How much is a new user worth?

[hpenvy]

  Made some good points!  Maybe we should also approach BitPay (or GoCoin).  I'm sure bitUSD could help them to expand their offerings to merchants.

Absolutely. Anything Bitcoin can do BitUSD can do better. Leverage that.

BitUSD

- GoCoin (makes a lot of sense since they support high market cap alts)
- OpenBazaar (some type of referral system)
- Once we're on a payment processor, we approach the ATMs that have either accepted Litecoin or Doge (maybe built in incentive for a consumer to use the ATM for BitUSD)

[Method-X]

  Made some good points!  Maybe we should also approach BitPay (or GoCoin).  I'm sure bitUSD could help them to expand their offerings to merchants.

Absolutely. Anything Bitcoin can do BitUSD can do better. Leverage that.

[James212]

The goal of this idea is that no dilution occurs unless a user signs up and first buys 1000 bit usd.  Then the dilution is used to purchase bit usd, not sold for real usd. 

As long as the referral program is growing there would be no sell pressure at all. 

If it works the the users who stick around will provide more than enough new inflow of capital.

While I'm not necessarily against issuing more shares to fund marketing (share metaphor vs. coin), I'm against this $100 bonus. It's a complete waste of money and will not lead to the kind of adoption you think it will.

Let's use PayPal's early marketing strategy as a case study.

a) They focused on one marketplace (eBay) to build a real user base.
b) They used bots to simulate demand on eBay.

Here's a summary (source):

For a period of time, Paypal effectively gained a following by offering new users a $10 credit for registering and another $10 for referrals. However, this strategy also burned through its cash reserves pretty quickly. To separate itself from the competition, Paypal had to build and control a proprietary distribution channel that their competitors could not easily detect, much less duplicate.

When Paypal figured that eBay was their key distribution platform, their marketing team came up with a creative marketing campaign to simulate demand. They created a robot – a script that could spider eBay’s site looking for certain types of auctions – that bid on items and then, insisted on paying for the auction using Paypal.

Here's a quote from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal:

“Poor distribution, not product, is the number one cause of failure. If you can get even a single distribution channel to work, you have great business. If you try for several but don’t nail one, you’re finished… People say it all the time: this product is so good that it sells itself. This is almost never true. These people are lying, either to themselves, to others, or both. “

If I were in charge of marketing strategy at BitShares, I'd focus on a strategic partnership with OpenBazaar. The only users willing to put up with Bitcoins volatility will be drug related users (because they have no other choice); for OpenBazaar to attract "legitimate" users they need a stable crypto for their merchants and users to transact in. They need BitUSD (or NuBits) just as much as BitShares needs ONE solid distribution channel as a catalyst for organic adoption.

a) Focus on making BitUSD easy for merchants to integrate into pre-existing online marketplaces that currently need the product (i.e. OpenBazaar).

b) Seed the marketplace with BitUSD to kickstart the BitUSD economy.

Whichever stable crypto taps into a popular online marketplace first will gain network effect and spread organically from that point on. This is called a "viral insertion point" and is absolutely critical.

Focusing on attracting a "mainstream" audience (that doesn't even need/care about crypto to begin with) as opposed to already existing marketplaces that legitimately need our product will be a fatal error.

   Made some good points!  Maybe we should also approach BitPay (or GoCoin).  I'm sure bitUSD could help them to expand their offerings to merchants. 

[Rune]

I think the key to make a openbazaar airdrop work, would be to have official bitshares notaries (multisig 3rd party for escrow and arbitration) provided by the bitshares network, who ensure bitUSD can always be used in escrow, and who oversee the referral program and ensure it is not being gamed. These notaries would be delegates who campaign to get this extra job, and would also be the delegates that are responsible for creating the inflation blocks that fund the referral program.

[Method-X]

if openbazaar takes off our entry now is golden for us and them equally - investing in the partners that win the future is key

referral program seems brilliant, now we are thinking execution

  Help them win the future and we'll end up winning too.

[CLains]

if openbazaar takes off our entry now is golden for us and them equally - investing in the partners that win the future is key

referral program seems brilliant, now we are thinking execution

[Shentist]

if i understand it correct bytemaster will change the shorting mechanism again from collateral to interest bidding. so maybe with this change we could pay some of the rewarded bitUSD from the interest the shorter has to pay.

