Web3 constantly evolves, and with progress comes new challenges. Early-stage projects across every blockchain and Layer 1 protocol struggle with onboarding new users and building an engaged user base. Despite exceptional speed, a seamless integration with Telegram, and mass adoption being realized as we speak, the TON Ecosystem encounters its share of challenges related to growth.

TON Foundation recognizes the struggles facing teams looking to build and launch Web3 products. We have already rolled out several support initiatives, including the TON Accelerator Program, the Mentorship Program, Community Bot, and The Open League. However, there remains a gap in our support for emerging projects aiming to build communities and attract users at the very earliest stages. The reality for new ventures is clear: without a pre-existing audience, achieving the necessary exposure after launch can seem insurmountable.

We aim to bridge this gap, offering a lifeline to promising projects that might otherwise remain hidden gems. By incentivizing users to explore and engage with new projects, the TON Ecosystem provides an invaluable platform for discovery, encouraging experimentation with technologies that users might otherwise never encounter.

Introducing Early

We’re excited to introduce Early, a growth hacking platform tailored for early-stage projects building sustainable solutions on TON to find their first power-users. Developed through a collaboration between the TON Foundation Accelerator and Open Builders (the team behind Notcoin), Early leverages the Community bot’s infrastructure to connect new TON projects with an audience of over 7.5 million users of the Community bot platform.

Early is TON’s new cutting-edge tool to help Web3 teams attract dedicated communities, refine their business goals, and prepare for their token launch with confidence. It promotes community engagement, rewards completed tasks and adopts a fair token distribution approach—sweat equity—which values tangible contribution over financial input.

Coming soon to Community Bot, Early offers a unique opportunity to engage with up-and-coming TON Ecosystem projects, earn rewards, and gain early access to project Alphas without any financial commitment.

From TON Accelerator to Early, to Tonstarter and The Open League

Early is not an isolated initiative; it is the final piece of the TON conveyor belt of launchpad programs, designed to propel projects from initial ideas all the way to tangible success and popularity. To be guaranteed access to Early, projects must initially be accepted into the TON Accelerator program. The TON Accelerator supports projects with mentorship, strategic insights, and the capital necessary to become a serious and sustainable business in the competitive Web3 landscape: Early then offers exposure, allowing projects to test what they’ve learned from the accelerator.

Early is the platform that shepherds dedicated users to projects, building initial momentum without requiring financial contributions from participants—emphasizing the value of contributors over capital. Success in Early demonstrated through active user engagement and the establishment of a solid user base opens the doors to Tonstarter and other platforms that help projects launch.

Tonstarter gives projects the perfect platform to conduct a fair token launch, allowing everyday users to hold a stake in their favorite project’s future success. Success on Tonstarter leads to the ultimate goal: participation in The Open League. This final stage is reserved for TON’s most successful and popular projects, completing the journey from inception to prominence in TON Ecosystem.

Early adopters

Early extends beyond project development; it directly serves the TON Community. Users can discover the newest projects with the greatest growth potential, support their development through quest-like tasks, and earn rewards via a fair token distribution mechanism. We call this Web3 sweat equity – put in the work and receive your tokens.

Early participants will receive soulbound tokens (SBTs), recognizing their active support for ecosystem startups. These SBTs not only qualify participants for a portion of the project’s public assets but also highlight them as top prospects for future airdrops. Our goal is to acknowledge and reward the active contributors to the TON Ecosystem for their efforts.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that not all early-stage Web3 projects will succeed; indeed, most of them don’t. But Early offers risk-free access to these ventures. As a user, you will receive Alpha access to new projects and tokens without financial outlay, while the projects benefit from a dedicated community of contributors. It is a win-win scenario for both sides.

Be Early

Early is now live on Telegram, with the first batch of TON Accelerator participants coming shortly.

Overall, we aim to invite up to 30 TON Accelerator projects to participate in Early within the first two months, with more coming on later.

Conclusion

With Early, we anticipate the participating projects getting exposure to millions of Community Bot users and growing their user base at a fast but sustainable pace. We believe this initiative will be beneficial for both projects and users, who will have a chance to experiment with new projects and benefit from the rewards without having to bear the risks traditionally associated with a similar launchpad program.

It will always be a challenge to uncover the ‘hidden gems’ and projects that provide valuable use cases. Early plans to change this, becoming a go-to place for discovering emerging products with high potential. Simply put, Early is the signal that cuts through the noise by having TON Accelerator vet the various aspects of projects such as security, tokenomics, go-to-market fit, and innovativeness. As a user, you can be confident that you are investing your time and energy into projects that have the highest chance of success.