Draft Pitch for new BitShares.org

[speedy]

Looks nice, but how about giving a rough estimate of what interest rate could be expected ?

You just can't as it mainly depends on the markets volumes

In the market page I can see a list of interest rates people are offering to short BitUSD, so isnt it possible to get a weighted average rate from the currently active shorts ?

I agree - it would be better to construct a measure of the the current variable rate of yield that longs are earning today. People are familiar with that concept from traditional banks.

Exactly - this statistic is easily doable and would be great for marketing.

[starspirit]

Looks nice, but how about giving a rough estimate of what interest rate could be expected ?

You just can't as it mainly depends on the markets volumes

In the market page I can see a list of interest rates people are offering to short BitUSD, so isnt it possible to get a weighted average rate from the currently active shorts ?

I agree - it would be better to construct a measure of the the current variable rate of yield that longs are earning today. People are familiar with that concept from traditional banks.

[speedy]

Looks nice, but how about giving a rough estimate of what interest rate could be expected ?

You just can't as it mainly depends on the markets volumes

In the market page I can see a list of interest rates people are offering to short BitUSD, so isnt it possible to get a weighted average rate from the currently active shorts ?

[cass]

On the first slide, instead of saying "the future of banking," you could say something in the imperative mood like "Welcome to the Future of Banking", or "Be your own bank." This would make the first slide more engaging to the viewer. It would also help make the grammar on slide #1 more consistent with the imperative mood that is being used on all the other slides (e.g, "Earn the best interest rates", "Choose your preferred money", and so on).

I like this recommendation.

yup 

[bytemaster]

On the first slide, instead of saying "the future of banking," you could say something in the imperative mood like "Welcome to the Future of Banking", or "Be your own bank." This would make the first slide more engaging to the viewer. It would also help make the grammar on slide #1 more consistent with the imperative mood that is being used on all the other slides (e.g, "Earn the best interest rates", "Choose your preferred money", and so on).

I like this recommendation.

[pendragon3]

On the first slide, instead of saying "the future of banking," you could say something in the imperative mood like "Welcome to the Future of Banking", or "Be your own bank." This would make the first slide more engaging to the viewer. It would also help make the grammar on slide #1 more consistent with the imperative mood that is being used on all the other slides (e.g, "Earn the best interest rates", "Choose your preferred money", and so on).

[Tuck Fheman]

Napster knocked up your bank!
And BitShares is their spawn!

 

[kisa]

the average person doesn't have to risk much by getting involved into bitUSD - the point is to persuade them to take time and effort to play with small amounts... maybe even telling them someting like

"by learning how to use bitUSD you will gain crucial experience for your advancement - get prepared for the future and make the best investment of your time with no financial risk"...

[CLains]

I can say that after 12 months of trying to convince my brother of the potential BitShares holds, his BTC shield is finally starting to crack. While he did trust me enough to invest (in AGS) he was always ideologically rooting for BTC to the point where it was clouding his understanding of BitShares.

I believe the clue to this crack is that PoS altcoins have been absorbing hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 12 months, and a ton of that has been going to development that is only now beginning to come to light.

BTC fanatics will not have caught up with all this development, and it will come to them somewhat as an irrefutable surprise: PoS 2.0 is extremely powerful to incentivize growth.

[toast]

I love this breakdown. I don't mind the mention of open source and decentralized, however, I believe the other points are much stronger for Joe Average. If you were to ask your parents what matters to them most, that's always a good place to start.

I think we are vastly overestimating how much the average non-tech savvy person will trust "some internet program" to hold their money. Practically the only cases where this has happened is when a bank that they already trusts pushes its mobile or online banking application to them. When they see the interest rates and the other flashy things we can advertise, their immediate reaction will be "oh so it's a scam. Got it.". I think our primary target for the early adopter segment should be people who understand tech, but don't understand bitcoin or hate it because they heard from someone it's a ponzi scheme and that its CEO got arrested. There are loads and loads of them, and I think they will be relatively quick to understand bitUSD, and will see that its better because it is stable. Telling this segment quickly that the system is decentralized (or whatever word is best for conveying this) and that it is open source is extremely important, as when they first see our claims their BS detector will go up and they will read a little further, but if all they see are vague promises then they will dismiss it as a scam.

Frankly if a person does not understand what open source is, or don't see the advantages it offers, they will probably never ever buy bitUSD no matter how we try to sell it to them - unless we're able to offer it to them in partnership with their current bank. They will simply not feel confident enough in their own technical skills to make the judgement call about whether to trust this scheme with their hard earned money.

Rune is one fire today.
The reality is that right now the second most common reaction (after #1: immediate dismissal) is "this seems scammy and they are trying to sell me something."

It is a recurring failure mode in recent months to assume we are ready for anyone but motivated individuals who actually get it

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Rune]

Shouldn't the target demographic be those who understand and like Bitcoin for what it is but want more than its current functionality offers?

It should be, but currently almost every person who holds bitcoin and is a part of the community has this extreme "alt shield" that makes them instantly dismiss and irrationally hate everything in the crypto world that benefits anything else than the bitcoin blockchain. We will eventually get the bitcoin users, but it will not be through traditional marketing outreach - it will be by wiping our superiority in their face by headhunting all their best developers, and even actively avoid marketing to their stakeholders, but going only for the talent.

