Narrative Debt: The Silent Killer of Early-Stage AI and Crypto Startups

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/narrative-debt-the-silent-killer-of-early-stage-ai-and-crypto-startups.
Narrative debt is the hidden failure mode in AI and crypto startups. Here’s how unclear messaging slows adoption more than bad code, and how to fix it.
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The biggest risk in AI and crypto startups isn’t bad architecture. It’s narrative debt. When your story is murky or mismatched, users can’t onboard, investors can’t pitch you forward and your community can’t retell your value. This piece breaks down the five failure modes behind narrative debt and walks through an engineering-style refactor so founders can ship clarity, trust and traction on purpose.