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On 2006 startup guru Paul Graham wrote an epic post called . But the post was published 12 years ago. The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups What are the challenges of today’s startups? As and work with startups, we want to find out the truth. we love startups We sit with a massive database published by , trying to find out if there is any pattern behind their failure. CBI Insights on startup failure Understanding the data Going through 253 startups’ failure has been a heart-wrenching experience. More we dig, we find out 5 common challenges they have come across. Financial Challenges Product-Market Fit Growth Challenges Regulatory Issues Internal Team Issues So, what’s the greatest obstacle among all? Here is a chart to understand the trend… Let’s dive deep in each category to have more understanding. Financial Challenges: The budget constraint for startups was always there and will be. Even in the age of VCs and so many investor firms, finance has been a major hindrance. CBI Insights report covers the startups death from 2014–2018. Startups who have succumbed to the cash challenges were promising or either had good products but failed to grow before the financial challenges. Meet who aims to make computing more immersive and human. The company focuses on “hearables,” wearable technology for the ears. A promising startup with the wearable technology but failed to cash in due to scarcity of cash. Below is their acknowledgement- DopplerLabs If wish, you can read their entire story . here To suddenly stop startup operation despite having a good product, a loyal user-base, is highly painful. Meet The Social Radio who had to stop even though their efforts of converting Twitter streams into a human-friendly audio experience had a good customer base. This is what they have accounted, BriefMe faced identical challenges. They had a good user-base but had to stop their operation abruptly. It’s not only that startups need money to build or maintain their product but in most of the cases, they need money to outpace and outplace their competitors, the established institutions like Amazon, Google, Facebook and other tech giants. In our postmortem, we have come across many startups who could not grow facing tough challenges from Google, Facebook and others alike. Baroo: VidMe: Shelfie: Raising money for startups have never been easy. But all of these failures just underline how competitive startup world is. Product Market Fit Finding a potential market for a new, exciting product is still a big puzzle for all startups. No wonder, . Across all the years (from 2014 to 2018), the product-market has pushed startups to shut their stores time and again. 42% startups have to wind down failing to create demand for their product Let’s understand what specific product problems they have faced- Understanding the true need: IntroNet set out to power digital introductions through its Connector product on the web and in Gmail. But they failed having a good lesson on Product Market fit- No more relevance: Startups who have suffered from the product market fit has also faced the challenge of not being able to keep pace with the current trend. Meet Raptr, a PC gaming service designed to optimize PC gaming performance while maintaining high quality and system efficiency. Expecting too much from a customer: This is an interesting study. Some of the startups who failed think their product was ahead of the curve too much. They had to shut down as their target audience was not ready to adapt to new technologies. Imzy was one such startup who offered a platform for healthy communities where its members are free from harassment and abuse. Was it too much ahead of the trend? Below is their realisation- Mobeam also faced similar challenges. Mobeam provided universal access at point of sale (POS), enabling the transmission of coupons, gift cards, tickets and other barcode data at retailers. They realised- In quest of Sustainable Business Model: Some products also failed as they could not find out a viable business model to continue their business. Meet GoZoomo, a Bangalore based technology used car marketplace pioneering in peer-to-peer transactions of pre-owned cars and providing a hassle free experience. They closed with an honest statement- Canvas Network also tasted the bitter startup failure. They were offering users to share and play with images, explore new content created by other users, vote on favorites, and make image remixes with the in-browser editor. Their realisation has been eye-opener- started to offer world’s first colored coins web-wallet. In their statement, they unveiled why it’s so tough for a new startup to flourish- Coinprism was another victim, who Customers are the king: In the middle of so many product-market fit puzzles, there is one big revelation we acquire from our study. Understanding the audience is a massive breakthrough to find out the Product Market fit. VoterTide encountered the same challenge. They developed a social media monitoring and analysis app focused on politics. Identifying their failure, they said- Is there a demand for your product? For a new technology, customers’ don’t know what they are going to play with. They even don’t know will this product help them or not. This leads to an inertia to use the product. Creating the demand for the product is the key here, we understand from the study. Kitchensurfing faced the challenge. They took initiative to make it easy to bring meals from idea to the table. A promising idea failed to create enough demand in the market. How to find the “Product Market Fit”? Now the question is what can help you to come up with viable “Product-Market Fit”. What we are understanding from our study is that there is no alternative of “Knowing your audience.” Delivery startup PepperTap underlines the need of extensive research to achieve the ‘Product Market Fit”. The India-based mobile centric hyperlocal grocery delivery service, PepperTap promised to provide quick on demand grocery products to the doorstep. But they failed as they encounter new challenges frequently. Let’s hear from them- The age-old chicken and egg problem: Every marketplace startup have to go through this piece of puzzle earlier and our study once again highlights that the problem is still palpable for marketplace-startups. And here are some of them- WHY own it enables users to borrow products from friends and neighbors. WHY own it: was another victim. It was developed to allow users to access a network of social apps. App.net provided infrastructure to build social applications. And if failed resolving the “Chicken and Egg Problem”. App.net an online trading platform with a website and mobile apps also faced the same issue. Selltag Growth Challenges There are lot of startups who cracked the product-market fit puzzle and had some initial traction too. Still they had to wrap up their operation facing the growth challenges or chasing the growth. We will start with Shyp, a delivery startups which was launched to take the stress out of shipping everyday item for consumers and small businesses alike. Markafoni also closed after failing to scale up. The online shopping destination for Turkish consumers, specialising in clothing and fashion accessories, Markafoni could not grow their business. In their statement they underlined the growth challenge as numero uno hindrance- Prismatic, a media startup also had to wind down due to their slow growth. As we keep digging in, we found out more similar confessions. Brawker, a BitCoin startup Melotic, a cryptocurrency technology provider For startups, growth is a big KPI. If there is no growth, earning secure funding is a big task. Meet Wantful. As an online gift-giving service Wantful offered users to curate a set of gifts based on occasions. They had a good product at hand, and also great traction. But the growth was not there- Many startups believe that had they focused on growth along with “Product”, or the technology, they would be sustainable. Everpix is one such startup who failed to scale up as they desired. Everpix offered a cloud solution to upload, organize and curate photos. The Pain of Marketing Lot of startups have recognised marketing as one of their core challenge behind their failure to grow. Travel startups Travelllll.com felt the pain and they blamed lack of marketing as their reason to shut down. Regulatory Challenges The new menace of all the disruptive startups. This is one of the major challenges of new-age startups like cryptocurrency. Let’s know more of them- . Colored coins allow people and organizations to securely issue and trade real-world assets like commodities, stocks and bonds on the Bitcoin network had to shut down facing the same issue. Coinprism, world’s first colored coins web-wallet is another startup who had to eat the dust facing strong regulatory challenges. Global peer to peer bitcoin lending platform- BTCJam Of late, lot of startups have faced regulatory challenges and decided to close. Guvera (a music startup) , Loyal3 (a web and social media platform,) LoanBase (BitLending Club), Bitphone (an encrypted, Bitcoin-accepting online video calling service) had to shut down facing the regulatory issues. Scarf, a startup providing skilled home-cooks to turn their kitchens into a source of income while increasing the availability of healthy affordable local meals. Internal Team Issues Startup team is always a myth, a nice story to read and remember. But most startups don’t have the fate as Airbnb or Apple and very often they struggled to find or build good team to continue their journey. Shoes.com Technologies, faced the same issue. Shoes.com brought the best selection and customer service to every Canadian, from quality brands to free express shipping anywhere in Canada. But they had to close failing to find a viable team- Wikimart, an eCommerce platform based in Russia which integrated payment and fulfillment functions had a tragic story behind their closure. SideCar was another startup who faced the stiff challenge of nurturing a good team to shape up their idea. SideCar is a delivery and logistics company serving the on-demand economy. After investigating, SideCar came up with a report which stated- More Takeaways Besides all the given reasons, we have also identified few other challenges which are playing vital role in changing the fate of startups. UI-UX holds the key of success: In today’s crowded marketplace UI-UX is the decider. Product without good UI-UX has no life and opportunities in them. We have found startups who have acknowledged the fact. College Inside View kicked off with great ambition, helping people to find out the best of colleges with their application. As they failed, the founder highlighted- ComboCats Studio was another startup who identified they had to make their UI-UX better. The founder confessed- Social Media Startups are dead! This is a big revelation. Lot of new social media startups tried to be Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but failed miserably. was one of them. Serendip pulled music recommendations from a users friends on Facebook and Twitter to create playlists that could then be customized. Israeli-based music tech startup Serendip Analytics Startups are the new trend On the debris of social media startups, the analytics startups are emerging. But not everyone is embracing the success though. One who can crack the “Product Market” fit, they will have the success. We have already mentioned about VoterTide, an app for a social media monitoring and analysis focused on politics. But they failed to understand the pulse of their customers and could not deliver what they are looking for. Despite the failure, startups who are emerging with product ideas around “Digital Marketing Analytics”, “Social Media Analytics” are here to make ruckus. It’s tough for CryptoCurrency startups: Blockchain, CryptoCurrency and Bitcoin might have made headlines but are all startups succeeding who bank upon CryptoCurrency. We have got plenty of startups who have struggled to continue their show even with an in-trend product. They have faced two major issues- Regulatory Challenges Product-Market Fit Few of their confessions are given below- “Regulators are starting to pay attention to the [cryptocurrency] space, and activities around blockchain assets (tokens exchanges, ICO tools and services, etc.) are likely to become heavily regulated in the next 5 years. That means some of these services will have to shut down or restrict their activities, some might go to prison, and only a small number of well capitalized companies will successfully adapt to the regulator’s demands.” “However, in regard to the adoption of bitcoin for consumer payments, Dunworth stated, “We kind of bet on that, and it didn’t work.” Our Understanding Finding success for startups has never been easy. Before the massive competition of tech giants and emerging competition, it’s getting tougher for new startups to win their audience and rule the market. From our study, we understand ideas are abundant in the world of startups but for reasons like product-market fit and financial challenges they are not being able to crack the entire startup game. What’s your thoughts on startup failure? We would love to know from you. Share your comments and insights with us. Thanks to CBI Insights for an extensive research on startup failure. Without their work, we would not be able to dive deep into so many startup failure and come up with our report. We have been working with startups for over a decade and it was a great experience to make our understanding better and enriching. You can know more about us and our experience of working with startups . here

