I just caught up with a friend who is job hunting but has never done BD before. He’s considering whether to go into BD and reached out to me for DD. After our conversation, he said he was shocked: "I thought BD was a super simple job that anyone could do—just pulling people into groups, discussing collaborations, and attending a few meetings. But after talking to you, I realized there’s so much more to it, and it’s definitely not something anyone can do." Actually, I was the one more shocked. It turns out there’s a huge misunderstanding about what BD entails, especially when it comes to the specifics. So, I decided to continue writing this BD series for those who might have misconceptions about this role or for those currently in this position wondering, "Is it just me who feels this exhausted?" ------------------------- TLDR; BD is a spectrum. Some people’s work resembles operations, others lean towards strategy, and some are almost entirely Tech Sales, with little connection to crypto. The real challenge of this job has never been "closing a deal." It’s about making decisions amidst uncertainty and driving consensus in chaos. It’s a profession that requires breaking down your ego, utilizing 100% emotional intelligence, and treating yourself as both a search engine and a product manager. ------------------------- For example: - You’ve spent one or two months communicating back and forth with a project, held four or five meetings, talked to all stakeholders, and finally moved to the formal commitment stage. Then the other party’s boss suddenly tells you, "We currently think AI agents have the most potential, so other plans are on hold." - You spent four or five hours completing DD and painstakingly found the founder’s Telegram, crafted a highly customized cold pitch, only to receive no response 99% of the time—not even a "not interested." - So, every now and then, you send messages like "Hey xxx, kindly bump up this message. Have you had a chance to review it?" to grab attention, but still get no reply 99% of the time. You understand this is normal; without a warm intro, it’s almost impossible to start a conversation. So, you repeat the same steps, but this time with your network contacts. - You identify a major project with great collaboration potential and are very bullish on the value it could bring to your project. But painfully, you find out your boss thinks it’s too complicated and not scalable, forcing you to abandon it. And so on. These are all real experiences I’ve had. Doing BD in crypto is a continuous game of wrestling with uncertainty. -------------------------- What’s even more interesting is that, although everyone calls it "BD," the actual work varies greatly. At Gelato, doing BD is essentially Tech Sales, which is on the far right of the BD spectrum. Our daily work feels like fast-track technical DD for projects (thankfully, I still have the foundational skills from my VC days): Understanding the other party’s chain, architecture, DAO, token, or protocol operations. Analyzing whether they use OP Stack, Orbit, or Celestia. Where does the gas fee come from? Should it be cross-chain? Which bridge to use? Is there a native token? Do they need account abstraction? Automation? What DA layer do they use? And so on... Sometimes, you need to capture 90% of this information during the first cold pitch to provide truly suitable solutions. It’s really not as simple as "let’s see if there’s a collaboration opportunity." I could even write a separate piece on "the daily struggles of doing tech sales in the crypto industry." If I were doing BD for a project or chain, the work would be entirely different: Finding early-stage potential projects in the community and helping them incubate. Negotiating with top projects to join your ecosystem, aiming for exclusivity, incentives, or strong binding collaborations. Building high-quality relationships with VCs, Infra, and DAOs to continuously supply resources to the ecosystem. Brainstorming new collaboration methods with other projects to maintain mutual benefits. So, it’s a spectrum. ----------------------------- From a positioning perspective, BD is the bridge between the company and the outside world. We are the first to interact with users, partners, and market feedback, seeing the most firsthand information. A good BD doesn’t just deliver collaborations but also brings critical feedback back to the team, influencing product design, strategy, and even market pacing. Often, BD serves as the "external brain" for founders and PMs. At the same time, at least 40% of BD work involves upward management (this is something many people don’t talk about, but it’s very real). You might spend weeks refining a collaboration, only to find yourself repeatedly convincing your boss why it matters. Internal pushing can be as challenging as external cold starts. A boss unwilling to give the green light is more painful than a client saying no (speaking from experience). ---------------------- There’s so much more to elaborate on, and much that’s not suitable for public discussion. But if you’re also in BD, I hope you see this and know you’re not alone. This job, while high-pressure, is also a key role in connecting products and markets, turning chaos into collaboration. That’s why I love it despite the pain. What’s the most important thing in this industry? Execution, execution, and damn it, execution. If you’re not in BD but curious about this role, feel free to reach out to me. My DMs are always open.