Dear Stage 32 Members,
Over the last two weeks, I've had a couple of Skype meetings with a fellow by the name of Shahar Namer, who I met here on the site and who is looking to sell me the service of launching my company and my film projects as a cryptocurrency. What appeals to me about this idea is the notion of rolling financing that builds on the development of my film rather than waiting for an ROI - which in the context of my own business model and production slate can lead me very handily right into the production of a handful of other projects without disrupting the expectations of the investment.
What worries me about all this is my own ignorance about the crypto market, my lack of preparation when it comes to selling a cryptocurrency, and Shahar's seeming nonchalance about that ignorance and lack of preparation as a barrier to entry. Because I was cold contacted by him here on the site, I'm assuming I'm not the only one he reached out to. Has anyone else done their due diligence on this fellow?
I've been in correspondence with my attorney about all this, of course. While Shahar's website does have some testimonials on it, and while he does have a broad social media presence, there doesn't seem to be anything on him or his company that's written by 3rd parties. Moreover, the people he has talking about their success with his company seem to be people who are committed to careers in cryptocurrency. Even if The ICO Rocket is a real company, I'm not seeing anything to substantiate it's value as a financing tool in film - or in any market where we're not going to be shifting our professional focus to the sale of cryptosecurities.
If he's looking for a test case, and if the support is there to make it work, I'm not necessarily opposed to doing that. At the same time, risk factors range from undercapitalization to having the crypto market restructured and regulated right under our financing process, to potentially money laundering. Has anyone coughed up more information on this guy than I have? Does anyone have insight into what's up with The ICO Rocket?
Any observations are appreciated! On the subject of business, I do have a pretty comprehensive Stage 32 blog coming out tomorrow - so stay tuned!
Best regards,
Tennyson
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I'm in negotiations with them as well and spent a good day reading everything I could about the current crypto-currency markets and tokenization. I feel that I have a decent grab on how it all works for the most part now. There are Tokens, Blockchains and Coin. A token is an idea or something physical like your movie, real estate or a production company etc. A blockchain is the process of investors getting on board on a token Thus a chain of investors. Once the token numbers are reached for your project say 2 million, then the token can be turned into coin at your bank for you to access.
The reason for this process is for investors that do not trust you or other investors with their bank info. So their investment is turned into crypto-currency which supposedly cannot be hacked and then converted onto a block chain. You and only you the person with the token has a key to access the token. Through the process it cuts out the central bank and transfer fees.
Apple pay and Android pay are already using this tokenization method and you do not even realize it. They say in the future, anything that can be tokenized will be tokenized! So eventually no more physical money. Interesting times we are living in.
Thank you for your thoughts, Kay Luke and John Kevin Bell! At least in the circles I'm traveling in, data security is far from the number one reason investors say "no." Generally speaking, I'm dealing with a very high risk class of investment - so if this is really just a tool to secure the investor's information, I don't think it's going to radically change the landscape in terms of the market for my investment.
Can either of you forward me any bulk information on actual ICO's that were underwritten by this company, by any chance?
Kay Luke, I very much appreciate you looking into it. That’s as deep as I was able to get with my own research as well, and I at least feel more confident that I’m not missing something.
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Tennyson Stead I conversed with this guy (and his assistant) about ICORocket. I think crypto may have a future, but I'm no expert. Problem is, in order for me to list any project with them and open up this bitcoin investment, I had to buy a token upfront (somewhere between $7K and $10K). I NEVER PAY ANYONE ANYTHING UP FRONT! When I made that clear to them...they stopped communicating. Nary a word since. I don't know what this says about crypto in general, or even ICOR in particular, but asking for money upfront is such a big red flag for me personally, and I won't do it. Just my two cents'.
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I assume that will be the next talk with them, oh, we will need 9 grand up front to get this going. Yeah right! I will not do it. That rings a bell with another set of investors that hit me up on here wanting 9 grand in international bank transfer fees on a 1.5 million deal. my bank was like, I don't think so! Sketchy flags were waving. I was just looking at alternate ways to get funded like we all need with the ICO Rocket. Well, back to equity crowdfunding! Hope you guys have a great holiday!
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Yeah, they're asking for a BitCoin upfront for the cost of building the ICO infrastructure. For just marketing the investment, they're willing to work for a commission and a piece of the deal itself.
Putting aside the question of whether this is a legitimate business for a moment, the biggest issue for me is the fact that I have no experience selling cryptocurrency. No crash course is going to be strong enough to make up for a lack of sales training and sales expertise. Any "market posting" or introductions they might be offering aren't going to make the investment sell itself. In my experience, no investment sells itself... and I just don't have the experience with crypto to feel confident in my ability to seek out leads and close deals. Certainly, that's not something I can do as efficiently as I can with the film investment itself.
If they're selling this service as a "plug and play" financing method... then why are they underselling the work of selling this investment? My concern is that it's because they don't actually expect it to work - and that they might not invest the time and effort to make sure it does.
I've still got some ground to cover with Shahar, and I'll get back to him tomorrow with some more questions. If you all want me to probe into anything, please let me know - and I'll be sure to forward the information if he answers my questions.