Why do startups fail? A postmortem of 256 failed startups.

TL;DR You can’t be against crypto keep hackers out of critical infrastructure.You can’t be against crypto keep “Russian Hackers” at bay.You can’t be against crypto be for secure e-commerce.You can’t be against crypto want to keep people safe.You can’t be against crypto be a centre for banking.You can’t be against crypto be for “Tech-City”.You can’t go back to the pre crypto days, ever.Embrace crypto for the global win. and and and and and and now The Long Version The final battle of the is over, and . We've won because everyone on earth has common cause against the State’s desire to spy on all our communications. Crypto (properly called ) has not won as an idea, but it has won as a working tool because cryptography is essential to everyone’s security, equally, world-wide. “ Crypto Wars ” we have won Cryptography A PGP Public Key. This block of text and others like it, are what all the fuss is about. It changes everything, and shifts the balance of power to everyone equally. The US and UK are proposing that all cryptography be deliberately broken so they can have back door access. They’re , ranging from . Once everyone understands that what USUK is proposing means exposing them to the theft of their money and personal data, 99% of all citizens will say “absolutely not” to any weakening of cryptography. using decades old and very tired excuses as pretexts for requesting this pornography to terrorism Leading the charge in this battle against the state are and , two of the biggest companies on earth that are law abiding and straight laced. These companies can only take this stance in what is an existential battle and they are not going to weaken their products to make them inferior, especially when anyone can make . The entire foundation of global commerce is unbreakable cryptography. These companies will literally lose everything if cryptography is crippled, along with every person who uses the web or a credit card or a chat app. Apple Google a secure phone and sell it Government “representatives” claim to be concerned about hackers getting into power stations and other critical infrastructure. First of all, critical infrastructure should not be exposed to the open internet. Ever. Power stations ran for decades without being connected to the internet; why should they be connected to it now? Secondly, strong cryptography keeps that infrastructure safe in the same way that it keeps you safe on line. Weakening cryptography makes critical infrastructure vulnerable to attack, and it makes you personally vulnerable to hacking and theft. Representatives claim to be keen to promote their ability to gain from the new economy, , which they want to become the centre of the software explosion that is changing the way everything is done. What they don’t understand is that what makes Tech City possible cryptography. Without cryptography, like the “Tech City” area in Shoreditch London is there can be no “Tech Revolution”. What is needed? Members of the public and businesses don’t need help from the government to cause London or any other place to be the centre of the tech revolution. People moved to Shoreditch and Silicon Valley and wrote software and started businesses without being told to do so by Downing Street or Washington. Innovation will happen and tech will flourish in the UK and US without any interference, and in fact a l_ack_ of interference will make it happen and in . faster a more robust fashion There has been simmering background chatter about Bitcoin being some sort of vague threat. The people whose trade is fear and “security thinking” can’t decide what the exact threat is. Here is a : good example A sword piercing the world. Nice. “A spokesperson for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), its top law enforcement agency, has revealed bitcoin and digital currencies will be an area of focus during an upcoming conference organized by Interpol to be held in India. Running from 17th to 19th November, the sixth-annual Global Focal Point Conference on Asset Recovery will more broadly focus on fighting corruption and financial crime. According to statements from Interpol, measures to be discussed will include a new global police alerts system that would help global agencies better trace and recover stolen assets. However, a new report by The Economic Times indicates that the CBI has said digital currency and its role in facilitating trade on the dark web will be discussed. While not quoted directly, CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh reportedly said the technology has caused concerns among law enforcement agencies for its growing use in cybercrime.” What these people fail to understand is that the cryptography that protects everyone, and Bitcoin as a tool, are already here, can spread frictionlessly throughout all the internet, and the benefits far outweigh the minuscule negative effects. Bitcoin and cryptography are not threats; they are boons . The problem here is that none of these people understand what these tools can actually do singly, and cannot conceive of what they could do in concert. For example, Bitcoin could completely eliminate credit card and e-commerce fraud forever, protecting billions of people globally and the made on line. That is . The savings in insurance, security measures, time and lost money is difficult to calculate, but its on the order of hundreds of billions over a decade. twenty four trillion dollars of annual transactions $24,000,000,000,000 And that is the benefit of Bitcoin , excluding the benefits of SSL, HTTPS, GPG, full disc encryption, and secure tools like WhatsApp, iMessage, Apple Mail and many other apps used by hundreds of millions of people globally every minute of every day of the year, all put at risk by deliberately crippling encryption alone The savings and improvements that are sure to follow from incorporating Bitcoin as the means to move money everywhere cannot be predicted. by itself will cause billions to be fraudlessly injected into global e-commerce. The way things are done globally will change, and will be made better in ways that we can barely glimpse today. Without encryption, this can’t happen. Solving the problem of the 2 billion un-banked people Everyone Knows the Truth Everyone is against the statutory weakening of e-commerce. From all sides of the political spectrum, from literally to the , not a single person who understands what this means is for it. The State has lost this one, and by extension, they can’t touch Bitcoin, because . the biggest companies on earth basement dweller it is constructed from the same stuff A “Goddamned Piece of Paper” according to those . sworn to defend it Any country with a properly written constitution can’t mandate controls on cryptography. The USA’s “First Amendment” guarantees a citizen’s right to create whatever texts he desires by whatever means, be it a pencil or multiplying . Bitcoin and all cryptography is Bitcoin and cryptography are They can’t be regulated in a free country like the USA with guaranteed inalienable rights. a text turned to numbers by a random number text. speech. The world is going through a profound transformation powered by information. The old men who run the institutions that provided security in different areas are going to be completely disrupted. The banks that provided security and consumer interfaces for money are going to vanish. There was a time before them, and there will be a time after them. The security institutions may or may not survive, but what is certain is that if they do survive, they will be completely transformed. Any security service that relies on spying on individuals from a central location must completely re-invent itself if it is to avoid being closed down as redundant. The days of sitting back in orthopaedic office chairs while the world’s information comes to you are over. You now have to go to the information. Oddly enough, this could mean a radical expansion of staffing and infrastructure at security services, since people are going to have to be . It will mean concentrating on actual criminals, narrowly targeting them with limited resources and doing , instead of other, “undemocratic” things. Cryptography It means , more work and . personally surveilled good work is a benefit for the security services industry and democracy. vastly increased budgets more ethical work It should be clear to anyone who can think that the final outcome of the is net benefit to everyone everywhere. Since it really is inevitable, and manifestly beneficial, anyone who is against it is Crypto Wars a fool. Let go! A glass of strange purple milk ↴

