Product-led protocol development

Dan Romero argues that a protocol meant to reach internet scale should be built product-first, starting from that end goal and working backwards. He says a protocol is only as strong as its number of independent, thriving clients, applications and businesses, since a protocol with many users but one dominant client is effectively an app with open APIs. He adds that developers care more about addressable quality daily active users than about tech stack, so a builder should first ship a high-quality initial app that attracts enough users to make developers interested in building on the protocol.