How to Build a Potential AI Agent Project in a Bear Market?

Original Article Title: The AI Agent Playbook for Builders
Original Article Author: Defi0xJeff, Founder of steak studio
Original Article Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: This article discusses the correct way to build a crypto AI agent, emphasizing that the agent should complement the core product by enhancing product value through changing the user journey, rather than relying solely on the token. Entrepreneurs should focus on solving real-world problems, building a sustainable core product, and then using agents and tokens for promotion and monetization.

Below is the original content (reorganized for better readability):

The market has experienced multiple retracements, and liquidity has gradually become thinner. Recently launched successful new agents have a maximum market cap of around $10 million.

By "successful," I mean that the product has Product-Market Fit (PMF), provides value to actual users, and has started (or is about to start) generating revenue. This is very different from three to four months ago, when agents with PMF could have a market cap of over $1 billion, especially if they positioned themselves as agent + framework/launchpad tokens. For example, AVA, as a 3D agent, not only serves as an agent itself but also gains value from the launchpad and supported projects through its audiovisual layer.

Old Manual: Agent as a Framework

The approach back then was to launch an agent to showcase its capabilities, attract developers looking to build their agents, and require these developers to hold/burn/pay agent tokens to access the framework. The problem was that the crypto community gave framework tokens too much premium, and these "framework agents" often lacked differentiation. In many cases, they didn't even have a product — they were just tweeting on Twitter, hoping for token price appreciation.

The first version of the agent treated the conversational agent itself as a product, which is unique in the crypto space, where we prioritize community building—similar to founder-led marketing (founders gaining attention through tweeting). Having an agent babble for your project to increase visibility seemed like a good idea when it first launched in November 2024 and lasted for a month. But now, with 420,690 agents constantly babbling, most agents appear immature, repetitive, and frankly, quite annoying.

Guide: Launching an Agent as a Business

Here is how you should think about launching an agent — launching an agent means you will be running a startup while managing up to three products:

1. Core Product (Actual Business)

Your core product should solve a real-world problem. It should not just be a conversational agent, but a true product.

Example:

· Improving a sports betting odds prediction model to help users achieve more wins in sports betting (e.g., crypto community AskBillyBets).

· Developing a crypto asset prediction model that enables better trading, reduces impermanent loss, and maximizes liquidity provider returns (e.g., crypto communities Cod3xOrg, gizatechxyz, Almanak).

· Creating an AI agent research search engine that aggregates insights from top alpha sources (such as Cookie, Kaito, Nansen, Messari, Aixbt, CG, Dexscreener, and Bubblemaps) to aid in investment decisions (this problem is currently unsolved — we need an AI agent similar to Perplexity).

The core product should be the team's top priority before launching a token. You need to ensure there is a genuine demand in the market and users are willing to pay for it. Otherwise, you will fall into the "crypto valley of death," which can have consequences more severe than traditional startups:

· High operational costs.

· Token usage to pay customer acquisition costs (CAC).

· Token price crash → Reputation collapse → No one cares about your project.

If your token crashes, it becomes a curse. Most people won't care about your project, no matter how strong your core product is or how much progress you've made.

Instead of relying on token incentives, focus on attracting customers through your product. Find a balance between growth and revenue-generating business models.

The guide from the crypto community KaitoAI is a good case study:

· They built an enterprise product — focused on a social/emotional/narrative crypto search engine and charged users, projects, and the ecosystem, providing real value.

· They launched the Mindshare Dashboard, becoming the standard for tracking narratives and trends.

· They intensified their efforts by releasing the Yapper Leaderboard, allowing KOLs to spontaneously share it as a status symbol.

· They further rolled out NFT WL and KAITO airdrops, incentivizing Twitter interactions through real rewards.

This approach is not easy to replicate, but the lesson is: find PMF first, generate revenue, get people excited before releasing the token. Once you have attention (hype) and revenue, you can move to the next level.

Likewise, communication is crucial. Many projects have a strong product but poor communication skills. If no one knows what you are doing, no one will care.

2. Tokens (Alignment Tool)

We have transitioned from "Venture Coins" to "Fair Launch," celebrating tokens with high circulation and low FDV. But fair launch is not entirely fair—each token strategy has its trade-offs.

If the token you launch has a high circulating supply and a low FDV structure, you will not be able to raise funds from VCs and angels (due to undervaluation). However, you can use the token as a marketing tool to kickstart ideation sharing.

Many teams will launch two types of tokens:

· Protocol Token → Kickstarts ideation sharing.

· Ecosystem Token → Raises funds from VCs and angels at a higher valuation.

But this creates an expectation mismatch— the community expects an airdrop, and when the ecosystem token is launched, capital shifts from the protocol token to the ecosystem token, leading to a protocol token price collapse. Managing the core product + protocol token + ecosystem token while ensuring value accrual for each token is very complex.

In an ideal world, there should be a token accumulating all the value from the core product. Historically, projects that could generate revenue and funnel it back into the token (through buybacks or revenue distribution) were the ones to survive long term.

Tokens should complement the core product, not be a prerequisite. To delve deeper into protocol token strategies, check out the analysis in VaderResearch's Protocol Token Handbook for the crypto community virtuals io.

3. Agent (Add-on Product)

“Agent” refers to a conversational agent built using frameworks like ElizaOS, G.A.M.E, ARC, Pippin, and more. While these agents integrate on-chain/off-chain capabilities, they should be add-on products to the core product.

Agents should enhance the core product’s value by altering the user pathway:

Instead of having users actively seek out and use your product, have the agent bring the product to them.

This could mean:

· Showcasing the product directly on Twitter through text/video.

· Using the agent as an AI companion to change user interaction (similar to ChatGPT's abstraction).

· Having the agent as the interface itself, executing tasks in the background.

Of course, there are exceptions as well. The aixbt agent is an example—it provides real-time social and sentiment analysis from Twitter, allowing users to access real-time Alpha signals ahead of others. Aixbt, by consistently delivering Alpha, showcasing terminal capabilities, has become the NO.1 KOL in CT. In this case, the agent itself is the product.

However, this model is very difficult to replicate. Most projects should initially focus on strengthening the core product.

A successful product-first case study is cookiedotfun:

· Starting with a free AI agent dashboard to attract users.

· Transitioning to a paid value-add model by locking COOKIE to unlock premium insights.

· Monetizing by providing APIs for projects and agents.

· Launching agentcookiefun to bring insights directly to Twitter.

Summary

In 2020-21, launching a token required mastering Solidity. But now platforms like pumpdotfun make it easy to tokenize anything.

This has shifted the mindset—people are no longer focused on building real products but are directly launching tokens. This approach leads to “garbage in, garbage out,” with capital quickly moving on to the next “garbage.”

We need to change this.

To build sustainable projects, agent projects should be treated like startups. Instead of seeking funds among CT, VCs, and angel investors, focus on building projects with long-term value—not for the next 6 months, but for the next 6 years.

Innovation, solving real-world problems, creating actual business—not just building the next speculative token farm.

The future of the Crypto AI agent depends on this.

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