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How to onboard 300,000 new users in one geographic location

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DavidHay

Member
Hello everyone this is my first post on this forum. I run a youtube channel with 120,000 subscribers and 6.5 million views.

Here is a copy of my business plan to onboard 300,000 new users to crypto in 150 days. It's different from a lot of others out there because all our energy is focused in one geographic area.

Hyper inflation has forced the weekly wage in Venezuela to under $2. 300,000 economic migrants are currently living in the Colombian border town of Cucuta. Our budget allocates $4 (2 weeks salary) to 300,000 these people. All they need to do is show up to our classroom, take a one hour class and pass a test. Upon completion they will be given $4 worth of crypto to use as they wish.

As crypto adoption reaches a tipping point and more local merchants accept it as a form of payment people will start using it as digital cash and we will fulfill a the promise of banking the unbanked.

Please take the time to watch my videos speaking about how crypto can work for Venezuelans:

I'd like to get some feedback from the community.
 

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I like this concept but will only support it if you direct people to use getfreedash, focus more on business adoption and kill the currency exchange. Thats an easy way to get shutdown, which would be regretful.

On-boarding: How are you going to onboard 1,000 people per day with 40 desks and one hour per person? That means your team is literally working 25 hours per day with no breaks. A bit optimistic, perhaps?

To reduce probability of violence and theft and getting shut down by authorities, eliminate any exchange service. Let businesses handle this and send users to getfreedash.

To increase security, I would rather you also have handouts and resources that people can take away to study on their own and claim their get free Dash in privacy and safety. Also they need a way to store and access their recovery seeds and passwords. Maybe you can connect the fingerprint to a code and be a secure storage facility for recovery seeds (for a small fee) for those that dont have a good place to store them? This would encourage new users to have good passwords and reduce theft further because theres no reward for stealing a locked wallet.

Id also like to see if the Colombian business community would accept Dash to start since that is the critical component.

In conclusion, I would like to focus more on adoption and being an educational outpost, leverage getfreedash and other existing infrastructure and provide an analog help center for those that arent computer savvy.

Thanks for bringing us this opportunity and I hope you consider my constructive criticism as I want this to achieve maximum success!

-Nate
 
I think you got a good plan there and to give it the best chance you should talk to Core about escrow. You already have some milestones which can be used for that.

Also, you said that https://getfreedash.com/ already has 25000 signups but if you look at the counter on the site it's up to almost 70000.

@djcrypto have you read the Business Plan? He wants to separate the Exchange as it's own thing so even if it get's shut down it doesn't impact the rest of the operation. Also providing some initial liquidity makes sense to me. And since it's not supposed to be a long-term solution I see no issue with that.
 
Thanks for creating the pre-proposal. I think the overall plan is great and the overall business plan needs more work to finalize, but overall you have a yes from me to get this moving. My feedback is below

1) How did you come to a conclusion that 2 weeks of wages ($4) will be sufficient enough to make this have a good chance of success. If they are starving with no food, wont they do whatever it takes to dump Dash to get food as quickly as possible at whatever rate to fill their stomachs and then forget about it. However, if we gave them 3 weeks of wages for instance, would this allow them to feed themselves with a little left over to build a micro business or an economy to flourish around Dash? i.e. I have enough to buy some supplies to start cooking food for other people, or tools to fix bicycles for other people. I want this to be as realistic and successful as possible and if that means giving everyone additional $2, 600k more at the end of the day is chump change if crypto adoption is successful.

2) If you want to onboard 1000 people per day with only 80 laptops that is pretty tight. I would think that to get the user setup, watching the content and to take the exam and reset for the next user it would consume about 1 hour per user. That means you would need to operate for 12+ hours a day with no breaks which is pretty full on. Why not go for 100-120 laptops to allow for some downtime and possible breakages etc. If you have that much equipment you will also need some way to secure this to desks, bars on windows, alarms etc. I can see them all going missing in a heartbeat.

3) I think its imperative to get marketing and media running in Cucata long before any Dash is given out. This gives people time to think about how they can wisely use the crypto, do their own research and even pair up with other people to pool money together etc. I know @Frame 48 who are amazing production crew working in Kuva Cash in Zimbabwe were possibly interested in filming for Dash in Venezuela (not sure how thats going). But this could be an awesome opportunity to get them involved if they are interested.

4) End user support is going to be imperative otherwise people might just give up and not bother to use it. We need to make use of existing Dash Infrastructure with @AlejandroE - do you know how your Dash support services can be expanded to cater for this project, costs to factor in etc?

5) @algodon.franelas - do you think its possible to run a Dash conference in Cucata? I think this would be an effective way to gain awareness for large groups of people quickly. I also have no idea what the situation is like in Cucata compared to Caracas etc, so not sure if this is appropriate.

