Interview with Joshua Yap - Founder of Solid Metrics: Crypto Marketing Agency

 

Joshua Yap is the founder of Solid Metrics, a crypto marketing agency focused on sustainable growth for blockchain projects - emphasizing removing reliance on short-term hype cycles. Joshua has over 5 years of experience in community and marketing growth. He is passionate about Web3 and, together under the advisory of prominent Web3 marketer, Alan Kong, invites you to learn more about Joshua and Solid Metrics in this exclusive interview for TechBehemoths.

Hi Joshua, thanks for accepting our interview. Please tell us a little about yourself. Your background and how did you come to this point?

Before and even after departing Zensite, I had already entered the Web3 scene as a community manager and builder for Stacks (formerly known as Blockstack). With much discussion about users owning their assets and data, Web3 looks extremely promising as a force for good in the world.

Beyond Stacks, I have also worked with both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake chain projects. Currently, I am also part of the educational team helping millions bring real-world assets on-chain with Creditcoin.

When and how did you start your business? Is there an interesting story here?

I started Solid Metrics because of my recent departure from my previous venture. Also, I have been working in the Web3 space for more than 5 years and I wondered when would be the right time for me to provide real value to companies building in this space.

Working in this space, especially as a marketer, I came across many great but also deceitful marketing schemes. I created Solid Metrics to be the filter to help great Web3 projects thrive in this space without worries.

What are some of the top challenges of starting a crypto marketing agency?

One of the biggest challenges of starting a crypto marketing agency is definitely the dependency on following market cycles. Although in my earlier quote from my agency, I did mention the need to remove reliance on short-term hype, to some degree, the Web3 market is still young and there are a lot of project founders still hooked on market psychology. 

For example, during a bull market, it's much easier to get projects to invest money in marketing for growth. During bear markets, the majority of projects would prefer to stay low profile just to survive.

Surviving alone is counterproductive because the whole point of business is to thrive. Sometimes this point is very difficult to get across to teams during pitches.

What is your opinion about the current crypto market? Realistically speaking, do you see it as stagnation or as an opportunity? Please elaborate your thoughts.

In my earlier opening, I mentioned that the Web3 space has good potential for future growth and adoption. However, that does not disregard the fact that there are also bad actors disrupting the adoption process, such as the rampant scams in this space. The more bad actors there are without intervention from good players, the less likely Web3 will accelerate adoption.

Web3 is all about freedom and total ownership; sometimes, people cannot make their own decisions to protect their assets. That is why the space also actively cultivates good players in the form of builders who design solutions to protect more mainstream users, encouraging greater adoption and security. It's a battle between two sides and based on adoption data, the good side is winning as builders continue building.

As of August 2023, it's no secret to anyone that the crypto market has taken many hits - Sam from FTX going to jail, over 10+ major liquidation events since last year, and Rollbit (a gambling platform) growing rapidly amid more negativity. It’s very easy to look at everything and feel hopeless about this space. There is a rough road ahead, but as I mentioned earlier, it will take a lot of time and effort before things improve. However, blockchain technology itself remains very promising for reducing censorship.

Imagine that Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, and Gates want to work for Solid Metrics. Which one would you choose? Why?

If Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, and Gates wanted to work for Solid Metrics, we would probably only choose Elon because of his involvement with X (formerly Twitter). In our quest for freedom through blockchain, we believe in what Elon is doing to help free speech and anti-censorship. That being said, bringing on Elon Musk is not the best option because we would prefer that he continues working on electric vehicles and space travel, which provide far greater good for humanity, instead of growing our web3 agency.

If you had the chance to go back in time, what advice would you give to Joshua Yap from 2012?

If I could go back to 2012, I would whisper to myself, "You should have started your own business rather than partnering with others too quickly."

 

Thank you for the interview, Joshua! It was a pleasure to learn more about you and Solid Metrics. I'm sure the community enjoyed getting to know you as well. I look forward to hearing from you again in the future about your Web3 journey! Best of luck with your projects and navigating Web3.

Solid Metrics is one of the leading companies on TechBehemoths. If you like this interview and think that Joshua and his team can help your business. don't hesitate to contact them via TechBehemoths or discover the agency on social media: X(Formerly Twitter)