Protocol revenue is growing. The token is down. Which one are you actually buying?

One thing I’ve started to distinguish more carefully in the crypto world is whether a product is successful and whether that success is reflected in the performance of the token.

A protocol can have more users, higher transaction volumes, and greater revenue, but the token can still perform badly.

Both things can be true at the same time.

This means that 'the project is growing' is a much weaker investment argument than it first sounds.

The question I keep coming back to is what actually connects the success of the product to demand for, or value of, the token itself.

If that connection is weak, it's possible to be right about the protocol but wrong about the investment.

What would you personally need to see before you would consider owning the token because of protocol growth?