[Mysto]

If I understand correctly we need savers so we can offer them very high level of security and reasonably high interest rates. Mainstream audience who have never heard of crypto before is exactly what we need in this case.  In order to get savers we need people to go for a test drive and see it for themselves it is real deal. And for this test drive they will need to put $1000 and we will reward them with $100.   I maybe wrong about this but PayPal was not looking for savers nor do I think they are looking for the savers now AFAIK they can't offer interest rates that we can.
OB is great idea by the way as Amir and Cody are heroes of mine 

Mainstream users won't take a chance on some nebulous and risky "BitUSD". Lets not forget you will also need to spend money on marketing the $1000 + $100 bonus program through traditional channels. Then you need to pay again for the $100 bonus. In practice this will end up on penny pincher websites and the funds will be spent, not saved. This is a strategic waste of money and energy given the plethora of use cases bitcoin failed at and BitUSD is great at. Focus on those use cases first, then move to these type of referral programs.

Overall I agree with everything you have said. It sounds like a great starting point.

[Method-X]

If I understand correctly we need savers so we can offer them very high level of security and reasonably high interest rates. Mainstream audience who have never heard of crypto before is exactly what we need in this case.  In order to get savers we need people to go for a test drive and see it for themselves it is real deal. And for this test drive they will need to put $1000 and we will reward them with $100.   I maybe wrong about this but PayPal was not looking for savers nor do I think they are looking for the savers now AFAIK they can't offer interest rates that we can.
OB is great idea by the way as Amir and Cody are heroes of mine 

Mainstream users won't take a chance on some nebulous and risky "BitUSD". Lets not forget you will also need to spend money on marketing the $1000 + $100 bonus program through traditional channels. Then you need to pay again for the $100 bonus. In practice this will end up on penny pincher websites and the funds will be spent, not saved. This is a strategic waste of money and energy given the plethora of use cases bitcoin failed at and BitUSD is great at. Focus on those use cases first, then move to these type of referral programs.

[vegolino]

If I understand correctly we need savers so we can offer them very high level of security and reasonably high interest rates. Mainstream audience who have never heard of crypto before is exactly what we need in this case.  In order to get savers we need people to go for a test drive and see it for themselves it is real deal. And for this test drive they will need to put $1000 and we will reward them with $100.   I maybe wrong about this but PayPal was not looking for savers nor do I think they are looking for the savers now AFAIK they can't offer interest rates that we can.
OB is great idea by the way as Amir and Cody are heroes of mine 

[oco101]

But you are for a referral program right?  How would you do a referral program plus the OB partnership?

I'm absolutely for a referral program as long as it can kickstart the BitUSD economy and organically spread to other areas without us doing anything. The referral program being proposed in the OP is basically airdropping BitUSD onto a strategically unimportant demographic. It will likely attract penny pinchers and I don't see it having any catalysing effect on the BitUSD economy. Like you said, a better use of a referral program would be in conjunction with OpenBazaar. So that means either an official partnership or do something similar to what PayPal did (with bots) or manually airdrop BitUSD on their forums with a contest / BitUSD giveaway. An official partnership would be ideal though.

Fully agree

[GaltReport]

But you are for a referral program right?  How would you do a referral program plus the OB partnership?

I'm absolutely for a referral program as long as it can kickstart the BitUSD economy and organically spread to other areas without us doing anything. The referral program being proposed in the OP is basically airdropping BitUSD onto a strategically unimportant demographic. It will likely attract penny pinchers and I don't see it having any catalysing effect on the BitUSD economy. Like you said, a better use of a referral program would be in conjunction with OpenBazaar. So that means either an official partnership or do something similar to what PayPal did (with bots) or manually airdrop BitUSD on their forums with a contest / BitUSD giveaway. An official partnership would be ideal though.

I meant a referral program that can be used with OB and other demographic as well but maybe you need to tailor them for each demographic group somewhat. 

[Method-X]

But you are for a referral program right?  How would you do a referral program plus the OB partnership?

I'm absolutely for a referral program as long as it can kickstart the BitUSD economy and organically spread to other areas without us doing anything. The referral program being proposed in the OP is basically airdropping BitUSD onto a strategically unimportant demographic. It will likely attract penny pinchers and I don't see it having any catalysing effect on the BitUSD economy. Like you said, a better use of a referral program would be in conjunction with OpenBazaar. So that means either an official partnership or do something similar to what PayPal did (with bots) or manually airdrop BitUSD on their forums with a contest / BitUSD giveaway. An official partnership would be ideal though.

[oldman]

The goal of this idea is that no dilution occurs unless a user signs up and first buys 1000 bit usd.  Then the dilution is used to purchase bit usd, not sold for real usd. 

As long as the referral program is growing there would be no sell pressure at all. 

If it works the the users who stick around will provide more than enough new inflow of capital.

While I'm not necessarily against issuing more shares to fund marketing (share metaphor vs. coin), I'm against this $100 bonus. It's a complete waste of money and will not lead to the kind of adoption you think it will.

