We're launching an ICO for a wireless isp to bring better internet services to the Caribbean.

Outside of giving token holders dividends every quarter, what are some out if the box ways our we can further our business with crypto?

Of course we will be accepting payments from customers in cryptocurrency, at a significant discount, but I'm sure there are many ways we could implement crypto and blockchain for the company.

Bump...

Happy to announce we've started to put together the Crypto Team including bringing on a ICO / Token expert and started on the white paper.

My company is launching a telecom service in a few countries.  This is a real business with a solid team that has launched multiple, very successful, telecoms in the past.  The markets we are entering are desperate for better service and are highly inefficient. 

While ICO / Tokens have been used to fund cryptocurrency projects, I think there is real potential for more "traditional" companies to use blockchain technology and ICO's for their fundraising as well.

We already have a full pitch deck and executive summary written.  These documents would be the baseplate for the ICO.  I need help creating and designing the ICO, token (ERC20 on Etherum seems like the best route?), whitepaper and someone who has experience in ICO's to consultant on the best practices for launching an ICO.

Here is our pre-launch ico announcement which I'm using to help raise a bit of funding to help move things along.

I'm not sure we will have much success even raising a small round without the whitepaper and website up and running.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2381099.msg24318398#msg24318398

Hi Alex

We will be launching 2 websites.  One for the ICO and one of the ISP itself.  I've been working on them for the past few weeks and will use some of the pre-ico funds to get them developed properly

The Tokens will be used as dividend payments to the holders.  So for those who invest in the pre-ICO and ICO, we will pay them profits of the company.

We estimate, only with home, boats and small business services in one country, to return $2-$4m to the investors (both ICO and private equity) over the next 4 years.  For those buying the ICO, we will be paying them back the crypto equivalent.

As we expand to other services (cell phones, government contracts and also expand to the 2nd nation we have started to develop) our profits will increase quite substantially with only modest needs for additional capital to be deployed.  We expect to make these developments using reserved capital and incoming revenue and currently do not expect any additional debt to be raised.

Our use of the blockchain will be multiple.

- Tokens holders will be paid profit dividends in BTC or ETH to the Token owners

- We will be accepting BTC or ETH payments from our customers and giving them a discount for paying in those currencies, to help further crypto.

- I have other ideas on how to use crypto for our business outside of transactions, but I dont want to speculate just yet on what things might be best for the company.

Bump!

bump!

Bump!

bump!

If you've helped launch an ICO, I'd love to talk to you.

Well there really isn't a blueprint for launching ico's I'm trying to use best practices when doing so.

Thank you for looking to support Horizon and the future of fundraising for companies, outside the crypto industry,  using tokens.

Thank you I will reach out once we begin planning the ICO.

reserved

 
Overview

Horizon Communications is a Wireless Telecom Company, headquartered in the Caribbean, looking to bring high speed internet and other related services to these nations.  We are focusing on 2 locations in our 1st few years that we find have the most oppurtunity.

Horizon plans to issue a Token, HRZN, using the ERC20 protocol and Ethereum (ETH).  In return will pay out dividends to those Token holders at a rate of at least 10% of company profits every quarter or in the event of a buyout an equal share of 10% of the total amount of the transaction.  All dividends will be paid in ETH.

These markets Horizon has targeted are some of the highest costs of living in the world, with income well over $65,000 on average.  This makes for a high level of return for Horizon, coupled with the natural advantages our technology gives us.  

Customers in these markets are paying $250 USD a month for just 20mbps internet service.  Needless to say, there is a huge opportunity for a new provider that can provide better service.

We have already successfully navigated the legal and regulatory hurdles for our Telecom launch in these countries.  Horizon has signed agreements to full exclusive rights to this technology in this area, which gives us a unique advantage to deploy this cost effective network at a price point much lower than was previously possible.

Why a token for fundraising
I am an early adopter of cryptocurrency technology, having started in the space in early 2014 running a large mining farm in my business.  I mined and traded Bitcoin, Dark Coin, Dogecoin, Vertcoin, Etherum etc.  

I believe that Token’s can be the future of capital raising for a business.  As such, I would also like to be an early adopter of this new model.

We are not exclusively using just the ICO model for our capital raise and are in conversations with high net wealth individuals and companies as options for funding as well.


