What Is Postmint?

Postmint is a Web3 marketing platform built to connect Web3 projects with creators who can help spread awareness and educate new users. Specifically, Postmint offers a post-to-earn platform that rewards creators for marketing Web3 projects to their audience, with a refer-to-earn affiliate program in development that uses Chainlink Functions. 

As a results-driven platform, Postmint measures the effectiveness of the post or referral based on key metrics and delivers the results to its smart contracts to trigger direct onchain payments for creators. 

Postmint’s Origins

The idea for Postmint first came to Co-Founders David Mann and Phil Kothe at a Chainlink community meetup in San Diego, and Postmint’s first post-to-earn product was developed and launched shortly afterward. The idea behind post-to-earn was to help Web3 projects spread awareness by directly connecting them with creators, but there was still a huge gap for when projects wanted to promote a direct action (i.e., join a Discord server, follow the project on Twitter, or make a specific onchain transaction). Thus, the idea of refer-to-earn, or a Web3-powered referral program, was born. 

When building refer-to-earn, David and Phil envisioned an end-to-end decentralized product that automatically traces the impact of a creator’s referral links by directly measuring, calculating, and then delivering confirmation of onchain/offchain actions to its smart contracts. However, it was difficult to decentralize the delivery of the data itself, since that required a centralized oracle service. Similarly, the cost of computing the results of a referral link based on the data delivered onchain was prohibitive.

Expanding Postmint at the Chainlink Hackathon

David and Phil quickly identified Chainlink Functions—a Chainlink service that connects any offchain API to smart contracts and enables trust-minimized computations on the API-delivered data—as a perfect solution. But Chainlink Functions had yet to be released to the public, so David and Phill joined the Chainlink Spring 2023 Hackathon, which gave early access to hackathon developers. 

“We were already thinking about developing our refer-to-earn product, and the Chainlink hackathon gave us the unique opportunity to experiment with a novel technology, Chainlink Functions, before it was released.”—Phil Kothe, Co-Founder

There, David and Phil focused their work on a proof of concept for their refer-to-earn product that could exist as a standalone service.

“The hackathon allowed us to focus our sprint on shipping our proof of concept. The early access to Chainlink Functions was important because it opened the door to a greater design space than what we could have built without it. With Functions, we were able to build a trust-minimized affiliate program out of the box.”—David Mann, Co-Founder

The proof of concept excelled at the hackathon. Its outstanding implementation impressed the judges and refLINK won a Top-Quality prize. But the real prize for Postmint came from its exposure to the Chainlink community.

“Winning a prize at the Chainlink hackathon gave the Chainlink community a reason to support Postmint, and we ended up working with a Chainlink ecosystem project called LTOADs for a variety of post-to-earn campaigns. So not only did the hackathon help us build our proof of concept, which will be a core part of Postmint in the future, it helped spread awareness of our platform to the Chainlink community.”—Phil Kothe, Co-Founder

Joining a Robust Group of Startups Through Chainlink BUILD

After the hackathon, David and Phil realized that Chainlink services, and specifically Chainlink Functions, would serve as the core foundation for many of Postmint’s future expansions. So when they were presented with the opportunity to apply to, and join, Chainlink BUILD, they knew it was a good fit. 

“Once we started using Chainlink services, it became apparent that we would benefit immensely from continuing to align with Chainlink and its community. The BUILD program already had dozens of startup projects that could provide services to Postmint, and that would also need Postmint’s services. It was really a dream scenario.”—David Mann, Co-Founder

In November 2023, Postmint joined Chainlink BUILD, a group of 70+ startups hungry to build the next generation of Web3 applications. With a thriving post-to-earn platform, and its refer-to-earn product soon to come, Postmint continues to aggressively build out its Web3 marketing platform.

“Chainlink BUILD provides us with a best-in-class structure that offers expert advice, great technical support, access to discounts from channel partners and other infrastructure providers, and connections to other projects in the ecosystem. It has opened up many doors for us and accelerated our development speed.”—Phil Kothe, Co-Founder

Postmint’s Advice for Web3 Entrepreneurs

For aspiring Web3 entrepreneurs, Postmint’s journey provides a clear path to success. Start with an idea, find core team members who can help you, build out key components (ideally at a Chainlink hackathon), and leverage hackathon success to take your project to new heights. 

“If you’re already building something, build something else that aligns with what you’re building as a standalone service so that you can focus on your Chainlink integration for the hackathon. If you win, you can use the momentum to interface with key stakeholders and experts to take your project to the next level.”—David Mann, Co-Founder

If you’re interested in trying out Postmint, check out the project’s website to join a campaign or explore its products. Additionally, keep up-to-date with the latest Postmint developments by following the project on X (formerly known as Twitter).  

Chainlink BUILD is a Chainlink Labs initiative designed to help both early-stage and established Web3 projects grow by providing them with enhanced access to Chainlink services and technical support. If you and your team are pushing the limits of what’s possible with Web3 technology, apply here.