YouToken

YouToken is a unique platform that allows people to convert human intelligence into a financial asset (a token). YouToken helps entrepreneurs apply the power of ICO and raise funds for their ideas/projects.

Human intelligence has a value just like any other financial asset (currencies, stocks, bonds, etc.). On the YouToken platform, an investor can contribute money to entrepreneurs’ creative ideas in a fashion similar to the way he/she can invest in stocks on the stock market.

We take people’s creative ideas and commitments and convert them into tokens.

Roadmap
2017
October
- Initial development of YouToken’s core concept.

December
- We launched YouToken’s educational programs (“Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin,”Cryptocurrency Universum,”and “Blockchain for People, Not For Geeks.”)

2018
January
- Development of YouToken marketplace prototype

February - March
- “Proof-of-Concept” Crowdsale (100M tokens offered, min cap = $300k) - Completed!
- Singapore legal entity established (YouToken Capital PTE, LTD.)
- Legal strategy development
- YouToken Marketplace Alpha version is released

April
- The opening of an office in Silicon Valley
- The development of sales, marketing, and promotion.

May – June
- We are currently working on updating our roadmap. This process will take a while, as we will need to update our financial, legal, technical development, marketing, and business development strategies. We will be able to provide you with the new roadmap by June 1, 2018.

Market definition
YouToken is working at the intersection of three markets:
Rapidly- growing crypto and blockchain market;
Growing crowdfunding market;
Online trading/investment market.

Our main goal is to disrupt the crowdfunding industry using the opportunities of blockchain technology and the FinTech industry (online trading/investments). We simplify the investing process and capitalize on entrepreneurs who are at the early stage of their success.

We will target:
Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs: we specifically plan to attract and increase the number of creators at the early stage of their idea who don’t have access to other crowdfunding or investing opportunities (i.e. Kickstarter, Indiegogo, angel investors, etc.)

Investors/backers: we plan to attract and increase the number of investors/traders/backers who already have experience in the financial market and/or traditional crowdfunding but don’t have access to “human intelligence” investment opportunities (investments in creators, not just in creator projects).

Market facts and value proposition
Crypto and Blockchain market

At all levels, the market is booming. The global blockchain market is expected to be worth more than $20 billion by 2024:
Significant growth of cryptocurrency users: By the end of 2015, the number of Blockchain wallets was 5.4 million. At the end of 2017, that number nearly quadrupled in size to a number 21.5 million wallets. (blockchain.info, statista.com).

Boom of ICO as a fundraising tool: total number of ICOs in 2016, total raised $96,389,917; in 2017 - 279 projects raised $4,801,224,551 (coinschedule.com)
Rapid growth in number of blockchain entrepreneurs and developers: 26,885 projects were on GitHub in 2016, as of today there are more than 87,000 (deloitte.com).

In terms of its development, blockchain is where the internet was 20 years ago. Only 0.5% of the world’s population is using blockchain today, but 50% or 3.77 billion people use the internet (source: forbes.com).
YouToken opens blockchain market potential to the wild, global mass of early stage entrepreneurs, providing them with funding and community support needed to start their first blockchain project. In this way, we bring new people to the market.

Crowdfunding market
According to reports from World Bank, crowdfunding investments will be a $96 billion/year industry by 2025:
Transaction value growth: According to data taken from statista.com, the transaction value in the “crowdfunding” industry is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2018-2022) of 29.0 % resulting in the total amount of $25,919M in 2022.

Number of Entrepreneurs: The number of individual crowdfunding campaigns is expected to grow from 178,500 in 2017 to 216,230 in the U.S. by 2020, total worldwide annual number of entrepreneurs (campaigns) - is expected to be at the level of 2,260,230 by 2020.

