If you’ve been keeping up with news coming out of the blockchain community over the past year, you’ve probably heard countless projects hyped as the next best thing—only for them to fall off completely off the map a few months later. While some of these projects offered no practical solutions and seemed destined to fail, others creatively used blockchain technology to enhance the way we perform day-to-day tasks.

So, What’s the Problem?

For starters, many of these founders have no real experience running a business or managing finances. Instead, teams are usually comprised of programmers and tech geeks with the ability to develop blockchain-driven apps, but have no clue about project management, allocating resources, effective team building or marketing.

What’s more, when you look at the average blockchain start-up’s website, you’ll probably find a list of team members with accolades a mile long. And many of these “achievements” are in similar blockchain projects that have yet to take off. This makes it hard to distinguish between what is hype and what is credible information, which scares off all but the high-risk investor.

Project Success Starts at the Team Level

The sudden interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology can be compared to the California Gold Rush. Everyone wants to get in on the ground floor so that they can make as much money as possible.

Unfortunately, this mentality isn’t just present among investors — it’s how team members operate, as well. Too many project leaders and CEOs are too focused on becoming the next Steve Jobs. Instead of building technology that addresses actual pain points, they focus on two things: money and fame. As a result, project failure skyrockets as tasks are mismanaged and team members leave, frustrated with out-of-touch executives and overbearing managers.

To address these issues, start-ups must first tackle the issues that arise at the team level.

Stop focusing so much on money. Blockchain projects need to use technology to solve problems or enhance specific tasks.

All team members need to be involved in the project planning phases.

Management needs to come up with a long-term project roadmap to maintain scope and not waste time and money on irrelevant tasks.

Building a strong team is the first step towards ensuring your blockchain project succeeds. Not only does it add more structure to your organization, it helps prevent conflict and power struggles that lead to hard forks and other problems. Because when team members are motivated to reach key goals and objectives aside from just earning money, they’re more likely to work cohesively.

Poor Money Management

Naturally, not all problems affecting blockchain projects are team related. Poor money management also leads to project failure as managers recklessly spend money on things that don’t help them reach their goals and objectives.

Another reason why it’s important to create a clear-cut roadmap during the initial phases of your project.

It’s Time for a Better Paradigm

Project success starts at the team level. Clear-cut goals and objectives ensure that the scope of blockchain projects are aligned with the interests of the investors and supporters. This results in less scams and more legitimacy in the community as developers work towards creating workable blockchain solutions rather than making a quick million.

Stick around for our next blog post to learn more about how you can maximize your project’s success. Also, be sure to check out the ICOSuccess website to learn more about how you can market your ICO in a way that positions your project for long-term success.