How to Pick a Chain to Launch on when Building a Blockchain Based Startup?

Hi Hivers, Welcome to Another Post on My Blogs where I'm sharing Practical Insights and Tips as I Navigate the Building of PortalsX, a Metaverse Based Startup.

If you haven't already, Read My Introductory Post so You can Learn More about what this is all about!

So without further Intro, Let's Dive in!

Blockchains are hard enough for the average person to Understand, Let alone, Having to Understand what Makes Each and Every Blockchain Unique when you are about to Deploy your Startup Project on one.

Regardless of the Team Roles(such as; Blockchain Engineer, Advisor, etc) that you have Onboarded within your Team, As a Founder, You should Endeavor to understand What Blockchain you will Launch your Project on and Why you've Decided to Choose that Specific Chain. These are factors that will ultimately be Important for the Growth and Direction your Startup will Steer in the Near term.

Understanding Blockchain Tech In-Depth and Strategizing How it Connects with your Startup Project, Building Process, and Milestones can be not just Challenging, but also Confusing and Time-Consuming. I went through a Similar Process with Portals Xperience, and I hope to Share my Experience and pass on ALL the relevant Points that I Learned.

PortalsX and Solana Blockchain

During the Early Ideation Days of Our Startup, PortalsX, It was Nothing Short of Daunting figuring Out which Blockchain we would Launch/Deploy Our Project on and this was Actually one of the First Materials that I worked on (not deliberately but sporadically).

In Hindsight, I can fully question my Off-handed Decision to Delve into this Matter Firstly. Now with more information about not just Solana Blockchain, But How Several Blockchains Integrate and work together in sync, I clearly see that this Step should've been Taken after a Version 1 Phase of Project Ideation is completed. WHY?, You'll see Soon!.

Why Launch on Blockchain?

Okay, Let's get this Out of the Way!

This was a topic that Slightly Weighed on me, and I mean, Ever so slightly. After all, Blockchain was a Chief Foundation in Solidifying PortalsX Project in that, It Gave me Absolute Freedom to Tackle my Dream, Not Withstanding, I wanted to Find a Common Ground of Truth on Why we were actually Launching on Blockchain.

A lot of folks in Web 2 and even Some Users in Web 3 don't Get Why Anyone should Build their Apps on Blockchain, Especially Fast Paced, Real-Time Multiplayer Games/Open Spaces, which includes the type of Experiences we're Building at PortalsX.

Their thought patterns are very Logical, although Less Informed;

• Games Run Faster on Normal Servers like AWS, Google Cloud, Asure Playhub, and So On.
• Blockchain Games have been Stereotyped to be Lacking Fun Gameplay and Played Because of their Quick Monetary Rewards,
• Gamefi Apps and NFTs Projects Build Majorly to take advantage of the Bustling Space and Get Rich Quick Atmosphere
  ... and many other cases.

Now, All great Thinking - But the Reasons we Decided to Launch on Blockchain;

• A True Blockchain Application can be Fully Decentralized and Provide a Strong Basis for Promoting Equality (think, Voting DAOs, Proposals, Contests Giveaways)

• Blockchain Presents the Best and Quickest Opportunity to Reward Users (and not a pump-n-dump Project, But a Value-Creating Ecosystem, think Splinterlands, Hive, Axie Infinity, The
  Sandbox and Similar projects)

• There's been Revolutionary Blockchain Technology Built to Make Blockchain Very Fast. To Make them more Dependable for AAA High Octane Games(Fortnight), Fast Payments Systems Usable by Billions(PayPal), and even Decentralized Cloud Storage for Private Data. (Some Examples Include Solana, Avalanche, and Algorand).

• Blockchain was the First platform to Popularise the Idea of Metaverse, Think Ready Player One. While there might have been XR Games on Steam with these Concepts, the Larger Population (including myself) was not aware of them. Blockchain was the first platform to bring it to the general public, through Popular News Outlets like Bloomberg, Coin Telegraph, and Wired.

With all these, I resolved that Building PortalsX as a Blockchain Application is Ultimately Focused on Changing the lives of Millions through a Rewards System, Value Creation, Multiple Experiences, Decentralization, Equal algorithm, Interoperability, and Ownership of In-Game Items.

Launching on the Right Blockchain

The Following are some Critical Points that Guided my Decision for PortalsX to Launch on Solana Blockchain, Let's take a look;

Number 1 Point

Describe Your Target Audience: The Very First Point on this List is to Know your Target Audience, and by this - I Don't Mean, A Full Demographic and Functional description of Who Your Target Audience is and where to find them, BUT, a Big Picture Description of Them.

Example Process 1;
A typical Description of our Target Audience includes - Never Been on Blockchain Before, Would Appreciate Fast and Cheap Gameplay Experience, and Loves Games with High-Quality Graphics and Avatars.

By making such rough and basic Descriptions, You've Gained a lot of Insights that can be Channeled into Direct Research of the Few Blockchains Matching Your Requirements.

