The story of one failure: how I launched the cryptocurrency project, why it failed and what lessons I learned

My ten-month experience in creating and developing a startup. I tell you what worked well and what didn’t.I show my own mistakes and hope to save readers from repeating them.

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Part 1. Background.

At the end of 2017, I entered the cryptocurrency market andICO It was difficult not to hear about it: bitcoin cost $ 20,000 apiece, and the media vied with each other to discuss the future of the crypto industry. Even my familiar retrograde and conservatives were few, but the topic. Some of them bought crypts just in case.

At that time, I was well versed in two things: marketing and finance. Therefore, as a financier, I saw that the hype phase is going on. A new technology has appeared, no one understands anything, everyone wants to participate. High profitability further fuels the greed of investors and completely discourages a sense of risk.

In finance, this situation always leads toone - unreasonably high assessments of investment assets and an icy soul in the form of a sharp drop. The latest example similar to the cryptocurrency market was the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s.

But that was the view of the financier. As a marketer, I saw something else. I saw a trend. I saw a new investment market whose participants are risk tolerant. I have seen clients who are not divided between large players, and who have money. Customers who can be tightened under their banners.

I launched a project in the ICO market. This was a separate segment of the cryptocurrency market. Then its volume was $ 20 billion per year.

Initial Coin Offering - This is the initial placementtokens. During the ICO, the project team issues its own cryptocurrency and sells it to investors. And with the proceeds the project develops. It's like selling shares on an IPO, only tokens instead of shares.

If the project develops successfully, then earlyinvestors sell tokens on exchanges at a higher price. A classic example of a successful ICO is Ethereum tokens. When they were posted, they cost less than a cent. Then there was rapid growth, and the price peaked at $1,420. On the day this article was written, one Ethereum token is trading at $200. To have a million dollars today, it was enough to invest $50 in an ICO.

Naturally, Ethereum was an exception, not a rule. All projects that went to the ICO had nothing but an idea. In fact, they raised tens of millions of dollars with bare promises.

Most projects were doomed to failure.initially. Even worse: nine out of ten were outright fraud. Their founders were not going to run anything. They just took the money of investors, said “thank you” and left for the islands. The anonymity of cryptocurrencies and the lack of regulation allowed them to avoid punishment.

In theory, investors could earn millions. In reality, their money was stolen by billions.

But they still went for it.They invested again and again. It was crazy. It couldn't work, it shouldn't work. But it worked. And I had a choice: say that cryptocurrency investors are idiots and move on with my business. Launch your own scam project. Or take a risk and try to curb this market.

I chose the third. I have failed. I do not regret anything.

P.S.The whole story contains 25K characters (that’s a lot), so I’ll publish it on smartlab in parts. If you want to read the whole story at once, here is the link.

P.P.S.I also invite you to my telegram channel. There I publish useful and interesting articles that you should like.