The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 2: Marketing Qubic

We continue our series, “The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin”. In Part 2, we critically evaluate the current go-to-market strategy of the Steering Committee (SteCo). We explore why a focus on uPoW for AI is misplaced, and argue for a Qubic stablecoin as the key to unlocking a thriving ecosystem.

Spelunker, Aug 7, 2024.

Meet Mr. Market

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy defines the plan to bring a product to market and attract customers, including market research, positioning, targeting, and promotional tactics, to achieve competitive advantage and growth.

Cryptocurrencies may not use typical terms like products, customers, sales, and profits, but instead talk about technology, ecosystem, growth, and network utility. Regardless of the lingo, they are going to the market to compete.

The Steering Committee (SteCo) is responsible for Qubic's GTM strategy. Consciously or not, willingly or not, methodically or not, the sum of SteCo’s choices, big and small, determine whether Qubic succeeds in the hyper-competitive crypto market.

A big GTM choice is the product you are going to try to sell to the market. This may seem counterintuitive. After all, the product to sell is “Qubic”, so what’s there to decide?

Positioning Qubic

The product may be fixed but the way you position it in the market is not. In the words of Al Ries and Jack Trout: “Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.".

Think Listerine. Initially sold as surgical antiseptic, later on as a floor cleaner, treatment for dandruff, oral antiseptic for dental professionals and, finally, as over-the-counter mouthwash. Same product, but different positioning, use cases, and target users. Other examples or repositioning include Viagra (initially developed to treat cardiovascular problems), bubble wrap (initially intended as wallpaper), Play-Doh (wallpaper cleaner), Coca-Cola (medicinal tonic), and 7-Up (mood-stabilizing drink). Bluetooth is a wireless communication protocol for short-range data exchange but is now marketed as a solution for wireless audio streaming, fitness tracking, and smart home integration. Gore-Tex was initially developed for space suits, not footwear. AR was developed for military and aviation, not for gaming and education.

Here is an example of an excellent positioning pitch from the TV series Mad Men.

Even if SteCo couldn't change Qubic technology (though they try), they decide how Qubic is explained and, therefore, influence how the user perceives its benefits and, ultimately, who the target user is.

Positioning comes after market research but before targeting, so it is important to get it right. If you botch positioning, you will waste a lot of time and money chasing the wrong target audience. Bad in itself, tragic if your war chest is significantly smaller than the competition you are trying to overthrown. Some dismiss the importance of positioning by appealing to the need to move fast: “It’s time to stop talking and start acting!”. Ask yourself, “What’s the point of running faster in the wrong direction?”.

Marketing Qubic the Wrong Way: uPoW for AI (Aigarth)

SteCo’s current GTM strategy heavily emphasizes useful Proof of Work (uPoW) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Qubic is positioned as the first uPoW blockchain aiming to integrate AI on a massive scale. uPoW being the mechanism to train AI models trough mining activities. The AI, named Aigarth, is mentioned as a core component.

Is this a good positioning?

“Are you serious?”, I hear you saying, “Come on! We have a bit of everything! The legendary founder angle (POS, DAG, NXT, IOTA), the innovation angle (uPoW), and, let’s not forget, references to today’s technological darling (AI) sprinkled everywhere! This stuff is gold. What are you whining about? Shut up and take my money!”.

You are right. The pitch shines. Unfortunately, shiny doesn’t last, and the pitch doesn’t answer the why question.

Good for Retail. Bad for Entrepreneurs

After you convince crypto news outlets with your super shiny Qubic pitch to tell your story in front of thousands of retail investors and hundredths of entrepreneurs, it is time to close. You must convert the potential into actual funding and builders:

• For retail investors, exchanges and wallets, so Qubic whales (former and current Computors) can sell at scale and use the proceeds to fund entrepreneurs and build an ecosystem.
• For entrepreneurs, to start building on Qubic. Sadly, the shiny pitch is not working with entrepreneurs because the “why” question remains unanswered.

What happened? After reading the shiny pitch and clicking on the qubic.org link, entrepreneurs started reading. These risk-takers were not here to pass the time. They were in hunting mode. What is this “Qubic people” selling? What is “the product”? What’s in it for my team? Is there anything here I can use to create and capture value? Once they dug deeper, they discovered that while the uPoW mechanism theoretically benefits the entire Qubic network by providing computational power, in practice, all of this power was being funneled towards Aigarth, the AI project of Come-from-Beyond (CfB), the inventor of Qubic. Since this setup centralized the benefits of the uPoW mechanism around a single project, there was no value left to capture for other entrepreneurs. With no incentive to build on Qubic, these AI-curious entrepreneurs moved elsewhere. Potential unrealized. Marketing resources wasted.

Identified the problem, CfB has moved fast to correct it, but significant damage is already done to both Qubic and the Qubic’s marketing team.

No Cookie for Qubic

In business and marketing, a flywheel represents a self-reinforcing cycle that drives growth. Jeff Bezos famously drew Amazon’s flywheel on a napkin: great customer experience attracts customers, which increases traffic, which brings more sellers, expanding product selection, leading to economies of scale, lowering costs, and thus lowering prices, which increases customer satisfaction, thus restarting the cycle with increased momentum each time.

A simple flywheel for Qubic’s current “uPoW for AI” positioning could be: miners contribute computational power to train AI models, enhancing network efficiency and capabilities, which attracts more developers to build on the platform, increasing its utility and drawing in more miners and users.