The Final Battle of the Crypto Wars is Over, and We Have Irrevocably Won.

Our current monetary system is comprised of state-backed fiat currency. While the actual money-changing-hands approach has seen a steady decrease, hence we might be moving towards a cashless society, and digitally transferring funds is considered favorable payment solution, countries like Sweden and Canada are researching the issuance of digital decentralized currency. Nationwide trade restrictions, issued by one of the world’s most powerful countries, the US, are also a reason for issuing a digital decentralized currency, or the more commonly referred to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). In a about CBDC, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF stated: speech ‘The case is based on new and evolving requirements for money, as well as essential public policy objectives. My message is that while the case for digital currency is not universal, we should investigate it further, seriously, carefully, and creatively.’ That is exactly what a lot of countries have taken to heart. According to a recent from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), 70% of central banks (based on 63 central banks that participated in the survey) are currently researching the issuance of a CBDC. The majority of the countries currently investigating to launch of a digital currency, cited ‘financial inclusion’ as the main reason for exploring CBDCs. report Creating a new cryptocurrency, in oppose to accepting Bitcoin as an official form of payment seems favorable to most countries. In many countries, Bitcoin is allowed to be transferred as a form of payment, however, there is no country as of yet, where Bitcoin is officially considered legal tender. The topic of CBDCs and their many forms and approaches, benefits and drawbacks seems like an interesting angle for a more in-depth article, that I will probably follow up on, at a later time. Countries to issue a state-backed digital currency The Republic of the Marshall Islands In 2018, The Marshall Islands the creation of a new official digital currency, called the Sovereign (SOV), after issuing the of 2018. The SOV will become the Republic’s legal tender, just like the US Dollar. The Marshall Islands are situated near the equator in the Pacific Ocean and have a population of nearly 60,000. The Sovereign will be created with the help of Israeli startup, . The country aims to raise $30 million from the SOV crowdsale, of which, $15 million will go towards Neema for the development of the digital currency. The country initiated the SOV to raise cash for paying the bills and give a boost to the economy. announced Sovereign Cryptocurrency Act Neema Blockchain smart-wallet provider, , announced a partnership with SOV in which they agreed to produce physical blockchain bank notes for the Marshall Islands official legal digital tender. Tangem Singapore In 2017, project Ubin, a digital version of the Singapore Dollar (SGD) was announced. The Central Bank issued digital currency, would be running on the Ethereum blockchain. Project Ubin is a collaboration between the central bank of Singapore and , a blockchain for business organization. R3 In 2018 the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority Singapore, publicly criticized the idea of a CBDC. After his statement on the topic, no further information about the SGD has been made public. Iran Following the US trade restrictions, Iran it will issue its own cryptocurrency, that will be pegged to the official national fiat currency, the Rial. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) recently new rules regarding cryptocurrencies, reversing a previous ban. There are however still trading restrictions on the use of digital currencies in the country. announced drafted Venezuela The Petro (PTR) was introduced in December of 2017, as a supplement to the Venezuelan Bolivar (VEF) and to overcome the US sanctions. According to the government, the Petro is backed by oil, gas, gold and diamonds. A lot of controversy surrounds the Petro Dollar; read more about it in article. this Senegal The eCFA, a digital version of the national fiat currency, the CFA Franc, was back in December 2016. The eCFA was created by local bank outlet, Banque Régionale de Marchés (BRM) and eCurrency Mint Limited, which is an Ireland-based startup that assists central banks in creating their own digital fiat currencies. issued The second phase of the eCFA issuance is the roll-out of the digital currency in other African countries including Niger, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and others. During my research, I could not find additional, up-to-date information about the introduction of eCFA in these other African countries. Tunisia Tunisia was the first country in the world to issue an official state-backed digital currency, in 2015, called the e-Dinar. UAE and Saudi-Arabia On the 29th of January, this year, the United Arab Emirates Central Bank (UAECB) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) the collaboration in launching the digital currency project ‘Aber’. Aber will be used in financial settlements between the two countries. announced One of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, announced its own cryptocurrency in October 2017. Emcredit, a subsidiary of Dubai Economy and Object Tech Group ltd, from the UK, will work together on creating emCash, Dubai’s very own CBDC. enCash will become an official payment solution for government and non-government services in Dubai. Peru The South-American country issued , a state-backed cryptocurrency based on the Ethereum blockchain. PeruCoin was introduced to promote the trading of digital currencies and to increase to the adoption of cryptocurrencies among the population. Even though it appears to be state-backed the project is managed by a company called Bits2u. The website appears to have some red flags relating to the project, comparing it with the SECs ‘ICO warning website’ . The ICO also does not seem to attract a lot of interest. PeruCoin Howey Coins Countries researching digital currencies Canada The bank of Canada has been doing on the issuance of a CBDC, since 2016. In the most recent paper, by S. Mohammad R. Davoodalhosseini, from the Funds Management and Banking Department of the Bank of Canada, the welfare gains of introducing a CBDC are estimated to lead up to a 0.64% increase in consumption for Canada. No actual plans for issuing a CBDC, in Canada, have been announced so far. research Thailand The Central bank of Thailand has been working on a CBDC for a few years now. Q1 of 2019 is projected to of the plans to issue a CBDC. A proof-of-concept trial should be ready by March of this year. launch the first phase Israel As the cryptocurrency industry continues to grow in Israel, the Bank of Israel is . A representative of the Ministry of Finance stated, a state-sponsored cryptocurrency aims to lower the nationwide