Number of “crowdfunding investors”: According to estimated data from the World Bank, there are up to 344 million households in the developing world that are able to make small, crowdfunding-based investments in community businesses. As a traditional crowdfunding market leader, Kickstarter.com shows stable month-by-month growth of backers. The number is almost tripled from February 2014 to January 2018, from 5.6 M to 14.06 M.
Worldwide Growth Figures (2017-2018):
North America: 178,494 – 189,404
Europe: 112,586 – 127,981
Asia: 6,089,645 – 8,302,347
Latin America: 20,913 – 24,287
Australia: 8,018 – 8,440
Africa: 126,345 – 143,772
Number of total and repeat Kickstarter project backers as of January 2018 (in millions) (statista.com)

“Crowdfunding (in general) is an innovation in entrepreneurial finance that can fuel “the Rise of the Rest” globally.”
World Bank report

Traditional crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc. opened new possibilities for funding more entrepreneurs in more places around the world.

YouToken is going to leverage the growth of the crowdfunding industry via:
Focusing on the personalities of entrepreneurs, not just on their products,
Establishing a connection between traditional business initiatives and possibilities of blockchain.

Simplification of the crowdfunding process (no paperwork and legal entities are needed to start entrepreneurship).

Online trading/investment market
At the end of XX century, traditional stock and commodity exchanges started their move from “physical trading on the floor” to the Internet. Since this moment, the market community of individual online traders started to grow.
Based on Libertex research, as of 2018, there are up to 500 Million traders worldwide, including 155 million of U.S. stock traders.

As of today, these people already have experience in trading/investing in stocks, bonds, currencies, indexes, etc. Using the same mechanic like in a financial market, YouToken opens up experiences online and gives investors a new opportunity - an investment in the “assets of human intelligence” (entrepreneur’s tokens).

Financial market and Blockchain
The next significant technological change after the Internet in the early 2000’s, for the entire financial market, will be a move towards "Security Token Offerings.” Here, companies will be able to use different regulated platforms, in some cases built on the Stock/Commodities Exchanges basis, to issue traditional equity and debt through tokenized securities, which would then be offered to investors through regulated offerings (look at NASDAQ, CSE initiatives). YouToken goes forward offering the same technology for private individuals, creators and retail investors.

Up until now, there was no fundamental asset that represents an individual.
One could invest in Apple and Google. However, there was no way to invest in brilliant entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs or Sergey Brin. Now is the time to solve this problem!

We make human tokenization possible.

A contributor can invest in an entrepreneur's creative idea, just like one would invest in a company on the stock market. Entrepreneurs can establish connection with investors via four different types of smart contracts offered on the YouToken platform:

Donation/Sponsorship – classic crowdfunding model

Debt – this type of smart contract involves borrowing money to be repaid, plus interest

Revenue Share – this smart contract involves raising money by sharing revenues in a business

Equity – smart contract type that involves raising money by selling interest in a company

Competitors and Competitive Advantages
There are five types of YouToken competitors:

- Business Angels
- Traditional crowdfunding platforms (such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc)
- Traditional Banks and new type P2P lending sites (such as Lending Club)
- Business accelerators and VCs
- Modern “blockchain” competitors

Competitive advantages
Advantages Over Business Angels: Global Audience

For Entrepreneurs:
YouToken provides entrepreneurs with access to a wide global audience of potential investors.
YouToken gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to get advice from community advisors on the YouToken platform.

For Investors:
As a YouToken investor, you are not limited to an “inner circle” of entrepreneurs.

With YouToken, investors are protected by smart contract voting feature.
Advantages Over Traditional Crowdfunding Platforms: Simplicity

For Entrepreneurs:
To start benefiting from a YouToken membership, one needs to have a clear idea of his/her business. No need for legal entities, paperwork, prototype or MVP of the further product.
With traditional crowdfunding platforms, entrepreneurs are usually limited by their country. With YouToken, they have access to a global audience of investors.

YouToken does not charge users with huge commissions to be a part of the community and benefit from it.

