well, almost all VCs who run funds are also accredited investors (who also invest privately, not with the fund(s) they manage), and so it makes senses to approach them if one is going to be doing something like bnktothefuture.
1 Like
For the members that didnât see these videos on the bnktotthefuture pitch page, there are 2 new videos with an overview of MaidSafeâs initial market focus & the route to market strategy.
Both explained in 30 seconds!
8 Likes
I invested today. For those interested, here are the reasons why I did it.
I follow Maidsafe for over 2 years now. I like the ideas, the goals and the sharp focus of David and the team. I know a lot of crypto-projects that have their focus all over the place. You start their client and for minutes itâs looking for other nodes to connect to (if it already does). The Maidsafe Vaults connected me to over 40 nodes in under several seconds. This is because the team was âorderedâ to fix all trouble with NATâs, Firewalls and more. Thatâs what I mean with sharp focus. You see a problem, it needs to be fixed for a good user experience and after several weeks the devs fixed it. Providing fast, end-to-end encrypted connections to all. By working this way Maidsafe takes the best of both worlds.
- A company-structure with clear focus and 100% dedicated employees.
- The power of open source, open development where every mind with an idea can help out.
This is what made Linux and/or Android such good and secure systems. The next question is: how can this company make money out of OS software? Have a look at Mozilla. We all know Firefox and we all know itâs free. Even though Mozilla makes over $300 million a year in revenues. They made so much money that they even turned down Googleâs offer to pay them on a yearly base to add their search engine to the browser. Could this be the same for Maidsafe? Well, Maidsafe isnât about selling your privacy or showing you as much targeted ads as possible. But for sure there are other ways of creating revenue.
- Maidsafe earns a 5% maintenance fee from all Farmed coins. This is a very fair and smart way as thereâs no pre-mine. If this project getâs as populair as we all hope the company âearnsâ coins to pay their internal and external devs for working on the project. They might even hire more people as thereâs a steady stream of coins coming in.
- If companies donât want to use the GPLv3 license they could create their own version of the software (and maybe create local SAFE networks for big companies?) while paying a 1% revenue fee to Maidsafe.
- Maidsafe will probably own several apps used by all on the network. Just as most people use Firefox by Mozilla even while there are other alternatives as well. With Pay-the-producer or watermarked icons etc. Maidsafe can earn quite some coins.
- Not mentioned in the business model on the BTTF-page but definitely an option is to be owner of the Maidsafe channels on Google Play and the Apple Appstore. People rather pay $1,50 a year for a client thatâs produced and sold by Maidsafe than a free App from an external dev-group. People could use a âmobile accountâ for payments and storage on their phones while having their âreal accountâ at their home computer.
Overall I think there are enough options to earn income. I know itâs not the first focus for David as CEO but it wasnât for Steve Jobs either ;-). Google said several times they focus on users and scaling first. Good to know SAFE scales to hundreds of millions of users without costing Maidsafe a dime. They can watch the network grow as they build their software.
29 Likes
Umm, @nicklambert, In the âroute to marketâ video it says 5 million maid (375P)⌠but its 375k P
1 Like
Yes that should be 375k. Thank you.
1 Like
Congrats on the investment!
For me, assuming the technology works as planned (and thatâs perhaps a big assumption) it all comes down to this. So why hasnât bitcoin scaled as much as many had hoped/expected? The idea has been stated recently by entrepreneurs like Ryan X Charles that itâs because very few services allow people to actually earn bitcoin and allowing them to do so is the key. So, weâre seeing a big push for content monetization via social media (in what looks to me like a similar initiative to Project Decorum). Having safecoin integrated from the get go, for both farming and âpay-the-producerâ type services is going to be the thin that really drives mass adoption IMO.
I think we are witnessing the dawn of machine money and many/most people in the future will be able to supplement their income by having their PC, autonomous car, robots and many other IOT devices âworkâ for them.
That ainât workinâ thatâs the way you do it
Money for nothinâ and chicks for free
9 Likes
Brothers in Arms! (Dire Straits) - well done @MerkleTree great line luv the parallel (well chicâs arent free but⌠I digress)
1 Like
Tell me, would you consider a maidsafecoin investment -at current prices - as good as this equity investment, better or worse. I know its a different animal but if a person had $1K, where would you recommend they park it and why?
3 Likes
Congrats BTW. Its a great story.
3 Likes
Congrats on your investment. I also invested, but after reading your reasons I think I should have done more:)
There is a very fascinating thing happening on BNK with the new launch of Synereo campaign. Their intro video is hilarious, but after ignoring the fluff of meditation, neuro-network-focus and view of his book collectionâŚI was left asking the question, âwhy are they describing the SAFEnetwork?â There is no way a blockchain tech. is going to function like a neuro-network or do 1% of what their vision goals of decentralization; all you have to do is replace the centralized company names (Like Facebook example used) and just say âblockchainâ insteadâŚsee still centralized. SAFE on the other hand will and already dose have many of the the features Synereo hopes to develop.
