Opinion by: Tim Hafner, founder and CEO of OpenServ

Launchpads were introduced to give Web3 projects access to early investors. As they operate today, however, they too often result in cash grabs over long-term success. This has resulted in a flood of half-formed products hitting the market without real support for builders. 

Virtuals Protocol has facilitated over 17,000 AI agent token launches as of February 2025, indicating that infrastructure for token launches is not slowing down. Questions remain, however, regarding the long-term sustainability and accountability of launchpads. 

Projects with no substance are securing funding, ultimately resulting in failure, reflecting a deeper problem in the industry. Launchpads have become hollow funnels that fund projects without requiring a real product or technical foundation.

What launchpads were meant to be

Designed as the meeting point for builders and believers, launchpads help new projects raise funds and increase brand awareness while allowing global investors to get in early on promising technologies. This approach helps fill a significant gap by making it easier for teams to access funds and community support. 

As the industry has matured, this model has revealed its limitations. Many launchpads remain focused on raising funds rather than achieving long-term success. In this sense, they are stuck in the past, acting like decentralized Shark Tanks rather than engines of innovation. Instead of leading the way for technical innovation, launchpads have removed it as a category altogether. 

The problem with ‘launch whatever’ 

Many launchpads pride themselves on being chain-agnostic, positioning themselves as neutral arenas for protocols to raise funds. This neutrality also creates a lack of focus and standards, turning themselves into free-for-alls that fail to help the best projects stand out and grow.

Some argue that innovation should not be policed, and anyone should be able to fundraise. But without a focus on genuine, sophisticated tech or clear guardrails for token design, launchpads become a cut-throat arena where no one wins. Investors are bombarded with half-baked pitches and superficial hype cycles while builders try to raise capital without meaningful support. 

Related: Grayscale adds AI launchpads, Solana DeFi apps to Q1 2025 top tokens

This approach worked for earlier iterations of Web3 projects, which prioritized token distribution over long-term growth. However, this model no longer benefits this market. The days of quick wins and low-effort launches are no more. With increased regulatory scrutiny, the next generation of launchpads must move beyond theory and into action, only launching projects with real products. 

Developers need better infrastructure

Most builders juggle three to four disconnected tools to ship a project. There are numerous factors to consider, including building backends, maintaining costs, server hosting and security systems. It’s no surprise that promising projects stall before they even begin properly.

Building a real product requires a lot of work. Traditional launchpads have narrowly focused on helping projects raise capital. But capital doesn’t help solve operational bottlenecks. Builders, especially those without deep pockets or pedigrees, need launchpads that support them end-to-end to simplify the entire journey. 

The ethos of launchpads needs to be: ‘giving builders the tools they need to focus on their products,’ not on patching together the scaffolding around them as they go.

Projects need multi-agent support

Beyond better tooling, launchpads need to evolve to enable developers to build genuinely powerful applications that solve real user problems. Instead of simply deploying token contracts, modern platforms must provide the infrastructure for creating applications with real utility, user adoption and revenue generation.

As 2025 has become the year of AI agents, projects will capitalize by introducing a robust platform for building applications first, then building a launchpad around those applications. This creates a cycle where successful applications drive platform adoption, attracting more developers and creating network effects of valuable applications, builders and users solving real problems at scale.

Building better, not just raising more

If launchpads want to be part of the solution, they must get out of their own way. They are uniquely positioned to drive technical innovation, but we won’t have better projects without better tools.

The next generation of launchpads must move past token distribution toward helping builders build better. This means providing end-to-end support through building and growing products, and offering clear incentives and guardrails to ensure everyone’s interests are aligned. 

Opinion by: Tim Hafner, founder and CEO of OpenServ.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.