The Bob's Repair ICO pre sale recently started, having already sold half the tokens it looks set to reach it's hardcap.
What is Bobs Repair?
https://ico.bobsrepair.com/#/
They're planning to launch a new decentralized marketplace that connects consumers to contractors. By using the blockchain they hope that they can solve a variety of problems in the industry, the most important one being fraud with consumers being ripped off.
The team behind the project have already run a centralized version which quickly processed over $1 million in revenue however they felt that running the platform on the blockchain would provide many advantages.
Problems with the current market
The team state in their whitepaper that there's 3 main problems:
Review fraud: It's well known that companies regularly purchase fake reviews to inflate their reputation on platforms. Just do a simple Google search and you can verify that this is true. This has made it impossible to select good contractors online by using services such as Google reviews.
Advertising fees: Contractors have to spend a significant chunk of their revenue on advertising, this in turn then means that they have to charge consumers more. Using services such as Google adwords it often costs upwards of $5 for them to receive just 1 click and that's after they've already spent a lot of cash on making the website in the first place.
Pricing: Consumers generally have no idea how much certain work should cost. I myself would have no idea it should cost to build a small wall or have a window replaced.
The Bob's repair solution
The platform will leverage the blockchain to fight review fraud. The platform will run on the STEEM blockchain, the platform will link reviews to the contract so that only genuine customers can leave reviews.
The platform won't charge any advertising fees. Contracts will be ranked based on the previous reviews that they've received.
The platform will break down costs into parts and labour. It will also be easy for users to search the database and get an idea of what the price should be.
History of the project
In 2013 the founders created the previous company STWP. This platform linked consumers to contractors. In just 3 years the platform generated over $1 million in revenue and created 50,000 service calls. They previously charged contracts a flat fee of $75 a week which generated them 2 leads per day on average. This is much cheaper than contractors normally pay for targeted leads.
Last year the brothers behind the project stumbled upon blockchain technology. After reading about it more they realized that by utilizing blockchain technology they could further improve on their platform and cut costs.
How big is the market?
The skilled trade market is estimated to be worth $340 billion in just the US alone. This market is expected to grow quickly as the amount of skilled workers increase. A skilled worked earns on average $43,000 per year, compared to the average wage in the US being just $37,000.
Business model
The platform won't be charging any direct fees, however they aim to profit in 3 ways:
- STEEM blockchain: The company will make profit from running on the steem blockchain.
- Escrow: When users wish to use an escrow service they'll be charged 1.5% of the transaction cost.
- Third-party services: They also plan to offer 3rd party services such as loans and insurance.
ICO Details
- Type of token: ERC20
- Soft cap: 6000 ETH
- Hardcap: 30,000 ETH
- Pre ICO end date: 4th February.
- ICO start date: TBC
Conclusion
Unlike many of the current ICOs this one already has a working product. When the product goes live all of the contractors on the previous platform will be given details of the new platform.
The idea behind the project does seem good, however it does seem like certain problems like fake reviews could still be gotten around by just using 2 accounts and making a 'fake' transaction.
Having succesful set up a platform in the past with 50,000 service providers it should be easy enough for them to improve on now they're going to have a large marketing budget from the ICO.
Check out further details on their website below:
website: https://ico.bobsrepair.com/#/
whitepaper: https://www.bobsrepair.com/docs/White-Paper.pdf