Hey Rich,
How are you?
I don’t think the Red Flag is fair, I work with a number of projects including Tinyman & Folks who also all have advisors as well. I don’t think projects looking for help from different individuals they think can add value is a negative at all, almost every major successful business in the world has lent on advisors where needed. The formal stable version being a board which is still often complimented with additional advisors depending on the business size. Also most of the Algorand projects had far more advisors who have since moved out of the ecosystem, including several high profile funds / individuals the fact myself & a handful of others stayed to contribute & support the ecosystem shouldn’t be a red flag.
Marketing wise I do think most of the projects can do more, though there needs to be some sensibility in that most marketing efforts around Algorand DeFi currently are going to have a negative ROI which starts the debate of what spend v negative ROI is acceptable when it reduces runway.
My view would be that xBacked could do more on its socials organically with minimal cost which will be more about keeping the brand and product relevant and front of mind for Algorand users. I have spoken to several projects about this after our discussions on the forum a couple of weeks and they are all looking to implement this, I do think the ROI will still be a negative one but I think it is a minimum base case. But it might help explain but not excuse why it wasn’t a priority.
Optio isn’t very active on Twitter no, though I don’t think it is a fair representation of the work we do as you imply. For example in the last 6 months to name a few things we have helped fund, fully organise, manage and manned the Algorand stand at SXSW Sydney, helped man the Algorand Token2049 Stand in Singapore, promoted and represented Algorand on the 2032 Brisbane Olympics roundtable with the Australian government, I have been a speaker at more than a dozen events from universities to crypto & fintech conferences promoting Algorand and have been a guest on several podcasts and AMAs doing the same. At both the Token2049 & SXSW we helped coordinate a collaboration with Tinyman to have a simple QR scan onboarding to Pera where within seconds users could have a wallet loaded with a range of assets to get them started. We have focused our energies on these kinds of initiatives which we believe has been more valuable. But open to thoughts as to why Optio should prioritise Twitter.
On the xBacked topic I think a key question is do we want an over collateralised stable coin in the Algorand ecosystem? What do you think Algorand (overall) DeFi strategy should be, does an over collateralised stable coin fit in that? A part of this will be determined by the strategy Algorand Foundation have been talking about releasing for the last 18 months which I understand is close. Ideally it will give clarity as to what the B2B & B2C focus will be taking in to account the range of opportunities, cost & competitors so define where the focus should be. I do have my own thoughts here but I do think focus needs to be a priority.
In terms of poking holes & asking questions, I definitely think that is fine I would say what @xBacked was getting at is the way we communicate can have a significant impact on the results. In reality we are all still here because we want Algorand to succeed & we should be engaging with each in a way that is most likely to result in discussions & outcomes that have this shared goal in mind.
Ok I am rambling but always happy to chat.