I think there is room for everyone to try developing whatever they want, but it is obvious what direction the folks with deep pockets on that website want to go. The whole synereo pitch is a copy of MaidSafe except for one, IMO, crucial pointâŚPrivacy (anonymity). I did not hear that word being used once. That one word is why I think there is such an obvious imbalance of support between the two pitches. A lot of companies today who have money have received that wealth from destroying our privacy. Why would they support a company that destroys that revenue model? What argument can be made to this target audience of investors that would convince them the profitable approach in the future will be the opposite of today?
I know the answers to those questions and is why I invested in the crowdsale and BNKtoTheFuture. It is frustrating to see the hair take off so fast, but remember slow and steady wins the race.
9 Likes
Another way of looking at it isâŚone who already has a decent amount of MAID and more importantly they have projects that will benefit from a fully functional networkâŚthen the obvious solution to increase the value in both propositions is to make sure the core development team has all the resources they need. Hell and get a long term return on some equity of the team that has obviously proved themselves 100x over.
Those are two totally different propositions. One is designed to feed your children tomorrow (MAID) and the other is designed to feed your grandchildren. Both are equally important, but live in two separate universes.
4 Likes
Agreed but why ÂŁ1000 minimum surely the folks that canât afford that should not be excluded and why a minimum of 1.3M is 500K should it not be reached not better than nothing.
2 Likes
Hard to say. Coins can be traded way faster, thatâs where I made profit allowing me to do this investment (I still own MAID). But this could be the chance to invest in an AirBnB, Google, Uber, Amazon or whatever startup that got really big. That sounds a bit over the top? When was the last time you checked a forum about a project on a daily basis? When was the last time you where in a community that has people excited like little kids for the weekly dev-update? It tells me something very big is happening and we all feel it.
12 Likes
Following my feeding children analogyâŚIf I canât afford to feed my children today then what I invest for their children is a moot point. So in my mind the ÂŁ1000 minimum seems somewhat protective.
Congrats 
Now Iâm being pedantic. They will only get the 5% garanteed the first what, 4 years? Then the money goes to the core developers, which will most likely be Maidsafe, but still. Its not forever. And Firefox kinda failed in the end, unfortunately I must say Statcounter Global Stats - Browser, OS, Search Engine including Mobile Usage Share
And I donât think people prefer secure apps over free ones, so Maidsafe will most likely give them out for free, also because it doesnât really make sense to charge for relatively cheap software (mobile clients) if your goal is to get as many ppl as possible to use it. We need the Network effect, so charging is a no-go imho.
2 Likes
Maidsafe has to demonstrate burn. So if they need 12 months to launch at 100k a month thats 1.2M If they are allowed to cashin @ 500k they need to come back to the trough for another 700k to get to launch. If the second 700k fails the first 500k lose all.
Folks who cannot afford the 1K can buy coins. And they should be given that option on the BNK page. Then they participate.
1 Like
Never! In fact almost all Internet forums are toxic, this community is very special. Someday we may be diluted by mass adoption and the personalities that interact so peacefully here will be fewer. I think we are all here because of our similar beliefs and the potential we see of this technology to better our world and of course since it solves so many problems is a sound investment IMO. If for some reason this funding round doesnât work I would encourage the team to try again closer or after beta where the potential will be undeniable. Currently Iâm think that many people with deep pockets are holding off and letting MAID drop then last second theyâll buy in big in MAID and then do some drops in the bucket with the equity raise to inflate the price of MAID then potentially another dump. But that theory is based off from nothing besides my lack of good faith in the whales out there
3 Likes
Nope, theyâll get 5% of all coins farmed. It will be an address fixed in the Vaults is my guess. So someone does a farm-attempt and when they succeed the Vaults will reward this Maidsafe address as well. So if we go to a billion dollar rmarketcap and 100 million dollar in new coins are farmed Maidsafe earns 5 million to let internal and external devs work on the technology.
I paid several times for my Whatsapp usage. Think about a combination where you will get some ads if you use it for free but wonât if you pay a small yearly subscription fee. The teenager in India probably wonât be able to pay. Heâll see some ads. I can pay and will on a yearly basis.
2 Likes
So fastforwad to late 2016 from when you got in. If you were just getting started, knowing what you know, didnt have the profits and had to make a choice. What is it? Still equity?
Excellent points. Zactly my point to @nicklambert on how this type of thing should have been in the BNK pitch.
But if the equity value increase, will the token value follow or lead?