6 reasons to be cheerful in a bear market!

Bear markets are challenging.

Physically, emotionally and fiscally.

I remember my first bear market chased me out of the market in 14', so I've been there.

However, they are a natural part of the cycle, and despite everything mentioned above, they are actually fascinating times with lots of opportunities. Generational change is made in the bear market.

It's a time when your Uber driver has stopped shilling you shitcoins, as they are all 90+ % down. (probably a good thing not to take financial advice of random people anyway, DYOR)

I've listed six reasons to be cheerful; please comment or tweet me @harryhorsfall_ to let me know what I've forgotten!

1.Less noise, more reach

Less harmful projects, taking up a share of voice.

Cheaper media, while the reach of popular KOL, podcasts, media outlets and advertising space is 1/3 to 1/2 down, the cost has come down by a higher rate. Media is also more grateful for the business, allowing you to really battle-test your strategies and build a good relationship so when good times return, you can scale what was working. It's sometimes tough to understand what is having an effect in an up-only market. We have used this time to run lots of experiments and A / B testing. If you can get it to work now, just imagine when there is full-blown hype again.

The more engaged audience that not here for a quick flip. Newcomers and retail are burnt and have either dumped or pretended they didn't get involved. This means the people still here, and active are the core audience you want to build a community with. Building a community takes time and consistency; creating in a bear market means that as the good times return, people don't think you're just jumping into to cash grab.

2. You can use ETH again, GWEI (gas fee) is almost 10, meaning it's reasonably priced to use ETH again. Combined with the upgrade, this makes Defi fun again as well as NFTs. Sometimes minting on ETH costs more than the actual NFT in peak bull run.

3. SBF, has made regulators take note; this means there are finally removing their heads from the sand and getting closer to making better rules for innovation. Any new tech will move a lot faster than regulators understand.

4. Great time to take positions in projects you believe in; everyone wanted to Ape in sol at $260. It's now $9; while there is lots of FUD, not a lot has changed, so if you still believe in the project this is the time to fill your bags at the bottom. Word of caution no one actually knows where the bottom is, so always DCA in!

5. Ability to hire talent; it was crazy that people didn't want to work or didn't need to. Talent is back on the market, which means you can buidl better with good people. Web3 is still a new industry, so putting stupid statements like five years plus community management experience and expecting to find that person isn't going to happen. With the recent Yuga Labs hire of the world of warcraft CEO, we are seeing that top web2 talent is still very eager to jump in!

6. Infrastructure that is starting to work, accountants, lawyers, exchanges, and tools such as thirdweb are coming along with their WordPress moment. It's very boring to write a vesting contract and get it audited, as it's a simple thing. If this is pre-audited and ready to use, you can use it; knowing that there are no bugs means that you can get back to building exciting things on the chain for your project. When the world looked under the hood in 2017 and saw the crazy valuations (Cardano was more than SpaceX and was only a whitepaper....) of half-built projects, 2018 happened. The industry wasn't ready for the demand or the actual utility. While the bad news dominates the headlines, the amount of development and use case that has actually been built in the last five years is amazing.

Keep going, and work on your treasury management; things change very quickly in Web3. I'm more long-term bullish than I've ever been. Before, it was a matter of IF Now it's a matter of WEN. Starbucks, Nike, and Reddit, all big brands, were leading the way in starting to understand the tech. Shout out to Julia Schmidt and the Polygon Labs biz dev teams for playing a blinder in 2022!!

The road to recovery and regaining trust is challenging. Arguably, One overestimates what can happen in a week and underestimates what can happen in a year.

Wishing everyone a happy new year; set goals and manifest to get where you want to be. Mass adoption is near!

Buidl - LFG

Haz