A new wave of innovation is fueling a radical change in fashion. Wearable technology, data, automation and lab-grown materials will have a major impact on what people will be wearing in the future.
Since the birth of sewing and weaving, technology has always led developments in fashion. The Industrial Revolution mechanized manufacturing enabling mass production. In the 1960s synthetic materials like polyester took off, creating new possibilities for fashion.
Now the convergence of new technologies is opening up previously unimaginable possibilities. Self-styled fashion scientist Dr Amanda Parkes is in the vanguard of the industry’s latest reinvention. She heads up innovation at FT labs, a venture capital firm that invests primarily in disruptive fashion tech startups. Among these startups the race is on to find the next generation of renewable materials that can be grown in a lab. Traditional silk is produced from insect larvae that form cocoons, most commonly silkworms. But rather than relying on these insects bolt threads is creating silk in test tubes. Bio fabricated materials remove the need for animals and insects and they are a more sustainable and efficient way of producing raw materials.
Other companies are creating leather alternatives. Rather than using animals scientists are creating bio fabricated materials from pineapple leaves and even mushrooms. The convergence of fashion and technology also provides opportunities to transform not just clothes but the people wearing them.
#MachineLearning and #ArtificialIntelligence are revolutionising the online world. They are capable of reducing costs, analysing data, recognising patterns and trends we can’t see with the human eye and making real- time decisions. Now, they are being used to help prevent financial fraud and they’re learning how to do it better every day.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are revolutionising the online world. They are capable of reducing costs, analysing data, recognising patterns and trends we can’t see with the human eye and making real-time decisions. Now, they are being used to help prevent financial fraud and they’re learning how to do it better every day.
Currently it is estimated that cybercrime costs the global economy approximately $600 billion, with one of the most common forms being credit card fraud which has grown considerably with the increase in the online market. As more and more people chose to transact online it is becoming increasingly important for financial services to invest in better, faster and more accurate fraud detection and prevention techniques.
How our data helps protect us
Thanks to there being such a large amount of online transactions, this means that there is a huge amount of customer data available which can be studied and learnt by AI. They can learn how to identify valid credit card behavioural patterns and how to detect irregular behaviour which could be fraudulent.
As if battered post-Christmas finances, a looming disorderly Brexit and the prospect of a fresh nuclear arms race were not enough to dampen spirits, astronomers have declared that a nearby galaxy will slam into the Milky Way and could knock our solar system far into the cosmic void.
The unfortunate discovery was made after scientists ran computer simulations on the movement of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the many satellite galaxies that orbits the Milky Way. Rather than circling at a safe distance, or breaking free of the Milky Way’s gravitational pull, the researchers found the LMC is destined to clatter into the galaxy we call home.
At the moment, the LMC is estimated to be about 163,000 light years from the Milky Way and speeding away at 250 miles per second. But simulations by astrophysicists at Durham University show that the LMC will eventually slow down and turn back towards us, ultimately smashing into the Milky Way in about 2.5 billion years’ time.
The 3 key ingredients for attracting investors to your crowdfunding (ICO/STO) campaign
Below is a redacted and slightly edited and updated version of a memo provided to a client regarding how to attract investors to their business, in mid 2017. For background, they’re a 5 year old private investment firm, whose stock is traded OTC and who invest in startups focused on blockchain tech. To further this model they were exploring additional ways to raise capital, specifically to acquire more startups. Below is a high level framework of what investor “whales” are looking for. This is not investment advice. These are redacted insights into what you should be considering if you’re looking to also engage potential investors in your business enterprise.
If you don’t have time to read it all, I’ll summarize: It still takes money to make money.
Note — all crowdfunding campaigns (regardless of if you call them ICOs / STOs) require a legitimate business model, tangible solutions to real problems, market size worth investing in and the potential for 100x returns. Otherwise, whales aren’t interested in 10x returns.
Samson Williams, Principal, Axes and Eggs
Magic Whale Formula: Online presence + In person Conferences + 100x return potential + Influencers = Investors (Whales)
Online presence — A strong online presence is needed in effort to build awareness of your business and business model. A strong presence is also required as upwards of 90% of your online followers will be either bots or individuals who you have in fact paid to follow you. Bounty programs don’t generate actual clients/customers. Of the 10% remaining, less than 10% of those will take action to directly invest in your business. However, early and passionate adopters are needed to help attract and grow fast followers.
Conferences and Fast Followers — In person appearances at conferences are needed to build
Awareness and
Trust
People simply do not invest in people they are not aware of (duh) and don’t like. If someone does not like you, they cannot trust you. People only engage and do business with people they know, like, then trust. For instance,
when is the last time you bought something from someone you didn’t know and trust?