For Investors:
No bureaucracy and less paperwork is needed to become an investor with YouToken.
It’s simple to buy and sell entrepreneur’s tokens.

Advantages Over Traditional Banks/P2P Lending sites.

For Entrepreneurs:
With YouToken, entrepreneurs don’t need any provisioning or collateral.
Less need for paperwork, no need for legal entities, cash flows or regional (country) limits.

YouToken supports entrepreneurs and is interested in their growth. Banks and P2P don’t care - they are not interested in an entrepreneur’s success. The only thing they need is their money back plus interest.

For Investors:
With YouToken, investors have a significantly better interest rate (ROI).
Advantages Over Business Accelerators and VCs: Partners, Not Competitors

For Entrepreneurs:
To apply to any other acceleration program, entrepreneurs must have, at a minimum, a viable product, company, and team.

With YouToken, all that an entrepreneur needs is an idea and commitment.
Being a part of the YouToken community gives an entrepreneur the chance to join the best acceleration programs and find the best institutional investors at a relevant stage of the entrepreneur’s business development. YouToken is building up an efficient network with the best VCs and accelerators in Silicon Valley, New York City, and around the world.

For Investors:
Most likely, Business Accelerators and VCs (like Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Plug And Play, Starta Ventures, etc.) are considered to be partners, not competitors to Youtoken. We provide them with tools to invest in talented entrepreneurs at their early stage of success.

With YouToken, one can become an investor with just $100. Entering a VC fund, on the other hand, requires investors to deposit thousands.
Advantages Over Modern “Blockchain” Competitors: Maximizing Potential

For Entrepreneurs:
YouToken Marketplace is not just a “MicroICO” platform. YouToken supports entrepreneurs during 100% of their “business life”, pushing their lifetime value via the most applicable forms and types of smart contracts.
YouToken is not just about funding, it is also about support, guidance, and advisorship from the YouToken’s community advisors, as well as a strong network of professional “business accelerators.”

For Investors:
With YouToken, investors have 100% transparency and all of the tools needed to manage their investment portfolio:
By being an owner of YTN token, investors can benefit from the entire system and protect their risks in case of the failure of some entrepreneurs.
As an owner of an entrepreneur’s tokens, (YTN_creatorname) investors can instantly benefit from different types of smart contracts (donation, debt, revenue share, and equity).

Investors can easily buy and sell YouToken tokens ( YTN) and YouToken creator tokens (YTN_creatorname) inside the YouToken platform or using public exchanges (YTN only). The price of YTN token is determined by the weighted success (value) of all creator tokens.

The price of YTN_creatorname is calculated based on the discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation method.

The funds will be allocated as follows:

- With the minimum of $3,000,000 raised, YouToken will have enough resources to launch the platform with basic functionality. The company will operate in unregulated markets.

- With $10,000,000 raised, YouToken will have enough resources to launch its platform with its internal exchange functionality (which will allow users to trade creator tokens within the platform). The company will operate in unregulated markets and EU. In addition, the exchange license will be obtained.

- With $25,000,000 raised, YouToken will have enough resources to launch its platform with internal exchange functionality. The company will operate in unregulated markets and EU. In addition, the exchange license will be obtained. YouToken will comply with the US crowdfunding regulations in NY, CA, WA, MD, and NJ.

- With $35,000,000 raised, YouToken will have enough resources to launch its platform with internal exchange functionality. The company will operate in unregulated markets and EU. In addition, the exchange license will be obtained. YouToken will comply with the US crowdfunding regulations in NY, CA, WA, MD, NJ, NH, MA, CT, HI, and AK.

- With $45,000,000 raised, YouToken will have enough resources to launch its platform with internal exchange functionality. The company will operate in unregulated markets and EU. In addition, the exchange license will be obtained. The platform will be fully functional and will comply with the US crowdfunding regulations in each US state. YouToken will obtain the broker-dealer license in the U.S.

Depends on the value an investor can bring to the company.