Example Process 2;
From the above Descriptions of PortalsX's Target Audience, I was able to Bring into Focus Just Three Blockchain that was a Healthy Fit for Us - Solana, Avalanche, and Polygon. WHY?

• A Player who has Zero Idea About Blockchain OR Recently got Onboarded will Prefer Simple, Intuitive Solana and Polygon Applications OVER Difficult and Complex Chains like Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. Further to this, An Important Building Model for PortalsX Multiverse is Rewarding Users through Mobile Play and with Innovative Projects such as Solana Pay (being developed to allow feeless and fast payments in dapps, and accessible through mobile), this was Aligning Perfectly with Our Roadmap.

• Solana, Polygon, and Avalanche are Among the Fastest Blockchain Today Powering Gaming and Other Defi Applications. It is also extremely cheap for Players to Confirm Transactions, whether in-game Or on external DEXs. Conclusively though, Solana and Avalanche are Better Suited for Real-time Multiplayer Gaming.

• Creating Games with High-Quality Graphics can be Largely Demanding, as they Unlock Channels for further Monetization and Rewards on Behalf of Players through Twitch Streams, NFTs Art Contests, Infographics, Character Designs, and more. This further intensifies the need for a Fast and Cheap Blockchain Network, and Fits the Conclusion from the above point, but... - It also creates a new perspective of consideration.
  A Large Thriving Ecosystem/ Team, that can Deploy and Maintain these Channels Quickly, will call for Partnerships, Funding, and Grants Initiatives. This Point also had an Overall Effect on Our Final Decision with Solana.

So, you can see that Creating a Simple Big-Picture Description of who your Target Audience is requires No Technical Experience with Blockchain, Gives you Relevant Insights for Your Research across Chains, and Unlocks your Imagination to New Initiatives Unexplored yet.`

Number 2 Point

Interoperability of Assets: Interoperability simply means creating a Bridge so that a Digital Item can be transferred and transacted across two different Dapps or Chains.

Blockchain Applications are Quickly Evolving to become Interoperable across Multiple Chains to Reach a Wider Target Audience, Provide Freedom to Users and Increase the Utility of their Assets.

When Building Blockchain Applications such as;

• NFTs/Gamefi/Metaverse - Interoperability means NFTs & In-game Items can be Traded Across Multiple Marketplaces.
• Defi Applications - Interoperability means the ability for your DEFI Application to Support Several Tokens Structures from Different Chains or Networks for Swapping, Exchange, Lending, Borrowing, Staking, and More.

In this regard, the Simple (but Difficult in Practice) basis of Consideration is, What Chains do you want your Application to be Compatible Across? To be more Specific -
A Standard Employed by Many Chains today is EVM Compatibility, and by Launching on an EVM Compatible Chain, Your Application becomes Compatible with Other Chains AND Most Certainly, Ethereum Network.

Number 3 Point

Blockchain Ecosystem: Another Highly Important(with stress on that) Point that Pays when you Make an Effort to research through this. As a matter of fact, I discovered how Essential this is after we had already decided to Launch on Solana. Except you Are Building a Non-Complex Application with Reference/Clones that are Already Existing on Blockchain - A Rich Ecosystem (in the areas that matters to you) is KEY!

By Ecosystem, what do I mean?

• How Vibrant is the Blockchain Ecosystem? Can you find experienced Devs, Other Thriving Projects?
• What kind of Users/projects generally Consist of this Chain? Are there Passionate Innovative Projects Over Quick, Replicas of Pump n Dump?
• What kind of Resources can you Find? Getting Started Guide, Rich Series of Tutorials, Player GUIDLS, and DAOs?

In Other Words, the Ecosystem is the Final Key that will Ultimately Also Decide How People View Your Project and Answering the Above Questions will Give you All the Information that Matters.

First, we saw - How you can Create the Best Blockchain Application for Your Target Audience, Then we Saw, How Interoperability, which is Essentially Greater Reach, Scaling, and Innovation can Guide the Chain you Decide to Deploy on, And Finally, How a Blockchain Ecosystem will Ultimately Decide which Direction Your Startup Steers in the Near Term(Including Users, Resources, Investors, Team, Partnership, Collaboration, and many other factors).

Summary - Longer than I Expected

This Post turned Out to be Much Longer than I Expected, But Still, I actually Love the Way it has Turned Out - Offering You the Insights that Really Matter, like Significant Shit to Spend your Time on. Why do I say this? well, working on this Material at the Start I had to Consider Little Details that were of No Importance to Me and Do not Improve my chances of Building a Successful Blockchain Startup.

The Three Key Points of Consideration offered in this Article are - Target Audience, Interoperability, and Blockchain Ecosystem which Provides you with a Solid Filter that will Drive you Closer to the Right Blockchain to Launch your Application / Project on, Albeit, with Zero Requirement of Technical Blockchain Knowledge.

I hope I've been able to offer these Insights in a Simple Manner that will Practically Help and Guide your Own Decisions.

Thanks for Reading up till now, and See you Next Time!

Chel_