“We have to say “no” lots of times because we don’t believe in what they want to do.” Meet Laura Leyssens, part of the CGS ICO Expert community
Laura Leyssens is a communication specialist based in Belgium. She’s a co-founder of Investereum, a Blockchain consulting firm that aims to close the Blockchain knowledge gap for businesses.
Laura recently joined the ICO Expert Community, which is based on our Movement Against ICO Scams and Bad Execution. We thought it would be nice to ask her some questions so you can get to know her a little better!
When did you start working in blockchain? What made you want to pursue a career this industry?
A little less than 2 years ago, I had to write an article about Blockchain. Honestly, I didn’t have a clue what it was. Reading about it didn’t immediately make me understand it better. It was so big. And it still is. I read that Blockchain could be compared to the internet mid-90s. Groundbreaking with extensive business opportunities. I was too young in the 90s to grasp the internet potential. This time it could and would be different.
I started to read more and talk to people that know so much more about Blockchain. In September 2017, my Investereum colleagues and I started to talk about founding a company. And so we did. As I was explaining to friends and family what Blockchain business is about I noticed a big disbelief that feels uncomfortable for most people, but makes me incredibly excited. I’m unceasingly looking for better ways to make people understand what Blockchain is, and that even though it has the potential to change status quo severely, it’s not a bad thing. As with every change, it takes time. Meanwhile I feel very fortunate to be standing on the early adopter side allowing me to spread my Blockchain love.
What do you think of the current ICO Market?
I believe there are ideas and solutions being worked on in Blockchain via ICOs at this very moment that will change our society fundamentally in the (near) future. The accessibility of ICOs makes every aspect of it so powerful. Yet, it is also its biggest pitfall.
We have witnessed an ICO explosion in 2017. Mainly driven by rising prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, which created a fear of missing out. The big crowd — clueless about ICOs and Blockchain — started to pore dumb money in ICOs impelled by opportunism. This is a big vulnerability for ICOs. It’s like investing in stock shares without doing your research. Would you invest without knowing anything about the product, the team behind it and their roadmap to success?
You’re the co-founder of Investereum, a Blockchain Consulting firm, your ambition is to close the blockchain knowledge gap for businesses. How are you doing this?
We are a team of product- and marketing managers that truly understands the technology to its core, and is capable of applying the technology to real businesses and situations.
We don’t promote Blockchain as a solution for everything. Because it’s simply not. Blockchain has a sexy ring to it nowadays leading companies to make poorly thought through business decisions just for the sake of saying; we are using Blockchain.
That’s not our style. We only commit to a client when we are convinced that Blockchain could be a real facilitator for an issue that is preventing that company to generate business growth. Practically, we first listen to the company and its current challenges, opportunities or plans. We then dig into the space of how Blockchain could help them reach their goals. Think about increased transparency, cost reduction, business model innovation, and so on. We speak the language of development and translate it into business growth opportunities where business managers can relate to. That’s our biggest asset.
What are the biggest challenges Investereum faces at the moment?
Firstly, due to its accessibility many people ‘think’ they have the right idea to organize an ICO, not realizing they are thereby attracting money and a community’s trust to build a new company and solution. So we have to say “no” lots of times because we don’t believe in what they want to do.
In addition, there is also a lack of knowledge in the market, which is not a challenge, because that’s exactly what we are here for. Thirdly, we see many executives looking for that killer use case that could be an example for their business. Something I feel Blockchain technology is still lacking at the moment. It’s missing top-notch applications to prove its reason of existence in business.
At Investereum, do you help ICOs? And if so, how?
We help companies that want to do an ICO in an advisory role. We have created a Seven Step Approach framework that helps structuring the road to a successful ICO. It starts with a well thought through business model and extensive research, leading to a token preparation and creation phase, which is then boosted with great marketing, followed by private and public sales, up and ‘till community management and post token support.
What do you think is the biggest challenge ICOs currently face during their fundraising process?
In the past year we have seen so many fraudulent ICOs that make investors sceptic and suspicious. Leading to a bad name for both ICOs and Blockchain. When initiating an ICO you have to convince absolute strangers to invest in your project. And now, you have to work twice as hard to accomplish that. Show potential investors that you are serious about it, that you have a well thought out plan, that you have a reliable team of experts. As you move forward in your ICO track you have to continuously prove to them that you are worthy of their trust.
Laura is part of the ICO Expert community created by CGS, you can meet her here! If you’d like to apply to become a member, than please fill in this form.
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The Coin Governance System (CGS) is an on-chain governance mechanism to protect token holders against ICO scams and bad execution.
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