cash-transactions, while at the same time cracking down on tax evasion and money laundering. A draft legal-framework has been issued at the beginning of 2018, follow-up news is difficult to find, online. considering issuing a state-sponsored cryptocurrency China The war most likely has China working overtime on issuing its own Public Bank of China (PBoC) backed cryptocurrency. The first reports surfaced in 2016, stating China is creating its own blockchain-based digital currency. China has already 78 digital currency patents, of which 44 are blockchain related, since 2016. Sino-US trade registered The Bahamas Here we have another Pacific island exploring cryptocurrencies. The Central Bank of the The Bahamas has launching a pilot cryptocurrency for the archipelago. announced Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, K. Peter Turnquest stated, during the Bahamas Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference_, “The production of a modern fully digital payment service is the way forward for this era of governance. A digital Bahamian currency is especially important for the many family islands as they have seen many commercial banks downsize and pull out of their communities, leaving them without banking services.”_ Uruguay The South-American country of Uruguay started , in 2017, in testing a digital version of the Uruguayan Peso. The Central Bank of Uruguay (CBU) wanted to test and see if a digital payment option is a viable way of doing business in the future. The pilot was carried out with 10,000 testers that downloaded a smartphone app from national telecommunications provider ANTEL. No updated after-trial information could be found online. a six-month long trial The Netherlands The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has also experienced the idea of issuing a digital currency. In the , the research of issuing a CBDC is mentioned a few times. DNB acknowledges the potential benefits but also sees bottlenecks. DNB Payments Strategy Overview for 2018–2021 Norway Norges Bank, the country’s central bank, started a working group to examine the implications of issuing a CBDC. , 55-page long paper, written by Norges Bank associates, addresses possible approaches, benefits and drawbacks from issuing a CBDC. This Sweden Sweden’s Riksbank is issuing the e-Krona a state-backed digital currency. The Riksbank is researching the effects that a cashless society might have on the country and they are looking for solutions for the increasing digitalization. The most report proposes the research into the legalities of Riksbank issuing a CBDC. The report also asks for development and a technical proposal for a viable e-Krona. considering recent Eurasia Russia’s Ministry of Finance believes that issuing a Eurasian Economic Union-backed digital currency is inevitable, given the , of August 2018. The Eurasian Union was created in 2014 and is comprised of five member countries, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. new US imposed sanctions Countries with a preliminary rejection of issuing a digital decentralized currency Germany After conducting thorough research, the German Federal Ministry of Finance stated, on the 5th of July 2018, a CBDC would be too risky to issue at the moment, thereby rejecting the interest in pursuing a central bank backed cryptocurrency. Switzerland , chairman of SIX traditional stock exchange in Switzerland, proposed the idea of an e-Franc, in February of 2018, stating, ‘ .’ Romeo Lacher An e-franc under the control of the central bank would create a lot of synergies — so it would be good for the economy The Swiss National Bank responded, with a statement of Vice President Fritz Zurbrügg, ‘Would broad access to a CBDC or broader access to digital central bank money have better results than the current monetary system? And would the Swiss National Bank thereby better fulfill its legal mandate? From our perspective, it’s a no to both questions,’ The United Kingdom The Bank of England (BoE) it will put a temporary hold on researching the issuance of a CBDC, because of the current economic stability issues, regarding the Brexit. announced Hong Kong While Mainland China is in the process of launching its own cryptocurrency, Hong Kong is the opposite. They are not currently looking to issue a CBDC as they feel it has no superiority over the current monetary system. stating South-Korea South-Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea (BOK) , in June of 2018, they are opposed to issuing a CBDC, citing high costs for the society and the moral hazard. According to the BOK, issuing a CBDC will raise the basic mechanics of monetary policy and implementation. announced Japan Japan dismissed the idea of a central bank digital currency when the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) Deputy Governor spoke negatively about the effect CBDCs might have on the financial system. On the 22nd of October 2018, Deputy Governor, Masayoshi Amamiya, , ‘There are many aspects we need to look into, whether it would actually contribute to improving the efficacy of financial policies or financial stability.’ stated Failed attempts at issuing a CBDC Ecuador The state-backed cryptocurrency Dinero Electronico (DE) was back in 2014 and launched in December of that same year, with a small group of accredited users. The system was designed to support the country’s Dollar-based system, not compete with it. The DE was pegged to the US Dollar 1:1. In December 2017, the Ecuadorian government decided to , because of a lack of traction. announced discontinue the program Concluding remarks As I see it, the digitalization of our society is continuing at a rapid pace. With the availability of widely accepted smartphone payment apps, the support of governments for a digital form of currency should not be a very far stretch. The issuance of state-backed digital currency can become the next milestone in the evolution of money. Only time will tell how CBDCs influence our monetary system. I will be following the developments closely… Disclaimer : This article is not intended as investment advice. You should always do your own research. All the information provided in this article is based on my own personal opinion. During these challenging market conditions, I strongly urge everyone to thoroughly research projects to potentially invest in. If you do decide you want to invest, only invest money you can afford to lose. If you like my content about blockchain and cryptocurrencies, you can give me a follow. I also have an account on and . You are welcome to follow me there as well. On my page, you will find a bit more personal information. You can ask me questions on Telegram: @LindaCrypto. Steemit Twitter LinkedIn I hope you have enjoyed this article, and please comment in the allocated section below if you have any further questions. Thank you! Linda Willemse

CBCD: 19 Countries Creating or Researching the Issuance of a Digital Decentralized Currency

