For a long time he and Twogap made great strides towards the common goal. He and Twogap embarked on a search for liquidity solutions for Securities Tokens and Cryptocurrency for Crypto Market now and the STO wave is coming soon.
Twogap is still in the process of improvement just like his way in the top 3 in peaople of blockchain. Please look forward to the next developments of Twogap in the near future.
Watch out for The Ladder Token Purchasing 365 days.
https://dashboard.twogap.com/token-sale
Nikolay Shkilev has said that on the interview
“First of all I look at their team, their experience. On the relevance of the idea. On the degree of the product’s readiness. On how much the team is willing to spend on marketing, advertising, special events and etc. On their White Paper (WP), website, whether they are listed on ICOBench, whether they have passed KYC verification. On their presentability. A whole set of criteria.
Even though I can easily help projects with their presentability, give them solidity, strengthen their weak parts, help with WP, website, attract strong advisors, I simply can’t improve the project’s idea and change its team. Many projects seek my help, even though they don’t have an idea, a solid team, or money for promoting the product. There is nothing I can do but brush these projects off.”
Interview: Nikolay Shkilev, Advisor, Crypto Enthusiast and Mentor
Rated as one of the top 3 in People of Blockchain, Nikolay Shkilev is an avid crypto enthusiast and mentor. His field of accomplishments is certainly intriguing and impressive, to say the least. An ICO bench expert, he has 20 years worth of experience in large-scale transaction projects under his belt. Over the years Shkilev has garnered plenty of accolades and awards in the IT sector; ‘Self-Made Russia award’, ‘Best ICO advisor award’ in Blockchain Life summit, ‘Super TOP award’ and many more. He is also the founder and CEO of Private Business Club, although his business interests are wholly diversified and also co-founder of ‘Top ICO advisors’. We delve into the mind of this important blockchain protagonist, to better understand what makes him tick…
Can you tell us what your current job entails and which fields can blockchain be applied to and which concern you the most?
“Firstly, I am a businessperson with 20 years of experience of owning different types of businesses, ranging from FMCG, medicine, and logistics to IT technologies. In parallel, I work as a mentor, advisor to help tens of projects worldwide in the area of the blockchain, ICO and STO. I receive hundreds of offers every day, but I try to select only the most perspective projects where a strong team and the operating product are present, not just the idea and a website”.
When were you captivated by blockchain? How did you feel?
“I began studying blockchain several years ago; it was something completely new to me, something novel and interesting. I understood that it was the future of our time, just like the Internet. 25–30 years ago, the Internet was neither understood nor accepted, and the ones who refused to use it have lost their businesses. We are currently witnessing an evolution in the form of blockchain. Yes, so far, it is in its infancy, but the trend cannot be denied and the cynics have already been proven wrong. Whoever masters this market quickest will become rich, and then your own children will tell legends of such people.
Shkilev recently won the prestigious award of Best ICO advisor at the Blockchain Life summit in St Petersburg. These are some of the points he has identified when considering an ICO project.
Attentively research the project’s team. Do they have enough experience to reach certain goals? Are they an international or a local team? They must have LinkedIn profiles on their website, to let people and you look at their history and experience. Pay attention to advisors and their experience with successful ICOs as well. It’s not as hard as it sounds.
Check the website to see if it was just quickly thrown together, or made with passion and bright ideas in mind.
Look through the White Paper. It shouldn’t have less than 20–25 pages. More about it later.
It would be best for the project to have it’s MVP ready. If it’s ready, then the chances of the project to skyrocket will go up fast.
Look at the project’s community, the number of people in social networks etc., its PR, how many and what conferences founders attend. There should be maximum transparency. You should see the team — it shouldn’t be hiding behind a website.
Even a good project has a possibility to not gain enough money, which is why experienced investors always put their funds into several projects, so as to secure themselves.
Shkilev has assisted many blockchain startups in his career. He’s got some interesting suggestions for those who plan to launch and ICO and these include:
1: showing the MVP (product, prototype)
2: have a big marketing budget and be in numerous media
3: go to various events
4: have agreements with exchanges
5: show ROI to investors
6: have maximum transparency
7: have a legally protected product
8: have a strong, ‘organic’ community without any bots…
9: have a powerful team and advisors
10: meet with potential investors face to face
11: have a good WP (with clear financial model).
“Generally, there is an evolution, and investors consider all ICOs as a serious business projects that by now follow all these criteria. Shkilev observes that if you want to carry out a successful ICO, you should remember all of this. If you don’t have something or you are going to hide behind your computer, your chances of carrying out a successful ICO are nearly equal to zero, even if your idea is fantastic. Now, reality interests everyone, not imagination”, he added.
Asked what will be the shakers and movers for 2019 in the blockchain market, Shkilev identifies the following:
- Asset Backed Tokens
- Security Token Offerings (STO)
- With full KYC verification and with anti-money laundering system (AML)
The operation, promotion and user behavior analysis is quite different from the traditional Internet industry. With your considerable level of marketing experience what would be the main points in this space that need to be addressed if a project will go to fruition?
“80% of ICOs fail due to incorrectly built marketing strategy. How to avoid it?”