Influencers — ICOs and STOs are simply crowdfunding. However, in this paradigm of crowdfunding it is not based on the delivery of goods, products and services. Rather, participation in ICOs/STOs is predicated on the expectation of the future delivery of goods, products and/or services. There are no blockchain products/services currently on the market. In this ecosystem of hype, Influencers play a key role as the trusted voices within the community. Whether or not they should be trusted is moot. Influencers (e.g. Ian Balina, Suppoman, DecentralizedTV etc…) role in the ICO/STO ecosystem is to provide what seems to be rational / quantitative analysis of blockchain based projects. However, because no actual DLT projects exist, they are in fact mere purveyors of opinion, on the future of research and design in the application of DLT technologies. But — people like them. They embody and project the essence of “success”, despite the clear lack of any empirical evidence of success beyond the ability to pump and dump a given crypto/project. Despite the lack of products and evidence of success, people like Influencers and they trust their opinions. So much so, they give them their money.
In conclusion, Humans don’t trust data. Humans trust how they feel about other humans.
Approval, mention or investment by Influencers in the crypto/blockchain space, as trusted members of the community, are a prerequisite of having accredited & institutional investors participate in your crowdfunding offering. As without their involvement it is highly unlikely that anyone will a) know your offering exists b) like it c) get excited enough to engage you and d) trust you enough to give you their money.
Lastly, don’t forget that in all cases you need to show:
What problem the business is resolving
How the solution is unique
How business will make its first dollar and when
What the return/profitability of the investment will be
Admit you’re issuing a security (whether its called an ICO/STO) and follow all applicable securities laws
Minimum 100x ROI Potential
You’ve got to show that these businesses have a 100x return potential. Anything less really isn’t worth the paperwork for whales. The shorter the return window the better. Keeping in mind securities laws.
So What ?
Options for achieving the magic for attracting whales in ICO/STO crowdfunding projects:
Option A - Pay an influencer. Up front cost of $$$ — $$$$$ minimum + $100k to $1M for listing on an exchange (Reminder — this was written in mid 2017 and figures are not reflective of 2019 market conditions)
Option B - Become an influencer. $$$ — $$$$$, plus a two year process. Hit or miss. As you will need to establish credibility thru investing in crowdfunding deals that 10x or greater, as well as.
Option C - Support an influencer. $$ — $$$. Two to three month process. Identify a lesser known influencer and form a strategic partnership to support growth of their brand. With the clear deliverable that they support your crowdfunding initiative when you do it.
Option D - Make an influencer. $$ — $$$$$. Two + year process. Identify someone who has the bonafides and feel of an influencer and introduce and promote them to the community, with the expectation that they’ll promote your crowdfunding campaign when the time comes.
Option E — Do not engage, support or create an influencer and see how it plays out.
(Client Name Redacted) Recommendations
Refine the NAME REDACTED brand ($$)
Hire a branding person
Update the website and create marketing collateral
Plan a proper world tour (similar to Ian Balina’s World Tour)
Capitalize Name Redacted
Create a fund specific to cryptocurrencies / blockchain
Allows others to invest in fund and/or NAME stock
Spread message via magic whale formula
Redacted line.
Allocate $1M for strategic investments:
$200k — $300k of strategic crowdfunding investments, tbd
LINE REDACTED
The investment is for the publicity
Would recommend focusing on distressed assets, that align to NAME REDACTED acquisition of IP
Make ten, $100K dollar investments in startups considering using blockchain
As a requirement of the investment, they must use NAME REDACTED blockchain and promote its use
These 10 firms become marketing pieces for NAME and NAME
For instance: NAME REDACTED is looking to leverage blockchain for their real estate endeavors. They have a community of 30K+
A $100k would buy some equity investment in them and push/promote NAME and NAME into their 30K community
NAME REDACTED DC/China based firm ran by NAME REDACTED. Chinese ICO influencer, who moves more $ than Ian Balina but isn’t as well known as he is Chinese. $100k in one of his startups would bring his and his network’s attention
Other examples include: www.www (gets NAME into BIG ASS EVENT next year) , NAME REDACTED (video gaming community) NAME REDACTED
These actions would allow NAME REDACTED to build its brand, and accomplishes:
People become aware of NAME REDACTED
They can get to like it and its mission, vision and values
Yes, this requires capital to be invested directly into building NAME REDACTEDs brand and market presence. In order to move the needle on NAME REDACTED stock price back towards $30+, it is advisable to allocate funds strategically, make strategic high growth potential blockchain startups and coordinated activities from a single source, to ensure that they have the maximum impact possible.
Sincerely,
Axes and Eggs
End of Memo
——————————————————————————————-
In short, it still takes money to make money.
Hope you found that interesting and hopefully helpful. Remember that as you go to build your business you can investing the marketing dollars to engage influencers, become influencers or devine a different marketing and engagement strategy that works for your good, product or services. No two offerings are alike. So don’t be afraid to tweak the Magic Whale Formula to fit your specific needs. If you find you need help with your magic marketing formula I recommend contacting [email protected].
I owe Jack Shaw a favor. It’s one of those, “This one time in Cambodia…” type of favors. We won’t speak of it beyond perhaps a nod and wink. It’s not written down anywhere; the details of such are so vague as to be almost non existent, while encompassing the known universe. It expires upon death, of the sun; and can be redeemed whenever and by another person who need only walk up to me and say, “Jack Shaw sent me. He says to tell you ________”. And tada, that favor has been redeemed for value.
