The Road to Success

Why milestones passed are more significant than those promised

The wondrous potential of cryptocurrency and blockchain has ushered in an industry of new possibilities that could scarcely be imagined even a year ago. Blockchain technology is promising to transform the way we manage our finances, verify product authenticity and conduct public polling.

Revolution is very much the name of the game in the crypto space, and consequently, a number of token sales resort to technical jargon and market speculation to try and overwhelm and induce FOMO to crypto newbies.

The roadmap is regarded to be one of the most significant things to consider when evaluating a project to understand how and when the team plans to bring the project to market and, in the case of utility tokens, achieve high adoption.

But since when did promises of achieving future landmarks become the benchmark for determining delivery? If that was the case, every politician would enjoy the devoted trust of their constituents, Jose Mourinho will have never endured a sacking and Dr Dre’s Detox album would have won album of the year at the 2006 Grammys.

Early prototypes for the PlayWallet and PlayXchange apps (subject to change)

The idealist crypto speculators of 2016 have been replaced with the business-minded investors of 2018. This year’s bear market has everybody questioning whether the innovators in this space really have the nous or marketability to help take their project, and the community as a whole to the next level.

Token purchasers today are too savvy to be hoodwinked by the “moonshots” and “lambocoins” of tomorrow. They want to know what has been accomplished to date. What has the company overachieved on? What is ahead of schedule? What has been accomplished that was not even forecast on the roadmap?

Working in the communications team for the PlayChip, I have come across many a demanding, yet pertinent question from our legion of dedicated followers. Being a reverse-ICO, we are an established organisation with a large consumer base. This means dealing with inquisitive enquiries from existing users who are unfamiliar with the crypto space, and new users from the crypto community looking to understand our business model.

It is a fantastic thing for the PlayChip to have such a following, as it helps hold us accountable to our delivery timeline, as well as cater for some encouragement when we achieve our goals. Everyone needs a pat on the back every once in a while.

While there is a massively exciting future in store for the PlayChip and its Ecosystem, we often like to point out our achievements thus far in our short history when people question our ability to deliver on our roadmap.

The PlayChip Foundations roadmap

In the last three months, the user base of the PlayChip Ecosystem doubled from 500,000 to over one million. This was a combination of the joining of the 123bet platform in a revolutionary token-only deal, and our sustained organic growth. A user base of such numbers is almost unheard amongst fellow ICOs, and will drive heavy demand for the PlayChip following its listing date of December 19th.

Most significantly, this milestone was initially forecast to be surpassed in December 2018 to coincide with the listing of the PlayChip. To achieve such a significant step four months early is a testament to the international growth of the brand throughout the year and the aggressive expansion strategy of PlayUp ltd.

As well as six platforms joining the PlayChip Ecosystem in the last six months, the PlayChip sold out it’s seed round in two days, hit the soft cap of $10m within two weeks of the pre-sale commencing, and have sold almost $30m worth of tokens to date, constituting the second biggest Australian ICO ever.

PlayChip, via partner platforms PlayUp and betting.club, have sponsorship agreements with three teams in the National Rugby League, one of Australia’s premier sporting competitions. Former international cricket icon Brett Lee is brand ambassador, adding his 4 million plus social media subscribers to the huge 2.7m following the PlayChip Ecosystem already commands.

PlayChip’s latest Ambassador and member of the Conor McGregor training team, Owen Roddy

The tradition of strong brand partnerships has continued with the joining of Owen Roddy to the PlayChip ambassador team. Roddy is a member of the coaching staff to the ‘notorious’ Conor McGregor, the Irish professional mixed martial artist and boxer. McGregor, the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, is one of the most recognised names in prizefighting. Roddy boasts a following of almost 155,000 across Instagram and Twitter alone and has released multiple vlogs on Youtube leading up to McGregor’s highly anticipated bout with Russian opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov.

As the work of PlayChip over recent months has demonstrated, overachieving on a roadmap is a simple yet significant indicator that a token sale is more than a fantastic concept. Business partnerships, marketing initiatives and financial milestones need to be demonstrated to repay the faith of token holders. Great ideas don’t change the world — the people behind them do.