Crypto needs to focus on what it's already doing, argues Lamb&Cooper's chief adviser, rather than constantly seeking the next groundbreaking step.
Start-ups in the digital currency sector are forever chasing after attention-grabbing headlines that announce they have accomplished a world first, created a next-generation product, or disrupted the status-quo. A growing fear, however, is that these fledgling companies are forgetting to tackle the tedium of the hard work needed behind the scenes.
Miklos Kadar, chief adviser at Lamb&Cooper, argues that the time is over for every start-up in the digital currency space to try to change the world, and a more productive focus would be working harder at the specializations these start-ups represent.
“Nowadays too many times the business plan is ‘redefining the industry or die trying.’ In other words Boom-OR-Bust and this creates those many Boom-AND-Busts. What if the big paradigm shift has already happened? What if what's needed to prosper in crypto is hard work and consistency instead of newer and stranger approaches?”
Making his comments as part of a wide-ranging interview with Cointelegraph, Kadar went on to explain how the approach of Lamb&Cooper differs.
“Lamb&Cooper today is a boutique consulting shop, underwriting one Initial Crypto Offering (ICO) at a time, and trying to give as much attention to it as possible. We are the Jerry Maguire of crypto-crowdfunding if you like.”
Rather than concentrate on American football stars, Lamb&Cooper is working to bring micro-investments from the digital currency and turn them into crypto tokens that work to both fund new start-ups, and also reward investors by providing dividend payments from profits.
Working project-by-project, the team is currently engaged on the Prosperity Games title Full Metal Wars. Using the crypto token being sold to investors as an in-game spending currency means that players excited about the title can feel connected to the game's success financially, too.
We spoke to Kadar, and asked him how he sees this new method of crypto funding fitting into the worlds of both crowdfunding, and traditional investment.
CT: What gap in the crypto market did Lamb&Cooper see, and what inspired you to join the company?
Miklos Kadar: The gap, or opportunity, our founders saw in the crypto industry is for hard, reliable and transparent work.
Every new start-up tries to be the next big thing. The next big software solution, the next big paradigm shift in crypto. Nowadays too many times the business plan is “redefining the industry or die trying.” In other words Boom-OR-Bust and this creates those many Boom-AND-Busts. What if the big paradigm shift has already happened?
What if what's needed to prosper in crypto is hard work and consistency instead of newer and stranger approaches? What if all essential crypto technologies are out there, and what businesses should rather do is start using them and build business models on them instead of building newer codes?
Lamb&Cooper today is a boutique consulting shop, underwriting one Initial Crypto Offering (ICO) at a time and trying to give as much attention to it as possible. We are the Jerry Maguire of crypto-crowdfunding if you like.
Lamb&Cooper does what it takes to understand a company with ICO plans and is not afraid to be financially interested in the future of an issued crypto token on the long-run.
A successful ICO is neither a technical nor a financial challenge. It is a sales job. I have been a sales consultant for many years with an international track record so the founders of Lamb&Cooper asked me to join and I was happy to grab the opportunity.
CT: Lamb&Cooper calls itself a crypto underwriter. What do you mean by that?
MK: According to Investopedia ‘underwriting’ is "the process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt)."
Now most crypto tokens are neither securities nor equities or bonds according to most legislation but they are assets, crypto assets that are looking for buyers.
Crypto underwriting means five simple steps:
- We understand the company that is considering to have some crypto assets issued.
- We advise them how to structure and price their offer.
- We put the offer in an eligible form and start showing it to angel investors.
- After this first round (our ‘Dog and Pony Show’), we start the ICO (crowdfunding part) with all the PR and marketing resources the project can bear.
- Finally and most importantly, we stay in the picture, we manage the fate of the coin (as our profits are within the long-term value of the coins).
CT: The benefits for angel investors are pretty established. For those users looking to make a micro-investment, what kind of rewards are possible through a crypto-funding model?
MK: Let’s start with the basics: who makes money by investments? Always the experts! You won’t find angel investors leaving their areas of expertise, and this is their secret. I believe we micro-investors should follow their methodology.
We shouldn’t mindlessly follow their decisions, but their methodology!
Everybody is good at something, they say. So if I see an ICO close to my area of expertise, then I can start doing some analysis, some reading of ICO prospectuses, and if I am convinced, then doing some micro-investments.
Let me take you, as an example. You are a good journalist, you know a lot about writing, editing and publishing. You can easily tell if a new news portal is getting momentum or suffering from typical problems, etc.