Horizon Pre-ICO

To launch our ICO, we need to raise a small amount of capital (est. to 100 ETH) to hire some of the top people in the crypto community.  With their help we will hire an ICO / Token expert, build a ICO website, create the token, create the whitepaper/litepaper, re-build and improve the ICO thread, make a video on the business,   All of these funds will *only* be distributed after reviewing bids from experts to find the best combination of value and ability / previous success.

Horizon will offer a 50% bonus of HRZN tokens for those who invest early into this project.
Horizon has a hard cap of 200 ETH for this opening pre-ICO round.

For each 1 ETH invested into Horizon, there will be 1 HRZN token (+ a 50% bonus for pre-ICO investors) issued.  Dividends from Horizon’s profits will then be issued to this token holders in the future.

Please send ETH here to invest
0x87B12529ebbB820cEC4F932700B40f846174cEB3



Markets for Horizon

Horizon has identified and developed resources in 2 counties initially to deploy our business model into in the Caribbean.  We have people already working in these countries and a strong international business relationship to call upon to provide guidance, expertise and a customer pool as we launch.

Our competition in these markets have aging copper infrastructure that gets heavily damaged due to salt corrosion and high winds / hurricanes, while also employing hundreds of technicians to maintain their networks.  As such, they are horribly inefficient to a cutting-edge wireless network.  

Speeds are typically 20mbps or less, not taking into the account the issues many customers face just to get a stable connection.  These customers can be paying in excess of $250 USD per month for these services, with the market average of $150 per month.  Customer dissatisfaction is at an all-time high in many of these countries, with one telecom having 75% of customers willing to leave the incumbent operator if there was a viable alternative, which is where Horizon comes in.

For a separate country there was similar problems in the market with reliability, speed and service.  However after the Hurricanes of 2017 left the country devastated, restoration of basic internet service across the islands is predicted to take well over 1 full year.  Horizon can quickly deploy and provide internet service to the residents and businesses within 4 months.


Technological Advantage

Using cutting edge fixed wireless technology that is currently being used to supply high speed internet around the world in major markets, Horizon can deploy quickly, with very minor capital requirements compared to traditional telecom companies while driving down the cost of maintaining the network well below our competitors.  

Once we are actively using the available spectrum (wireless real estate), we have planted our legal flag on the gold mine, so to speak.  This gives us tremendous advantage and another hard asset to our balance sheet.

Due to the long range, proper distribution and relatively flat terrain our 3rd party experts and surveys show we can cover 95% of each country with a half dozen or less towers.  This enables us to keep our infrastructure low and while still providing redundancy in the event of unscheduled power outages (and concurrently, damage or equipment failure.

Our technology can, at launch, provide 150mbs + per customer, which are speeds unheard of in these nations except for a select few.  
We have partnership agreements with TV content providers and VoIP networks to have a full “triple play” product available at launch.
What is Fixed Wireless?

Fixed Wireless is an internet industry term used to describe the network technology used to connect home and business’s to a wireless infrastructure.
This is the technology Horizon will be using. The term “fixed” is used to draw a line between mobile (cell phone) and point to point or point to multi point wireless connections.

Horizon will deploy a Fixed Wireless Network called LTE.  LTE was originally designed for cell phone communications, but as the need for high speed data continued to push the technology, it has quickly become on par and in many cases surpassed copper and fiber networks.
With LTE technology, the same reason you can use your cell phone inside a building and get high speed internet (if you have 4G+) is because of it’s ability handle interference or obstructions and take “multiple paths” back to the tower.
 

Financial Outlook

Horizon is looking to raise $3.5m USD to enter the market in 4 months in our 1st selected country. In doing so, over our first four and half years of operation, a period in which we are still growing, Horizon predicts to capture at least 15% of the market.  This will generate $47.3 million of revenues against $27.3 million of expenses, for a $20 million cumulative profit.  This is only in the home and small business market for internet, IPTV and VoIP services.  

Within 2 years of operation, Horizon plans to start rolling out cell phone coverage, which can be accomplished using the same exact technology we are deploying for home and business.  This will bring in an additional estimated $9m USD a year in profit with only modest increase in expenditures for equipment and tower rentals.