Currently, the UK economy is living through tough times. The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) predicts that the UK economy will remain in recession for at least five quarters but is . The cost-of-living crisis is putting pressure on both households and businesses, which causes massive discontent. There are a lot of tax changes and freezes that will eventually affect everyone. likely to recover in 2024 Inflation is at its highest level in the last four decades; it is rising monthly along with interest rates but, according to experts, it has peaked at 11%. As forecasted by the Bank of England, the annual expectation of GDP growth in 2023 is now -1.3%. The EY ITEM Club says that the UK economy is expected to be in crisis until summer 2023. In a November Statement, when the government informed parliament of its future financial plans, the Chancellor finally confirmed that the UK was in recession. Earlier this autumn, there were loud speculations regarding the economic downturn in the news and mass media, but the official statement appeared only recently. The confirmation was not expected until 2023. With great uncertainty and confusing information about the state of the recession in the UK, it is not surprising that many people are trying to find clear data. What Is a Recession? A recession is a significant and prolonged decline in economic activity. During a recession, economic output, employment, and consumer spending fall. A downturn is called a recession when it lasts more than a few months: the economy must have at least two consecutive quarters of falling outputs. UK Recession in Figures As for the UK, the economy contracted in the 3rd quarter of the year; however, revised data for the previous quarter showed a slight 0.2% increase from April to June. Citing data from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Chancellor confirmed that the UK is currently in recession. The OBR stated that a reduction in real incomes, rising interest rates and falling house prices are all putting pressure on consumption and investment, which was pushing the economy into a recession from the beginning of the third quarter of 2022. The historic cost-of-living crisis has been slightly reduced by the government's intervention on energy bills, but its main cause, namely, a reduction in real incomes, is still actual. Policymakers struggle to cope with double-digit inflation, and we can see real changes; for example, the central bank introduced the biggest 1989. interest rate hike since The UK economy is also under pressure from the incomplete recovery of the labour market after the Covid-19 pandemic and the long-term consequences of the country's exit from the European Union. This resulted in a decline in business investments. The CBI said these factors reduce productivity and cloud the long-term prospects of the UK economy. What May Happen in a Recession? The possible impact of an economic recession is quite predictable. Being a stage of an economic cycle, it proved to be a hard time for everyone, with no exceptions. Let's learn the common outcomes. Recessions tend to be accompanied by significant job losses, and we've started to see this in some industries like technology, with Meta, Twitter and recently Amazon cutting headcount and focusing on slashing capacity and lowering costs. There has been some weakening of labour markets over the past few months, but this is not at the levels seen during previous major downturns, such as the 2008 financial crisis. According to the latest official data for the three months (to September), unemployment was 3.6%, slightly up from 3.5% in the summer. Still, these are the lowest figures since 1974. The UK may not necessarily go through the large-scale job cuts and layoffs that were seen in the past, but households and businesses are likely to face additional strain because of salary inflation. In real monetary terms, wages are not keeping up with inflation, and they may also decline slightly next year compared to this year. When Will the UK's Recession End? The UK Economic Outlook The BCC predicts that the economy will return to growth in Q4 2023, unlike the Bank of England, whose forecasts are not at all comforting. Inflation in the UK is expected to slow down to 5% by next year. The economy is supposed to grow in 2024, but the recovery is estimated to be weak because business investment, exports and household consumption remain low. Investment and Recovery Are Expected to Be Anaemic Analysts state that there will be a slow and weak recovery next year. Here are some predictions for the future state of the UK economy: A recent BCC survey showed a significant drop in business confidence over the past few months. In 2023, investment is expected to decline by 1.8% overall. Business investment is expected to decline further by 3.0% in 2023, which is considerably below the previous forecast of an increase of 0.6%. Household consumption is also expected to decline by 2.3%, although government spending is expected to increase by 4.6%. 2024 is predicted to show a slow return to growth, but not at a level that compensates for five quarters of economic contraction. Household spending, net exports, and business investment will rise, but with a reduction in government spending, the recovery will be weak. UK Fintech Investment Britain is a favourable place for technology-related business. The evidence of this is reflected in the governmental regulatory framework, for example, investor-friendly policies and tax benefits. Moreover, the sizable consumer market open to new products has a positive effect on the industry and fintech adoption rates. Currently, the UK has a thriving ecosystem with . Most of them are located in London, so the capital ranks second in the world after the United States. approximately 2,500 fintech companies The main driving force of the fintech system is the high level of investment in the industry. According to Innovate Finance, UK investments in 2021 amounted to $11.6 billion, accounting for about half of all European investments. According to City of London Corporation research, fintech firms have now become the main source of in financial services: they make up one-third of all investment projects. This clearly indicates that the UK is an attractive and leading centre of innovation in financial services. foreign direct investment The inflation of 2022 has lowered overall financial confidence, but consumers claim that fintech is helping them survive the economic downturn. Consumers use savings accounts and personal investment apps to reach their short-term and long-term goals, along with various payment and money management tools that help ensure stability. The development of fintech services software and the adoption of innovations are expected to have a major impact in 2023. Fintech is proving to be a solution of the future, especially with the largest group of digital technology adherents — Generation Z and millennials. It is obvious that fintech has helped consumers during the last three years of global challenges. Customers state that the further path for this industry will be the development that provides people with stability, flexibility, and new opportunities.

The UK's Economic Outlook for 2023

This Slogging thread by JeffreyHarris, Jose Hernandez, Jack Boreham and Limarc Ambalina occurred in slogging's official #gaming channel, and has been edited for readability. What is your favorite handheld portable gaming system? You can choose more obscure options like the Atari Lynx. It can be modern or classics. But what were your favorites? The Game Boy Color? The SEGA Game Gear? The SEGA Nomad? My personal favorite is the New Nintendo 3DS XL. I enjoyed its versatility, being able to download and play classic games, some great classic Kirby platforming games, the larger screen, and a nice amount of features. It also has a really pleasant home screen that's very relaxing to use. This is also my favorite color design for the Nintendo 3DS XL. I really the alternate color styles and designs it could use. JeffreyHarris Apr 5, 2021, 8:40 PM I agree. I've been feeling nostalgic recently about the 3DS, and I've been appreciating their line-up more and more. Mario Kart 7, New Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario 3D Land are all great Jose Hernandez Apr 6, 2021, 11:16 PM Yeah the first-party game selection 3DS was actually quite good. JeffreyHarris Apr 7, 2021, 12:54 AM I would say the Gameboy advance, for purely nostalgic reasons.  I played some of my earliest games on the console, and it holds my fondest memories. For example, I played my first Pokemon and Spyro games on the console. Jack Boreham Apr 7, 2021, 9:52 AM Jack Boreham Apr 7, 2021, 9:57 AM https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/gameboy/images/9/98/800px-Gameboy_Advance_On.png/revision/latest?cb=20090330171548 I would still say the PlayStation Vita. There are so many great things about it. You can connect it to your PS4 and play games from anywhere in the house. I even played Fornite in bed. It has dual thumbsticks (which the 3DS and original PSP didn't have). I love visual novels and JRPGs and the lineup of games in those genres on the console are stellar. I really wish PlayStation would invest more time into it and maybe a Vita 2 Limarc Ambalina Apr 7, 2021, 2:26 PM Also I love that about the 3DS JeffreyHarris I wish we had the same functionality on the Switch. I'm sure it'll come soon though Limarc Ambalina Apr 7, 2021, 11:06 PM Some very nice choices Limarc and Jack. I think the Vita is actually quite underrated. But my favorite handhelds are usually the Nintendo ones. JeffreyHarris Apr 8, 2021, 3:55 AM What were the games you played the most on the 3DS? For the Gameboy Advance Jack Boreham I spent countless hours on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Limarc Ambalina Apr 9, 2021, 6:01 PM Kirby Triple Deluxe. Kirby Planet RoboBot. Super Smash Bros. Also, Mega Man X Trilogy and Super Mario World for digital downloads. JeffreyHarris Apr 11, 2021, 3:29 PM Oh I'm surprised you like Kirby? That IP always seemed like too kiddy for me. I heard Planet RoboBot was too easy and fans disliked it because of that? Limarc Ambalina Apr 11, 2021, 4:27 PM I find Kirby absolutely delightful. I would say they are no more kiddy than a Mario game really. I've always enjoyed that Kirby can suck up enemies and take their powers. Also, to me, Kirby characters are iconic between Kirby, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. They're just great characters, great designs, and silhouettes. JeffreyHarris Apr 12, 2021, 8:56 PM

What's Your Favorite Handheld Portable Gaming System?

