Hey guys I Actually posted this a while back but forgot to tell anyone.

Here is the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbqyandddy4&index=5&list=PLjgfpSQFJTLpKmTGCG8FjvDFbfst6F-x5

Also the entire bitshares 101 series is now in HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvrLKYbfzc0&list=PLjgfpSQFJTLpKmTGCG8FjvDFbfst6F-x5&index=1

Chiming in late here, but just wanted to let everyone know that I think a built in referral program is a great idea.    A killer idea if you will under the heading of marketing.  But as StarSpirit pointed out the needs of bitshares in priority are below.  Userbillity and UX are orders of magnitude more important than marketing right now for the exact reason BM named in his OP.

The reason users cost so much to acquire is because so many prospects once in introduced give up before making or using an account.

It is important to talk about all of these topics including marketing even though it is not the highest priority is so hopefully everything comes together all at once and we dont get somewhere and realize we missed a piece of the puzzle.

(i) Product usability (ii) Business model (iii) Marketing.

I am not actually advocating what I am about to suggest here.  If you have ever been involved in brainstorming activities  you know sometimes its good to just say dumbshit and see what happens.  This is that dumbshit.

Also this is in no way desperate... I am a marketer and this is what I think about all day every day for lots of different business. How to be more effective at marketing. Bitshares will be a billion dollar valuation soon enough, but how do we make it sooner?

The vast majority of businesses dedicate over 30% of their revenues to customer acquisition and marketing... When pricing a product this is thought of in advance. When banks set interest rates and fees they leave fat in their to make it attractive enough to for mortgage brokers to make a career out of selling them.

When big pharma prices drugs they leave enough fat in their for sales people to get stupendously wealthy pushing their poison.  Same goes for recreational variety.

From girl scout cookies to vacuum cleaners the majority of products are priced with a marketing budget in mind. Done correctly an army of sales people are out their selling them.

A vacuum cleaner that costs $20 to produce would retail for $39.99.  We have priced our product at the cost of production.

Perhaps bitshares could increase its fees, use the referal method discussed elsewhere and operate that way?

edit: Not that I can enforce this, but in brainstorming its often best to give even the dumbest ideas 15 minutes of assuming it could work... And if it did how could it.  So perhaps if you agree lets leave the first  page or two for positive comments before the negatives come.  If this were a good idea... why would it be a good idea?

Great interview Max!!
 
I can see Bitshares TV becoming a major part of BitShares, possibly one of the most important PR points.
 
I'd love to see a widget in the BitShares wallet that let's users watch/learn while trading, similar to the "Think Or Swim" software.
 
Would you consider upping the game for BitShares TV with a professional mic, classy, natural backdrop, in casual dress etc? Professionalism 110%
Something like this: https://youtu.be/75k2pQHaB1g
 
I foresee BitShares as Wall Street 2.0.

I would love to but I travel too much.  In a different location every few weeks.  I think next year I might settle down and then I do exactly that.

great video episode

small spelling mistake just here ..

bitSapphire

Corrected. Thanks Cass

Max I love your input and enthusiasm for this concept and this "brainstorming" session, led by you,  has brought up many good points.
Are you now saying that under a 1 tiered system it would not motivate anyone? The big affiliate marketers that you wrote about would no longer be interested? As part of the "white paper" some  more number crunching with realistic figures and examples needs to be done.

Yes number crunching is key.  Can we make it enough to be motivating enough for people who dont care about bitshares to act?  that is the question  Multi tier or single tier does not change the payout. It not more or less attractive. Just more or less attractive to different people. As a business we would decide.  eg: we could say lets  60% of the fees we are already collecting for referrals.   We then design a compensation plan that incentivizes the best behavior.  For example, we go just one tier.  This appeals to internet marketer types I would imagine. Perhaps email your mailing list. But they will have little incentive to teach people about the business. Only the product. (of course the $12 compared to maybe money in the future is pretty big incentive but compared to...)  A multi tier system, still paying out a total of 60% of fees, pays 50% to the first tier, 7% to the 2nd tier and 3% to the 3rd tier.   Now an affiliate is motivated (moreso) to teach his underlings about the business opportunity. He is motivated to train them in the best approaches he has discovered, etc... It becomes a very nurturing environment.   Once again I am not longer advocating multi tier. I just want to impress upon everybody that we get to incentivize whatever behavior we want.   We design what gets rewarded and what does not.

Thanks to the TITAN system this is now possible.  I am convinced that the first chain to include an internal compensation plan that is motivating enough for people to act will crush it.   Can we come up with it or will someone else?

I would suggest in promoting this, that the tone should be noting the principal motivation is all about promoting BitShares and attracting those who understand its potential and become active users themselves, rather than this being considered just "the next big thing" for marketeers to leech dry.

The only way it could be leeched dry is if we use the delegate model you are suggesting which pays more in commissions than we take in in revenue.
We want this to be seen as the next big thing.  We want martketers to come from far and wide and use their skills promoting this because it is such a good opportunity.  I dont understand peoples mentality that it will attract the wrong type of use.  How can you be the wrong type of user of a currency?

Again I'll suggest, I wonder a short burst reward will drive this as hard as any MLM motivation. A short perhaps 1 year - 18 months time limit, will avoid unanticipated regret via compounding complexity etc; and will avoid new users resenting payments to a point they might just opt to start a new account and dodge that.

Users can't dodge anything.  Transaction fees are the same whether you are referred by someone or not. the only difference is who gets them?  100% network or 40/60 network referrer.

Lastly, I don't see why the reward for bringing new users could not be topped up from a delegate.. obviously, we want to avoid too much dilution and rewarding false accounts but where it is clear accounts were real and actively turning over transaction fees, the promoter who brought them in could claim their reward relative to that, after a time. Afterall, delegates get their profit from the transactions, so I don't see why a delegate couldn't be assigned to support this effort and perhaps other marketing, whatever else is seen to be making a positive contribution - though I can't think of any better atm than attracting active users. Just need to find the right balance that makes the effort worthwhile and yet see the benefits flow into BitShares rather than simply into the pockets of ambitious marketing types who adopt BitShares only for that $"opportunity".

It would be abused and people would bleed the system dry.