Web3 Doesn’t Need More Hype—It Needs Better Products
How Do You Build a Web3 Product That Solves Real Problems?
Web3 was supposed to fix the internet—but somewhere along the way, it got lost in hype cycles, speculative bubbles, and confusing UX.
For , co-founder of INTU, building a Web3 startup wasn’t about riding the next trend. It was about solving real infrastructure problems that were holding blockchain adoption back.
In this post, we break down insights from our Startup Debrief podcast with James—exploring his journey, the biggest mistakes Web3 founders make, and what actually works when building in this space
The Wake-Up Call: Web3 Can’t Just Be Web2 with Tokens
INTU didn’t start with a grand vision—it started with a group of friends drinking beer and trying to figure out how blockchain actually worked.
James was already an entrepreneur—he had built businesses in real estate and restaurants before finally diving into blockchain in 2016-2017. But he wasn’t interested in trading tokens.
I missed DeFi summer because I was too busy reading white papers on cryptography.
As he and his team started experimenting with Web3 tech, they hit the same roadblocks over and over again:
❌ No proper authentication or identity management
❌ No seamless account recovery or encryption
❌ Blockchain UX that made onboarding painful
Their realization? If Web3 was going to work for real users, someone had to build the missing infrastructure.
We kept running into roadblocks—so we decided to fix them.
And so, INTU was born.
The Biggest Mistakes Web3 Founders Keep Making
Many Web3 founders fall into one of two traps:
✅ They overcomplicate things in the name of decentralization
✅ They rely too much on centralized solutions, making Web3 redundant
INTU had to find the balance between pragmatism and decentralization.
1️⃣ Mistake: Making Web3 the Selling Point
No one wakes up thinking “I need a decentralized app today.” They care about solving their problem.
Users don’t care if something is decentralized, open-source, or on-chain—they care if it works better than the alternative.
The best Web3 products? They feel invisible. They don’t require users to learn crypto jargon, sign 10 wallet transactions, or worry about gas fees. They just work.
Solution: Build Web3 in the background—make the user experience seamless.
2️⃣ Mistake: Raising Too Much, Too Soon
We saw founders giving up 30% of their company at pre-seed. If you need to raise again, you’ve left yourself no wiggle room.
When INTU raised in early 2022, they were fortunate to secure funding right before the crypto market crashed. But since then, they’ve seen many Web3 startups struggle to raise follow-on funding.
Founders either:
🚨 Sell too much equity early on, leaving no room for future rounds
🚨 Raise at inflated valuations, making it impossible to justify growth
🚨 Launch a token too soon, tanking their project before they even find product-market fit
Solution: Raise strategically. Take what you need, but keep control of your company.
3️⃣ Mistake: Thinking a Token Will Solve Everything
If your token exists just to provide liquidity for early investors and Telegram traders, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Tokens can be a great mechanism for growth if done right—but launching too early, misaligning incentives, or attracting the wrong investors can kill a project before it even gets started.
We were pitched every token playbook you can imagine. But when we asked, “Show me a token launch that actually worked last year?”—no one had an answer.
Solution: Don’t launch a token unless it truly enhances your product. Otherwise, you’re just building a short-term pump-and-dump instead of a real company.
What’s the Right Way to Build in Web3?
James and INTU have spent years learning what actually works when building in Web3. His top 3 lessons:
1️⃣ Hide the Web3 Part—Make It Feel Like Magic
No one asks where their internet data is stored. That’s how Web3 should work—seamlessly in the background.
The best blockchain products don’t force users to think about wallets, gas fees, or private keys—they just make life easier.
✅ Abstract the complexity
✅ Make onboarding frictionless
✅ Let users benefit from decentralization without realizing it
This is exactly what INTU is solving—bringing authentication, encryption, and account management to Web3 apps without forcing users to change their behavior.
2️⃣ Raise Smart—Not Just Big
If you don’t think strategically about fundraising, you’ll lose control of your company before it even scales.
The Web3 funding landscape is shifting:
⚡ 2021: “Here’s $6M in 48 hours—go build something”
⚡ 2023: “Prove you have customers before we even talk”
⚡ 2024: AI is eating all the investment dollars
If you’re raising now:
✅ Be mindful of equity dilution—leave room for future rounds
✅ Think beyond today’s hype—chasing trends won’t help
✅ Only launch a token if it makes sense long-term
3️⃣ Accept That Web3 Adoption is a Long Game
We’re still in the infrastructure phase of Web3. The real revolution happens when users don’t even realize they’re using blockchain.
Web3 won’t take over the internet overnight. But when products quietly improve people’s lives without forcing them to learn new concepts—that’s when the real shift happens.
INTU is betting on that future—and building the infrastructure to make it possible.
Web3 Needs Better Products
Most Web3 projects fail because they chase trends instead of solving problems.
INTU’s journey proves that the best way to win in Web3 is to focus on what actually matters:
✅ Build Web3 products that are easier to use, not just different
✅ Raise money wisely—don’t sacrifice long-term control
✅ Make decentralization seamless—users shouldn’t even notice it
Fundraising, scaling, and adoption all become easier when you focus on solving real problems.
Want to hear the full story behind INTU? Check out our 3-part interview with James Bourque on Startup Debrief:
What’s been your biggest challenge building in Web3? Reply in the comments—we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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