Now imagine if you see that this portal is very promising, and there is a long successful way to go for them and they happen to be doing an ICO. Would you get in? Of course you would! And once you have interest in their success, would you help them? Of course you would, any way you can! Because this way you could strengthen all three aspects of your benefits:
- You can enjoy that the value of your crypto is stable or appreciates.
- You can sell some or all of your crypto assets at a higher price.
- Or by holding your crypto, you can enjoy revenue or profit shares according to the ICO conditions.
CT: Lamb&Cooper's model feels like it represents elements from both crowdfunding and traditional venture investments. Do you see it as an alternative, or successor, to platforms like Kickstarter?
MK: Let me talk first about the traditional ways of investments. Let’s say I have 5 bitcoins or 1000 USD to invest. Where can I go with that much?
Can I start acting like an angel investor? Nobody would take me seriously with that much.
Can I go to any stock exchange, Forex or Venture Fund? Beyond all the fuss of finding a brokerage and opening an account with them, there is still the strong feeling of swimming with sharks. Like someone once said, “Trading on a stock exchange is like joining three billionaires to play poker with.” The odds and the mights are different.
Now let’s see if I go to any traditional crowdfunding platform: Do I really want to give away my 1000 USD to get a mug and a thank you note? I would not call it an investment, but charity rather.
So where can I go with my 5 highly volatile bitcoins? I can exchange them for other cryptocurrencies with the same volatility, or I can find a crypto asset that has real people with real social profiles, real products with demos and samples, and real companies with real addresses behind the crypto asset.
CT: The first project you're running as Lamb&Cooper is Full Metal Wars. Could you give us some background about this project?
MK: The safest thing we could choose for our debut project was online gaming. The gamer community is large and international, very familiar with game credits and digital tokens, and getting more and more familiar with cryptocurrencies. Legally, the safest thing to offer on a decentralized crypto exchange is a crypto asset that can function as a loyalty point exchangeable for a value-guaranteed game credit (which is nominated in fiat) with an additional reward function. Even the planned New York DFS regulation agrees on that this is something they are not about to regulate with BitLicense.
This is ProsperityCoin.
An angel investor called our attention to a small game developer company in Brazil, Prosperity Games, with credible, senior developers and game designers behind it (like university teachers and industry celebrities). They had, back then, a semi-ready online game and needed venture money to finish and publish it.
We agreed that once Full Metal Wars starts making money, 10% of all its revenue is distributed among all the holders of the 1 million cryptos proportionately. The owners accepted the condition, provided that they hold 50% of the coins long term, so there were only 500,000 ProsperityCoins to sell.
After our Dog and Pony Show for the angel investors, there were only 200,000 ProsperityCoins left to offer on Ripple Trade.
Referring back to your previous question about micro-investment — if you are looking for a micro-investment opportunity and you are familiar with online games, have a look at the gameplay video and the beta version, and if you still think that the game will make some money on the market, you know what to do. The price is around 2 USD on Ripple Trade (Ripple ID: PRO.lamb-cooper), which is exactly the guaranteed game-credit exchange value.
CT: How is the game development side of the project going?
MK: You remember that I called ourselves the Jerry Maguire of crypto-crowdfunding? This is what I meant: this week we already had many Skypes with Miguel, the CEO of ProsperityGames, to be able to deliver for Cointelegraph the latest news:
- The closed beta is available for testing for anybody, and Prosperity Games is still accepting applications on their web page to participate in the beta testing.
- If anyone already has even one single PRO.lamb-cooper token, that definitely helps to get in the testing group.
- As the game is from Brazil, we have also created a so far successful campaign together with Rippex Gateway offering some discounts for their users.
- But the main news is: there are only 400 working hours for Full Metal Wars to be completed, so I would say: ‘we are on track and on budget,’ and it is very likely that by the end of Q2’15, the game will be published and will start making money for all holders of ProsperityCoin.
CT: What do you aim to make Lamb&Cooper represent in the future?
MK: It is easy to find companies with ICO plans, and momentarily it is also easy to find angel investors for anything that involves crypto. So it is a big temptation to start a new ICO soon.
But ProsperityCoin is just getting its momentum, so there are a lot of inviting tasks for Lamb&Cooper to take the project to its climax. After which we can start selecting our next ICO.
CT: What would you regard as the pinnacle of success for ProsperityCoin and its holders?
MK: Once Jackson Pollock, the painter, was asked, “How do you know when you're finished?” (as his paintings were abstract expressionists). He replied, “How do you know when you're finished making love?”
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