Side Project to Full Launch
Nasun is showcasing the journey from a side project to a full-time venture on the Move blockchain. The founder has been sharing the process of securing grants and teasing the upcoming launch. It's another real-world example of how personal projects can evolve into viable products, demonstrating key PM skills like validation and launch execution.
The Move programming language, the foundation for this project, was originally developed by Meta for its Diem blockchain project. It's designed to be a safer and more secure way to write smart contracts, aiming to prevent common vulnerabilities that have led to significant losses in the crypto space. This focus on security is a key product differentiator for projects building on Move-based blockchains like Sui, Aptos, and Movement. For a product manager, turning a side project into a full-time venture is a powerful demonstration of the entire product lifecycle. It showcases the ability to identify a real-world problem, build a minimum viable product (MVP), validate it with users, and execute a go-to-market strategy. This journey from concept to launch is a tangible portfolio piece that signals strong execution skills to potential employers. Securing grants is a critical early-stage validation step in the Web3 ecosystem, acting as non-dilutive funding. Grant programs from blockchain foundations and venture funds, like the $20 million fund from Gate Ventures and Movement Labs, are designed to bootstrap innovation on their platforms. Receiving a grant signals that an experienced team has vetted the project's potential and technical approach, providing crucial early credibility. The choice to build on the Move blockchain over more established ecosystems like Ethereum is a strategic product decision. It suggests a focus on security and scalability as core features. The Movement Network, a prominent Move-based blockchain, aims to offer high transaction speeds and interoperability with Ethereum, allowing developers to leverage Move's security features while accessing Ethereum's liquidity. The process of publicly sharing the building journey, as the founder is doing, serves as a powerful marketing and community-building tool. This "building in public" approach creates transparency, gathers early user feedback, and fosters a community of supporters before the official launch. For a PM, this process is an invaluable source of direct user research and a way to build initial momentum. The evolution of the Move ecosystem is rapid, with advancements in developer tooling and infrastructure. Projects launching now can benefit from improved formal verification tools like the Move Prover, which helps ensure smart contract security. This maturing ecosystem provides a more robust foundation for developers to build secure and scalable applications.
