How Does AlphaGrowth Make Money

From marketing agency to growth partner

When AlphaGrowth started in 2021, we were primarily a marketing agency helping blockchain networks grow.

But we quickly saw a bigger opportunity.

Chains don't just need marketing. They need the right protocols, teams, liquidity, infrastructure and users to create a functioning ecosystem.

Our thinking was influenced by a familiar private-equity playbook: identify the right companies, bring them into the ecosystem, and help them grow.

Crypto works differently.

You don't typically acquire a company and move it onto a chain. Instead, chains use grants, incentives and ecosystem programs to attract teams and applications.

That created the foundation for the AlphaGrowth model.

We work with protocols and chains on a retainer basis, alongside commissions and success fees tied to measurable growth.

That can mean TVL.

It can mean incentive retention.

It can mean revenue.

The principle is the same:

Our upside only grows when the ecosystem grows.

We often take tokens, not just dollars

That alignment goes one step further.

In many cases, AlphaGrowth takes the token of the teams we work with rather than charging entirely in dollars.

Why?

Because our work isn't simply about delivering a marketing campaign.

If we help a protocol attract liquidity, users and revenue, we believe we're helping create value for the underlying token as well.

That also creates a problem: token exposure needs to be managed properly.

So in 2023, AlphaGrowth acquired a DeFi tokenomics firm to work on tokenomics and structured products.

Today, most of our fees still come from services. We also build structured products for large token holders and earn a share of revenue in certain engagements.

The common thread is simple:

Our economics are connected to the outcomes we create.

Three types of businesses we work with

Our clients generally fall into three categories.

1. New protocols

These are teams that have recently raised funding and are ready to grow.

They usually have strong technical capabilities but need help with:

• Business development
• Liquidity
• LP acquisition
• Partnerships
• Growth strategy
• Ecosystem expansion

They can build the product.

We help build the market around it.

2. Existing protocols that need a turnaround

The second category is protocols that have lost momentum.

Sometimes the founders want to move on. Sometimes the protocol is generating meaningful revenue but there isn't an obvious path to a sale or transition.

Crypto doesn't have a straightforward M&A market for protocols.

In those cases, AlphaGrowth can step in as an operating and growth partner.

The objective is to take an existing asset and find a path back to sustainable growth.

3. Blockchain ecosystems

This is one of our largest areas of work.

Growing a chain isn't just about attracting one application.

It means constructing an ecosystem around it.

That can involve:

• Protocol acquisition
• Developer relations
• Liquidity
• Infrastructure
• Bridges
• RPCs
• Security
• Multisigs
• User onboarding
• Ecosystem partnerships

We've seen this firsthand across multiple chains.

The Kava example

One example is our work with the Kava ecosystem.

AlphaGrowth helped bring more than 100 protocols into the ecosystem, while supporting areas including DevOps, bridging, developer relations, liquidity and ecosystem capacity.

The result was more than $100 million in TVL.

But the important part wasn't just the number.

Building a DeFi ecosystem means putting the infrastructure underneath that number in place.

• RPCs
• Bridges
• Multisigs
• Applications
• Liquidity
• Developers
• Users

All of these pieces have to work together.

The Multi-Chain exploit in 2022 ultimately caused significant damage across the ecosystem, but the experience reinforced an important lesson:

Growing DeFi isn't just about attracting capital. It's about building the system that allows capital to move safely and productively.

Now we're doing it again with Cardano

Today, Cardano is our largest client.

AlphaGrowth has a $200 million mandate focused on growing Cardano's DeFi ecosystem.

At the time of the engagement, Cardano's ecosystem was sitting at roughly $40 million in TVL.

The objective is to help grow that toward roughly $240–260 million in TVL.

And once again, the work goes far beyond incentives.

It's about the entire growth stack:

• RPCs
• Indexers
• Multisigs
• Onboarding
• Liquidity providers
• Security
• Insurance
• User experience
• Protocols
• Capital

The goal isn't simply to put more money on a dashboard.

It's to make Cardano a more viable environment for DeFi users, developers and capital.

And if we succeed, AlphaGrowth benefits because the ecosystem and protocols we work with benefit.

That's the model.

Why experience matters

We've now worked with more than 200 protocols across 19 different chains.

That gives us something difficult to manufacture:

• A large dataset of what actually works.
• We've seen protocols launch.
• We've seen protocols stall.
• We've seen ecosystems grow.
• We've seen incentive programs attract capital that disappears just as quickly.
• And we've seen what happens when liquidity, infrastructure, product and distribution work together.

One of our biggest protocol-level successes was Compound.

AlphaGrowth came in when the protocol was struggling and helped drive close to $900 million in TVL growth over roughly a year to a year and a half while supporting its business and growth operations. (explore the live onchain data and market breakdown on our Compound Analytics Hub).

That experience compounds.

Every ecosystem gives us another set of lessons.

Every protocol gives us another data point.

Every growth campaign makes the next one more informed.

The real business model

So, how does AlphaGrowth make money?

Not by selling reports.

Not by selling impressions.

And not by simply running marketing campaigns.

We get paid for helping build and grow DeFi ecosystems.

We charge for services.

We earn commissions and success fees.

We work with token exposure.

We build structured products.

And in certain engagements, we participate in the revenue we help create.

The model works because the incentives are aligned.

If we don't create meaningful growth, there isn't much upside.

If we do create meaningful growth, the protocols and ecosystems grow - and so does AlphaGrowth.

That's why our focus is increasingly on execution.

• Bring the right protocols
• Bring the liquidity
• Build the infrastructure
• Fix the onboarding
• Improve retention
• Grow the ecosystem
• Then measure what happened

The best growth model is one where your success depends on your client's success.

That's the model we're building at AlphaGrowth.

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