate. This is because the laws and regulations governing blockchain technology and dApps are still evolving and can vary depending on the jurisdiction. As a result, teams may need to spend time and resources on understanding these laws and regulations, which can be challenging for developers who are already busy building their products.
Additionally, they also need to be concerned with other factors, like tokenomic design, smart contract auditing, and cybersecurity.
Lack of effective marketing channels
It’s a challenge for any start-up to get noticed in the vast sea of startups and dApps out there. It’s especially challenging for teams from the blockchain space, considering that there are so many projects out there and relatively few marketing channels available to help them reach their target audience. Can the NEAR foundation help with resources here? The foundation (in my opinion) should serve as a unifying force, helping bring together targeted marketing campaigns for specific projects that might otherwise struggle with finding traction on their own.
Access to capital
There have been rumors that venture capital firms are hesitant to invest in projects within the NEAR ecosystem, which has made it difficult for these projects to access capital. The NEAR foundation has also been selective with its grant allocations, likely due to market conditions. This raises the question of how efficiently resources are being used when teams are constantly having to reinvent solutions to common problems. By solving the above mentioned pain points, we may be better able as an ecosystem to “stretch the dollar” so to speak and launch something of far greater quality.
Better and more effective communication
Currently there seems to be a disconnect between the NEAR foundation (the ranked officers) and the dApp teams (soldiers in the trenches). To improve collaboration and cooperation between the NEAR foundation and developers in the ecosystem, clear communication channels and regular meetings or discussions could be established. This would allow both parties to share ideas and updates, and work towards a shared vision for the ecosystem. The foundation could provide support and resources to developers, while developers could provide valuable insights and feedback to the foundation. By working together more closely, the foundation and developers could better understand each other’s challenges and needs, and work together to address them. This could help to bridge the gap between the high-level mission directives of the foundation and the day-to-day challenges faced by developers in the trenches.
We are not going to grow as a community if we don’t help each other out
To improve the NEAR ecosystem and make it more accessible to users, the community needs to find solutions to common challenges such as onboarding users, effective discoverability of dApps, and creating mainstream-friendly user experiences. By addressing these pain points, the NEAR foundation may be able to allocate funds more efficiently and support projects that have the greatest potential for success. There are already some promising initiatives underway, such as Blogchain and near social, which could help to improve the ecosystem as a whole. However, it will be important for the community to work together and see themselves as part of a larger ecosystem, rather than as individual entities. This will require collaboration, transparency, and a shared vision for the future of the ecosystem.
It takes a village for the NEAR ecosystem to thrive.
In conclusion, the success of the NEAR ecosystem requires collaboration and cooperation among the various teams, developers, and the NEAR foundation. By working together and addressing common challenges, such as onboarding users and creating mainstream-friendly user experiences, the ecosystem can become more accessible and attractive for mainstream adoption. By seeing ourselves as part of a larger ecosystem, the community can come together to drive innovation and progress in the NEAR ecosystem.