Table of Contents
Bio
Chris Heron is a former NCAA volleyball player turned growth strategist who’s built a career at the intersection of SaaS, Asia, and crypto. After starting out in Taiwan leading North American marketing for a top SaaS company, he dove headfirst into crypto in 2019 and has since held growth roles across centralized exchanges, DAOs, and now Serotonin, a leading Web3 marketing firm. Known for bridging Web2 fundamentals with Web3-native tactics, Chris has advised high-growth crypto companies on scaling community engagement, brand, and go-to-market. His recent campaigns with Megaphone have helped projects like Solstice grow from 2,000 to 60,000 followers in two weeks while driving nearly 70,000 onchain registrations pre-launch.
What you’ll learn
How Chris went from NCAA volleyball to running North American marketing for a Taiwanese Saas company, and how that global perspective shaped his crypto career.
Why crypto marketing still needs Web2 fundamentals like funnels, messaging, and user POV, and how to apply them in a Web3-native way.
The mechanics behind a recent viral campaign: how Solstice used Megaphone to grow from 2k to 60k followers in two weeks and onboard nearly 70k users onchain pre-launch.
Why curiosity, testing products firsthand, and writing your own analyses can accelerate learning faster than any formal playbook.
Takeaways
Scrappy tactics spark discovery. Fundamentals drive scale. Use onchain data to find your exact target users, then grow with clear funnels, messaging, and measurement.
Incentives should qualify engagement, not inflate it. Tie rewards to meaningful actions like onchain registration, required task completion, and return usage.
Stay hands-on. The best marketers do not just promote crypto products, they use them daily.
Access is wide open. Crypto is still small enough that even top leaders are only a DM away.
Q&A
“Crypto marketing needs more fundamentals and would benefit from having web2 marketing tactics.” — Chris Heron, Sr. Growth Manager @ Serotonin
Tell us about your career as a marketing lead in crypto.
I studied Economics and played NCAA Volleyball at Juniata College. After graduation, one of my professors connected me with a leading SaaS company in Taiwan. A month later, I was on a plane to Taipei, running marketing for the North American market.
While living in Taiwan, I learned Mandarin, traveled all across Asia, and eventually met local developers who introduced me to crypto in late 2019. By 2020, I made the leap to go full time into crypto.
I started in growth marketing roles at a CEX and several DAOs. I quickly realized crypto marketing needed more fundamentals and would benefit from from having web2 marketing tactics applied in a web3-native way.
I now work at Serotonin where I advise high-growth web3 companies on their marketing strategies and lead execution.
Megaphone partnership
“With Megaphone, we saw an incredible smart follower growth, including 69,575 users who registered onchain pre-launch.” — Chris Heron, Sr. Growth Manager @ Serotonin
How did you first hear about Megaphone?
I first heard about Megaphone through my teammate, Ian. We were looking for simple, novel, and effective ways to implement community engagement programs for pre-TGE teams. Some of our clients had already used DeForm in the past, so it was a natural fit to explore.
How has it been working with the Megaphone team?
Working with the Megaphone team has been great. The team is smart, responsive, and willing to implement client feedback quickly. Collaboration with the Megaphone team is smooth.
The features I’ve found most valuable are:
Incentivized social actions
Incentivized onchain actions
Retention tools like the GM button
The ability to add new tasks over time
We recently partnered with Solstice to implement a pre-launch Megaphone page, and the results were incredible. They were able to bootstrap initial community and saw social follower growth from 2k to 60k in under two weeks! All in all, we saw an incredible smart follower growth, including 69,575 users who registered onchain pre-launch. Our clients combined emails and wallets verified from Megaphone and supercharged their product launch, which went incredibly viral.
Advice for web3 marketers
“To be a good marketer in web3, you need to actually be a user yourself.” — Chris Heron, Sr. Growth Manager @ Serotonin
Advice you’d share with marketers who want to grow their careers and succeed in crypto marketing?
The most important web3 marketing skill is understanding the fundamentals of marketing: funnels, messaging, POV of the user. And to be a good marketer, you need to actually be a user yourself.
When I was starting out, I’d go through the top protocols on DeFiLlama every day. I’d test their product, explore their Twitter, read their site, and write short analyses comparing them. Even without huge deposits, that helped me understand user journeys deeply.
For anyone entering crypto marketing: jump in quickly, work with people who inspire you, and stay curious. This industry is small! Even the top leaders are more accessible than you think.
