A vast majority of altcoins are obnoxiously overvalued. People call it the bear market, but I still think it's ludicrous to value something at $1 billion with no working product and no signs of a revenue stream. Yes, this is capitalism, and the value is real - I understand. That doesn't make it justified, rationally.
Steem is probably one of the very few altcoins that is close to being valued rationally. That makes it highly undervalued from the warped cryptocurrency lens - I agree.
I appreciate your effort to do something about it. Frankly, it's astonishing it has taken 2 years for either Steemit Inc or any top witness to organise a PR campaign. However, if a higher price is your goal, the focus should be firmly on not only institutional investors (as you have listed) but more importantly - the crypto whales, the manipulation groups and the pump-and-dump groups. There's enough evidence for much of altcoins' value being derived out of the manipulation conducted by a handful of groups.
Or, don't worry about the price, the Top 10 or the Top 20; instead focus on onboarding new users, content creators and curators who will actually use the platform for what it was intended. This is the only way to build something that is sustainable.
Of course, meanwhile, PR & Marketing is absolutely crucial. Far more important than engineering, indeed. You can have the best product in the world, and it'll be bulldozed by an inferior product with better marketing. The need to reach out to as many people as possible is obvious and not negotiable.
Getting back to a platform that's friendly for content creators, consumers, commenters - I'm afraid Steem in its current state does not enable that. One look at the Trending page reveals this is a broken platform that does an abysmal job of valuing content. However flawed, the Steemit.com or Busy.org experience is far inferior to Reddit or Medium. Consumers want a platform that's easy to use, convenient, performant, and most importantly has curated access to the content and discussions they want to participate in. Till then, I'm too embarrassed to promote a platform that encourages scammers and opportunists. Granted, even in this state, it has every chance of catering to a significant niche; just not one I am interested in.
I have spent an inordinate amount of time and effort building on Steem through the years 2016 and 2017. I have seen it grow from a platform where only 20 users on whale bots earned 90% of the pool, to something far more diverse. I remain optimistic that SMT and Communities can lead to at least a few vibrant projects. I mention this so you do not dismiss this rant as divisive, but see it in context as a realistic assessment of what needs to happen. I have written enough about possible solutions in my blog over the years, if you want something constructive.
Finally, as a response to stakeholders sponsorships, I pledge to donate all of my witness profits after server expenses to an organised marketing campaign. At my rank, it's worth very little (maybe a couple of hundred Steem/mo) but my hope is higher ranked witnesses will be encouraged to contribute.
Once again, I greatly appreciate your effort, @timcliff, and wish you all the best.
Any information on how to connect with these groups (from you or other readers) would be greatly appreciated!
An important focus, but I don't think they are mutually exclusive goals. There are quite a few efforts already going on with this front (recruiting more users, improving the user experience, etc.) This particular campaign is purely focused on attracting investor attention.
When you talk about it from a user experience, you are totally right. When you look at it from an investment perspective though, this sounds like opportunity. A platform that still has some kinks to work out but has a solid foundation and lots of room to improve. Seems like something someone might want to put money into if they believed in the long-term trajectory of the project.
Agreed
That's great. Just keep an eye out in the discord group for anything that people are pitching that needs funding. It will be up to you what (if anything) you decide to sponsor.
Thanks, same :)
I'm not really into crypto speculation, and stay away from these groups. I hope someone who is more into this world can help.
Of course, I agree that there needs to be proportionate efforts on all fronts - engineering, attracting investors, and attracting consumers. Right now, it's all engineering and nothing else. Sure, we'll focus on the investors for this initiative.
I'll try and keep an eye out on the Discord channel, but things might get lost in the chats for those of us that don't check in frequently. Do keep us updated on your blog here.
Will do
I'm actually working on this problem right now, sadly due to time limitations the work is progressing slowly but it's getting there. Could we have a small talk on discord perhaps? I'd be interested to hear about your ideas on how to fix the issue as I might be able to implement them on my work.
Hi @igster, steemgar is not working right now (white screen), can you fix it? =)
Should be working now, thanks for letting me know.
Thank you igster :-)
Sure, @liberosist#0001
Can't seem to find you on discord, you can find me at #steemdevs channel - igster there as well
https://discord.gg/s6aUrRQ
I absolutely agree. People are often way over with their estimates of what their startup projects are worth today, but also way off from their future potential.