The Interview a Steem Stakeholder Series is a project to help inform the community about the views of the largest Steem stakeholders. The goal is to help "regular users" better understand the views of the largest stakeholders on the platform, so they can better align their actions with what the stakeholders are looking for.
In this post, 
Keep in mind that the stakeholders are individuals, and not all of them will share similar views. The views expressed in the interview are the views of the one stakeholder conducting the interview. They are not intended to represent the views of all stakeholders.
The Interview with
How did you become a part of the Steem project?
Ned and I used to meet for drinks during the Bitshares days. I hadn’t heard from him in months so figured something was brewing. After the launch of Steem he called me up and asked me to take a look at his and Dan’s new baby. I started mining shortly after. Sadly I wasn’t Johnny on the Spot enough to become one of the bigger players like Blocktrades or the mysterious Pumpkin but I did OK.
When did you join?
“riverhead found a pow Apr 2 '16”
How did you acquire a majority of your stake?
I would say equal amounts mining and buying open.steem on Bitshares around the same time
How many STEEM tokens do you currently hold?
A little over a million, and growing with inflation, across various accounts.
Do you have a large stake in any other tokens besides STEEM?
Yes, steem currently represents around 10% to 15% of my crypto holdings.
What Steem apps do you use on a regular basis?
Anonsteem and Steemvoter. The first to register anonymous accounts so that I can interact with the project without scrutiny or begging, and the second so that I can support various curation projects without having to read every post.
What would you say repels investors or otherwise discourages investment in the Steem blockchain and STEEM tokens?
For various reasons, some justified but most not, any project related to or based off Bitshares and that community lead by Dan Larimer seems to be the red headed step child of the crypto community. Outside of that the product itself presents as a “money for nothing” scheme which most investors give a fair amount of side-eye too. Gven those two issues most don’t look much deeper to understand the very complex mechanics and ecosystem.
What would you say attracts investors or otherwise encourages investment in the Steem blockchain and STEEM tokens?
Those willing to look past the above and dig a bit deeper into the system come to realize just how amazing the Graphene blockchain tech is, how big the community of mostly non crypto folks is, and how passionate the users, witnesses, and devs are about the system.
In addition to holding tokens, how else are you involved in the project?
I have run a witness more or less since the beginning. I occasionally run peg bots to assist with SBD stability on Bittrex, Poloniex and Bitshares, and generally evangelize the platform. I also have a full time employee that is paid purely from curation, mostly manual, with the stated goal of using my stake to promote new users and good content generators.
What types of things do you do specifically to get a ROI on your investment?
Nothing really to be honest. The curation funds go 100% to my employee and I do not blog or curate a whole lot; certainly not with the goal of ROI. I’d say my biggest contribution is staying out of the frey and letting those that know the system inside out and backwards do their thing.
What are ways that "regular users" have potential to affect your investment in a positive way?
Generating and curating good content, being involved in the discussion threads on steemit.com, and generally trying to recruit eyes to the project. The better Steemit does the better my Steem does. Also, backing off on the “us versus them” mentality as it relates to Steemit Inc. and the user community. It’s easy to see conspiracies and tyranny around every corner and it turns off new users. I wish I had a way to convince the larger community that the developers, witnesses, and whomever else falls under “them” are just as passionate as they are about Steem.
What type of contributions do you consider to be adding value to your investment?
Obviously the biggest contributor is Steemit Inc. itself. They have a team of passionate folks that keep pushing Steem forward. Second would be those that organize community initiatives, both on and off the blockchain, to raise awareness and usage of the system. Longer term third party developers that are working to find new and interesting ways to use the Steem blockchain independent of the Steemit social application.
How do you discover and reward those types of contributions?
I largely rely on my full time curator to keep up with the goings on in the community. Part of his job description, aside from curating, is staying up to speed on the latest Steem news and keeping me informed.
Do you delegate SP to any projects? If so, what types of projects do you support?
The only project I have delegated SP to so far is, “Girls Foundation”. There are many great uses for delegated SP however for whatever reason this one in particular spoke to me.
How "hands on" do you expect to be in projects you support?
Not hands on at all. I have no illusions that the projects I support simply need funds and not my input. I often tell my wife, “My SP has a lot of friends”.
What type of accountability reporting do you expect to see from a project that you support?
