We are in the middle of the blockchain and cryptocurrency revolution. Some of first generation projects are very successful which caused rapid development of whole cryptocurrencies eco system. At the moment plenty of blockchain startups are in the game. In the near future we will witness uncounted blockchain startups of various kinds. But from the single blockchain startup point of view ultimate outcome is extremely uncertain.
Eric Ries's great book "LEAN STARTUP" is about successfully running startups and avoid failures by making constant adjustments through implementation of Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. Fundamental activity of the startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customer respond and learn. Through this process of steering we can learn when and if it's time to make a sharp turn (pivot) or whether we should persevere along our current path.
Blockchain startup Initial vision is based on some assumptions. To achieve that vision startups employ a strategy, which includes business model, a product road map and ideas about who the customer will be. It's very important to deploy minimum viable product as soon as possible in order to obtain customer and market feedback. Then team often realized that some assumptions are wrong and some small, medium of sharp turns (pivots) are necessary. For example zoom in-pivot: Case when what previously was considered a single feature in a product becomes the whole product. Or zoom-out pivot: Case when what was considered the whole product becomes a single feature of a much larger product (bitcoin itself).
There are some very important types of pivots for blockchain community (at the moment specially for BTC and ETH) like: customer segment pivot (side chains), customer need pivot, platform pivot, business architecture pivot, value capture pivot (point of stake?), engine of growth pivot, channel pivot and technology pivot.
I strongly recommend Eric Reas's book "LEAN STARTUP" (specially chapter "PIVOT OR PERSEVERE") to all which are included in actual fork dilemmas.
From this perspective it's very important to understand how selection of DAPP platform could be critical for blockchain startup success. It's obvious that DAPP platform should not be obstacle for pivots. Exactly opposite, DAPP platform should be catalyst and facilitator for any kinds of pivots!
I understand that many early blockchain platforms has build in DAPP features. That internal - closed DAPP features inside blockchain platforms has small development room for maneuver mostly around basic idea. Most of these platforms reached only to minimum viable products. These platforms has no future because they are not capable to implement Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop without significant forks and critical issues.
Early core DAPP platforms like Ethereum and NTX has significantly bigger development room for maneuver for various kinds of blockchain applications. But speed inside Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop for those DAPP platforms is small. Also, pivot capability is limited and sometimes conditioned with forks. At a moment, when competition in not in sight that platforms are acceptable.
As a experienced system architect I'll wait for next generation of DAPP blockchain platforms like EOS and Quantum which I consider as natural environment for high speed inside Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. I'll wait for DAPP platform which allows me to deploy tailor made blockchain application that satisfied customer needs through all phases of blockchain product life cycle. With great interest I will follow improvements to new generation of DAPPs from real blockchain platforms with high customer interactions like Ripple, Factom, Steemit or BitShares.