Jack would call this favor a “marker.” It’s more valuable than your house, the Empire State Building & 100k Bitcoins combined. It can even be redeemed for something even more precious, my time or an opportunity or access to my network. You know, those things that money can’t buy. Well, you can lease my time from time to time.
Favors, markers and promises are humanities’ first virtual currencies.
They’ve gone digital recently, as Jack might redeem his marker via a WhatsApp or WeChat text message.
Favors and promises aren’t financial obligations per-say. They’re moral debts that can be redeemed for things of intrinsic, monetary, social and/or actual value. Now, here is where things get a little weird. The thing about “money” is that it doesn’t have any value. It’s actually a reflection of a moral debt. Hence why the US dollar is backed by the “Full Faith and Credit of the US Government” and not say, gold or wheat. You believe…that people will feel obligated to pay taxes and in turn the government will collect these social obligations (aka favors) for the good and benefit of The People. This moral obligation is part of that “Debt to Society” you’ve heard so much about, are obligated to pay, but don’t recall actually signing up for.
Long ago, these virtual currencies of favors, promises, social obligations and credits were turned into what we now regard as money. Not because paper money or coins had or have any intrinsic value, but because for trade beyond one’s family or clan, it’s easier to convey/store and document the value of Sam owing you two chickens, using cash as that documentation (or store of value). As you extended to him a two chicken line of credit.
“Credit” is just another favor or marker with terms.
Coins and “Banknotes” (because people wrote down how much credit they gave you) were just the earliest form of noting and coming to consensus on how to document these virtual currencies of favors, markers, promises and credit.
Overtime, what favor or credit money represents has been lost. We’ve been conditioned to simply believing (Full Faith and Credit) that paper money has intrinsic value, when it simply doesn’t.
Paper money isn’t backed backed by anything other than your faith.
Hence why inflation is such a troublesome concept for most. It challenges the fundamental principles of your faith — every time the government prints more paper money. It extends to itself (and then to you, via banks) made up and virtual favors by the billions. They are favors and markers with no value behind them; lines of credit with no chickens attached. So when these virtual chickens come home to roost, as actual value, guess what? There aren’t any chickens, just a whole lotta hungry believers.
Everybody believes in this system of virtual currencies of credit, favor and marker collection, except the banks and the corporations who effectively pay zero in taxes, while simultaneously collecting trillions in credits from people and then turning those virtual dollars into “real wealth.” Think real estate.
Fun fact/Tangent: Why is real estate called “real?” Hint: It has something to do with the fact that money has no value (isn’t real) but shelter/housing does. We’ll talk about how banks and corporations got out of their social contract at your expense later.
In conclusion, as we’ve a lot to consider now, virtual currencies aren’t anything new. They’re as old as favors and promises. Digital money (much like paper money) doesn’t actually exist. It’s actually easier to “print” digital dollars than paper dollars. One requires paper and ink. The other? Well, just add another few zeros and tada! #InstantCash!
So do me a favor…next time someone tells you that Cryptocurrencies are a sham, smile at them because you now know that money has no value and the government can make as much money up out of thin air (with a side of faith) as it can add zeros to a ledger. Then, ask him/her if you can borrow two live chickens. You promise to pay them back. 😉
My name is Samson. I’m a Professor of Blockchain at Univ of New Hampshire School of Law, human and an anthropologist at Axes and Eggs, a Washington, DC based Think Tank and digital advisor who answers your questions when Google can’t. If you like what you read, share it! If you disagree, share what you know or how you feel in the comment section below. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter or Instagram @HustleFundBaby or follow me on LinkedIn. Finally, I would say thoughts are my own but I probably stole them from a woman.
In 1961, Nancy Grace Roman was already the first Chief of Astronomy in NASA’s Office of Space Science. She developed that program in a time before the second wave of the Women’s Movement in the United States began, when banks often refused women credit in their own names and there was still an active medical debate about whether women could ever physically endure spaceflight someday. But Roman opened the skies to humanity in new ways without ever leaving the ground.
She earned her Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Chicago in 1949 and worked at the Yerkes Observatory there for six years afterward. She joined the radio astronomy group at the Naval Research Laboratory, becoming the head of the microwave spectroscopy section. As she recalled in 1980 in an oral history interview with National Air and Space Museum curator David DeVorkin, when she heard that NASA might set up a space astronomy program, she wanted to lead it: “The idea of coming in with an absolutely clean slate to set up a program that I thought was likely to influence astronomy for 50 years was just a challenge that I couldn’t turn down. That’s all there is to it.” She joined NASA in 1959, just after the agency’s founding.
Roman opened the skies to humanity in new ways without ever leaving the ground.
It is an eye opening video. In the financial climate we are now I am not shocked that these Miners are losing based on costs.
I wrote an article on the Wave Chronicle regarding the Crypto-Currency Crash and some of the changes that could be made to make this particular market effective for those who actually want to use Crypto-Currency as a vehicle for purchasing.
