More and more startups with unusual ideas and enormous ambitions emerge in the information environment these days. The recent crypto revolution generated millions of ideas in the minds of enthusiasts, and every startup project wants to do an ICO. Traditional venture investment statistics tell us that around 80% of all startups fail. Obviously, the share of failed or fraudulent ICO projects is much higher. In this uncontrolled and anonymous market, the most popular practice for crypto businessmen is to raise investment and disappear into thin air.
In order to protect honest investors from dubious ICO, we have always contacted for comments the representatives of well-known and not-so-known projects that arouse our suspicion. Today we are giving the third degree to Ivan Karadzhov, CEO of Bitcomo. As usual, we have carefully studied the idea itself, the website, the White Paper, the team, and the background of everyone involved in the ICO. If you are a weed smoker, you'd probably invest in Bitcomo without any questions. However, a healthy person would have a number of very important questions that we're going to ask.
Michael Farrow: For venture investors, the ambition of the startup leader, their background, experience, and history is probably more important than the business itself. In blockchain community, you're still a no-name character. In addition to making a few conference appearances, there's nothing special we could find about you. Why should investors finance a guy from nowhere?
Ivan Karadzhov: I don't think it's the ability to show your face in public that matters most. If we talk about the cryptocurrency business, all "experts" and "gurus" often invent their titles and regalia. Those who have started reading relevant online forums earlier than others are considered to be experts. I can't boast of any known publications, a personal blog on cryptocurrency, or impressive speeches at relevant events. However, I have experience in leadership positions in CPA networks and traffic exchanges. Over the past years, I have led the Media-buying division. In addition, I built the ad traffic network, AdPop, from scratch, and I'm still CEO at this company. I believe that I have enough competence to do an ICO.
Michael Farrow: How long have you been involved in cryptocurrency projects? Why have you decided to do an ICO?
Ivan Karadzhov: I started watching cryptocurrency trends in 2014. That's when I made my first investment in some of the popular tokens. However, it didn't seem to be very successful, so I focused on affiliate marketing and threw myself into it. Over time, AdCombo, my affiliate marketing project, reached a daily turnover of $6 million a day, and we could see the amount of fiat money lost to conversion rates, bank fees, payment system commissions, and so on. Around that time, crypto-startups started gaining popularity.
Michael Farrow: It's not enough for an ICO startup to simply collect money in return for promises; its essence and philosophy should be based on an idea that is capable of changing the world. How does Bitcomo plan to change the world, and why?
Ivan Karadzhov: The main goal of Bitcomo is much bigger than just creating another affiliate network. Creating a decentralized and open CPA platform is not enough for us. Affiliate marketing, as a business model, is self-sufficient. However, the online marketing industry will be running on blockchain technology sooner or later. Distributed, reliable, and open databases are the inevitable future of online advertising. We don't want to lag behind. Besides, cryptocurrency payments can potentially reduce advertisers' costs by up to 40%. This will allow them to pay more to their affiliate partners for lead generation. This excludes any possibility of deception and fraud on both sides.
Michael Farrow: The phrase "blockchain-based CPA network" sounds pretty blurred. At the first glance, the CPA industry doesn't really need the blockchain technology. Are you just following a popular trend and trying to make money on it, or is there any practical application?
Ivan Karadzhov: We want to be the first. As I have said, the blockchain technology will inevitably rule the Internet. Those who will take the first steps in the industry, making mistakes, attracting audiences, accumulating feedback, adapting and evolving – will succeed. We need this technology to start creating a global blockchain-based marketing ecosystem before others do. At this point, our resources, our advisers' expertise, and our highly experienced team of leaders can launch and maintain the project without doing an ICO.
More and more startups with unusual ideas and enormous ambitions emerge in the information environment these days. The recent crypto revolution generated millions of ideas in the minds of enthusiasts, and every startup project wants to do an ICO. Traditional venture investment statistics tell us that around 80% of all startups fail. Obviously, the share of failed or fraudulent ICO projects is much higher. In this uncontrolled and anonymous market, the most popular practice for crypto businessmen is to raise investment and disappear into thin air.