On February 10, became unusually buggy. I don’t know why, but the app was slow and balky. Clubhouse members could not join Clubhouse chat rooms when we wanted to, and sometimes we could not leave them, either. We could not follow other members. We couldn’t keep our Clubhouse connections going. Clubhouse Now, when most social apps such as Facebook or Instagram go down, the reaction is like losing power – annoyance and impatience. But on Clubhouse, I noticed a lot of people struggling emotionally. Their reactions speak volumes about the state of our collective well-being. For the uninitiated, here’s some quick context about Clubhouse: it’s a social audio app, meaning that members communicate exclusively by talking on their mobile phones in group chats. These group chats are known as Rooms. Members can organize a regularly scheduled Room for people with shared interests (I participate in a weekly Room for lovers of vinyl records). Many Rooms are organized spontaneously, too – for example, after premiered on February 12,  members set up Rooms on the fly to discuss critical reactions to the movie. Judas and the Black Messiah Still other rooms might be organized just for the express purpose of people wanting to spread good vibes, discuss their spiritual journeys, and meet each other. Really, there are chatrooms for about every conceivable purpose (for more insight, here’s a I wrote). blog post Clubhouse members can get engaged. One reason: Rooms are like talk radio shows. They can be free-wheeling, covering a lot of ground during a chat session. If the chats are moderated well by the host, participants feed off each other’s remarks and have lively, engaging conversations (but if they are not moderated well, “the chat sessions can come across as mind-numbingly dull or feel like a rambling TED talk” ). very, very in the words of NPR’s Bobby Allyn Although hard numbers are difficult to come by, members have . tweeted about spending anywhere from 11 to 40 hours a week on the app Which brings me to the Great Clubhouse Outage of February 10. As the app’s buggy behavior stretched into the evening, I noticed people setting up Rooms to talk about Clubhouse going down. I jumped into a few to listen. Room members shared some emotionally visceral reactions. One woman said she felt like her lifeline to the outside world had been cut. She worried that her mom, not a Clubhouse member, would fail to understand how she was feeling. I heard more than a few people crying. One Clubhouse member said, “I crave human interaction. I am so lonely. I can’t handle this.” People also vented on Twitter (see #ClubhouseDown), but their reactions did not capture the real-time emotional reactions I witnessed. The pain. The sense of loss and disconnection. A serious case of FOMO, you might ask? It’s a fair question. Clubhouse is just as suspectable to mass FOMO as any other app – and since it’s still operated on an invitation-only basis, probably even more so. Indeed, when Elon Musk appeared on a Clubhouse chat late in the evening California time January 31, the moment was accurately described as “ .” FOMO-creating And author Lacy Boggs recently argued that the entire existence of Clubhouse depends on FOMO. But FOMO doesn’t explain the sense of loss and disconnection, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to exact a heavy toll on our emotional and mental health amid widespread quarantine living. Remember: solitary confinement is meant to be a punishment in the penal system, and that’s exactly the kind of life many people are leading right now, albeit with varying degrees of isolation. More than 42 percent of people in December 2020 reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in December, compared  to 11 percent who answered the same way in 2019. , experts say that as quarantine living drags on, younger generations especially are facing a “mental health pandemic” that should be treated as seriously as containing the coronavirus. surveyed by the US Census Bureau According to a February 14 New York Times article I am fortunate. I am happily married. My wife and I, both self-employed, have worked from our home for years now. We’re used to spending a lot of time in our home, and neither of us lives in isolation. But we’re both inherently social people like everyone else we know. I’ve always spent a lot of time on Facebook staying connected. Clubhouse has been cannibalizing my Facebook time since I joined in January. As I mentioned in a , I hang out on Clubhouse partly to connect with people (especially those whose walks of life are different than my own) and partly to talk about topics of shared interest. I would argue that the chill-out factor also wields an enormous appeal for people on Clubouse. recent blog post One night, I was suffering from insomnia. I hung out in a room dedicated to sharing good vibes. We didn’t deconstruct the world’s problems or discuss the merits of using Instagram Reels although we did have a friendly debate about the best flavor of Hot Pockets to eat after hours. Basically, we just chilled out. It was a cold, snowy night. One guy in the room was driving from Minneapolis to Madison on slick roads. Clubhouse was keeping him company to manage the stress. Others, just like me, were up in the middle of the night social networking. Clubhouse was something like his CB radio. I’ve been part of some pretty heavy topics, too, covering everything from race to spirituality. I’ve been in chatrooms whose sole purpose is for people to pray for each other. One night I hung out in a Room dedicated to storytellers looking to turn personal setbacks into creative stories. The conversation ended up focusing on personal testimonies, as members opened up about abusive relationships, lapses of faith, faith rediscovered, and personal empowerment. No one critiqued each other’s stories or offered pointers on how to shape those testimonials into memoirs or monologues (which I thought they were going to do). I sensed that perhaps the moderator felt like people just needed to share something important about themselves. FOMO? I don’t think so. More like fear of losing connection and support. Which raises the question: when the pandemic subsides, will Clubhouse lose its appeal? Thought leader Jeremiah Owyang predicts a 30 percent+ decline in activity on Clubhouse as pandemic-induced lockdowns begin to ease up. As he told NPR, “This is not a great experience when you’re out in the world and you have people in front of you who you want to speak to. But expect many variations on Clubhouse in all sorts of technology.” He’s right about the variants. More Clubhouses are coming. Facebook is said to be working on a Clubhouse feature. And recently, Quilt, an audio social network focused on self-care, raised a $3.5 million seed round. Owyang also that social audio will achieve rapid adoption due to quarantine during 2021 and beyond, eventually followed by a post-quarantine market pullback, shakeout, and normalization. predicts Why does social audio have lasting power? I think Owyang got it right when he called social audio the “ ” medium for the 2020s: Goldilocks "Text is not enough, and video is too much; social audio is just right. It represents the opportunity for social connection and empathy without the downsides of video. Why is this use case taking off? – humans, stuck at home during quarantine; readily available smartphones and apps; cloud-based technology and easy integration platforms like Agora; the desire for human connection beyond text; and fatigue from too many video conference calls." Put it this way: I’ve never heard anyone say how much they love video calls. They’re too obtrusive. You can’t multi-task easily, and you have to consider factors such as your appearance and your surroundings. Those factors actually distract us from socializing with people we don’t know very well – they make it harder to connect. But text-based social? Well, we know where that often leads when we cannot discern tone. And text can be just too anonymous. The Goldilocks comparison suits Clubhouse in another way. In the story of Goldilocks, she walks in a forest before coming upon a house and finding comfort inside. Clubhouse is like a comfortable shelter right now from the dark forest, and no one wants to leave. I'm on Twitter @davidjdeal . Note: I invest in Facebook.

