High Tech — Human Spec
Today more than ever people are aware of the synergy between their own well-being and that of the community
As my contract with CA Technologies drew to a close at the end of 2018, my good friend Zbyszek Perliński, a tech expert and QiGong enthusiast told me about an interesting disruptive startup which had designed a loyalty app on blockchain. Naturally I became quite intrigued and rather keen to get to meet with Benjamin Burg, CEO of Gratifu.
It did not take long to notice his eccentric approach. He is a cross between a person with a free thinking mind and a savvy entrepreneur with a good dose of reality, and that’s probably why people are beginning to call him the Conservative Hippie. Sit down with him for a few minutes and he has story after story of how he never took the status quo as an answer, yet instead pushed to go further.
His proposition is a community owned business called the Gratifu loyalty program where participants get to share in the economy and profit. Benjamin is a super-charged Varsovian American entrepreneur who is passionate about innovation in everything he does. It become abundantly clear that his ideas are not just technological innovation, he envisions and is mapping out an economic model that goes beyond capitalism. His approach is not just in work and his fervour has not even been cooled by his recent arm fracture which he is currently convalescing (follow on LinkedIn).
He explained that when he first saw blockchain, the first thought that struck him was that this could help create a community owned businesses.
His vision is two technologies. First the token, a digital contract which can be exchanged between participants in a fair and secure manner. The second, the blockchain as the backbone — a decentralized authoritative network to confirm communication and transactions.
Initially this would be brought together in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), via crowdsourcing and fundraising. As the vision developed and evolved it became clear that it was more appropriate to use a Security Token Offering (STO). Investing in security tokens differs from buying stock. Stockholders own a part of the operating company and its profits whereas security token holders are buying into the money supply of the technology. So as the Gratifu technology is increasingly adopted the value of the tokens will correlate to the value of Gratifu.
Benjamin’s long view is that the security tokens express a community value. The initial STO will be for investors with an intent to divest 75% to the other members of the community: consumers and merchants, advisors and partners. This approach was inspired by the Native American medicine wheels like the example below. He envisions four directions according to four gifts, or in business terms, beneficial features:
- the Founders on the east — illumination, the entrepreneurs have the vision and the light;
- Investors on the west — expresing introspection are like the rock, testing the strength and stability of the enterprise;
- consumers and merchants at the south — hungry with emotion, a liquid form flowing according to the market, growing and constantly changing;
- advisor/partners on the north — the expertise the air and the brain/expertise to guide and reason.
To reach fullness requires equal motivation from all four directions. A new approach to grow community based incentives towards defining a new economic model going beyond capitalism.
As we approach the release of the beta app we will be taking the next important steps along the way in building a network of early adopters. I will reach the conclusion of my first contract as a startup advisor and I look forward to seeing the development of the Gratifu loyalty app and the fulfillment of Benjamin’s ultimate goal.
