Hey everyone,
Stratis exhibited at the London Blockchain Expo last week, and I had the privilege to be there with them. A lot of team and community members came from all over the world to meet and to be present at the expo.
I know a lot of you couldn’t make it, so for all of you that didn’t, hopefully this recap makes you feel like you were there with us.
General Information About The Expo
This is the third time Stratis exhibited at the Blockchain Expo held in London’s Olympia Event Center.
This year, Blockchain Expo attracted more than 12,000 (2018: 10,000) dedicated blockchain enthusiasts over its two days and hosted some of the best and brightest blockchain experts. I didn’t expect the attendees to succeed last years attendees due to the market and sentiment in crypto. It shows the smart people are still building and looking for opportunities in the crypto space.
Wednesday 24 April, 2019
I arrived on Tuesday together with Pieterjan, Pharaoh and Acetmesis. We used that day to catch up with each other, sightsee in London and dinner and drinks afterward. On Wednesday we decided to visit the new office that Stratis has moved to last year.
We were welcomed by the Stratis team and went out for lunch. After lunch we got a tour of the office, caught up with everyone and got some previews of the things Stratis had lined up for the expo.
It was good to see that people from around the globe were united once again, London, Belgium, The Netherlands, South-Africa, USA and Australia. It’s unique to meet people from around the globe which you talk to daily while realizing how good you get along even though you only met each other a few times in real life.
Later that night we had dinner and drinks with some of the team and community members who arrived that night.
Day 1 Of The Blockchain Expo, 25 April 2019
And so it started, the Blockchain Expo 2019! After having breakfast, we went out early to attend the expo. Once we arrived it was quite buzzing and we even had to stand in line to get in, something I didn’t expect.
After checking in and getting past security, it was time to see the Stratis booth for the first time. If that wasn’t love at first sight, I don’t know what is. Just like last year the booth was professional and definitely a standout compared to other exhibitors at the expo. We said hello to the team members, the CEO of Stratis, Chris Trew, gave us a Stratis hoodie to wear and Krushang, Head of Communications at Stratis, gave us a bag with some gifts in it.
After talking to the team and community, it was time for the presentation of Paul Farrington about DLT for Enterprises. All the seats were taken and the thirty minutes that Paul talked about DLT and Stratis were exquisite. Paul seems to have a real talent to present and answered all the questions of the viewers in a way I was hoping him to. The presentation ended with a round of applause.
I was happy to see that the MediConnect booth was right across the Stratis booth, that way Stratis and MediConnect were able to share things and the people that came to the booths could be connected with both projects. Patrick Curry OBE spoke about prescription drug addiction at the expo.
After the presentations, I went back to the booth and looked at all the material that was there. Stratis was more than prepared. They had videos I’ve never seen before and flyers that contained information about new products and potential clients. Thanks to Stratis, I have all the information which I will be sharing with you guys over time. This information includes videos at the booth, as well as leaflets and slides of the presentations of Paul and Rowan. Here is a little preview. For example, below is a leaflet for the Stratis Coherence Suite, a product never before disclosed to the public.
After many conversations with the team and community, it was time for Rowan’s presentation. Rowan’s presentation was about Smart Contracts as Rules for Money — A case study. I wasn’t able to attend his presentation, however, others who attended as well as Rowan himself felt that the presentation was well received.
One of the exciting things about his presentation was that he actually made a proof of concept for a company called Wildara out of Australia.
The good thing about day one was that the booth was buzzing all day long, the presentations were prepared and presented in the best way you could imagine and this was one of the reasons so many people dropped by the booth. The other reason was that Stratis looked more than professional with their booth and all the material that was there.
Combine this with the CEO, CTO, Stratis employees and community at the booth and you have a killer combination. A big thank you to Stratis for preparing like this for the expo it exceeded my expectations which were already pretty high.
Day 2 Of The Blockchain Expo, 26 April 2019
As with any expo, the second day is always less crowded than the first. Even though it was less crowded, Stratis still had a lot of people coming over to their booth. This day there were no presentations so Stratis focused their efforts at the people coming by the booth. While it was a little less crowded, the Stratis team had opportunity to have longer conversations with interested people.
I talked with Ian Frew who is in charge of the sales at Stratis and he told me that in his opinion the expo was a great success, he has lots of leads to follow up on the next coming months.
