I would like to take a step back and help us all reflect on why we are doing what we are doing and what it is that has created this community in the first place.
I have set out on a mission in life to find free market solutions to secure life, liberty, and property and BitShares is my evolving approach to this problem. Many people have joined us because of this vision and have become a fan because of what we believe more so than what we have built. In the middle of our success it is easy to lose sight of what is bringing us all together and what really matters.
Does our technology help us achieve our purpose, freedom. Who should our technology appeal to? It should appeal to those who want economic freedom in both trade and wealth.
Selling BitShares as a "company" with X, Y, Z features is approaching the space like Dell and not Apple. Lets reimagine everything, think out side the box and create a society where we can be secure and where threats of violence by the government are overwhelmed by non-violent cooperation. We all long for freedom, it is universal. We all long for security. No one likes theft and violence.
The problem we have is that most people won't choose to adopt BitUSD because of its yield or merchant adoption. They will first choose to adopt it because it resonates with something DEEP within... they do it "just because"... to make a statement to the outside world that there is a different way.
So lets not sell a product with features... lets let people know what we believe and stand for. Lets let the world know that owning BitShares or buying BitUSD is about making a statement not making an investment. Bitcoin grew because it allowed people to make a statement... but it was too volatile for more than the true believers in the vision to hold. BitUSD gives the true believers a safe place to express themselves backed by extreme believers. You don't accept BitUSD at your business just because it is better than a credit card, you accept it to make a point and that point is that you believe in freedom, transparency, and individual financial sovernty.
I don't know about you, but this vision is not based upon a share price and does not depend upon any set of features. It is something that we can build for ourselves at any scale if we can attract like minded people.
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
So... lets go change the world!
Yes! I've been using this approach to bring in BitShares adopters for the last two months, to people who have little interest and less knowledge of crypto-currency, and people who are not shopping for new financial instruments.
I'm guessing those of you in the 'utility is everything' camp must not have watched the Ted Talk link in the OP? TiVo is exactly the point, and the warning to heed. No one is suggesting we shouldn't develop amazing features and place a premium on utility... but that's not effective marketing, and it's
not inspiring.
If the Apple analogy doesn't work for you, I submit that we are much more like the Wright Brothers, and Martin Luther King.
We have a dream. Dan Larimer has a dream. We are all now dreaming that dream together in real time and working to make it a reality.
Right now we need to be
inspiring the innovators & early adopters, not selling features to the early majority. We shouldn't even really be thinking about the early majority right now, they don't even know there's a problem to be solved yet, and they won't, until they hear it from the innovators & early adopters.
Making a statement is fine, but this is really about taking a stand. There are many many people who are not
remotely involved in the world of crypto-currency but who are
highly sympathetic to the premise of our actions. The relevant tactic
at this time is to inspire a small army of these folks who believe in what BitShares stands for, and the vast potential it represents across the full spectrum of human endeavor, and get them to take action. The early adopters will come onboard
before things are perfect because it
feels right, because they see the potential.
If you're waiting for the perfect on-ramp to appear, stand up, walk to the nearest mirror, and behold... the perfect on-ramp, right now.
Everyone I've gotten involved in BitShares so far has done so because they are aligned with the basic principle of Freedom which unites virtually everyone. I submit that Freedom is not an ideology, it is the primary state which exists before ideology even arrives on the scene. We are born free, but everywhere we are in chains, to some degree or another. Freedom is not an exotic commodity that will alienate people if it is articulated well, it is their natural state, and everyone on some level wishes to return to a state of total freedom.
There can and must be many approaches to selling our vision, and our product, to people. There are so many different kinds of people. But right now, I believe Dan is right again. No one is calling for meetups with readings of Kropotkin, but a simple appeal to the underlying vision that unites us all. It will unite more than just us innovators. There are so many who can yet be reached, they are all across the spectrum, there's so much more we agree on than disagree.
Try to list your ideology, your politics, in as positive terms as possible (what you are FOR, not AGAINST), as ONE reason and motivation for getting into your product. Now make a real effort to list as many radically OTHER reasons and motivations for getting into your product as possible. Finally try to express them all in the most beautiful, universal message.
That, I submit, is what great leaders do.
A beautiful, universal message, that's some good homework!
Something people here need to understand: a powerful, emotional message and product utility are not binary options. You need an emotional message to get the attention of average people. Once you've got their attention, impress them with awesome utility.
Yes!
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