None. I’ll follow the project and if they keep doing what they said they’d do, or better, I’ll keep supporting. Once they stop doing that I’ll delegate my SP elsewhere.
What do you look for when casting witness votes?
Technical ability and showing up during times of stress are number one by far. Sometimes I’ll vote for people that seem active in the community but mostly a witness needs to keep the network running. I don’t have to like someone to feel they contribute more in this regard than someone else who may appear more visible, popular, or “contributing”. Just sign blocks and be able to handle your shit when things go south without being a dick about it.
That said I also try to have my votes represent a mix of personality types in the witness community. Not all witnesses should get along and not all witnesses should have the same points of view or even ethics. It should be a somewhat roiling mix of the old, new, and controversial.
Do you have strong views on any of issues that are frequently discussed, or any upcoming changes?
No. There are enough cooks in the kitchen that I feel are bright and have the project’s best interest aligned with their own. I do not see the need to add my voice to the din and therefore do not typically follow the issues very closely.
What would you like to see more/less of from "regular users"?
A better understanding of what their content is actually worth as well as looking at Steemit as the end itself, like other social media, rather than a cash generating machine. Too large a percentage of users just churn out meaningless fluff for cash and then beg for votes. That just doesn’t happen on other social media, at least not to the same extent.
What sort of profit margins do you hope to see for your investment?
I do not have any targets but unless an investment grows at around 10% per year it’s not worth the risk. Crypto investments are riskier so the return should be a bit higher.
Do you have a time frame for how long you plan to hold STEEM? Or a price target?
I typically do not buy any investment, crypto or otherwise, that I don’t plan to hold for at least three years. Buy and hold has worked well for me so far. That said if Steem were to ever reach $10 USD I’d probably think about taking some profits.
Do you believe that the delegating of SP to bid-bots as well as self-voting/circle-jerking is harmful to long-term ROI?
In short, yes. Kickback schemes are as old as business and corrupt the alignment of incentives to benefit those involved versus the system as a whole. In the spirit of crypto I would like to see the economic modeling of the system, at the application level, be modified to make this sort of behaviour unprofitable. Any system that requires people to “do the right thing” will fail without some sort of tyrannical policing which is anathema to the philosophy and promise of the crypto movement.
What factors affect your decisions to go after short term returns that may hurt Steem in the long run vs. decisions to take a longer term strategy?
As a stakeholder in the system my ROI comes from the value of the token rising against the dollar and not a revenue stream earned from using the system. Therefore all my decisions are long term focused.
Are there other forms of obtaining a good ROI from STEEM that you think will be possible in the long-term?
I have high hopes for the future value of Steem being driven by third party projects that use the blockchain for non Steemit based businesses. Assisting and aiding these projects further diversifies the use case of the blockchain and reduces the reliance on the success of a social media platform. History has not been kind to the various popular platforms over the years. It’s also for this reason I’d like to see more system rules that only apply to Steemit be coded at the application layer versus the protocol layer. Someone’s project shouldn’t break because Steemit needed to tweak a user experience aspect of their product.
What do you think is the biggest disconnect between stakeholders and "regular users"?
Stakeholders want the value of the token to rise while “regular users” want a revenue stream. These two goals are very difficult to reconcile and informs their opinions and thoughts on how the system should be developed.
If you strike it rich from STEEM, what do you plan to do with your money?
By being an early investor in Steem, and crypto in general, achieved financial independence which, to me, is a form of “being rich”. The two main things I’ve done is buy a home to lock in gains outside of the crypto space and retire from the workforce. A place to live and the time to enjoy it are all I really need.
Is there anything else that you would like to add that wasn't covered by the questions above?
I’ll think on this and come back to it. This questionnaire is pretty good! It will be interesting to revisit my answers in a couple years to see if I still agree with them.
Previous Interviews:
- Interview with @steemed (500,000+ STEEM Stakeholder)
- Interview with @acidyo (100,000+ STEEM Stakeholder)
- Interview with @dhenz (270,000+ STEEM Stakeholder)
- Interview with @donkeypong (500,000+ STEEM Stakeholder)
Future Interviews:
If you are a stakeholder with 100,000 or more STEEM and would like to participate in an interview, please reach out to me on steem.chat or Discord.