I also had the privilege to talk with Chris about a lot of the things we have been discussing in the Stratis Discord with our community. He took the time to listen to all of my suggestions and gave his insight on the matter. As this was a private conversation between me and Chris, I am not able to share the details of the conversation. Just know that he listened to the feedback and let’s hope we will see some actions in the future regarding them.
Feelings Looking Back At The Expo
First of all: JOY! The moment I saw Pieterjan and Pharaoh after I checked in at the hotel was insane. It’s weird to describe it, we often talk on Discord and work together but the times we saw each other in real life can be counted on one hand. The moment you see them again and you hug it out, is a remarkable thing. It makes you feel humble that you can have friends across the globe, not seeing each other for a year and start where you left when you see each other again. One of the beautiful things of crypto, you can have family all across the world!
I spent the majority of the time with Pieterjan and Pharaoh, hence why I started with them. Obviously, they weren’t the only community members I hung around with and was happy to see again. I had a great time hanging out with Acetmesis, Zomertje, Neurosploit, Apro and Hubbie. I also want to thank the community members that just dropped by the booth or spend lunch with us. It’s remarkable to meet you guys and hear your stories!
And last but not least the team! People that came from across all the globe, Kevin came from South-Africa and Rowan from Australia. It was good to see Chris, Krushang, Dan and Pieterjan as the oldest team members and still seeing them being passionate about Stratis. It was also great to see all the newer team members and talk with them.
My motto remains: One goal, one team and one mission.
Conclusion
The conference was the largest so far, with over 12,000 delegates joining together for the co-located Blockchain, IoT Tech and AI Expo.
With Stratis being the highest ranked sponsor, you could see their name everywhere. I hope a lot of new people will look into Stratis based on the expo. I saw first-hand how many newer people and businesses were interested by the constant activity at the booth, as well as at Paul and Rowan their presentations. It was a great move by Stratis to have such a massive presence at the Expo. I look forward to seeing what all this new exposure will bring to Stratis in the future.
I felt satisfied because I had the opportunity to talk with Chris about things that in my and the community their opinion could be improved. It was refreshing to hear his take on all of this. As you know Stratis is focused on enterprises, which you could see at the expo. Stratis came across as a professional business who is trying to attract enterprises as clients. Stratis isn’t a crypto start-up anymore, it’s a legitimate business trying to bring in revenue to their BaaS model. I think for many of us, including myself and the team, the transition from a crypto start-up to a professional business focused on enterprises was a tough one and still is.
This doesn’t mean Stratis stopped focusing on the crypto space. It means Stratis takes a different approach than many of the crypto projects out there. Most of the crypto projects out there market themselves like kings but don’t have anything to show for when it comes to that point. Stratis is taking the approach the other way around, Stratis has the goods to show but they focus on building out their platform and trying to bring in new clients. The fact that Stratis has more to offer than 90–95% of the projects out there, but hasn’t shown that means Stratis has a lot of room to grow.
We are in a better spot than many other crypto projects which only have marketing and no actual development. This leads to a short-term price increase, however in the long-term it probably results in the project going bankrupt. The fact that Stratis only raised $ 600,000 and always had to budget accordingly puts us in a great spot. According to Chris, we have around three years of runway left based on the current $STRAT price, imagine when we increase in price again and bring in more revenue.
I would say we are undervalued, undervalued in terms of price and people knowing about us. I tried to explain to Chris that you can have it both ways, it seems like not shouting things of the rooftops is a UK mentality. Based on everything Stratis has achieved so far and what’s in the pipelines in my opinion it’s okay to showcase more of that and that they should. I hope I got that message across the team and that we see them being more visible in the crypto space.
There is lots of work to do, but we are in a great spot! In the bear-market Stratis kept building their platform and kept improving their business. We have years of funds left and everything is in place to make Stratis a company that will last for decades. I guess that’s the thing in crypto, in crypto people expect to keep on going fast and take opportunities as much as they can without thinking about the long-term goals of the project. Stratis is focused on the long term and has set up their business with that in mind, it plans to be here in ten years and even after that.
That’s it for now. All the best to everyone!
Khilone
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https://medium.com/khilone
Other things to keep your eyes on:
- Official Stratis Twitter: https://twitter.com/stratisplatform
- Official Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/stratisplatform/
- Official Discord: https://discord.gg/9tDyfZs
The material contained in this article is not to be regarded as an recommendation to buy or sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy or sell securities in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation is against the law, or to anyone to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation, or if the person making the offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so. The information on this document does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice. You must not, therefore, rely on the content of this document when making any investment decisions.