In order to protect honest investors from dubious ICO, we have always contacted for comments the representatives of well-known and not-so-known projects that arouse our suspicion. Today we are giving the third degree to Ivan Karadzhov, CEO of Bitcomo. As usual, we have carefully studied the idea itself, the website, the White Paper, the team, and the background of everyone involved in the ICO. If you are a weed smoker, you'd probably invest in Bitcomo without any questions. However, a healthy person would have a number of very important questions that we're going to ask.
Michael Farrow: For venture investors, the ambition of the startup leader, their background, experience, and history is probably more important than the business itself. In blockchain community, you're still a no-name character. In addition to making a few conference appearances, there's nothing special we could find about you. Why should investors finance a guy from nowhere?
Ivan Karadzhov: I don't think it's the ability to show your face in public that matters most. If we talk about the cryptocurrency business, all "experts" and "gurus" often invent their titles and regalia. Those who have started reading relevant online forums earlier than others are considered to be experts. I can't boast of any known publications, a personal blog on cryptocurrency, or impressive speeches at relevant events. However, I have experience in leadership positions in CPA networks and traffic exchanges. Over the past years, I have led the Media-buying division. In addition, I built the ad traffic network, AdPop, from scratch, and I'm still CEO at this company. I believe that I have enough competence to do an ICO.
Michael Farrow: How long have you been involved in cryptocurrency projects? Why have you decided to do an ICO?
Ivan Karadzhov: I started watching cryptocurrency trends in 2014. That's when I made my first investment in some of the popular tokens. However, it didn't seem to be very successful, so I focused on affiliate marketing and threw myself into it. Over time, AdCombo, my affiliate marketing project, reached a daily turnover of $6 million a day, and we could see the amount of fiat money lost to conversion rates, bank fees, payment system commissions, and so on. Around that time, crypto-startups started gaining popularity.
Michael Farrow: It's not enough for an ICO startup to simply collect money in return for promises; its essence and philosophy should be based on an idea that is capable of changing the world. How does Bitcomo plan to change the world, and why?
Ivan Karadzhov: The main goal of Bitcomo is much bigger than just creating another affiliate network. Creating a decentralized and open CPA platform is not enough for us. Affiliate marketing, as a business model, is self-sufficient. However, the online marketing industry will be running on blockchain technology sooner or later. Distributed, reliable, and open databases are the inevitable future of online advertising. We don't want to lag behind. Besides, cryptocurrency payments can potentially reduce advertisers' costs by up to 40%. This will allow them to pay more to their affiliate partners for lead generation. This excludes any possibility of deception and fraud on both sides.
Michael Farrow: The phrase "blockchain-based CPA network" sounds pretty blurred. At the first glance, the CPA industry doesn't really need the blockchain technology. Are you just following a popular trend and trying to make money on it, or is there any practical application?
Ivan Karadzhov: We want to be the first. As I have said, the blockchain technology will inevitably rule the Internet. Those who will take the first steps in the industry, making mistakes, attracting audiences, accumulating feedback, adapting and evolving – will succeed. We need this technology to start creating a global blockchain-based marketing ecosystem before others do. At this point, our resources, our advisers' expertise, and our highly experienced team of leaders can launch and maintain the project without doing an ICO.
We need an ICO to, among other things, create a marketing buzz around the project. For us, this is a way to let the whole market know that we are creating a new marketing ecosystem for cryptocurrency businesses and ICO startups, rather than simply offering coins.
Michael Farrow: We've thoroughly studied your White Paper. The following is unclear: in CPA marketing, there's a lot of risk involved for affiliate partners. There may be no conversion, the ads may be blocked, the network may be down, the lead may not reach the advertiser's website, the CPA network may not pay. With Bitcomo, affiliate partners will be paid in a currency whose value can significantly change almost on a daily basis. How to calculate ROI, how to make money?