Separate from those business lines is larger businesses (both countries have large international companies headquarters), law firms, banks as well as mobile applications such as taxis, police, delivery vehicles etc.  We have not included these potential business lines into our forecast yet, but they represent a large possible revenue source for the company and we will have a dedicated business development manager to oversea this avenue of business.

In both countries, there are strong similarities in the economics.  Horizon expects profits to be similar, however cost of the initial full business deployment will be more expensive as the country is still actively recovering from the Hurricanes.  Horizon seeks to raise $5m USD due to these factors.
In 2013 a Telecommunications company was purchased in one country by a competitor for $25m USD. This company only had +/- 2,000 internet only customers. In 2014 a 2nd company was purchased for $60m USD.  Both transactions show how profitable the market is and that the incumbents are willing to buyout competition.


Business Stages and Funds Needed

Launch Stage – ICO Funding

Time: +/- 1 month from capital infusion
Hire team to put together ICO / Token
Create / Build full whitepaper, Token Wallet, Token Website etc
Marketing of Token to Community
Funding Requirement - 180 ETH


Phase 1 – First Deployment

Time: +/- 4 months from capital infusion
Get 1st Wireless Tower Operational
Bring in initial launch team (3-5)
Cover initial legal expenses
Begin Local Telecom Marketing
Install 50 + customers
Funding Requirement - 850 ETH

Phase 2 – Full Deployment in Country A

Time: +/- 6 months after launch
Target Government, large businesses (International Business, Law Firms etc), taxi’s, delivery services, emergency vehicles etc
While we can service these customers sooner, we do not want to engage these markets until the company is on sure footing financially and have our a stable base of home and small business customers.

Potential revenue could be substantial.  Include Re-insurance, law firms, emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles, taxis, government contracts etc
Capital expenditures are expected to be modest.
Funding Requirements - 13,500 ETH

Phase 3 - Cell phone provider

Time: +/- 2 years after launch
Profit from becoming a cell phone carrier is quite substantial.  With over 50,000 cell phone accounts in each nation, Horizon could capture over 10,000 of those customers, leading to an additional  $12m USD a year in gross income with modest capital expenses.

Due to the frequencies, we are using at launch, there is already hundreds cell phone models currently in the market that could be used on our network, including the latest iPhone, Samsung, LG and Motorola models.

One expenditure is to expand our tower network due to the short transmitter range of your average cell phone.  Typically a tower costs $20-30k a year in lease costs. We will also look to engage with businesses who are situated in ideal locations to place our equipment on their buildings, which could result in substantial savings in lease costs.

Many customers would be able to use their existing handset with our service and would just be required to swap out for a new sim card.
Funding Requirements $10,000,000 / 33,333 ETH

Phase 4 - Company Expansion to other Nations

Time: 1-2 years from launch
There are a number of islands that would be attractive to expand to.
We would look to islands that have a high income, poor services and easy to get a strong footprint during our initial rollout.
There are 6 locations that are on our list to explore as expansion markets.
Funding Requirements - 13,500 ETH

Phase 5 - Purchase Undersea Fiber Optic Company
Time: When capital is made available
One of the Fiber Optic Companies is rumored to be for sale.  Horizon would likely need $15-25m to purchase the company.
This approach might be able to save Horizon $1m a year in bandwidth costs (for 3,000 customers, so this number scales as we grow), it would also provide us an additional revenue stream to sell bandwidth to the cell phone carriers and other ISP's.
Funding Requirements TBD

Validation

Internet giants such as Google, Starry, AT&T, Verizon, and Charter Communications have already realized how beneficial Fixed Wireless Solutions are and are therefore heavily investing into developing and deploying the same technology Horizon is using.

“Fixed wireless services to homes could hit 1 gigabit per second speeds, providing an alternative to fiber hook-ups”
TheStreet.com Sept. 2016

“U.S. Cellular has achieved speeds of 8.5 Gbps in tests of 5G fixed wireless technology”
TeleCompetitor.com Oct. 2017

“Google Fiber is now a fiber and wireless ISP”
ArsTechnica.com 2016

“AT&T First Wave of Fixed Wireless debuts in Georgia”
WirelessWeek.com 2017


Our Team

Horizon has been extremely fortunate to put together a very experience launch team.  Our people are some of the best worldwide in Telecom, Information Technology and International Business.