Clubhouse: Shelter from the Storm

A Startup Unicorn is a company which has passed the billion dollars mark of valuation. Based on CB Insights research on Startup Unicorns. Variants of Unicorns include a Decacorn, made of companies valued at over $10 billion. And a Hectocorn, made of companies valued at over $100 billion. The top ten Startup Unicorns as of January 2019, comprise Bytedance, Uber, Didi Chuxing, WeWork, Lu.com, Airbnb , SpaceX, Palantir Technologies, Stripe and JUUL Labs. The US remains the country with the highest numbers of Unicorns, followed by China. The top five industries for Startup Unicorns comprise Fintech, Internet Software, and Services, E-commerce/marketplace, On-demand, Healthcare. The methodology used for the FourWeekMBA Unicorns Business Models Map Classifying a isn’t a simple task, a business model is made of many moving parts. And creating a representation of a company on a single characteristic or feature is too reductive. business model There are . Each aims at understanding how a company works, and how its engine moves. That engine is made of things like key partners, resources, processes and how a company makes money. several approaches to define a business model Those approaches start from assumptions about what a company is and what aspects to focus on. Therefore, any attempt at classifying business model might never be complete enough. For the sake of this article, I’ll put a label on each , by picking what I think is the most qualifying ingredient for the organization in the current moment. The aim is to provide you with as many business insights or at least stimulate your curiosity about these organizations. business model As any labeling system, it has many limitations. Just like putting a label on a person is reductive, putting one on a complex organization is even more simplifying. It is important to remark that this is not a science. A business strategy itself is made of assumptions about how the world works. In my opinion, the role of the entrepreneur is to test those assumptions in the real world as quickly as possible. When those assumptions turn out to be wrong, we’ll call them “failures.” Yet in reality, those are feedbacks about the world at that moment. For instance, an idea might be too early for the world to accept, and an entrepreneur which is trying to push it to the market will fail. It is important to notice that complex organization (think of , , and ) don’t rely on a single , but have combined them to create a unique organization that can capture a long-term competitive advantage. Amazon Google Microsoft business model pattern For instance, , from a subscription-based, to cloud as a service, to an online store, third-party stores and more. Amazon runs on several models While this is true for larger organizations, consolidated over the years; for smaller organizations, or unicorn startups a simpler business model allows them to scale up to a billion dollar valuation. I did my best to put the right label on each of the Unicorns, part of the FourWeekMBA Unicorns for 2019. This label comprises the main feature of that company from both product and monetization standpoint. Business Models The Unicorns come from a list of 311 companies by . CB Insights I hope you enjoy and get as many insights from it! The FourWeekMBA Unicorns Business Models For 2019 : digital short-video format model powered by AI Toutiao (Bytedance) business model : ride-sharing on-demand marketplace model Uber business model : digital media on-demand marketplace model Didi Chuxing business model : office space sharing/real-estate-as-a-service model WeWork business model : online finance marketplace model Lu.com business model : e-commerce/on-demand home-sharing marketplace model Airbnb : space transportation model SpaceX business model : big data-based enterprise SaaS model Palantir Technologies business model : payment marketplace model Stripe business model : consumer electronics model JUUL Labs business model : digital games marketplace model Epic Games business model : digital advertising model Pinterest business model : crypto mining blockchain-based model Bitmain Technologies business model : biotech-based model Samumed business model ride-sharing on-demand marketplace model Lyft business model: : ride-sharing on-demand marketplace model GrabTaxi business model : multi-tenanted data centers-as-a-service model Global Switch business model : cloud-based enterprise SaaS model Infor business model : drones products-based model DJI Innovations business model : marketplace and virtual bank model One97 Communications (operates Paytm) business model : mobile-based eCommerce/Marketplace for consumer products Coupang business model : digital currency exchange marketplace model Coinbase business model : on-demand grocery delivery services and marketplace model Instacart business model : team-communication-as-a-service freemium model Slack Technologies business model : daily-deal e-commerce/marketplace model Snapdeal business model : biotech in-license drugs and development model Roivant Sciences business model Other 60 business model patterns FourWeekMBA has put together in partnership with BMI Lab . Originally published at fourweekmba.com on January 19, 2019.

Visualizing Unicorns Companies For 2019

When I wanted to window shop OpenShift, I had 2 options, either set up on my local using (previously using ) or using the “oc cluster up” method. While they are good options, you don’t get the real feel of trying out OpenShift without deploying it on a real cloud-ish setup. Minishift an all-in-one VM Why DigitalOcean? I had a few hiccups with cloud-based setups, they were too big for my needs and came in with components I didn’t really need, and sometimes way over budget. If you check the for running OpenShift, you’ll know what I’m talking. hardware requirements My aim was to set up a production-ish cluster, not too brittle, at the same time not big enough to power the backend of a bank. I went with a VPS provider like DigitalOcean, so that I know what costs I will incur fairly well. I wanted to get as close as possible to , which I consider as the gold standard of application deployment. Heroku The setup Before I jump into the costs calculation, let’s do a quick run through of OpenShift architecture. There are 3 kinds of nodes in an OpenShift cluster: : One or more nodes which hold the OpenShift master component, which processes API requests and does the actual infrastructure management. If multiple masters are involved, they are served by a load balancer. This can contain etcd as well, which acts as the key value store for the whole cluster. The master node : Does any housekeeping used for the functioning of the cluster, the internal docker registry etc. The infrastrcture node : Node which houses your app and service containers. The compute node , To ensure high availability, you need more than one master node. If you are running single master and it goes down, your applications will still run, you won’t be able to control or manage any of it since the master is down. NOTE Also, you can have the same node act as both the master and infrastructure node by , although it is not recommended for a real production setup. tagging with appropriate roles The number of compute nodes depends on the volume of applications and deployments you are going to have. You can always start with 1 and , i.e. add more nodes to the cluster when you need them. scale up The next piece of infrastructure in your cluster is storage. You need storage if your app needs some form of persistence(think MySQL DB) and for other stuff, like storing your container images. OpenShift comes with a for setting up storage for the cluster. You can either wire it up with the de facto storage for that cloud(like use EBS for AWS) or use a cloud agnostic solution like . multitude of options GlusterFS For our cluster, I chose 3 VMs with 4 gigs of RAM each(way less than recommended hardware). I went with GlusterFS for storage, and because it needs a lot of space, I created 3 volumes, 100 Gb each mounted to each VM. OpenShift runs on RedHat flavored OSes(like RHEL, Centos or Atomic) and requires quite some prerequisites. So, I chose the VM OS to be Centos 7 x64. We deploy version of OpenShift, which at the time of writing this, is the latest stable release. Also, OpenShift has many offerings, like ones with , and the upstream, bleeding edge version called and recently rebranded as OKD. We will be going with the community edition, i.e. . Don’t let that deter you from using OpenShift as the community edition is equally performant and robust as the other editions. 3.11 paid support online multitenant version Origin OKD Tools of the Trade We mostly use Ansible and Terraform to install and configure our OpenShift cluster. No familiarity of either is assumed but would be a bit more useful to fine-tune the setup parameters. Ansible all the way RedHat ships elaborate and to create a cluster and manage it. But that’s the fact that you have booted the infrastructure, setup the DNS, installed prerequisites and everything. I wanted this setup to be consistent and reproducible so that anyone wanting to use OpenShift could follow the same set of instructions and get the exact same results. I automated the infrastructure creation and prerequisites part as well. well maintained Ansible scripts after Enter Terraform I’m not sure how many engineers it takes to turn a light bulb, but for creating any amount of complex infrastructure in a predictable, consistent and repeatable fashion, it takes only 1 engineer, if they are using . Terraform Terraform helps you create the machines in the cloud, alter their DNS settings, create volumes and attach it to the machines all using a single command. I could also use Ansible to get the same thing done, but Terraform has a slight edge when compared to Ansible. It stores the of the system. It takes the input as the end state of the system and alters the system until the desired state is achieved. This is not doable in Ansible. I still have a around Terraform and miss Ansible templating, but it is good enough to get the job done. previous state few gripes In our case, Terraform does 2 things. It creates the infrastructure and generates an inventory file for the OpenShift playbooks to consume. Why would I use Terraform to generate my inventory? The inventory file for OpenShift Ansible based installation is complex. OpenShift contains a lot of moving parts, which translates to so many pieces of configuration to make the whole thing work. This is partly based on the infrastructure you choose to run your cluster on. Because Terraform creates the infrastructure for you, it makes sense that Terraform generates the inventory for you. You can still tweak the dials, but only at the Terraform level, not in the inventory level. Case in point: at the time of writing this is approximately 1k lines long(but thoroughly documented). If you want to configure this to your desired setting, it would take hours. The example inventory I wanted the installation to be predictable, repeatable and consistent. Hand-coding the inventory is the best way to meet all these criteria. On the other hand, if you give a fixed set of inputs to Terraform and install the cluster from the inventory file it generated for you, you get the same result every time you run it, anywhere you run it(Provided you are using the same version of OpenShift). not The next release of OpenShift is officially Terraform to provision clusters. adopting You first initiate the Terraform context by running: $ terraform init But before that, take a moment to inspect the variables which you can configure for your cluster, most notably, The SSH key pair path you will use for this cluster. variable "public_key_path" {  default = "~/.ssh/tf.pub"  description = "The local public key path, e.g. ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"}variable "private_key_path" {  default = "~/.ssh/tf"  description = "The local private key path, e.g. ~/.ssh/id_rsa"} I recommend this to be exclusive to your setup. Also, the VM size and region, variable "master_size" {  default = "4gb"  description = "Size of the master VM"}

