| Your website is a little confusing, and it takes a little reading to characterize what exactly are doing. It's not bad though. But your idea is bold and worth trying, definitely. Bravo on that. I find it odd that YC did not pick you up on that alone. I can also see why you might struggle to communicate it. I have some small points if you care to take them, they are just examples of some tweaking, for what it's worth: Small thing for your '1 liner' statement instead of saying 'Swift is an attempt at' - drop the word 'attempt'. Also it could be more clear: "Swift is a digital basic income for everyone" ... is a little more concise, it's very bold but doesn't sound arrogant either.
Three sentence explainer:"Swift is a digital currency that we issue in the same quantity, to everyone who signs up, at the same rate, in perpetuity. Swift is not backed by anything (so it's only worth what people attribute to it), but over time, as people find consequence, we hope that it will develop material value. One day, with your help, we hope to disintermediate authoritarian central banking systems which favour one economic class over others, and to provide subsistence for everyone, by everyone." Where you can replace the last sentence with something else, if you want, but it's nice to end with a hint of a bold vision. That I think explains it, and also has hints of boldness and universality, with a little 'populist antagonism' towards 'those evil bankers' without being crude, i.e. more aspirational, and it doesn't sound arrogant. You can get into the 'digital now, crypto later' thing in the next para or whatever, that's obviously important (crypto crowds will be early buyers) but not essential. Anyhow, just my two cents. It's a great idea though. It's worth a try. Good luck with that. |
SwiftDemand is a fairly radical concept so initially I was worried that making claims too bold could come off as arrogant, but since we have now gained a lot more traction we should definitely revisit the copy on the landing page.
I like the conciseness of the 1 liner you proposed, the three sentence explainer is great as well, but we aren't necessarily looking to disintermediate the banking system, but rather to become a global currency that focuses on social economic good in the form of UBI.
A huge portion of our users are really focused on the crypto aspect of what we're doing. As we continue to gain a broader appeal we will likely de-emphasize the crypto part.
The struggle to communicate it was a problem with how YC perceives UBI due to their involvement in UBI research. They grasped the concept quickly, but the questions they asked were targeted primarily at whether or not it would be enough to actually support people, as well as my thoughts on current UBI initiatives rather than the market opportunity and underlying business. In short, they saw it as a charity and didn't dig deeper into the revenue model or vision.
Thanks again for your comments.