I was fortunate to invest in STRATIS during its Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Before investing in any ICO, the first thing I would do, would be to join the slack, and analyze how the team is responding to its members. The most important factor for me before making any investment or contribution in any ICO is to evaluate the TEAM Efficiency and the Community support and engagement. Some investors would prioritized technology over the community support, and they probably could have valid reason for taking such route. However, based on my experience as an investor in the crypto-space, I have seen remarkable ideas that could not live up to expectation, because of the lack of community support. You can check that of Leon Fu and Tai Zen on where does the value of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies comes from?
STRATIS has proven that the community engagement is extremely vital towards the success of any ICO. And by community I mean, the founders, programmers, investors, media, and the end users. Their contribution or lack thereof can either make or break any project within the crypto space. I do remember reading the Stratis whitepaper and was truly impressed with its simplicity and its ability to take Blockchaiin service to the business world. After reading Stratis Whitepaper, I decided to join their slack. What truly impressed me was the way Chris and Krushag welcomed the community and truly made everyone believed in the team’s vision. In a simple term we all bought the idea, own it and fiercely promote it not because Stratis was in any way better than any previous cryptocurrency, or that C# is in any way a superior language. However, what truly impressed me and many other investors, was the fact that Chris, the CEO, quit his full time job to focus extensively on building Stratis. Today, such strategic decision have led stratis to have more than 100X return on investment within 9 months of operation. From a mere 0.07cent to almost 11 USD per stratis. From my observation, STRATIS investors are die hard HODL, and if such trend and attitude continue, there is possibility that STRATIS could hit 100USD before the end of this year.
Having experienced such successful story, I could see similar pattern in STATUS and for this reason I will be contributing ‘investing’ in STATUS 
. I first heard about STATUS, when I read about Coinbase lunch of TOKEN and STATUS was mentioned as a similar idea to that of Coinbase TOKEN. There is absolutely no way, a ‘small whale’ (that is if I could ever be one…haaaaaaaaaaaaa) could have been able to invest in Coinbase TOKEN. However, STATUS as a company building a decentralized app provides an opportunity for everyone, including the ‘small guys’ like myself to be part of their success story. For this reason I will be contributing during STATUS Contribution phase which is scheduled on the 17th of June, 2017.
Now let’s get to the real deal. I will be contributing to STATUS ICO and I will give you my reasons for making this decision
- Status is not just a déjà vu project that promises to produce a product after the ICO has ended, as common with most recent ICO. No. rather they already have an alpha release, which can be downloaded and tested. In order words they have proven that they can deliver.
- They have an amazing community. As at writing they have over 3,800 slack members which is very impressive. It truly shows that people see the value in this project.
- The biggest problem that most project have is the ability to go mainstream. In order words how can an average non-technical person use such project? STATUS Dapp aims to combine social messaging with the ability to send and receive the STATUS SNT (TOKEN). It doesn’t just end there but it also create a decentralized browser for Dapp. In my view this is revolutionary, as I could be able to use my Status browser to directly have a transaction in other DaPP.
- Status team in my view are extremely professional and considerate. Recently we have seen ICO that have an absolute ridiculous ICO structure, and I do not think it is worth my time elaborating on this. However, in Status, during the ICO, if the soft cap is reached, they hope to use the ceiling method which basically gives the small guys a chance to partake in the ICO. When each ceiling is reached it will be revealed, until the last ceiling is reached. In order words the ‘small guys’ at least have a chance to get in. You can read the status whitepaper in https://status.im/whitepaper.pdf
- It is important to emphasize that STATUS doesn’t use the word ICO, token or share, rather investors are considered as contributors to the company.
As a disclaimer, I do recognize that every investment, or contribution in the crypto-space is open to volatility and uncertainty. However, it is important that every investors do their due diligence, before making any investment or contribution. This is not an investment advice in whatever way. In my own capacity I will be contributing during Status Contribution stage, and would on a personal capacity promote and support this project because I truly believe in the team’s vision and professionalism. It is my expectation that the team will deliver in its vision.