's Minnow Contest Final Round Entry:
My Master Plan for the Ultimate Crypto Onboarding Platform
The Challenge that Needs to be Addressed: Cryptocurrency Mainstream Adoption
The cryptocurrency market cap is nearly $100,000,000,000 and everyday more and more people are jumping down the rabbit hole into the world of crypto. Let's consider the four types of people who own cryptocurrency:
- 1) The techy guy. Always on the fringe of cutting edge technology, gets some crypto to feel like a part of the movement.
- 2) The finance guy. Excited by the volatility of crypto, finds crypto more fun than trading stocks.
- 3) The drug dealer. Anonymous transactions + Tor = Drug Dealing Paradise.
- 4) The other guy. There are a few reasons this guy would join:
- By accident. On a youtube binge he ended up watching a "Dogecoin is the future!" video and now he is intrigued.
- A friend told him this is the next big thing. So he invested $1000 on blind faith into ETH, BTC and STEEM.
- He has heard of the get rich quick stories and dreams of being the next Bitcoin Billionaire.
- Just because.
Here, notice the first guy, the second guy, and the third guy all have motives and goals for why they joined and what they will do with crypto. The fourth guy does not. He isn't entirely sure what cryptocurrency is, he is a little uneasy because it seems like made up funny money, and he has NO IDEA what to do with it.
Problem Statement: If cryptocurrency is going to gain mainstream adoption, it must appeal to the other guy.
The Vision: A Perfect Onboarding Process
Today people typically follow two paths into the crypto world:
- Intense research → investment → NOW WHAT???
- Investment → intense research → NOW WHAT???
I propose a third path.
I imagine an onboarding process into the crypto world that educates people how crypto works, makes them comfortable with crypto, then gives them an outlet to use their crypto. My perfect onboarding process is:
- An overview of blockchain
- An overview of cryptocurrency
- How to invest
- How to securely store your crypto
- What to do with your crypto
Solution Statement: To appeal to the other guy, the crypto world must develop an onboarding process offering a breif, yet comprehensive ovewview of crypto, and a clear, natural outlet to use crypto.
The Mission Statement
The most difficult issue with onboarding The Other Guy into the crypto world is step 5 (there is a plethera of articles, books, and information regarding steps 1 to 4... it would just take some filtering, consolidation and logical organization to complete this part of the onboarding process). Today there are not many outlets to use cryptocurrency in its native form, AND THIS IS ESPECIALLY true for altcoins. As a software developer, it is my mission to create a tool for allowing easy cryptocurrency integration into web applications so developers can give crypto owners a place to use their digital currency.
My Goals for SteemFest2
- Build a New Steemit Feature during the Hackathon: I LOVE hackathons. I have built a few fun Steemit things in 12 hour spans at night. I can't imagine what would be possible with a team of Steem-devs in a 24 hour period!
- Create More Connections with Fellow Steemian Devs: the few Steem-devs I have connected with have been incredibly helpful so far. Can't imagine being part of a newtwork of Steem-devs.
- Find Support for and a Team for Building the Ultimate Steem/Crypto onboarding process: what better place to find supporters and possibly a team to make my crypto onboarding process vision a reality?
- Demonstrate and Showcase SteemEngine Beta: I have always dreamed of a Steve Jobs-esque product demonstration. I know SteemFest isn't WWDC, however I would love to demonstrate my project live in fornt of a Steemian crowd. SteemEngine is scheduled to be finished for Beta testing Fall 2017.
- Meet Some of My Favorite Steemians in Person for the First Time: I have met some incredible Steemians from all over the world. Meeting these people in person would be amazing!
- Meet
: I saw that Charlie Shrem will be attending SteemFest2 and I am hoping to meet him! This year I watched a crypto documentary that featured him in my cryptography class and it would be incredible to meet a crypto pioneer!
- Get Some Steemit Swag: what better way to promote Steemit at my school than be a walking advertisement :)
The Master Plan: How I Will Acheive My Goals and My Mission
Creating the Ultimate Crypto Onboarding Platform is a rather lofty goal. So, instead of attacking crypto as a whole, I will focus on the market I know best: Steem.
How I Envision the Onboarding Process:
The onboarding process will be a web application with a step by step tutorial that leads the newcomer through the process described above. It will require a simple, intuitive GUI and clear and concise HOW-TO videos. Following the videos will be an interactive tutorial on how to make a first post, upvote, resteem, make a transaction, etc. Then the user will be educated on WHERE they can spend their STEEM. This STEEM marketplace will require an intuitive wallet so the user can focus on WHERE to spend their money NOT HOW. One obstacle to this is the WIF. This scares people (I had a 66 rep Steemian asking me about Wif's yesterday). There must be a tool that makes this process more natural.
In fact, that is exactly the objective of SteemEngine.
Here is a breakdown of the Master Plan with Objectives and Deadlines:
| Objective | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Develop SteemEngine Beta | Release September 2017 |
| 2 | Garner Support for the Ultimate Steem Onboarding Platform | Now - SteemFest |
| 3 | Develop Steem Slots, First Use Case for SteemEngine | Release September 2017 |
| 4 | Find Co-Founders and Supporters for the Ultimate Steem Onboarding Platform | SteemFest |
| 5 | Create Use Case (Store, Service, etc.) for SteemEngine during Hackathon | SteemFest |
| 6 | Onboarding Platform Beta Release | November 2017 |
| 7 | Partner with Steemit and Begin Advertising Campaign | November 2017 |
| 8 | Onboard 100 New Users | December 2017 |
Regarding my goals for SteemFest: these are all definitly acheivable! They will just take some enthusiasm, out goingness, and positive vibes... which I have had since day 1 :)
The Refined Budget
How much I can contibute:
Current SP: 622
My Power Down Strategy:
It is 16 weeks until SteemFest and my SP is unfortunately locked up for two of those weeks. So, for 14 weeks I will power down and cash out 35 STEEM (instead of cashing out all powered down STEEM, I am going to save a portion and convert back to SP so I can increase my SP over time).
My Budget
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Flight Ticket | $1100 |
| Hotel | $600 (7 nights) |
| Food, Travel, etc. | $400 |
| TOTAL | $2100 |
Proof of Costs
(Plane Ticket Price)
(Hotel Room Price)
The Ask
So, based on my power down strategy, I will only need help funding the plane ticket.
Conclusion:
Thank you 
And if you are looking for a way to vote for me twice... you could always create a second account via my Steem Account Creation Tool 😉
Cheers and Steem on!
