Initial coin offerings have raised $1.2 billion and now surpass early stage VC funding
quoted CNBC in it's blog post. The new wave has already begun ?
According to CNBC,
Angel and early VC funding in June was just under $300 million, Goldman noted, according to CB Insights data. In July, ICOs were just over $300 million, while angel and early VC funding was just over $200 million
Initial Coin Offering has become a common name for entrepreneurs. Gone are those days when you stand next to a projector screen explaining your next billion dollar idea to bunch of middle aged men sitting in-front of their MacBooks scrutinizing you at every point you put across. Elaborate financial matrices, explain exit strategies, negotiate equity and if the deal isn't cracked do it all over again. And if it works out, sit and do the lengthy paper work make those same middle ages men as board of directors who'd decide the future of your company and not to forget dilute the equity.
Those were the things of the past. The paradigm is shifting or may it has already shifted to a certain extent.
It's the age of the Initial Coin Offerings where the entrepreneur comes with the next billion dollar idea, gets a white paper in 7 different languages done, makes a dAPP and with good marketing strategy he's all set to go. And add some new handsome names to the team, some highly futuristic road-maps and the recipe for perfect ICO round is ready.
Now sit back, grab a beer and see people to flood the money in.
It's an age where the money is generated from the people and from those people who believe in you and want you to succeed. They would discuss about your project, they would go out and ask their peers to invest in it, they'd review it, they'll validate it. There'll be in chat room, forums, blogs discussing your project, it's completely by the people's. That's the most amazing part.
I have personally seen people telling me invest in an ICO which they believe in. The power has now shifted from those middle age men sitting in a board room and deciding the future of the company to the people who actually believe in your project.
Most of the startups projects die because the pressure which the VCs put to the founders in-order to deliver the profits, rather than focusing on product as such. They die in chasing the numbers and get caught in the business loops played by the VCs. You'd clearly know what happened to Pied Piper you'd have seen The Silicon Valley TV series. Hendrix, the protagonist gets caught in the business politics to make the products that sell rather than making something that'd fundamentally change data compression. In that parse, ICOs gives the founders some freedom.
Another main aspect of comparing the modes is the speed and ease of operations. The founders can raise money real quick without much of the red tape involved in the traditional VC rounds. Raise capital from the customers fast, move fast.
Also makes the founders reach out to the global markets their product is now exposed to the countries which they never thought it'd ever reach to. And, who knows someone sitting in the Philippines would believe in your vision and your product and reach out to you. It puts the idea on the world map so that everyone can reach out to you.
But not all ICOs are good as they seem, infact almost 95% are scams and we see only the rest 5% to have some success. With more and more countries coming up reformative measure to regulate the ICOs, it'll soon emerge to be the safe and easy way to raise money.
What do you feel about ICOs ? Feel free to leave your views in the comment section below.
Keep Rocking ! Keep Steeming !
