Interview: Isabella Dell, CTO/Cofounder of IOV SAS
The first in our series of crypto-related interviews was given by Isabella Dell, CTO and cofounder at IOV SAS. IOV is empowering people and organizations by developing next generation blockchain tools that enable them to securely manage values and digital assets at any time, from anywhere.
1. Why ICO and not IPO?
The framework that an ICO provides is ideal when creating a disruptive technology that is aimed to make a difference around the world. IOV’s technology is not linked to the equity of the company or to future revenues. It makes it much easier to create your solution without needing to compromise your ideals for a traditional investor.
2. Can you give us 3 reasons why ICO is better leaving aside the obvious benefits offered by Blockchain (e.g. transparency, security, fast transactions, anonymity?)
An ICO is superior to a typical IPO in many ways. For us, it allows us to reach a wider audience of investors, both traditional and non traditional. When people think of ICO’s, they think that they are anonymous. In the case of our ICO, that is not true. We take the time to KYC every investor and ensure compliance with all laws. While this creates more difficulty for us, its no different than doing KYC for an IPO.
An ICO is also beneficial for our strategy, as it allows us to establish stakeholders for our application before its launched. This creates engagement with the individuals who are investing. This is not possible in a typical IPO.
Finally, an ICO costs far less to perform than an IPO. The process is streamlined and much easier for us to perform ourselves, rather than requiring an organization (or multiple) to do the work for us.
3. Big companies like IBM, Baidu, Alibaba, Amazon, and others, are flirting with Blockchain technology. Leaving rumors about Facebook launching its own cryptocurrency aside, what other big company would you say might jump on Blockchain (and possibly launch an ICO or develop its own cryptocurrency)?
If you look at Cisco, the mission of this company has been to bring the Internet to the world since its origin. Blockchain is a product of the the information revolution and with Cisco being such a large part of that, I don’t see why Cisco wouldn’t become a leader of this technology in the near future.
4. How do you plan to market/advertise your ICO now that Facebook has banned paid ads?
If an ICO is advertising on Facebook and Twitter, thats an ICO you don’t want to take part in. For me, the best marketing is going out and showing every day people whats possible with blockchain. Showing people our vision, our mission and our product is right for their needs.
Following that, getting involved in developer and other blockchain communities can facilitate greater exposure, rather than pushing ads to users who are ignoring them anyways. Making the project real, and showing people you are real make a far greater difference in marketing than just a few banner ads.
5. Would you say the future of marketing Blockchain-related projects will depend entirely of high-quality content creation?
Content creation is just one aspect of marketing. The problem with content creation, such as paid writing or Youtube content, is that it doesn’t truly convey the vision of what you are building.
My belief is that if you have a great vision, a great team and a lot of passion, then you don’t need capture peoples attention using advertising platforms, they will come to you. We have had a lot of success with this strategy so far and seen explosive organic growth in engagement since launching the project earlier this year.
6. Many companies in industries like banking, finance, technology, advertising, and healthcare, are jumping on Blockchain. Without a shadow of a doubt, it is more than a mere trend. Where do you see Blockchain technology in 10 years?
Distributed ledger technology will be used in many applications across the world. Not every thing needs blockchain or a token to work, but the systems that do will function the same way they do today. Blockchain will be working in the background, so your cash shop items on a phone game will be secured by DLT, rather than just a main database.
You won’t see it anymore because it will be so embedded in all our industries, products and transactions that it would become invisible just like you don’t know which IP address that you are using when you go to a website.
7. Why all the bad press surrounding ICOs, and how do you plan to protect your business from being called a scam?
We have taken big steps to ensure we are protecting not only our business, but our investors too. We are completely transparent and work very closely with regulators to ensure we follow their rules and try to set a standard of how to run an ICO in France.
Additionally, we participated in Techcrunch Startup Battlefield and presented on the main stage at VivaTech just a few weeks ago. Participating in large events like this helps us to build credibility and really bring our vision to the world.
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