6) If you are asking for 2+ million what will the monthly amount split be across the 3-6 months the project will be running for, if its ~400-500k USD per month for 6 months under Dash Core escrow I would be fine with that. @Ryan Taylor can you please give this project some attention for Dash Core escrow :)

Thats all I can think of for now, lets make this happen and start to rally around this idea. This IS the test to see if Dash has got what it takes to be adopted on a mass scale where its needed the most.
 
Well hell....we just threw a million at core for an advertising budget.

At least this will at least attempt to accomplish what cryptocurrency was meant to accomplish.

You have my support on this David.

The only thing I ask is that this is well documented for the world to know what is happening down there and how cryptocurrency can solve banking problems for the less fortunate. Perhaps bring on a journalist. Maybe the Kuva Cash documentary team can join in this endeavor.
 
Hello. I'm from Venezuela and i'm aware of Cucuta's migration problem. Overall the concept is great due the large amount of venezuelans crossing the border through Cucuta. How are you planning on giving classes (in terms of logistic)? because it's very likely once it spreads, the attendance will grow really fast. Consider that and you will succeed. Best of luck!
 
RobbyDash01 said:
Well hell....we just threw a million at core for an advertising budget.

The only thing I ask is that this is well documented for the world to know what is happening down there and how cryptocurrency can solve banking problems for the less fortunate. Perhaps bring on a journalist. Maybe the Kuva Cash documentary team can join in this endeavor.
Click to expand...

I don't think you will have to worry about that. David's idea has already garnered quite a lot of attention, and it will only increase from here. Many others are trying to work with him (in competition with Dash). Plus don't forget he has his own Youtube channel as well. This project will turn heads. Of course it would be amazing if Frame 48 could get on top of this too, and more MSM eventually.

Yes, the suggestions are good (multi-month, escrow, getfreedash, onboarding time concerns, ...), but in the end, this just needs to be done. It's a tremendous opportunity for crypto to prove that it serves a purpose and we all know that this is tailor-made for Dash.
 
Thank you everyone for the incredible feedback. The team at Nano have offered to fund this project. This isn't a bidding war, I'm not asking for more money and I haven't accepted the offer yet. I'm here to find the best platform and community that is ready to make this happen.

Let me address some of the concerns raises.

1). David Hay is not asking for $2,000,000. I have no interest in holding money I don't need and my focus is on delivering results. I'm happy to delegate and work with existing people on the ground. People have suggested using getfreedash to on board new users. If I can work with DashMaximalist this would save me a huge amount of time. It would also mean that $1,200,000 of the funds can go directly to him for distribution.

2.) Onboarding is done in three steps and allows us to onboard 1000 people during normal business hours -
a. Education - 40 workstation with education videos loaded (20 minutes per per = 120 people per hour)
b. Recieve crypto - 10 workstations with staff (5 minutes per person = 120 people per hour)
c. Use the exchange

In addition to this users will be able to watch the educational videos on their smartphones while they are in line and may not need to use the laptops in the office at all. The cost of labor is very low so it is possible to offer the best students in the class jobs teaching their fellow countrymen.

Someone asked if we can add more workstations and the answer is yes. I have tried to keep this operation small and simple so it can be easily duplicated. The bigger the office the more difficult it will be to run and duplicate in other locations.

3.) I don't think we need to do much advertising in Cucuta before we arrive. Giving away free money to hungry people should work without any promotions. We are onboarding people that have no prior experience with crypto and would never be involved in any other situation. We need to focus on creating incredible educational material, exams that test the users knowledge of crypto and an office that can efficiently process people.

4.) End user support will be critical. Getting merchants to adopt early will be almost impossible because there are a very few incentives and no one in the community is using it. Once crypto reaches a tipping point and it is commonplace there will be a rush of new merchants ready to sign up. (I have a link but I'm not allowed to share it here because I'm a new user)
 
TheSingleton said:
I think you got a good plan there and to give it the best chance you should talk to Core about escrow. You already have some milestones which can be used for that.

Also, you said that getfreedash already has 25000 signups but if you look at the counter on the site it's up to almost 70000.

@djcrypto have you read the Business Plan? He wants to separate the Exchange as it's own thing so even if it get's shut down it doesn't impact the rest of the operation. Also providing some initial liquidity makes sense to me. And since it's not supposed to be a long-term solution I see no issue with that.
Click to expand...

Exactly, you must provide liquidity at the start to give people confidence in the market. I don't see any way around this. I think we are on the same page.
 
Hello @DavidHay !

I really like this proposal, as a Venezuelan I can testify this wpuld change the reality of many people.

