Sometimes the most valuable thing you build isn't what you set out to create. This is certainly true for us.

In 2021, we set out to build a better crypto wallet. But along the way, we discovered something far more valuable in the infrastructure we'd built to power it. We became an infrastructure provider, and signed major players like Trust Wallet and Coinbase.

By most measures, we were succeeding. But we saw something bigger on the horizon—something worth walking away from our thriving infrastructure business to pursue.

Building our own foundation

Our first challenge wasn't building a better wallet—it was building the foundation that would make it possible. The infrastructure we needed didn't exist. Someone would have to create it.

A new technology called ERC-4337 had just emerged for smart wallets. Most engineers were still wrapping their heads around it, but our CTO Hazim already understood its potential. Combined with John's expertise in high-reliability systems from his rocket design days, we had the rare mix of skills needed to build this foundation.

We became a B2B and with $2.1M in pre-seed funding, we set our next milestone: $100K in monthly revenue. The path forward seemed clear.

Reality check

For months, we worked quietly while others waited for the technology to mature. When the Ethereum Foundation declared ERC-4337 was secure in March 2023, we were ready—and alone—in production.

The response was electric. We signed four enterprise-sized deals in two weeks. These early customers saw the potential, signed contracts, and started integrating.

Then they left.

Our infrastructure, while powerful, was too complex to implement.

We changed our approach. Instead of selling a barebones API, we focused on making ERC-4337 development accessible. Better documentation, educational videos, and a streamlined SDK made an immediate impact. Revenue not only recovered—it accelerated.

But something felt off. While our user numbers were climbing and feedback was fantastic, we were attracting mainly small projects and indie developers. We had built the perfect tool for tinkerers, but these were experiments that never launched, prototypes that never shipped. We were optimizing for the wrong audience.

Fortunately, one number kept us honest: revenue.

True north

Revenue is the one metric you can't manipulate. People only pay for software that delivers real value.

Other metrics tempted us. Usage looked great. API calls soared. Our quickstarts and demos drove thousands of new sign-ups. But none of that translated to paying customers.

Six months post-launch, we hit a ceiling: $10K monthly revenue. Usage charts looked healthy, but those users were all on free plans. We weren't losing customers, but we weren't gaining valuable ones either.

The choice became clear: keep building for hobbyists and hope things would pick up, or aim higher. We chose higher.

Moving upmarket meant rebuilding everything. What worked for small projects wouldn't scale for major wallets. We spent two months rebuilding our infrastructure from the ground up, achieving reliability that seemed excessive at the time.

We set our sights on the biggest wallets in crypto: Trust Wallet and Coinbase. As users' first step into crypto, these wallets could make smart accounts mainstream.

Enterprise sales brought familiar challenges—stakeholder objections, unclear decision-making. But we had an advantage: leadership already believed in our vision. They wanted to work with the OG ERC-4337 guys. We landed both partnerships, starting small but laying groundwork for growth.

True mission

The infrastructure business was working. Major wallets trusted our technology. Investors were interested.

But our conversations with customers kept pointing to something bigger. It wasn't about infrastructure. It wasn't even about smart accounts. We had stumbled onto a fundamental problem with how businesses operate on blockchains, and we were the perfect team to solve it.

We faced a choice: stay the course or pursue something bigger.

We chose bigger.

The next chapter

Our journey from wallet to infrastructure was just the beginning. Today, we're rebuilding Stackup with a bigger mission: transforming how companies operate onchain.

Everything we've learned about infrastructure, security, and user experience has prepared us for this moment. We're ready to solve crypto's hardest problem.

Stay tuned. In our next post, we'll show you how.