variable "node_size" {  default = "4gb"  description = "Size of the Node VMs"}...variable "region" {  default = "blr1"  description = "The digitalOcean region where the cluster will be spun."} Also, you need to supply terraform with the domain you are going to use for OpenShift. We can edit the variables.tf file or pass it using environment variables. $ export TF_VAR_domain=example.com that this must be a domain you own. Note Most of these are sensible defaults. Then, you supply Terraform with the DigitalOcean API token you generated in your settings. $ export DIGITAL_OCEAN_TOKEN=abcxyz123 You can generate the infrastructure and inventory file by running: $ terraform apply Terraform does the grunt work of creating the VMs, mapping domains, creating volumes and attaching them, and finally generating the inventory files. The first inventory file called the , contains the master and compute nodes. preinstall-inventory.cfg $ ansible-playbook -u root --private-key=~/.ssh/tf -i preinstall-inventory.cfg ./pre-install/playbook.yml This is the same key which you specified in the Terraform variables section. Install OKD using Ansible Now is the time to fetch the Ansible scripts to set up the cluster. git clone git@github.com:openshift/openshift-ansible.git --branch release-3.11 --depth 1 the branch. The playbooks branching convention follows the cluster version closely. Also, any ansible commands going forward must be run using the Ansible version specified in this repo. I hit issues numerous times when I used a different version of Ansible other than the one specified in this repo. Let’s install Ansible recommended by this repo by creating a . Note release-3.11 virtualenv $ cd openshift-ansible$ virtualenv venv$ source venv/bin/activate$ pip install -r requirements.txt$ which ansible # ensure that this is from the virtualenv Let’s take a look at the second inventory file generated by Terraform. Before you set out to install the cluster, you have to ensure that the hardware and software setup thus far meet the prerequisites recommended by OpenShift. This is not set on stone and we can take the liberty to tweak it as per our needs, as set in the inventory, openshift_disable_check = disk_availability,docker_storage,memory_availability,docker_image_availability We run the prerequisite check. $ ansible-playbook -i ../inventory.cfg playbooks/prerequisites.yml This will take around 5-10 minutes. This setup by default installs an all-in-one master node(which acts as the master, infrastructure node and a compute node). [masters]1.2.3.4 openshift_ip=1.2.3.4 openshift_schedulable=true[etcd]1.2.3.4 openshift_ip=1.2.3.4[nodes]1.2.3.4 openshift_ip=1.2.3.4 openshift_schedulable=true openshift_node_group_name='node-config-all-in-one' The is a way to tag an OpenShift node. We add 2 compute nodes in addition to the master node. openshift_node_group_name [nodes]1.2.3.4 openshift_ip=1.2.3.4 openshift_schedulable=true openshift_node_group_name='node-config-all-in-one'2.3.4.5 openshift_ip=2.3.4.5 openshift_schedulable=true openshift_node_group_name='node-config-compute'1.3.5.7 openshift_ip=1.3.5.7 openshift_schedulable=true openshift_node_group_name='node-config-compute' The persistent storage is managed by GlusterFS. OpenShift comes with a ton of persistent storage options, but at the time of writing this, I found GlusterFS to be the best fit between ease of configuring and utility for DigitalOcean. Now for the final playbook run to install the cluster. $ ansible-playbook -i ../inventory.cfg playbooks/deploy_cluster.yml Be warned that this takes a good 30 minutes to finish. An ideal time for a coffee break :) The final Ansible report after running OpenShift installer This cluster is configured with the HTPassword Identity provider, in other words, the plain simple username password based identity system. openshift_master_identity_providers=[{'name': 'htpasswd_auth', 'login': 'true', 'challenge': 'true', 'kind': 'HTPasswdPasswordIdentityProvider'}] You can configure your cluster to include multiple identity providers. This is useful if you are installing it for an organization, for example. You can login to the master node using the command $ ssh -i ~/.ssh/tf root@console.<whatever domain name you gave> Security considerations Some setups recommend creating a to ssh into your cluster. This involves creating a small VM just for ssh-ing into your OpenShift cluster, implying that you can’t ssh into your cluster from any other machine. Whether you set this up or not is totally up to you. I don’t add the bastion host in this setup. bastion or a jump host Also, you will notice that the web console and the OpenShift API server don’t have a valid HTTPS certificate. You can later in your cluster, but I’ve excluded that step for simplicity’s sake. install your own certificates Let’s create an admin user by logging into the master node. $ htpasswd -cb /etc/origin/master/htpasswd admin <your choice of password> The next important thing is to configure a default storage class for the cluster. Although we install GlusterFS as part of our setup, we don’t make it the default storage option. Let’s do that. $ kubectl get storageclassNAME                PROVISIONER               AGEglusterfs-storage   kubernetes.io/glusterfs   16m

$ oc patch storageclass glusterfs-storage -p '{"metadata":{"annotations":{"storageclass.beta.kubernetes.io/is-default-class":"true"}}}' OpenShift login screen when you hit console URL Verifying the OpenShift installation Now that we’ve installed the cluster, let’s verify whether our setup works as intended. Your first check will be to ensure that OpenShift lists all the nodes. $ oc get nodes Next check is to ensure that shows nothing alarming. oc status $ oc status Ensure that the registry and router pods are up and running. $ oc get pods -n default While we are at the master node, let’s create an actual application and deploy it. OpenShift comes with a set of default templates. We can fetch them using, $ oc get templates -n openshift First, we create a new project, or a namespace which will hold all our apps and services. $ oc new-project myns Then, we create a new app from the Node.js+MongoDB template, so that we can verify that features like persistence, creating and attaching volumes etc. work. $ oc new-app --template=nodejs-mongo-persistent -n myns You can stream the logs realtime using this command. $ oc logs -f nodejs-mongo-persistent-1-build Once the application is deployed successfully, $ oc get pods -n myns # ensure that we have a pod which begins with the same name as our app$ oc get routes # to get the app URL hit the URL in your browser. It will be of the pattern nodejs-mongo-persistent-myns-<your-app-domain>. Congratulations! You’ve created and deployed your own OpenShift cluster and created your first app on it. You can download the source code used for this setup . here The apps displayed in the web console The OpenShift ecosystem is one of the best ways to get a taste of enterprise Kubernetes without much of the cognitive overhead it presents. But configuring and maintaining it can rob you of time and energy which you’d otherwise spend on shipping your product. That’s why I created , a “bring your own server” SaaS which helps you set up and use OpenShift on your own servers. I’m launching ShapeBlock early February and offering huge discounts to early adopters. Make sure you are one of them by signing up for an invite . ShapeBlock here

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