MaidSafe Loan Opportunity - APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED!

Yeah. Put the investment of $5000 in the Bank at current interest rates and retire wealthy in 10 years or have a punt. Now what should I do?

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Great news and a sensible solution. Glad to hear everybody got a chance to participate and yā€™all got that extra firepower.

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The more I have reflected on this news, the better it has made me feel. The team is lean and there is a now runway stretching off into the distance.

Obviously, we want and need to see Fleming delivered, but the financial concerns appear to have evaporated and the delivery focus has been sharpened. Maybe both fronts were needed and they were just the tonic! Upward and onward!

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Feel very much the same way. I think the team can dial in and grind for awhile with just a get s*$& done mentality. Get extra time during the day not driving back and forth to an office. I work better from home too :grinning: , nothing beats some music in the background and a big personal desk and chair at home w easy access to food etc. I think the adjustments will pay off for sure, hope this mentality sticks till full access launch.

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Itā€™s not always easy, I have a home office which i rarely use as I get too distracted by the million things that keep happening in a home. I personally am more productive away from home.
Not a dig at anyone or the new planā€¦ just saying itā€™s not for everyone.

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Fair enough, if I was married with kids it would be a bit harder I am sure :laughing: .

Such as things like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh4f9AYRCZY

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Haha yes EXACTLY :rofl:ā€¦

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I completely agree, it is a very different way to work. In our case almost everyone retained was already working from home full time or some of the time. It is a very different mindset and can be tough. I think tools like slack/hangouts/zoom have transformed the experience from even 5 years back.

Slightly parallel, I was asked to a presentation last night and said I would only do it by video call, they were OK about that. That was only 60 miles away, but I am really pushing to get travel as close to zero as possible these days. To get more done, but also reduce pollution etc. as the planet does worry me a lot these days. That is not why we went all out remote though, itā€™s just another benefit I think, taking into account your (correct IMO) statement, that it is not for everyone.

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Ok but on the contract its says:

ā€œthe maximum aggregate number of MaidSafeCoin that the Company is prepared to
accept under these funding terms is ten million (10,000,000). Any MaidSafeCoin
received by the Company in excess of that maximum will be returned;ā€

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It should read 20,000,000. I will check that today. Sharonā€™s off today and tomorrow, but we can send a note to update that for everyone. It wonā€™t change the contract at all, just that statement.

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Good. I donā€™t mean to nitpick, I just want the contract to be accurate in every way.

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When Sharon is back we will send out the update. Folk donā€™t need to sign as their transfer concludes it anyway. All will be well. Thanks for spotting it, it is changed in the contract for my shares to do this. So this one slipped through.

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This is amazing.

If the crypto gods do their inexplicable magic it could also be a lot moreā€¦ we wont entertain the idea of it going down.

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@dirvine With those funds at current price I would like to air some thoughts I have for strategy (not advice, only thoughts)

It maybe wise to try an liquidate a percentage like 20-30% of the new funding as soon as possible even at current price levels. Even if I only believe that there will be a up trend for future prices there is always a chance of somekind of negative price shock that could hit the market, for example a economic crisis in the financial market, regulatory/political, major hacks, uncovered frauds (Bitfinex).

A few years back I saw a lecture by prof Rober Shiller, he had made a trip to Norway and did a presentation for their goverment. He told them that they had to high % of their total wealth locked in oil reserves and that they should diversify. A few years ago when the ā€œthe US oil frackingā€ occured the world price on oil dropped, Norway had to cut spendings, which is very unusual experience for them.

This is just thoughts and not advice, I donā€™t want any of Maidsafe strategy disclosed in detail or similar. I remember Nick mentioned that Maidsafe previously tried to have 7 month worth of expenses in $ at any time.

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Before this fund raise they had about 12 months runway having cut the burn rate to Ā£60k/month.

I think a sensible approach is to keep the runway at that level for the time being rather than cash in at what is already a heavily discounted price.

If we see a rally Iā€™d sell into it at a slightly higher amount than than burn rather (say +10-20%) gradually increasing or decreasing with the price change.

Always caution and never reacting to the market is a good strategy IMO.

