331
General Discussion / Re: My experience as financial adviser so far
« on: November 07, 2014, 09:02:26 pm »very hard time, every day so hard
Your journey with a video camera would be interesting. Best of luck to you.
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Your journey with a video camera would be interesting. Best of luck to you.
332
General Discussion / Re: Merchant Marketing Pitch
« on: November 07, 2014, 08:20:40 pm »Sounds good, with the assumption that on/off ramps will be in place when this goes up.
We are assuming 99% of merchants don't care about anything other than getting to Fiat and not being exposed to volatility... so for the purposes of the merchants we are pitching to BitUSD needs to be the mental equivalent to actual USD.
Remember... we know and care about how/why it works, merchants just care that it works and what the final result is.
With the stuff we are working on I hope to find a solution where everyone can just use BitUSD as a dollar with no conversion spread.
Awesome. But I'd also argue that security is a concern for merchants using a new system. It would be easy enough to reassure them that transactions are secure.
333
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 07, 2014, 08:19:10 pm »
Were the reddit questions covered at the end of the mumble session? I had to step out after the first hour.
334
General Discussion / Re: Draft Pitch for new BitShares.org
« on: November 07, 2014, 07:57:49 pm »I think it needs to be a lot more clear what bitshares actually is. If bitshares was just an iteration or improvement of some existing tech that the average consumer knows about, then it would be feasible to sell it mainly on emotions through pictures. But the closest we can get to that is to write that bitshares "is like bitcoin" or "bitcoin 2.0". That will probably still not be enough to prevent the average user from bouncing from confusion.
It sucks, but I think we will have to explain some fundamentals of the the system right on the first page, and will thus need to use a lot more text. Unless people are buying into a third party centralized service that holds bitUSD for them, they need to understand that bitshares are distributed and decentralized with no issuer or owner, so there's no risk of an owner running away with their money, but also no official support, insurance or guarantees.
I had an idea that one of the ways we can communicate the public key crypto that powers our system, is to market to our users as "owners". So you're not a bitUSD user, you're a bitUSD owner. An owner can never have his funds seized, frozen, snooped on or restricted in any way. You're only an owner if you control the private key. We can do an emotional sell by playing on this as something that should be a fundamental human right: if you've earned something through honest work NO ONE should be allowed to take it from you.
I think a good source of inspiration for the visual style would be the style of graphics used in the weusecoins video. I especially like the pacifying colors and that each feature has its own unique icon (and even sound), it quite amazingly done.
Here are some random ideas for how I think it could be done in the current style. These are just quick suggestions and written in haste, but maybe some of the ideas are useful.
BITSHARES - a bank without bankers
DECENTRALIZED (picture: stylized drawing of a meshnet) - Bitshares is powered by all its owners, who work together to run the software that maintains the system across thousands of computers. This ensures that there are no intermediaries between owners and that no one have the ability to change or steal from the system.
OPEN SOURCE (picture of whatever people positively associate with open source) - The open source software uses the most reliable proven cryptography to ensure that an owners funds are always safe and spendable only by him. Every line of code is public and can be audited by anyone at any time.
STORE OF WEALTH (gold bars) - You can deposit money into bitshares in many forms: bitUSD, bitEUR, bitGOLD... Each of these tokens always hold the value of their underlying asset, and pay an interest rate (currently x%). Everything is collateralized at 300% of its value by the highly liquid backbone currency bitshares.
LOW FEES, NO RESTRICTIONS (stylized broken or frozen bank)- Using bitshares you can send money in any form, directly to any other user anywhere on the planet within 10 seconds for 2 cents. You can also exchange currencies and assets instantly and at low fees. There are no restrictions, requirements or authorization needed for the owner to send and spend his money as he wishes. Transactions are private and no one will know how you spend your money.
BE YOUR OWN BANK (picture of sympathetic person) - these features allows anyone to store their money with total privacy in the way they decide, out of reach of getting stolen, frozen or seized. Finally you can own what you own.
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.
335
General Discussion / Launch Party Website 1.0 Milestone - Donating 10,000 BTS
« on: November 07, 2014, 07:53:00 pm »* Email sent out to all forum members to meet in a specific thread/board for the launch party
- Mumble session talking about ways to spread the word and organizing pushes
- Social media blitz - Getting all our twitter, reddit, FB ducks in a row
- Press release ready to launch
- Giveaways established (I'm willing to help toward the donations)
- Membership drive
- Bitcointalk and other crypto forum posts
Edit:
"Save the launch party for the unveiling of the new bitshares.org website because that will be the final launch.
