Oct 1st: General update

coins 101 wrote:

We have a snapshot date, time and block height. We've sorted out financials and commercials. We've got a snapshot script. We have confirmation of pretty much everything.

What we are waiting for is 100% confirmation on what's been agreed, including dates and times.

I am in the process of producing a workshop pack and the main stage presentation slides for Digital Construction Week. The organisers will not accept a last minute submission as they want to vet everything, which is understandable.

We have also invited a group who we are working with on a pilot which is intended to be for moving manufactured materials from their factory, through their supply chains.

karmashark wrote:

To dovetail the update from @coins101

The last few weeks have been predominately centred upon fine tuning the snapshot and launch details with our partner. Items like making sure all costs are paid first, technical details on security and process flow as well as bringing documentation ready have been the major focus. The following are being worked on over the next two weeks to be ready for the launch and have been consuming much of my personal time of late:

• HeliumPay.com website is being completely redesigned to have the look, feel and usability of a fully launched blockchain platform. Links to wallets, socials, documentation of master nodes and service nodes, team page and bio's, information in plain English on what the Helium Blockchain Alliance is and its role in the bigger picture for Helium

• new BitcoinTalk ANN thread graphic is being created. The current one represents the pre-launch phase of the project and no longer is viable (plus we simply need to raise the bar on graphic quality). This will be debuted along with a new ANN thread given the current Helium thread is a pre-ANN. We will likely close the pre-ANN thread and link to the newly created ANN thread which will be updated on a much more regular basis

• new Helium whitepaper is being designed to bring a more polished and professional feel. This is something we want to have when sitting down with investors and top companies or simply to aid in presentations.

• Helium's first professional video is now created. We will be doing a series of these with the complexity and production value going up each time. The first video's are not deeply technical and are aimed at new entrants into the cryptocurrency space. This will debut next week and will be followed by several more post-launch

• We are in discussions with several crypto media outlets about producing origin stories / some media around the launch. We are being very strategic on budgeting dollars pre-launch as all costs are currently being financed by @coins101 and myself. There will be another wave of news stories coming out however we are trying to move away from the bland Press releases and get front page stories with substance. This tends to cost a little more money and time but it also gets us out of the general PR mill that tends to get very little attention.

• Once the new HeliumPay.com website is updated the majority of the BlockchainNames.com portfolio is being redirected there. We want to see increases in site impressions and downloads of the Helium wallet from this endeavour.

• I have commissioned a series of physical Helium coins from a prominent coin creator in the industry. The physical Helium coins will be fully loadable and will have a strict print run of 100 coins initially. The coins will not be ready until mid-November so I will be providing information on the physical Helium coins later in October. This is being done to help bring some positive attention to Helium as it brings our logo / project seen more and media tends to love picking up physical coins to help connect to their viewership (think the Casascius coins). Big thanks to fellow Helium team member Steve Wand for helping put this together. (edited)
  karmashark 4:02 PM
  Regarding London:

Blockchain TV recently went to the WBF to film an episode of our new show 'Early Adopters" which we highlight some of our clients in the industry. Since many of our clients were attending the World Blockchain Forum it made sense for us to travel there and meet them all. The conference was what you expect, good information from the same talented group of speakers. If you have been to a few of these conferences you have been to all of them in that sense. The best value here is the networking.

Without going into gory details prematurely, my goals for the WBF were three-fold:

1. Meet as many hedge funds and VC talent as I could. All of these people are looking to enter into the blockchain space and gravitate towards industry leaders for advice and education

2. Begin to insert Helium into the consciousness of the industry influencers and conference organizers. This is to line-up high profile speaking engagements for Helium, whether that is myself or another team member with the appropriate role and skill set

3. Meet up with @coins101 in person to discuss the snapshot, launch, Helium Blockchain Alliance (this is of great interest to both of us, I cannot understate its importance) along with development plans around Service nodes

I am thrilled to say that all three areas above were accomplished. I was able to meet many VC and hedge funds and begin discussing Helium from a long term investment perspective due to our vision. During my time in the UK I was also able to meet with a number of people who did not know about Helium or simply needed to know more about the project. This has lead to some speaking opportunities for us which I will go into more details once we have logistics figured out.

And lastly, @U4CL6NVHD and I were able to meet in person and have a valuable discussion on the above project areas. It was well worth the trip from Canada to the UK simply to meet up and conduct that meeting of the minds. Fellow team member Steve Wand (@bitcoinkw) was also in attendance and got to see the other half of the founding team. I will be going back over the Atlantic to visit @coins101 in person again soon. There is a good chance @coins101 will also come over here to Canada to see me for the same reasons.

This is the type of effort and dedication you want to see from a project. The founders must be on the same page when you have millions of dollars of value built into a network you are helping Sheppard.

Posted in #generalOct 1st at 3:51 PM