Some 4 years ago, my current business partner invented a new paradigm for instant chat. After a very unsuccessful business meeting in Mongolia; lightning struck. He wanted to be able to communicate in any language acccurately and avoid the pitfalls of miscommunication. The meeting in Mongolia at the time cost him a truck load of money due to poor communication via a paid human translator. With almost zero tech knowledge, he said “I will find a way”.
Along this path, my partner and I met. He was looking for someone who would share his vision had the resources to bring this idea to fruition. He had developed an expensive web-based instant language app. Without getting into the gory details, we mapped out a strategy to bring his vision to reality. Some 24 months later, a mobile app on both iOS and Play were launched. With no add budget, the app gained traction via word-of-mouth. Fast forward some 12 months and we now have 20,000 users who love the app and the numbers are steadily growing. We have since launched a dating version of our app (think: chat instantly to anyone no matter what their language) and also a travel app. No more frustration telling that taxi driver where to go or asking for direction.
Having been involved with the block chain and crypto for a number of years, I saw the opportunity to take the next step. I outlined a strategy for us to take the most important elements of our app and integrate those on the block chain. Really important elements such as payment verification, ID, opening up our app for other devs to disrupt industries by utilising our powerful coding and a lot more.
The last 6 months has been a rollercoaster. Tough times mean long hours, loads of headaches and constant struggles. At the same time, we have made substantial progress that fuelled our passion to drive change and attempt to revolutionise business and personal life by breaking down the language barriers; that have retarded the progress of humans and created much cause for conflict and misunderstanding. Our dream is to be able to communicated clearly with any person on this planet; instantly.
Fast forward to today, and we have been propelled on a path to launch our company via a Public ICO. An ICO that was different to most. One that already has proof-of-concept and a proven market. One that could literally explode from being a boot-strapped idea into something that will leave a legacy. Our passion has been driven by an insatiable appetitive to drive change. Money has not been a big part of the equation.
Now the road to a ‘proper’ ICO is rocky and is littered with pitfalls. Many people don’t share the same vision of focussing on product first, business second. Those two key elements usually get lost along the way. Now I would be deceitful to say that we are not concerned about money. Heck, this little baby has consumed much money along its path, not to mention the time factor so we have had to be mindful of money to ensure the bills are paid and we can keep progressing towards our ultimate goal.
To ICO a company properly, one needs to ensure that all the boxes are ticked. There is a lot of moving parts to complete a successful ICO. The most important being having the ‘right’ people on your team and partners who are experts in their field advising you. From consultants, to media experts, to community builders, financial gurus, blockchain devs, marketing geniuses, etc. I can honestly say, I had no idea the level of support one needs to get there.
Our path so far has resulted in a number of hiccups. Fortunately, none of these has stopped our train from derailing. In fact, they have helped to forge a stronger and more clear vision.
We are now approximately 3 - 4 months out from launching our Public ICO. It has been tough but we are all getting excited. We still have some work to get our White Paper to the level where we are happy and we are still listening to our well respected expert consultant’s opinions on this, that and everything else!
Now I can almost hear you saying “What is the name of your ICO?” Some of you may have already figured it out. For those that don’t know, that will need to wait until Part 2 of this article. I would love to have you follow me and share this experience with me and I do promise to let you know the good, bad and the ugly of the ICO experience.
Love and light.
