Reviewing the history of an entrepreneur can always uncover the elements of success and strengthen one's inner resolve. This article focuses on analyzing how @VitalikButerin leveraged and guided human weaknesses (such as greed, lack of trust, desire for power, and short-term thinking) to drive Ethereum's success, providing actionable insights for entrepreneurs. The emphasis is on utilizing human weaknesses, with each section highlighting how Vitalik transformed human tendencies into driving forces for Ethereum's development. Vision-Driven: Inspiring Humanity's Pursuit of Grand Narratives Humans crave meaning and a sense of belonging, easily drawn to grand visions but also prone to deviating due to short-term interests. Whitepapers and public communication can guide communities to focus on long-term goals and curb short-term speculative tendencies. In 2013, Vitalik wrote the Ethereum whitepaper, proposing the concept of a "world computer" that transcended Bitcoin's payment functionality, attracting figures like Gavin Wood (@gavofyork) and Joseph Lubin (@joseph_lubin). The whitepaper was not just a technical blueprint but also a narrative tool that inspired the community's longing for a decentralized future. In 2014, a crowdfunding campaign raised $18 million in Bitcoin, reflecting investors' willingness to take risks driven by the vision. During the 2017 ICO boom, speculators chased quick profits. Vitalik reflected on the chaos of ICOs through blogs, advocating for high-quality experiments and guiding the community from short-term gains to long-term value. Insights: - Build a resonant vision to fulfill the team's and users' desire for meaning, as Vitalik did with the "world computer." - Reinforce long-term goals through regular communication to suppress distractions from short-term interests. - A whitepaper is a combination of technology and narrative; entrepreneurs can realize their vision through a minimum viable product. Error-Correction Systems: Addressing Humanity's Need for Security and Fairness Humans fear uncertainty and injustice, with loss aversion making them resistant to change, but they also seek security and fairness. By leveraging the human desire for safety and fairness, trust can be rebuilt during crises, and resistance to change can be mitigated through transparent decision-making. Kahneman and Tversky's Prospect Theory points out that humans are more sensitive to losses than gains. Vitalik alleviated users' fear of losses through error-correction mechanisms and met fairness needs through community voting, turning crises into opportunities to rebuild trust. In 2016, the DAO hack resulted in $60 million worth of ETH being stolen, exposing greed and a trust crisis. Vitalik pushed for a hard fork to recover the funds, collaborating with Peter Szilagyi (@peterszilagyi) and Hudson Jameson (@hudsonjameson) to implement it. The CarbonVote showed 85% community support, meeting the human expectation of fairness. Despite opposition from the "code is law" faction, which led to the Ethereum Classic fork, Vitalik accepted the split, prioritizing system resilience. Through blogs and forums, he transparently explained the reasons for the fork, alleviating users' loss aversion to change and enhancing trust. Insights: - Design error-correction mechanisms, such as return policies or feedback systems, to alleviate users' concerns about uncertainty. - Transparent communication reduces resistance to change; public explanations can inspire entrepreneurs to resolve disputes through announcements or Q&A sessions. - Leverage the psychology of fairness to enhance user engagement and loyalty through democratic decision-making. Decentralization and Public Influence: Balancing Humanity's Desire for Power and Recognition Humans seek power and recognition, which can lead to centralized dependencies or internal conflicts, but they also desire participation and respect. Asch's conformity experiments show that humans tend to follow authority while also craving their own influence. Vitalik satisfied the need for participation through decentralization and became a credible guide through public influence, achieving a balance between influence and decentralization. In 2014, the early Ethereum team debated commercialization. Charles Hoskinson advocated for a shareholder company, but Vitalik chose to establish a nonprofit foundation (@ethereum), persuading Hoskinson to leave and gaining support from Gavin Wood and Joseph Lubin. This decision gave developers a sense of participation, attracting widespread contributors. Vitalik shared his technical philosophy through blogs, X (formerly Twitter), and Devcon speeches, meeting the community's need for a credible leader. For example, his reflections on the DAO incident and The Merge guided community consensus. Core developers like Tim Beiko (@timbeiko) and Danny Ryan (@dannyryan) coordinated upgrades through All Core Devs calls, with Vitalik acting only as a guide, satisfying developers' desire for recognition. Insights: - Fulfill the team's need for recognition through open contributions to motivate participation. - Regularly share insights to establish thought leadership, guiding rather than enforcing. - Design transparent governance mechanisms to balance power desires and reduce internal conflicts. Supporting Public Goods: Guiding the Dual Motives of Greed and Altruism Humans possess both greed (pursuing personal interests) and altruism (pursuing collective welfare), often oscillating between short-term profits and long-term value. Vitalik guided greed toward collective interests through public goods funding and reflections on speculative booms, using altruism to motivate contributions and meeting trust and fairness needs through donations and governance mechanisms. The 2017 ICO and 2020 DeFi booms exposed greed, with speculative projects profiting from Ethereum. Vitalik reflected on the misuse of financial tools through blogs, advocating for high-quality experiments and guiding developers from profiteering to long-term value. He supported Gitcoin's (@Gitcoin) quadratic funding mechanism, leveraging greed (donors gain influence) and altruism (funding open-source projects), which funded over $50 million in public goods by 2021. In 2021, he donated $1 billion worth of ETH to support India's COVID-19 relief efforts, meeting the community's expectations for altruism and enhancing Ethereum's social trust. In 2022, The Merge transitioned to Proof of Stake (PoS), where nodes earn profits (greed) while maintaining network security (altruism), implemented by Danny Ryan and Tim Beiko. Vitalik's success lies in turning human weaknesses into Ethereum's engine: igniting the pursuit of meaning through vision, repairing trust fractures through error correction, energizing the community through decentralization, and balancing greed and altruism through public goods. However, even a perfect mirror eventually shows cracks. By 2025, he continues to push grand visions, emphasizing privacy, decentralization, single-slot finality, and EVM migration. Yet, the decade-old playbook shows signs of fatigue. High gas fees, Layer 2 fragmentation, and the rise of new chains like Solana are eroding market share, with many early followers having left. Repeated grand narratives and unmet expectations are shaking trust, as humanity's desire for immediate rewards ultimately overshadows dreams of the future. Ethereum thrives on human nature but is also tested by it. Weakness drives the world but can also overturn dreams.