Former Ethereum Foundation startup support member Abbas Khan has a blunt message for founders: don't rely on the foundation to help you find product-market fit (PMF). In a post on X, Khan, who left the foundation, said the strongest founders already understand this. They tend to know their direction, their shortcomings and what they need, and they come to the foundation with specific, well-scoped requests. Some founders, he said, once hoped that an Ethereum retweet or support from the foundation would solve distribution and PMF problems. But as he put it, 'No foundation can make you successful. Building the product, finding distribution and validating PMF is on you.' Khan also admitted that criticism of the early Ethereum Foundation for lacking a founder support team was fair, adding that those functions improved over time. However, he made a distinction between 'supporting builders' and 'expecting the foundation to make you successful.' What the foundation can offer, he said, is resource connections, onboarding programs and mentorship. What it cannot do is build a team's project or determine the project's fate.
Former Ethereum Foundation startup support member Abbas Khan says founders who expect the foundation to solve their product-market fit (PMF) problem are missing the point.
In a post on X after leaving the foundation, Khan argued that truly strong founders know the foundation cannot do this work for them. They usually arrive with a clear sense of direction, an understanding of their weaknesses, and a concrete list of needs. The requests they bring are specific and bounded.
Khan said some founders have hoped that a retweet from Ethereum or backing from the foundation would fix distribution and PMF. That thinking, he wrote, is wrong: 'No foundation can make you successful. Building the product, finding distribution and validating PMF is on you.'
He also said the criticism that early Ethereum Foundation had no founder support team was fair, and that the situation improved later. But he stressed that 'supporting builders' is not the same as 'expecting the foundation to make you.' The foundation can supply resource connections, onboarding programs and mentorship, he said. What it cannot do is build a project for a team or decide the project's fate.
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