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If there is 12-18 month worth of expenses already available in $ then I will sleep every night relaxed without any stress. :slightly_smiling_face:

But also if Fleming to high certainty would be very close, then that changes the situation also, then there would be less ā€œvery shortā€ term need for 12 month worth of liquidation to $ until after release of Fleming. In my mind the release of Fleming will bring higher gains than any market downturn could possibly give, ā€œexception some ultra rare case I canā€™t Imagineā€.

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Yes the idea here is to ensure we are solid as we can be to weather any further storm. I personally feel we are well past the worst of that, but you never know. Then we will increase staff when absolutely needed, but we already have a couple of folk working on less than they should and even 2 folk recently working for no pay, there is still one of those (by their preference for now).

When this scheme is over then the options to increase run rate slightly and improve the staff conditions a little will be great. I can see that eating into funds. Then on completion I feel the time to revenue positive for the company could be a while, we just donā€™t know. Safecoin will gain value quickly (I imagine) but that does not help maidsafe as much as it does holders. MaidSafe needs to get revenue from apps, dev reward and any other means it can. So some work to do to get those all going.

Bottom line: This level of funding will give us comfort to plan effectively and only hire when we hurt (100% my preferred route). So the team need to be very strong, dedicated and focused on the SAFE network project and in conjunction with the business itself. Then all shares will be sold to the foundation for safecoin and we will all be working for a charity/non profit and only for the good of humankind, not profit.

The plan is happening, hard to get here but it is happening and I believe firmly back on track now.

If you thought I was open previously, now I think you will see a new level of that and I hope it will allow everyone to see deeper into the hopes and aims of the company in relation to this amazing project.

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David with all respect to you as the founder of this project, your ā€œidealisticā€ approach may be destructive in the end. Any company should not rely on the ā€œgood willā€ of its people. People need to be paid for their time and effort. The fact you got into this state has to awaken you about the the way you deal and relate to money as a company and as an individual. Profit is not a bad thing and there is nothing wrong in working for profit. Everyone needs to eat and have bread on the table. I see a problem with an ā€œIdealistic approachā€ that doesnā€™t acknowledge the human being ā€œas it isā€ with its individualistic needs (Yes greed), and sees money as a ā€œbad thingā€. Allowing people to work without being paid is ā€œimmoralā€ in my opinion. Our society is based on ā€œGive and takeā€, this is earth where we live and we are not angels (free of greed or ā€œpure beingsā€). Thats why we are here.
Iā€™m writing this out of good will and wish this project success, since I have ā€œskin in the gameā€, and think it will contribute to a better system/society.

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I think this is a very sad viewpoint. Iā€™ve worked on this project without pay, put thousands of hours in per year because I can, I want to and will benefit from its success. That doesnā€™t have to be financial. Seeing everything through the lense of money, profit etc is psychopathic, and the reason we have a planet being eaten by sociopathic automata.

I think if a member of staff feels committed enough and able to give time without pay that is up to them, and I certainly trust David to make his own assessment of whether to advise that person against it for their own good. But we should all be both responsible for our own decisions and willing to give and accept help where appropriate, and nobody else but ourself can judge when and how that is.

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I think I need to make my point clearer (so not debating with you here)

I completely agree with this and it is not obvious. Profit to me is very important indeed. However not everything can or should be profit driven. In terms of folk eating etc. then that is different, itā€™s not profit, I see that as balancing income and outgoings.

If you look at the safecoin process it is very much based on significant profits for those who help us build this and I love that. It is then up to those folk to do as they wish. I had some cash a few years back and managed to pay off mortgages for folk, others will invest it further etc. and all these approaches are great and we need them all.

Please donā€™t confuse any business acumen with some kind of weird desire for me to take any investors chance of profit away, it is the complete opposite. I work hard to ensure those profits are as large as possible. However the business moving forward (think team) does not need to fit that same model and in the case of SAFE I believe should certainly not. That alone will effectively increase the profits of our investors, if they held coins longer etc.

So itā€™s not altruism at all, I am after a solid and sound approach to maximising investors returns, but also ensuring the future of the project is protected against any corporate profit seeking self interest that may happen should maidsafe become the corporation behind SAFE.

I hope you see what I mean?

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