Category: Go To Market

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How to build vibrant communities


Building vibrant communities is tough. Individuals are driven differently and even when interests are perceived to be aligned, two issues surfaced– byzantine generals’ problem and tragedy of the commons. [ifpaid 0.0000025 BTC text=”Please pay 0.0000025 BTC to continue reading.” button=”Click here to pay using the Lightning Network”]

The approach is to break up the problem into simpler parts. First of all, the individuals. Individuals behave differently but when we can identify the pain shared by these individuals, we may be able to find a solution. Individuals will have different pain threshold and will resort to behaviours (based on their beliefs) resulting in tragedy of the commons i.e. depleting resources that are for the common use. Next we need to identify the influencers who are likely to be early adopters to the solution. These are individuals who possess the right values and beliefs that seek to minimise loss arising from the tragedy of the commons. In other words, they work for the common good of the community.

Also the solution must have a mechanism to prevent a ‘double spend’ i.e. cheating, from occurring. The idea is to have consensus so that no minority group can mount a 51% attack. This passivity (sort of) can be supplemented with tougher measures to deter bad actors.

In our experience with social outings/activities, bad actors can be prevented from double spending when there is a presence of strong leadership. Bad actors are invariably exposed and they will opt out of the ecosystem to seek greener pasture.

Individuals possessing values such as integrity, competency, care and empathy are likely to be good opinion leaders/influencers. As early adopters, these individuals will also get to share a greater piece of the pie as the network effect takes hold.

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Owning It

To solve the byzantine general problem and the tragedy-of-the-common issues, individuals are better off building community with shared values, aligned interests, and having beliefs and behaviors that allow for taking ownership of the challenges (pains) faced by the community and coming up with solutions by consensus that will serve the common good of the community.

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The mission (purpose in being) is to empower individuals with the right tools to enjoy a fair exchange of values among stakeholders.

Why? future proofing your life

How? by joining and helping the community to grow and take ownership of the value proposition the project accords

When?now is as good as anytime

The present fiat-based financial system is looking dated and societies may no longer be getting more mileage out of it. Since the 2008 financial crisis, it is not difficult to discern how blunt and increasingly ineffective the tools are, and negative externalities inevitably seep into the system. The temptation to privatize profits, socialize costs is too great to pass for most mortal beings resulting in a world where imbalances abound and wealth creation is not sustainable.

An alternative approach is to allow a decentralized digital asset class to co-exist that will serve as a competitive benchmark to mitigate any unintended excesses arising from the incumbent system.

In addition, the decentralized digital asset has a very powerful feature – programmability (open source). This will empower the workforce to work hard by learning new skills to meet new challenges ahead. For smaller economies, the added attraction is that it allows ease of access to the larger global marketplace.

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Shaping and Growing

Creating awareness and increasing adoption is an ideal approach in an emerging / growth space. The Lightning Network (LN)is growing at a fast clip. There are 3 questions to address when it comes to shaping and growing the space. Why? How? and When?

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Why? Future proofing your life.

This is to enable individuals to plant a stake for the next generation and collectively share the fruit of their labour.

How? Be part of a community where fair exchanges of value take place. In addition, what you earned may be hedged against inflation.

When? Now

Some of the important milestones in the market building phase would include:

  • demo site showcasing the LN as a fast, low cost payment processing platform with an additional unique feature as programmable money
  • event management –be with the flow. Showcasing the ease of use of the peer-to-peer payment processing flow to the merchants/providers of goods and services, and how they can extend their market reach beyond traditional boundaries
  • educating the general public on the ease of use of the LN wallet(s) and how they can benefit from such micro-payments both as users and providers
  • promoting the various use cases of the LN that demonstrates the fair exchange of value among stakeholders

The first phase of the market building is to identify mavens and key opinion leaders who are early adopters of the underlying value proposition. They are likely be owning at least 1 smartphone/device e.g. iOS / Android. They will test drive the Lightning (LN) Bitcoin (BTC) wallet and appreciate the key features i.e. receive, send refill and withdraw. In addition they would learn the ease of use to make payments/donations to online stores. As the LN wallet handles micro payments with ease ( fast speed and low cost), these individuals are likely to be piqued by the value proposition of the crypto-space is bringing to the table. The key takeaway is that it can serve as programmable monies opening the floodgate to numerous use cases / applications .


Mavens, key opinion leaders and influencers

There are various steps to take into account for this phase of on-boarding these early adopters

  • Beliefs and behaviors – given the brand messaging of future proofing your life, the appropriate go-to-market forum will include consultancy, workshop, infrastructure. These early adopters must be already aligned to such beliefs and ensuring behaviors are consistent with such beliefs
  • Demo website to showcase the unique features i.e. peer to peer payment processing, online shopping, point of sale,crowdfunding, smart contract, programmable money , of the infrastructure and empowering these early adopters to evangelize the mission/purpose of the project
  • With easy to use tools (online demo), such early adopters can easily demonstrate the power of the value proposition to their network of contacts, leveraging on first mover advantage
  • Six degree of separation will allow the early adopters to penetrate the target market
  • With an exciting value proposition, it is easier to reach tipping point and exponential growth can kick in thereafter

It is hope that by winning over these stakeholders, it will make the subsequent phase of brand building easier to achieve.

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Key milestones

Tracking the Lightning Network key metrics i.e. nodes, channels and total capacity would clue us in as to its rate of adoption.

Tracking the Lightning Network key metrics i.e. nodes, channels and total capacity would clue us in as to its rate of adoption.

Date Nodes Channels Total Capacity
30 Jan 19 5,768 22,750 60 billion sat
12 Feb 19 6,168 24,625 65 billion sat
22 Feb 19 6,498 29,422 71 billion sat
4 Mar 19 6,957 31,559 74 billion sat
18 Mar 19 7,442 39,355 107 billion sat
8 Apr 19 7,872 39,065 108 billion sat
22 Apr 19 8,103 38,455 106 billion sat
6 May 19 8,277 38,339 107 billion sat

source

The space to create awareness and increase adoption (mass) is alive and kicking. At present, the focus is on rolling-out Lightning Network BTC wallet that is grandma proof. BlueWallet is one such an example. It is easy to use and is lightning fast in processing transactions. More features ought to be on boarded, but for now is good for on boarding / mass adoption.

Does it mean you are not cool if you have yet to on-board!

There are influencers and key opinion leaders in the space spreading the message.