I've said it before and I'll say it again - we are massive fans of the crypto movement and what it means for small businesses like ours. To that end, we spent a little time kicking back, enjoying a cold one or two, and pontificating the ways crypto could influence our world of craft beer and media.
What we want to do is lay out a few of our thoughts and solicit the community for informed feedback and ideas. With that feedback, we might pursue a venture or two into the crypto world within our sphere of influence and expertise - again, beer and media. Now on to some thoughts:
The craft beer industry is the most collaborative, consumer-driven industry there is. People inside and outside of the industry want to support the industry, be a part of the industry, and potentially own some of the industry.
Consumers would love to help craft brewers while seeing a return on their investment through higher valuation for the coin. Then potentially spending that coin on more beer.
It is extremely expensive to open a brewery. Many businesses have to take out high-interest loans in order to finance their dream. Most breweries cost between $300k-$700k to open, not including the land they are built on or the salary that the owners would like to be taking. Is there a way that we can remove some of the banks from the equation to allow owners to directly pay down principal.
The craft beer industry is moving in the direction of hyper-local. While we see slowing gains or declines from some of the larger brands, smaller brands with a quality product are thriving.
Is there room for a Craft Beer Coin or (Craft) Beverage Coin to support this industry? Could it be structured with an ICO between $10M-$100M with the allocations being something along the lines of 50% to new brewery growth, 40% to replace high-interest loans with 0% interest loans (if someone defaults we would sell the assets and provide them with their share based on equity percentages), and potentially 10% of the fund dedicated to launching our own breweries? Coin owners would have a backed asset that would grow with the craft beer industry, with the long-term potential to have breweries accept the coin as payment for beer.
Frankly, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. It's certainly a fun idea. I know that we could assemble a team that could manage this type of asset pool. With the Craft Beer & Brewing owners spearheading it, we could work with our equipment, ingredient, legal, construction, and brewing partners, who are experts in the field of launching and growing breweries.
We are by no means crypto experts, yet. There may be hurdles we're overlooking and bounds we're imagining, but we wanted to start the conversation with those interested in how crypto can better support the industries we love, beer and media.
Appreciate any feedback.
-- Haydn
It's an interesting idea, crypto plays to the right audience (younger males in the main) so it would be something they are likely to be interested in, the mechanics of it are a little difficult to understand though, perhaps it would be easier to fund one brewery through it than many, sort of like crowd funding, but with a more transactional unit than most of them have.
I definitely like the idea of starting with a defined portfolio to give investors transparency into where day 1 dollars go. But I'd also like to make it bigger than just a single business investment to diversify the risk and amplify the growth potential. Thanks for the feedback!