Summary

Evgeny Yurtaev, CEO of Zerion, walks through how Zerion went from a simple way to see your onchain portfolio to a full wallet and developer-facing API. He explains why they always shipped based on real user behavior, how data shaped the roadmap, and why staying flexible matters in a market that keeps changing. He also talks about growth in places like Nigeria and South Korea, crypto marketing with Peter Abilla, and why infra in crypto still has big gaps, and how verticalization can help or hurt depending on the use case. The thread running through it is simple, build what users actually use, then expand.

Takeaways

— Zerion formally started in 2019.

— The first product focused on making portfolio tracking easy.

— It later became a full wallet with an API that others can build on.

— User-first development is the only way to survive shifting markets.

— Product analytics was key to knowing what to ship next.

— Growth has to be global, with very different user profiles by region.

— The API product fills infra gaps for other crypto apps.

— Verticalization creates leverage but also coordination challenges.

— Future work is about smoothing UX across chains and devices.

— Founders have to keep adapting as the market moves.

Chapters

(00:00) The journey of Zerion, from tracker to wallet

(02:38) Adapting to market cycles and user needs

(05:19) User-centric development and analytics

(08:11) Global reach and crypto adoption

(10:54) Innovations in mobile and user experience

(13:28) Experimentation and market strategies

(23:14) Navigating performance marketing in crypto

(24:51) The crypto boom in Nigeria

(26:40) Understanding the South Korean crypto market

(30:07) Introducing the Zerion API

(34:57) The philosophy of co-opetition in crypto

(39:03) Verticalization vs. decentralization in crypto

(42:16) Innovations and future directions for Zerion

(44:27) Personal growth as a founder in crypto

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