Party if you like, but this next release will be an incremental update on our way to version 1.0 which is when the real party should begin." - bytemaster
Agreed
336
General Discussion / Re: Merchant Marketing Pitch
« on: November 07, 2014, 07:43:36 pm »
Looks solid:
- High risk merchants should have a slightly modified version focusing in on immediate profit
- On/off ramps will be critical. Payment processors work so well in this space because the business can designate how much is paid in coin, how much in fiat
- High risk merchants should have a slightly modified version focusing in on immediate profit
- On/off ramps will be critical. Payment processors work so well in this space because the business can designate how much is paid in coin, how much in fiat
337
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 07, 2014, 01:47:28 am »At present we are imagining it like this.
Merchant saves 40% by using bitUSD and offers to pass 20% savings on to customers.
At checkout page customer sees banner in the payment options section. "Pay anonymously and get a 20% discount by using bitUSD" or "Protect your privacy and get a 20% discount by using bitUSD" [hypelink]What is bitUSD?[/hyperlink]
Customer clicks on link. Goes to a very nice corporate site. Watches a short animated video (3mins) on how cool bitusd is. How he can download wallet(desktop or phone) and fund it within 60 seconds(cool on ramp not yet public) + spend it at legitimate non porn places like XYZ + with absolute anonymity + that some merchants offer discounts to use bitUSD because bitUSD is so awesome it saves them merchant fees + you earn real interest while the bitusd is in your account, so feel free to get a few extra bitUSD (more than you need for this next purchase)
Once user has funded wallet they are returned to the referring merchant.
Points to note:
Our site is professional. It feels like an Amex black card site.
Our site works for all merchants not just porn sites. Porn will be able to make 20-40% discounts where as Amazon will only be able to give 2% discounts, but it all works the same.
If we can figure out some cool way to make more money on the back end (or get community support donation/dilution/delegate pay) we can pay an army of sales people to approach businesses in all niches OR give customers a free $5 sample to try us out, or some combination.
Now do me a favor. Don't make me regret making this post. Things change and change a lot. Even though deadlines have not been offered, if they were they would be not met. Dont complain this is not happening fast enough or not at all. This will not even be attempted until the product is where it needs to be.
Great breakdown, this should give the community the background needed for results oriented brainstorming! Thank you very much.
338
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 07, 2014, 01:32:56 am »Bm confirmed the funds need not be present to set the schedule. Thus acting just like a real bank account. The funds will go out if the money is present. I have asked some follow up questions. I will post them here when answered.
Consumers get:
Discount on products(If merchant passes them along) +
Privacy +
Free samples of bitUSD(possibly if we can make it work. Either delegate funds of other ideas the marketers have)
Merchants get:
Zero chargebacks
Zero processing fees
Zero reserves required
Potential increased conversions because they offer customers privacy and discounts
No credit check
No history required
Friendlier to banks (Can bank domestically easily. Save on bank and wire fees)
Cons for the customer
Have to spend 5 minutes downloading a wallet and loading a balance on it before he can get back to jerking off. (Cool on ramps in place but not public yet.)
Cons for the merchant:
Potential drop in conversions because customer must leave the porn site to learn about bitUSD and might jerk off to this awesome new decentralized bank (like me) and not worry about porn anymore.
Potentially the stick rate(number of monthly payments the merchant gets) will suffer, depending on the implementation and user habits
Thank you for the great information. Could a web wallet work in this situation? That would allow them to tie it right into their site and avoid them leaving the site.
339
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 06, 2014, 10:36:36 pm »
Let's start fleshing out the approach. Here's a few ideas:
- Template email to gain attention
- Social media strategy
- Some type of easy to follow infographic or brochure
- Quick 45-60 second video that highlights the features/benefits
- Additional videos to explain the different processes in short, easy to follow steps
- A point of contact (maybe the High Risk Merchant Delegate?)
I have no issue contributing tips for different pieces of the puzzle. I'd also like to know more about the modified client this customer base will use.
- Template email to gain attention
- Social media strategy
- Some type of easy to follow infographic or brochure
- Quick 45-60 second video that highlights the features/benefits
- Additional videos to explain the different processes in short, easy to follow steps
- A point of contact (maybe the High Risk Merchant Delegate?)
I have no issue contributing tips for different pieces of the puzzle. I'd also like to know more about the modified client this customer base will use.
340
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 06, 2014, 09:29:02 pm »Imagine loading a browser-based wallet with a few bitUSD and grabbing videos a la cart for a buck or two... or paying cam girls directly.
A la carte video and tipping cam girls can be achieved equally well with any crypto. It is the recurring billing we have a monopoly on.
Sure, but the stability, transaction time and TITAN put bitUSD miles ahead of any other existing crypto.
But the network effects put us miles behind. It will be easier to go after a market that bitcoin cannot go after.
This is the golden ticket, period. We could create some really interesting viral marketing campaigns around it. Is it possible to add incentives for individuals to push bitUSD to these different high risk markets? For example, if Joe Smith contacts PornPalce123 and convince them to use bitUSD, is there any way to compensate or is this maybe a paid delegate position?
How about starting your own 'bounty delegate'?
This is just a dedicated marketing delegate.
