1/ @SuccinctLabs announced their TGE today, and early contributors, including testnet users, Discord members, and X evangelists, could check their airdrop. I’ve been in since Feb ‘25, interviewed @pumatheuma on the pod, and participated in stages 1, 2, 2.5 (staking $PROVE) 🧵
2/ But the reception hasn't been great. Discord is buzzing with unhappy users.
In this post, I'll break down Succinct's gated testnet model, how they ran Discord engagement, and what lessons other pre-TGE projects can take from it.
3/ Succinct’s gated testnet was a smart move. Not open to all, but structured. I supported it then and still do. Here’s how it worked.
4/ The gated setup created major FOMO: people were begging for testnet codes. Stage 1 had games where you generated Proofs and Cycles to earn stars. It was fun, and it worked.
5/ Stage 2 was a tap-to-play game where you ran proofs on a virtual GPU, optimizing CPU, GPU, and RAM to rack up points. Super clever design by @nair_advaith and team.
6/ Stage 2.5 dropped test $PROVE tokens to some users. I got 260 and staked mine with @breezyjpg. It felt like a sneak peek at future delegation mechanics.
7/ That brings us to today and some of the lessons we can learn...
1⃣ There's a balance between community growth and who the actual users are of the product or protocol.
2⃣ You literally cannot please everybody. So, what should protocols do at TGE knowing this fact?
8/ I think @0xCRASHOUT did an amazing job growing a very, very engaged community on Discord and on X. His use of Discord roles and segmentation was expertly done and I've learned a ton watching how he managed the community.
9/ But, finding that fine balance between actual users of the protocol, community members to play these testnet games, and community members in general is really hard.
How do you align these three objectives when their goals are different?
10/ This is one reason community management is so hard. For Succinct, the users at the pre-TGE stage can be segmented as:
➡️Developers or Protocols that Use Succinct SP1
➡️Testnet Participants
➡️Discord Members that are NOT testnet participants
➡️X evangelists
11/ Pre-TGE, you need loud evangelists to generate buzz. Post-TGE, you need protocol and token evangelists who actually stick. That’s why influencer or KOL marketing isn’t optional, it’s survival. For Post-TGE, Price = Mindshare.
12/ Could Succinct have done things differently? Maybe. But Uma’s betting on builders to drive value. Truth is, most testnet grinders won’t stick around. Post-TGE, it’s the true believers holding the token that matter.
13/ The real challenge is turning community members into diamond-handed holders. There’s no playbook, but any project that figures this out wins long-term.
14/ Final shoutout to @DanHennessy who managed to turn an esoteric topic like, Zero Knowledge, and make it relatable, down-to-earth, and accessible to normal people as well as to developers who know nothing about ZK.
15/ Actually one more thing - a lesson for testnet farmers, sybil contributors, and those only trying to make a buck with no interest or commitment:
It's not worth it. If you tracked time spent against the airdrop received, if any, it's a few cents per hour.
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