However, how do you build such a flywheel when there is no value left to be captured by your prospects? You can’t. It’s simply not possible to attract customers (entrepreneurs) when you position yourself to sell a product (computational power) that has already been sold (to Aigarth).

When there is no product to sell, you can’t convert prospects to customers.

Marketing in shambles

When even designing a conversion funnel for your ecosystem is no longer feasible, the only option left is to start tracking vanity metrics, superficial data points that look impressive but don't necessarily indicate true business performance or lead to actionable insights.

Marketing, once a strategic endeavor focused on bringing a product to market by identifying target audiences, understanding their needs, and driving conversion, devolves into short-term tactics and tracking social media followers, X Likes, YouTube views, Telegram users, Zealy tasks, and number of grant requests received.

No flywheel means no increased momentum. Without momentum, marketing inputs and outputs remain directly proportional—what you put in is exactly what you get out. No multiplier effect. The marketing team shifts from being judged on strategic impact to being measured by the hours they put in.

Everything becomes about the immediate next task: the next “ann”ouncement, the next “AMA”. Over time, Mr. Market notices this short-term focus, and the price action starts to resemble the dreaded fishbone of death—a pattern of ever-decreasing pumps. Being addicted to shiny is like being addicted to sugar rushes; a non sustainable cycle of brief highs that feel great, followed by crashes that leave you drained and disappointed. Back to square one. Without a flywheel, long-term success becomes unachievable.

Marketing Qubic the Right Way: Throughput (Stablecoin)

It’s not called the wheel. It’s called the carousel

A broken flywheel with no product to sell is a tough spot to be for both Qubic and SteCo (Qubic’s marketing team). When your car breaks down, you can keep trying to restart the engine, hoping for a different outcome, fingers crossed, or you can take it to the garage for a real fix.

a) The easy option is to do nothing. You ignore the disconnect the market is screaming at you and persist with the current “uPoW for AI” positioning, embodied in an AI named Aigarth. An example of this option would be to create a committee of AI experts and, at the same time, launch a grant program focused on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts.

b) The compromise option is to try and tweak the current engine to see if the flywheel starts. You listen, adapt, and soft pivot to an adjacent, but less shiny, “uPoW for anything” positioning, embodiment yet to be decided (a smart contract uPoW marketplace?). An example would be to release 50% of Qubic’s available computational power to accommodate those pesky risk-takers.

c) The hard option is to acknowledge that your current positioning is wrong and it has been wrong from the very beginning. It may have served you well to attract retail investors but it has failed you miserably to attract and retain builders. An example would be to shift to a new “ultra high network throughput” positioning, embodied in a free, real-time, fiat-backed stablecoin.

Easy Choices, Hard Life. Hard Choices, Easy Life

The easy option is doomed for failure. The elimination by invalidation test already confirmed so. Only hubris or addiction to shiny would make us persist in a strategy that has clearly proven ineffective.

The compromise option could work but with high uncertainty. Like basketball shoes and grants, having available stock to sell is a prerequisite to play, not the key to winning. “Huge computational power available on demand” is a wide claim in a crowded market with multiple competitors already covering most needs. Although more actionable in the short term than “uPoW for AI”, it's less likely to attract retail investors. We may fix one part of the flywheel while breaking another.

The hard option offers immediate, real-world utility and can drive user adoption and ecosystem growth now. Stablecoins are arguably the most successful use case in crypto history. The utility is evident, offers mass appeal, and creates a compelling value proposition for mainstream customers. Moreover, the hard option could be the perfect partner to the compromise option.

Shiny doesn’t last

Remember, Qubic Choice ≠ Market Choice. As an investor, your goal isn’t to be popular by siding with the winning option within the Qubic community. Instead, focus on making money by choosing and campaigning for the positioning that will succeed in the market. We don’t decide—they do. Choose accordingly.

If Qubic truly wants to create a thriving ecosystem, beyond lip service, our marketing should shift from an inward to an outward focus. To appeal to “the company”, the miners, Aigarth, it is easy. To appeal to “the customer”, the entrepreneurs, it is hard.

Like everything in life, if you are willing to make the short-term sacrifice, you’ll have the long-term benefit. Our focus should be on creating value because, in the end, shiny doesn’t last.

A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn’t last. You really want something that’s much deeper-keeled. You want your customers to value your service. - Jeff Bezos, November 2011.

Coming Up: A Qubic Stablecoin

In the next post, we will shift our focus to how Qubic can effectively market its strengths and build a thriving ecosystem. Stay tuned as we explore the possibility of a Qubic-based, free, real-time, fiat-backed stablecoin, which addresses the shortcomings of the current GTM strategy and creates a powerful flywheel effect.

Read “The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin” Series

1. 🇺🇸The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 1: The Why Question
2. 🇺🇸The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 2: Marketing Qubic
3. 🇺🇸The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 3: The Best Option
4. 🇺🇸The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 4: Fast, Faster, Qubic
5. 🇺🇸The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 5: Growing the Ecosystem

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On this Page

• The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin - Part 2: Marketing Qubic
• Meet Mr. Market
• Positioning Qubic
• Marketing Qubic the Wrong Way: uPoW for AI (Aigarth)
• Good for Retail. Bad for Entrepreneurs
• No Cookie for Qubic
• Marketing in shambles
• Marketing Qubic the Right Way: Throughput (Stablecoin)
• It’s not called the wheel. It’s called the carousel
• Easy Choices, Hard Life. Hard Choices, Easy Life
• Shiny doesn’t last
• Coming Up: A Qubic Stablecoin
• Read “The Case for a Qubic Stablecoin” Series