$2k/month to hit up porn sites and cam girls?
Should be a long line of qualified candidates - and we'd only need one or two to make a huge impact.
Porn delegate?
https://www.e-onlinedata.com/Merchant_Services/Internet_Merchant/authorize.net/Prohibited.aspx
High Risk Merchant Delegate
341
General Discussion / Re: Angel funds being given away by I3 - no transparency, input, or explanation?
« on: November 06, 2014, 09:17:23 pm »I never asked for anyone's time, money, or their especially their trust. My arguments stand on their own. Let's not use strawman arguments about accounting for "every dollar" that is spent. I never suggested that. I simply stated that (i) a clear disclosure of what is happening with the funds and (ii) ongoing accountability is necessary to prevent FUD. And yes, I am upset that I was asking nicely, privately and publicly, for the past couple of weeks and got no clear response. Then I saw it on the blockchain and here we are. In fact, we still don't know what the plan is for the funds (in aggregate, not dollar-for-dollar)...
I would prefer they keep it a secret. *I know, ME...the hater of ALL SECRETS!*
Why? Because sometimes we have to trust these Brilliant guys to recognize moments in time when divulging their plans could potentially clue competitors in on strategies being used. Let's remember in this space that there are many competitors who would gladly (and have gladly) taken it upon themselves to use the openness of this community and the dev team against us. I personally have become a bit impatient with watching our investment capital be burned to enable innovations just to have a competitor listen to our hangouts or read some of Dan's posts...and then copy/claim the innovation as their own. I understand your frustrations though....as at heart I am one of the people who this "secrecy" stuff seems to hit hardest--at least on most levels. Let's say I've been largely forced by reality to start evolving those opinions.
Nailed it.
342
General Discussion / Re: Only 28 a day NEW Accounts for BitsharesX - Proving Time
« on: November 06, 2014, 09:13:15 pm »Hey guys, we were mostly completed with our marketing funnel until we got the news that the entire BitShares brand is being relaunched and a new snapshot taken (today). There aren't new accounts as a result of our efforts because what we've been working on all these weeks has not been launched yet. It cant be launched without coordinating with the MASSIVE structural change at BitShares currently underway - which includes everything from our product, to our brand to our software. I'm not going to defend myself, but rather just say we are not sitting around here, we are working on this day in and day out. If the results aren't fast enough for you, I don't know what more to say. I can assure you, we are moving forward. If you want to contact me directly my email is brian@bitshares.org.
Say nothing...work on the porn payment app and the connections to make it happen! Now that is a funnel!
This is one of the biggest game changers announced in marketing IMHO:
"Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams"
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=11045.0
343
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 06, 2014, 09:07:56 pm »Imagine loading a browser-based wallet with a few bitUSD and grabbing videos a la cart for a buck or two... or paying cam girls directly.
A la carte video and tipping cam girls can be achieved equally well with any crypto. It is the recurring billing we have a monopoly on.
Sure, but the stability, transaction time and TITAN put bitUSD miles ahead of any other existing crypto.
But the network effects put us miles behind. It will be easier to go after a market that bitcoin cannot go after.
This is the golden ticket, period. We could create some really interesting viral marketing campaigns around it. Is it possible to add incentives for individuals to push bitUSD to these different high risk markets? For example, if Joe Smith contacts PornPalce123 and convince them to use bitUSD, is there any way to compensate or is this maybe a paid delegate position?
How about starting your own 'bounty delegate'?
Bounty delegates are a great idea. I'm interested in seeing how the on/off ramps will work with this system. If we can make it simple for them to accept and cash out, this will be a winner. Setting up incentives to push adoption will just fuel that fire.
344
General Discussion / Re: Shopify now available for Doge and Litecoin, How about BitUSD?
« on: November 06, 2014, 09:05:00 pm »hey guys, I agree, we need this. I have no direct involvement with APIs. Those who do I'm sure know this and have it on thier list of things to be done soon. b
Thank you Brian, I passed this request along to the devs and will make a mention tomorrow in the Dev Hangout.
345
General Discussion / Re: Epic brainstorming session between Marketing and Dev teams.
« on: November 06, 2014, 06:27:43 pm »Imagine loading a browser-based wallet with a few bitUSD and grabbing videos a la cart for a buck or two... or paying cam girls directly.
A la carte video and tipping cam girls can be achieved equally well with any crypto. It is the recurring billing we have a monopoly on.
Sure, but the stability, transaction time and TITAN put bitUSD miles ahead of any other existing crypto.
But the network effects put us miles behind. It will be easier to go after a market that bitcoin cannot go after.
This is the golden ticket, period. We could create some really interesting viral marketing campaigns around it. Is it possible to add incentives for individuals to push bitUSD to these different high risk markets? For example, if Joe Smith contacts PornPalce123 and convince them to use bitUSD, is there any way to compensate or is this maybe a paid delegate position?