Gilbert A. Darrell (myself) Founder and CTO - 18 years of experience in Information Technology and Telecoms. 18 years in high stress Emergency Services with 6 years direct command line experience in the Fire Service.  Led multiple projects for Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Energizer, Siemens, New York State, Target, Sears.  Personally invested $200k in direct development and startup costs into Horizon concept.

Chief Financial Officer – 30 years of CFO and senior management experience for large financial and technology companies including startups in the countries we are planning to launch in.

VP of Business Development – 28 + years in Telecom’s.  Launched own startup in Canada in the 1990’s before selling to a larger competitor.  Opened up new markets for Telecom providers throughout the Caribbean and South America.

VP of Customer Service – 20 years in customer support and billing systems, senior management in the Caribbean for a major telecommunications company.
Strategic Advisor – 30 years in International Business, investor in a number of startups including the technology sector.  Currently CEO of an International Business Firm.

Corporate Advisor – 20 years advising and formation of companies in multi-national jurisdictions.


Contact Information
Gilbert A. Darrell
Founder, President and CTO
Horizon Communications
Phone / Telegram +1 441-519-1409
artiedarrell [at] gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/artiedarrell/

Thanks Sunsilk, let's chat...

We have a full business plan, but using a token to fundraise is what we would need help with.

So yes, Developer, Marketing, Thread creator etc....

I would think the best option is to use EC20 and link to Etherum?

Any advice on good people to hire to help launch a token?

I'm presently fundraising for a telecom company that has about 1/3 of the funds needed from local investors.

I realize at present most (all?) ICO's are usually directly Crypto related, however I was thinking perhaps it would be an interesting way to raise capital for my new startup.

My (very rough) idea is:

Create a fixed number of tokens based on the ETH chain?

Advertise the ICO and describe in detail our business plan (without giving away too much information to protect ourselves from our competition unless an NDA was signed) including all of our team (our team has some very qualified people with 20-30 years in big business, great reputations etc)

Sell the token for BTC / ETH etc to raise capital

Assign shareholder certificates to the token owner (same legal projection as our local investors)

Once profitable (we forecast just under 2 years) quarterly we pay a dividend back to the token holders in BTC / ETC etc.

We are looking for a 10% quarterly dividend based off profits, also the same deal the local investors are getting (but the token holders would instead receive the USD equivalent in BTC / ETH etc)

All our books would be audited by one of the big 4 accounting companies...

So, overall, does this idea have merit? Have ICO's been used in this capacity yet?  I do see a new crypto mining farm doing their capital raise with an ICO, hence giving me some faith this could work.

Well the token holders would be getting a dividend every quarter in cryptocurrency. That should also increase the value of the token itself yes?

Our shareholder agreement would hold us legally responsible to honor the contract with token holders, we could also put a significant amount of BTC or ETH into a escrow to ensure a growing level of protection for the holders?

I've been in Crypto since 2014 (running a 30 computer mining farm for a time as well) so the technology has always intrigued me.

I'm presently fundraising for a telecom company that has about 1/3 of the funds needed from local investors.

A few days ago, catching up on the current state of Crypto I ran into ICO's.

I realize at present most (all?) ICO's are usually directly Crypto related, however I was thinking perhaps it would be an interesting way to raise capital for my new startup.

My (very rough) idea is:

Create a fixed number of tokens based on the ETH chain?

Advertise the ICO and describe in detail our business plan (without giving away too much information to protect ourselves from our competition unless an NDA was signed) including all of our team (our team has some very qualified people with 20-30 years in big business, great reputations etc)

Sell the token for BTC / ETH etc to raise capital

Assign shareholder certificates to the token owner (same legal projection as our local investors)

Once profitable (we forecast just under 2 years) quarterly we pay a dividend back to the token holders in BTC / ETC etc.

We are looking for a 10% quarterly dividend based off profits, also the same deal the local investors are getting (but the token holders would instead receive the USD equivalent in BTC / ETH etc)

All our books would be audited by one of the big 4 accounting companies...

So, overall, does this idea have merit? Have ICO's been used in this capacity yet?  I do see a new crypto mining farm doing their capital raise with an ICO, hence giving me some faith this could work.