In case you only started following me recently, last year in October ARCx went private. You can read more here to understand what this actually means:
We did it in October last year. It has now been almost 9 months since this decision and I thought I would share with you all the results of these decisions.
Above all, it was the best decision we made. The amount of focus this has allowed myself and the team is understated to say the least. Having to wake up to a price that doesn't reflect the value you're trying to create, but instead measures the value of you and your team, is one of the most horrible things to experience. We were able to execute with laser-like precision and focus only on the things that matter. There are none of the following:
-
What will token holders think?
-
What will speculators think?
-
Will this pump the token in the next 3 months?
-
Will this be able to provide sustainable staking returns?
If you are a startup and someone is asking these questions, you are going to lose. The only questions everyone should ask themselves are:
Everything else is so irrelevant that I can't even explain how ingrained this should be in every founder's head (especially in crypto). Tokens are the fuel of the fire, not the heart of the fire. A startup is like focusing your energy on reality and hoping that it shines through and has an impact. The less focused you are, the less energy you focus on that tiny spot. Focus is impact.
That's not to say it was an easy decision. In fact, it was probably one of the most difficult decisions I did as a leader. The anxiety I felt the week we moved is one I still remember clearly today. I didn't know how this would be received by everyone, whether it would be the right decision or not, how it would work out logistically, etc. Unfortunately it wasn't the worst. In full disclosure, some team members weren't fans of the decision and ultimately decided to leave. It was a tough pill to swallow looking back and I was worried about what the future of the team would look like. Fortunately, everything went well and I'm excited about the current ARCx team and the capabilities we have to ship the products we dream of. I'm also grateful to everyone who continued to believe in what we were trying to do and stayed through the ups and downs (including you, the reader, reading this)!
On a more personal level, it taught me a very real lesson about leadership. Unfortunately, you will have to make decisions that are good in the long term but extremely unpopular in the short term. This was hard for me to understand at the time because I strive to be the best I can be and be liked by those around me. Even if it is what is, you grow and learn.
On a different note, I've seen some teams and individuals reach out to me because they were in a similar situation, but I haven't seen as many people do something similar and make a tough decision like we have do. I think many teams would benefit from recognizing that the situation could be improved and taking decisive action to address it. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's greed. Personally, I'm not sure.
Where to go from here? For starters, we have fuel to keep building for a while, so we'll be focusing heads down on building and shipping, so that's good! As our measurements are formatted, I will be able to start sharing them much more openly.
On the subject of tokens, I've been thinking a lot about this idea of ”semi-liquid” tokens. The idea is that I think tokens can exist in a new form than in the past. One that is more durable and solves the problems I had with fully liquid tokens. Liquidity is a privilege that must be earned and not distributed from day one.