Ivan Karadzhov: We want Bitcomo's token (BM, an acronym for Blockchain Marketing) to become an independent currency for online marketing. The marketing token should be independent of all external factors, including fiat currencies' exchange rates, inflation, national economies and policies. When all of the online marketing industry is combined into a single blockchain system, it is BM that will become the central currency to buy traffic with, hire web designers and developers, generate leads, and even pay for hosting services. In turn, a CPA network based on smart contracts can fully protect webmasters from dishonest advertisers and the CPA network itself.
Michael Farrow: What is the token's value? It doesn't offer anything but the option to exchange it to fiat currencies through the platform's store, and some "voting" features. What is the value of a token whose price is unregulated?
Ivan Karadzhov: As I said, we can do without an ICO. Bitcomo issues a set number of tokens only once. No additional tokens will be issued. BM token, indeed, does not give its holders the right to get a share of the network's income, but the tokens are still necessary for the CPA network to function. If, at some point, the platform starts lacking tokens (for example, most of BM may be concentrated in the hands of the participants, and the portion left within the system won't be enough to pay our affiliate partners), then the CPA platform will have to start buying coins from their holders.
Michael Farrow: With a token price of $0.3, you plan to issue some 500 million tokens. However, Bitcomo wants to sell 25% (125 mln) during the ICO process. This is $37 million. Isn't it a bit too much for a startup of this level? Or do you just want to take your whole team to Bali and run the startup from there?
Ivan Karadzhov: We are based, quite comfortably, in Moscow and we are using our own money to pay our team. This amount of tokens is necessary to ensure enough turnover within the network. It is important to ensure that sufficient funds are available for all operations carried out within the CPA network by advertisers and affiliates. With the initial token price of $0.3, 500 million tokens is an optimal amount, considering the fact that 25% of BM tokens will be sold during the ICO. All the money attracted in the process of the ICO, is intended to be spent on marketing purposes. Strong promotion and information buzz around the new cryptocurrency will generate demand and increase the growth of the token value at the exchanges. Even short-term investors will be able to make good money on our ICO.
Michael Farrow: The White Paper indicates that the startup will use the blockchain provider MetaHash. We googled MetaHash and didn't find anything apart from the articles where it is mentioned in the same context as BitComo. What is this technology that no one has ever heard of?
Ivan Karadzhov: The TraceChain technology has been developed by our partners at MetaHash. This innovative blockchain model is lighter and faster. For example, Ethereum performs 4-5 transactions per second and many people complain about its inflexibility and low speed. The blockchain service provided by MetaHash can perform 100,000 or more transactions per second. Thanks to this, you can literally capture information about each event within the network. Every click, every transaction (lead) is recorded through TraceChain. This data is available to everyone and cannot be forged (no traditional CPA network can provide that).
Moreover, in the event of a dispute between an advertiser and an affiliate partner, token holders will be able to vote in favor of the decision they find appropriate. We plan to handle up to 200 million traffic clicks daily. This means that in peak times, the network will handle 60,000 transactions per second. That's what the TraceChain technology is for. This blockchain operator will provide support for all our online advertising projects and eventually help us create a single blockchain-based global marketing network. Our network will gradually expand the list of its projects, creating more demand for the token and ensuring a constant growth of BM's value.
Michael Farrow: How do you see the future of your project? What will happen to BitСomo in 2018 and 2019?
Ivan Karadzhov: Startups can attract investments using a well executed White Paper, lively discussions on relevant forums, and a number of sponsorship publications on well-known sites. With time, all the hysteria around cryptocurrency projects will fade, and they will have to do more sophisticated and quality marketing. Projects that fail to generate income immediately, will need more investment at the post-ICO stage, and a landing page with promises won't be enough. The cryptocurrency's ecosystem grows on hype, but the product needs customers throughout its whole life cycle. BitСomo will perform the role of a professional platform that will provide cryptocurrency startups with a safe CPA model. We are going to be the first player on this market, and we want to develop expertise and cement our place in the niche.
In addition, the worldwide affiliate market has already reached $200 billion a year. The CPA industry will inevitably start using blockchain-based solutions because it is a next-generation technology. We don't want to wait for the progress to come, we are the progress.