On the other side, I share the concerns other members of the community have expressed. It may be too tight of an schedule.

Also, have in mind that alot of the Venezuelans who go to Cúcuta do it out necessity. They are practically refugees that flee the country because of the alimentation and economy crisis, maybe that could bring logistic problems.

Once again great proposal overall. With the right touches, this could be very helpful to both people in necessity and the DASH Network.

Thanks.

Best regards.
 
Is it possible to collaborate with Nano? This is a massive undertaking that could use multiple attack fronts from multiple crypto communities. Imagine the positive press this could receive with an influx of collaborating crypto-currencies to help people this.
 
Thanks for the feedback @Santos Bermúdez Ruiz

Our goals and time lines are aggressive but achievable. We will run with full transparency so if I onboard less people it will be reflected in the budget and we will have more funds to keep the office open longer. If I get funded and only onboard 200,000 for 1.6 million would it be considered a failure?

In my opinion this project is about proving a tipping point exists. My goal is to convert the entire city but lots of small victories will be achieved before this.

-Show the world how to cheaply onboard people that have no prior experience in crypto using a class room/give away model
-See mass adoption in small communities
-Study how the money is used and flows through the community
 
FlyinFree said:
Is it possible to collaborate with Nano? This is a massive undertaking that could use multiple attack fronts from multiple crypto communities. Imagine the positive press this could receive with an influx of collaborating crypto-currencies to help people this.
Click to expand...

In a perfect world I would like to work with Dash and Nano from a practical perspective it will be a lot more confusing to the new users.
 
DavidHay said:
Thanks for the feedback @Santos Bermúdez Ruiz

Our goals and time lines are aggressive but achievable. We will run with full transparency so if I onboard less people it will be reflected in the budget and we will have more funds to keep the office open longer. If I get funded and only onboard 200,000 for 1.6 million would it be considered a failure?

In my opinion this project is about proving a tipping point exists. My goal is to convert the entire city but lots of small victories will be achieved before this.

-Show the world how to cheaply onboard people that have no prior experience in crypto using a class room/give away model
-See mass adoption in small communities
-Study how the money is used and flows through the community
Click to expand...

Full support from here then @DavidHay

Cheers!!
 
DavidHay said:
Thank you everyone for the incredible feedback. The team at Nano have offered to fund this project. This isn't a bidding war, I'm not asking for more money and I haven't accepted the offer yet. I'm here to find the best platform and community that is ready to make this happen.
Click to expand...

I think you're in the right place.

Also, I think you may be surprised if you tell merchants that you are giving away $1.2M in Dash and they can have access to that market if they sign up, they might just sign up ahead of time.
It is more important to train merchants prior to users, in my opinion, because they will have to be comfortable using it in their systems to make it an economy instead of just a "free money" Bernanke-style helicopter drop free-for-all.
 
Santos Bermúdez Ruiz said:
Yeah, in theory this is true. But why would Nano agree to that? Whoever funds this initiative will want their platform to be used
Click to expand...
Is Nano's platform ready to be used for brand new crypto-uneducated people? Dash isn't really ready yet either, but my guess is that today, Dash is better suited than Nano's platform. If I were @DavidHay, I would at least ask if there is any potential for collaboration.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
If David can get 10 or 15 flagship merchants with plenty of product available to sell ahead of time, the flood of merchants will come in when they see it working. But identify and make deals with some merchants up front. This also gives the folks who receive Dash something immediate to do with it. Excitement dwindles quickly.

Stack both sides of the deck. No reason not to.
 
@solarguy this isn't the U.S. I have spent a lot of time in central and south america. In 2015 I spent a month living in Santa Marta which is 150 miles from Cucuta.

We are dealing with economic migrants that have very little. A huge amount of commerce is done by individuals, corner stores and markets. Only wealthy people use large supermarket chains. They are use to doing business in a far more decentralized way. For example when people want to change Bolivares to US dollars one of the most common ways is to join a facebook group and put out a request. The Venezeulan government controls and restricts everything in the country that's why we are doing this in the Colombian border town of Cucuta.

I think it is a mistake to focus on merchants before users. Merchants stock their stores with what people demand, that's how a free economy is suppose to work.

I've done sales in the past. Do you know how hard this idea is to pitch to merchants? Now you want to add the handicap of 0% adoption in the local community?

I believe you attack this problem from the other side. If you inject capital into a community and distribute it equally to everyone while educating them so they understand how it work some merchants will adopt quickly and make money others will refuse and loose money.

Now imagine this scenario. You own a small shop, a guy comes along and gives everyone in the community gold coins. How long do you think it's going to take before some stores start accepting gold coins?

People from Colombia and Venezuela. Can you add some insight?
 
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