Or a guide for management teams on how to choose your advisors
Six months before Mr X. was barely known, he might not even know about the Blockchain. And now he is proudly broadcasted in major rating websites as one of the top ten best advisor of the sector. He is one of the ghost advisors of the Blockchain… They work for private multinational companies as employees or middle managers, more than 10 hours per day, they are often family men with many kids, and end up as advisors of more than 30 projects in less than 3 months (one might ask where they find the time). With credential related to their new positions, they are asking high upfront and percentages on ICOs. But, once you have dealt with them and send them your tokens… You will hardly heard of them (or just when it is time to cash in).
This is the new obscur face of the Blockchain. A new kind of financial vampires who is only here to suck the workforce of ICO team members and benefits of token holders. They have no genuine passion or vocation for the Blockchain technology and this amazing paradigm shift. With no real experience as CEO or real operational job in the Blockchain, they nonetheless, position themselves as the utmost experts.
For the last 3 years, Initial Coin Offerings has set up a new kind of company financing for companies using the Blockchain Technology. The technology application is still at an early stage, and changes occur at fast pace. The need for advisors to guide in each development section of the project has become vital for a project to succeed.
Surfing on this wave, a new kind of opportunists people have emerged far from the legitimate and genuine advisors. Entrepreneurs entering the sector must really be aware of the new practices settled by some unscrupulous advisors asking for shockingly huge compensation schemes.
In this context, it is sometimes difficult for CEOs and Blockchain project founders to find the right experts to assist and consult to develop the project. But there are solutions. And bear in mind that it is not the “best” advisor meaning the one with the most hyped reputation that will push your ICO to the next level, but the hard working and committed person that loves your project. I have being talking with many CEOs and experts as have been confronted with those Ghost Advisors over the last year. Here are few hints that will avoid traps and save you time.
If you are a CEO like I do and you get propositions from those people (and trust me if you have a legitimate project with growing reputation, they will come to you to propose their services). Hiring those persons is the worse things an Entrepreneur may do. They will suck the ressources needed to develop your project without tangible worked done in exchange. At Fieldcoin, in collaboration with our CLO and the management team we have seen this from the early beginnings. In order to avoid the traps, we have put a series of safeguards to protect the project and get the most of our Advisory team.
Signs that you are in front of a ghost advisor
High percentages of the ICO allocated to Advisors Some CEO’s are tempted to allocate high percentages of the ICO to Advisors. If you see an ICO with more than 3% allocated…