[StepN] Stormproof: Steering towards Success

As we’ve covered in depth in our previous articles, the bear market is in full swing. In the midst of things, we’re buckling down and working harder than ever — and we’re also more confident than ever that we will emerge from this “storm”, even stronger than before.

But, we know that it can be hard to see what’s going on behind the scenes and understand why we’re so confident in our project. That’s why we’ll be diving into the top three most important fundamentals a project must have to weather storms such as these and lay out why STEPN is poised to succeed.

The State of Things

Let’s set some context. On a very high-level, there are many incredibly strong forces at play currently in the macro environment that are contributing to this bear market.

One, the war in Europe has been a serious setback to the region’s economy, which is still working on an incomplete recovery from the pandemic, leaving private consumption and investment well below pre-COVID forecasts. Despite fiscal and monetary support to boost the economy, countless sources of uncertainty and rising costs of food and fuel have been creating serious knock-on effects across the world.

Two, the US is experiencing record inflation rates, forcing the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates — some of the biggest ones in decades.

Three, China’s strict COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns have squeezed supply chains and slowed industrial output to a crawl. A trade titan, China accounts for a staggering 29% of global manufacturing output in 2019. The effects of these COVID restrictions have impacted nearly every industry you can think of, causing supply crunches worldwide.

During these times, it can be easy to despair, especially as there seems no end in sight to the issues wreaking havoc on the world’s three biggest economic centres.

Hindsight is Always 20/20

The end might not be in sight, but for those who take the time to study history, you’ll realize that there are a few patterns that can be picked out in projects that are able to make it through these bear markets.

Oftentimes, as an observer looking back at how things turned out, it can seem obvious that these projects succeeded. But zooming in a little closer, there is more than meets the eye.

So how do you sort out quality projects? In other words, how do you decide which ones are the most likely to make it through the storm?

It can be difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff, but at the end of the day, there are three core areas that are essential.

1: Team

2: Business model

3: Product

In our last article, we discussed the role product plays. Today, we’re going to be talking about the importance of a good team.

STEPN: A Good Team is Worth its Weight in Gold

When it comes to a good project, there are a few qualities that are indispensable. And, first and foremost a good team is worth its weight in gold.

Here at STEPN, we’ve already proven that we have the requisite experience and know-how.

Our founders Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong are experienced founders in both the gaming and crypto space. They are backed further by a strong executive team that comes with outstanding credentials in blockchain, FMCG and crypto space.

Indeed, we’d like to think that we’ve more than proven our technical prowess in building an exceptional product and community. But, as most founders know, once you’ve gotten off the ground and proven your capability of launching a major project, these technicals start becoming table stakes. So we always build with a Day1 attitude — complete with a hunger to learn and drive to succeed.

The Qualities to Pay Attention to

Thus, beyond the technicals and fundamentals, there are some soft qualities that are arguably more important in the long run. And these are integrity, Mission orientation, and resilience.

Integrity is crucial to ensure that there is a culture of honesty and dependability across the company and a united ethos of serving our users. Yawn and Jerry have demonstrated this time and time again by prioritizing the community’s needs first no matter how busy they get or how little sleep they’ve had. Throughout our team, there’s a desire to do right by our STEPNers. The ability to think at 10,000 feet and then come down and execute with completely honesty like no other is gold and it’s innate in every member of our team.

Mission, too, is woven into our team. We started STEPN with a mission to build something that can make the world a better and healthier place, to impact millions. Far more motivating than money, the most rewarding thing to us — our user testimonials, of people who have struggled with exercise all their lives but have finally been able to feel better and fitter because of STEPN. That was true when we were a small team of a handful of folks, and that is true now even as we’re expanding to dozens.

That leads us to our next point — resilience. While everyone else across web3 (and even web2) are laying off people left and right, we’re actually hiring engineers, marketers and BD folks out there to build our team. It’s a well-known fact that layoffs are unfortunately the “easiest” and “laziest” thing that companies can do when they need to slash costs as quickly as possible to balance their budget sheet. But, as many sharp minds have pointed out, layoffs often belie a lack of accountability and myopia… of too much rampant enthusiasm during good times.

In fact, during hard times, you should be investing even more in your people

Here at STEPN, we know that our most valuable asset is our people, and that’s why we’re doubling down on our people.

Closing Thoughts

As the world braces to enter a downturn, no one truly knows how long this bear market will last. And indeed, many of the forces that will lift us out or keep us in this cycle are out of our control.

So, what can an end user do — what you can do now is note the projects who are building strongly — and that are building with integrity, mission, and resilience.

We at STEPN humbly believe that our team is upholding those values no matter what the times; and we have our community to thank, for all the inspiration and feedback!