Only by lowering their alt shield  by not trying fanatically to directly sell or pitch bitshares to them, and not allowing them to brand us as "pump n dump shitcoin" by advertising heavily to them, will we finally be able to get them into a state where they can look rationally at the technology and decide that it is superior.

[aftw]

Some thoughts on the draft...

Most importantly, who do you expect to be reading this in the near term? Who is the target?

You will note I separated the two important things your were saying on page 4. Each is a significant benefit on its own. I think page 2, as it is currently written, is confusing.


Page 2

Deposit your money in whatever currency you choose.

You decide whether your account holds your preferred national currency, or other assets like gold and silver. It is simple to diversify with multiple currencies and assets.


Page 3:

Earn interest at rates well above traditional banks.

Minimal overhead means 100% of interest paid by borrowers is put directly in the pockets of depositors. (IF POSSIBLE YOU SHOULD NOTE A POTENTIAL RANGE OF RATES)


Page 4:

Bank on your schedule.

You can bank at any time and from anywhere. No more limited banking hours or bank holidays. Bank from the comfort of your home or on a flight over the Pacific.


Page 5:

You won't find transfer fees - or speed - like this at Western Union.

It costs just $.02 and takes only 10 seconds to transfer any amount of money anywhere in the world.


Page 6:

Take back your privacy!

Make purchases and transfers without revealing transaction details or your personal information to nosy third parties.


Page 7:

Rest assured your money is safe.

All deposits are backed by three times their value in reserve. No fractional reserve here!


Page X:

Your money. You're in control. 

No daily limits. No invasive questions to answer. No forms to fill out. No authorizations to seek. After all... it is YOUR money.

[aftw]

I love this breakdown. I don't mind the mention of open source and decentralized, however, I believe the other points are much stronger for Joe Average. If you were to ask your parents what matters to them most, that's always a good place to start.

I think we are vastly overestimating how much the average non-tech savvy person will trust "some internet program" to hold their money. Practically the only cases where this has happened is when a bank that they already trusts pushes its mobile or online banking application to them. When they see the interest rates and the other flashy things we can advertise, their immediate reaction will be "oh so it's a scam. Got it.". I think our primary target for the early adopter segment should be people who understand tech, but don't understand bitcoin or hate it because they heard from someone it's a ponzi scheme and that its CEO got arrested. There are loads and loads of them, and I think they will be relatively quick to understand bitUSD, and will see that its better because it is stable. Telling this segment quickly that the system is decentralized (or whatever word is best for conveying this) and that it is open source is extremely important, as when they first see our claims their BS detector will go up and they will read a little further, but if all they see are vague promises then they will dismiss it as a scam.

Frankly if a person does not understand what open source is, or don't see the advantages it offers, they will probably never ever buy bitUSD no matter how we try to sell it to them - unless we're able to offer it to them in partnership with their current bank. They will simply not feel confident enough in their own technical skills to make the judgement call about whether to trust this scheme with their hard earned money.

Shouldn't the target demographic be those who understand and like Bitcoin for what it is but want more than its current functionality offers?

[Rune]

I love this breakdown. I don't mind the mention of open source and decentralized, however, I believe the other points are much stronger for Joe Average. If you were to ask your parents what matters to them most, that's always a good place to start.

I think we are vastly overestimating how much the average non-tech savvy person will trust "some internet program" to hold their money. Practically the only cases where this has happened is when a bank that they already trusts pushes its mobile or online banking application to them. When they see the interest rates and the other flashy things we can advertise, their immediate reaction will be "oh so it's a scam. Got it.". I think our primary target for the early adopter segment should be people who understand tech, but don't understand bitcoin or hate it because they heard from someone it's a ponzi scheme and that its CEO got arrested. There are loads and loads of them, and I think they will be relatively quick to understand bitUSD, and will see that its better because it is stable. Telling this segment quickly that the system is decentralized (or whatever word is best for conveying this) and that it is open source is extremely important, as when they first see our claims their BS detector will go up and they will read a little further, but if all they see are vague promises then they will dismiss it as a scam.

Frankly if a person does not understand what open source is, or don't see the advantages it offers, they will probably never ever buy bitUSD no matter how we try to sell it to them - unless we're able to offer it to them in partnership with their current bank. They will simply not feel confident enough in their own technical skills to make the judgement call about whether to trust this scheme with their hard earned money.

[starspirit]

I dont think most people know what collateralized  is.

I think most ads use the words 'backed' or 'insured', as in "insured up to $100,000 by the FDIC".

Good... that was bugging me too.  I will used "backed"

We could make it even easier to understand. Something along the lines of:

"Your money is safe - three times its value is held in reserve"

That is very very good !!!
IMHO

Agree it is good and simple. Just need to be careful its not misleading, and that the average person won't naturally read this as meaning the reserve is actual USD.
Another option is "Your money is safe - backed by an asset reserve of three times its value." I know it does not roll off the tongue as much...