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...and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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Beware that whatever the laws are where Mr. Namer lives, in the USA, Canada and Europe, launching your company and projects "as a cryptocurrency" risks running afoul of SEC regulations, with dire criminal consequences.
Thank you, Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg. My attorney and I are parsing that part of it, and I’m aware of the risks. I’m already operating under SEC guidelines, and as far as we know making the investment blockchain won’t change anything about the legality of it.
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Although my experience with blockchain is minimal, I am certain of one thing. There is absolutely no way to "follow the money trail" to see who you are actually dealing with and where the funds have come from.
Let's say that you are successful in selling the investment as a blockchain; when it comes to paying it back, you have no way of determining who is on the receiving end.
This sort of ambiguity seems as if it could open your production company to inquiries or even investigations that may lead somewhere you do not want to be.
Likewise, blockchain consists of a number of different currencies. These various "currencies" are subject to wild fluctuations based on my research into the topic. Check out this website for more information on how many different currencies exist and how their value moves up and down. https://www.bancor.network/
I only bring this up due to the fact that the ICORocket Token is showing no actual value as of today. Check this link. https://etherscan.io/token/0x9d98a8323c7dbf49851d4aa18ca90e0f25ee30dc#ba...
That website seems to show that the ICORocket Token has no value in Ethereum. Ethereum is a much more accepted Blockchain with actual value.
I have a wallet over on Bancor. But to be honest, I still struggle with how I would use any of those cryptocurrencies to actually pay anyone.
That is my two cents on the matter.
I would be interested to hear how your negotiations with them go.
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Thank you, DL Stickler! We've actually been asking whether or not this might be some kind of money laundering deal, and obviously that's something we want to avoid. The Etherium thing is helpful.
I've asked for additional due diligence, and offered some ideas about how to proceed. If I reach any helpful conclusions, I will definitely share them!
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Hi Tennyson,
I've been approached by Shahar today too, but on LinkedIn. Thank you and everyone else for the info shared up until now. I look forward learning the development of your negotiations with him as I am possibly interested in going the same route even though I honestly have never dealt with any cryptocurrency, yet.
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Having been promised information on the ICO’s Shahar has already launched, and then having reached out again, I haven’t heard back in about two weeks. What I will say, without any other facts, is that if Shahar is reaching out to all of us... he can’t be that concerned with the success of the ICO. He’s not cherry-picking, he’s mass mailing. He’s in it for the BitCoin, so a best case scenario is one where you will be responsible for finding buyers for these securities. Even if he’s legitimate, the strict terms his contract can basically be fulfilled by handing out an info packet and making a post on a message board.
Investments NEVER sell themselves. Investors ALWAYS want something easier, faster, and less risky. Whatever you do, please don’t assume that someone else’s support will take care of your lead generation or sales work.
Tennyson Stead Thanks for the update. And insight. "Investments NEVER sell themselves. Investors ALWAYS want something easier, faster, and less risky. Whatever you do, please don’t assume that someone else’s support will take care of your lead generation or sales work."
You are most welcome.
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Shahar, if you’re really just looking for the filmmaker who is already educated about and committed to cryptofinance... then why are you working so hard to reach and educate filmmakers who have no idea how any of this works? Those kinds of contradictions in the execution of your plan probably feel like reasonable compromises, from the inside looking out. From the outside looking in, they are red flags on a deal that 97% of all filmmakers already have no business being a principal in.
Hello Tennyson. I was contacted by Asaf Bardougo through LinkedIn today regarding Rocket Film Fund, which appears to be part of Rocket ICO. Curious if you have had further conclusions on this?
Well... Shahar Namer himself posted a "you'll all be sorry one day!" post in this very thread. Regardless of how you read it, I'd say that such a post can and should stand as the final word on the subject.
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Tennyson Stead
As an end note to this, the "coins"Narmer cited appear to have not gone ahead, and in my opinion are fluff stories. The bushnell coin is listed nowhere I can find after the Variety article mention. The proxicoin "100 million" dollars raised seems to me to be an apocryphal story released by the promoters themselves - the proxicoin website appears 2+ years out of date and the coin is not listed on any coin exchange which I can locate. Frankly, there is no utility to raising money for film production through a coin. After all you don't have to program share certificates and the "security" concerns of buying stock which are avoided in a blockchain are practically speaking, nonexistent.
Thank you for the information, Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg.
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Great thread Tennyson, thank you for starting it.
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yes thanks tennyson. i hate people from outside the industry trying to get in and change the way we do things. i managed to find shahar's contact details and I suggest we all call him to tell him what we think about his new model. his phone number is +44(0)07852584013 and also send him "love letters" to his office address 222 Regent Street W1B 4ND, London. Its not like we have anything better to do these days being locked-in all day so lets have some fun!
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David Antoniuk, you're very welcome. George Walker, unprofessionalism never solves problems - and there's always the possibility that it might create more.
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Hey, gang. After reading this thread, a contact of Shahar’s found me on Facebook and shared some history. If anyone needs details, I can offer them in private... but I’m advising everyone to stay away. For sure.