First of all, check whether you are ready to start paid promotion activities. Here’s Shkilev’s checklist:
- Beautiful Landing page with comprehensive information. It’s the first thing a potential investor sees.
- Completed, coordinated and translated into English White Paper as I previously outlined.
- One-page — main aspects of the project and ICO
- A complete list of social networks with live accounts, posts and news. Tip: after registering in one, don’t use bots — they never work.
- Smart Bounty program for reposts, likes etc.
- Do NOT start with airdrop activity, it can negatively affect the value of your token in the future.
- Build a large and solid community around the project… In many languages.
- Get listed on ICO rating platforms. It splits into two parts: free listing and the purchase of premium packages on several websites with the most outstanding traffic.
- Run an e-mail newsletter with the help of an agency.
- Start a PR campaign with an attempt to promote your press release into all crypto-media and specialized websites.
- Negotiate with YouTube influencers for a review. A good video review promotes tokens far more efficiently than other advertising media.
- Build a community in Asia and Europe. Because Residents of Russia, China, Korea and Japan invest most in ICOs
- Roadshow: take part in conferences where you can present your ICO directly to investors.
- Visit Private Investors Dinners and events with family offices. Often these events help projects to close soft cap and hard cap.
“My practice shows that if you act in this order, your ICO will succeed. And, remember, try to have a ready MVP at the start of your ICO. Projects that try to raise funds without presenting any visual and interactive interface usually fail”.
Many blockchain startups seek for investment. According to your experience, how can one avoid Operating Risk by setting a secure and reliable shareholding Structure for a blockchain startup?
“Actually, it is a difficult question, and for this purpose, strong experts are recommended. Those who can competently do the tokenomics of a project to secure it and at the same time make it interesting for investors”.
The cash settlement of many blockchain startups are made by cryptocurrency, however, the price of cryptocurrency fluctuates frequently. Is the fluctuation normal? In your opinion, how do blockchain startups view this? Is it necessary for blockchain startups to make the price stable in order to protect the right of the investors?
“Yes, there is a new tendency now — stable coins, security tokens and tokens which are protected by real assets”. (Asset-Backed Tokens)
Can you share your experience of the journey to gradually become the top player in the blockchain area?
“I was invited by one project to become their mentor, to bring it to an international level and to bring their product up to an international standard as I have big business experience. I helped them, and the project received more than 30 million in investments. After that, directors began asking the company ‘Who helped you?’ and they answered honestly — ‘Nikolay Shkilev’. Since then, more and more projects from around the world started asking for help. Then they began recommending me to others, and as a result, I became appreciated as an expert in practically every country and rating platform, not to mention being invited as a speaker to all the biggest summits and conferences”.
It is reported that half of dApp that based on EOS are gambling dApps. What is your opinion on the future of gambling dApps?
“It is relevant for the Asian market and is also a big trend there, but in Europe and the USA this industry doesn’t develop as well, because people there are less keen on playing games. It is a fact”.
How do Russians view cryptocurrency? According to your observation, are people willing to invest in cryptocurrency?
“As you may know, there are Russians behind many large projects, and these projects raise a lot of money. Telegram, for example. This project has collected 1,8 billion dollars, and it is one of many.
However, the degree of involvement into cryptocurrency is still very far from its peak capacity, as many people still poorly understand what blockchain is and how to use cryptocurrency. Therefore, at the biggest conference in Europe Blockchain Life, in St. Petersburg, I told our people, as a speaker, how to invest into cryptocurrency, ICO, about blockchain and its benefits. I am sure that the number of people involved will only grow in the near future”.
Shkilev believes that eventually, everyone will go over to blockchain adding that it is only a matter of time before mass adoption. We then moved on to the ongoing rise in stablecoins.
“Over the last four years, 23 stable coins have been created; most of them have appeared in 2018. 34 more cryptocurrencies are in their starting stage, but judging by numerous statements made in the media, we could see 50 new stable coins in the following year”.
Shkilev observes that the mass creation of new, more and more perfect stable coins will surely cause loss of market share of Tether. Similarly, the growth of popularity of stable tokens can take away a part of demand from classical cryptocurrencies, having reduced their capitalization. On the other hand, the boom of stable coins can promote a short-term increase in the demand for Ethereum, since 60% of companies use this platform, he adds.
Shkilev admires two entrepreneurs who are not strictly in the space but believes that they are outstanding examples of making it to the top from the bottom. The first is Jeff Bezos. CEO and founder of Amazon.com who began with a small office, selling books and later created one of the largest companies in the world.
“I was also strongly impressed by Jack Ma (Alibaba). His is a fantastic story. When I watched his video, about him not being hired anywhere, considered a loser, and now he has made a giant that is recognized all around the world and is very strongly respected in Russia”.
Finally, we asked Shkilev on his take regarding the current market situation.
“There cannot be an endless downfall, so it seems to me that an explosion and growth of cryptocurrencies is bound to happen. In the near future, the trend will be stable coins, security tokens and asset-backed tokens, and in general, I think that more and more countries will legalize cryptocurrencies. This process cannot be stopped anymore”.
I am an established journalist with over 15 years of experience in politics, economy and sports journalism. I have now specialized in crypto and blockchain and have taken on several high profile jobs in this space.
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