Let's use PayPal's early marketing strategy as a case study.

a) They focused on one marketplace (eBay) to build a real user base.
b) They used bots to simulate demand on eBay.

Here's a summary (source):

For a period of time, Paypal effectively gained a following by offering new users a $10 credit for registering and another $10 for referrals. However, this strategy also burned through its cash reserves pretty quickly. To separate itself from the competition, Paypal had to build and control a proprietary distribution channel that their competitors could not easily detect, much less duplicate.

When Paypal figured that eBay was their key distribution platform, their marketing team came up with a creative marketing campaign to simulate demand. They created a robot – a script that could spider eBay’s site looking for certain types of auctions – that bid on items and then, insisted on paying for the auction using Paypal.

Here's a quote from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal:

“Poor distribution, not product, is the number one cause of failure. If you can get even a single distribution channel to work, you have great business. If you try for several but don’t nail one, you’re finished… People say it all the time: this product is so good that it sells itself. This is almost never true. These people are lying, either to themselves, to others, or both. “

If I were in charge of marketing strategy at BitShares, I'd focus on a strategic partnership with OpenBazaar. The only users willing to put up with Bitcoins volatility will be drug related users (because they have no other choice); for OpenBazaar to attract "legitimate" users they need a stable crypto for their merchants and users to transact in. They need BitUSD (or NuBits) just as much as BitShares needs ONE solid distribution channel as a catalyst for organic adoption.

a) Focus on making BitUSD easy for merchants to integrate into pre-existing online marketplaces that currently need the product (i.e. OpenBazaar).

b) Seed the marketplace with BitUSD to kickstart the BitUSD economy.

Whichever stable crypto taps into a popular online marketplace first will gain network effect and spread organically from that point on. This is called a "viral insertion point" and is absolutely critical.

Focusing on attracting a "mainstream" audience (that doesn't even need/care about crypto to begin with) in favor of already existing marketplaces that legitimately need our product will be a fatal error.

This, absolutely this.

BM could you please weigh in on OB/bitUSD?

This seems like a critical marketing opportunity that should be pursued immediately and with gusto.

[GaltReport]

The goal of this idea is that no dilution occurs unless a user signs up and first buys 1000 bit usd.  Then the dilution is used to purchase bit usd, not sold for real usd. 

As long as the referral program is growing there would be no sell pressure at all. 

If it works the the users who stick around will provide more than enough new inflow of capital.

While I'm not necessarily against issuing more shares to fund marketing (share metaphor vs. coin), I'm against this $100 bonus. It's a complete waste of money and will not lead to the kind of adoption you think it will.

Let's use PayPal's early marketing strategy as a case study.

a) They focused on one marketplace (eBay) to build a real user base.
b) They used bots to simulate demand on eBay.

Here's a summary (source):

For a period of time, Paypal effectively gained a following by offering new users a $10 credit for registering and another $10 for referrals. However, this strategy also burned through its cash reserves pretty quickly. To separate itself from the competition, Paypal had to build and control a proprietary distribution channel that their competitors could not easily detect, much less duplicate.

When Paypal figured that eBay was their key distribution platform, their marketing team came up with a creative marketing campaign to simulate demand. They created a robot – a script that could spider eBay’s site looking for certain types of auctions – that bid on items and then, insisted on paying for the auction using Paypal.

Here's a quote from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal:

“Poor distribution, not product, is the number one cause of failure. If you can get even a single distribution channel to work, you have great business. If you try for several but don’t nail one, you’re finished… People say it all the time: this product is so good that it sells itself. This is almost never true. These people are lying, either to themselves, to others, or both. “

If I were in charge of marketing strategy at BitShares, I'd focus on a strategic partnership with OpenBazaar. The only users willing to put up with Bitcoins volatility will be drug related users (because they have no other choice); for OpenBazaar to attract "legitimate" users they need a stable crypto for their merchants and users to transact in. They need BitUSD (or NuBits) just as much as BitShares needs ONE solid distribution channel as a catalyst for organic adoption.

a) Focus on making BitUSD easy for merchants to integrate into pre-existing online marketplaces that currently need the product (i.e. OpenBazaar).

b) Seed the marketplace with BitUSD to kickstart the BitUSD economy.

Whichever stable crypto taps into a popular online marketplace first will gain network effect and spread organically from that point on. This is called a "viral insertion point" and is absolutely critical.

Focusing on attracting a "mainstream" audience (that doesn't even need/care about crypto to begin with) in favor of already existing marketplaces that legitimately need our product will be a fatal error.

But you are for a referral program right?  How would you do a referral program plus the OB partnership?