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Reprise

Sales is a fast-paced world where innovation never rests. In this dynamic landscape, traditional sales techniques are getting a makeover. Enter the game-changer: interactive product demos. This exciting field of sales technology has been making waves, transforming the way businesses engage with customers and supercharging their sales efforts. Gone are the days of boring presentations and dull brochures. Interactive product demos are stealing the spotlight, empowering sales teams to create captivating, personalized, and unforgettable experiences for potential customers. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, these demos allow customers to dive in, explore, and truly experience the value of products in real time. So, what's the big deal with interactivity? Well, it bridges the gap between abstract concepts and real understanding. Unlike traditional demos, interactive product demos let customers roll up their sleeves and actively engage with the features that matter to them. Whether it's software or physical products, this game-changing approach allows potential customers to navigate, play around, and see how a product can solve their unique needs and pain points. Customization is the name of the game when it comes to interactive product demos. Sales teams can tailor the experience to suit each prospect's preferences, goals, and concerns. By addressing specific pain points and showcasing the most relevant aspects of the product, sales professionals can build stronger connections and boost their chances of winning over potential customers. So who are the main players in this emerging field and how do they stack up against each other? We’ll go through them all here, including Walnut, Reprise, Demostack, Navattic, Storylane, and Consensus. Walnut is an interactive, full-funnel demo platform that is likely one of the first to market. It seems to place emphasis on sales and marketing teams. The platform offers a robust set of features, often publishes amusing videos on social media to tell their story and vision, and has garnered significant attention from audiences on LinkedIn. Online testimonials for Walnut often discuss the platform's quick onboarding process and ease of use, particularly when capturing different customer dashboards. Walnut The good: Your GTM team can use it regardless of company size. Your marketing team can use it to drive better leads with embedded product tours on their site that act exactly like the product, and your presales team can quickly spin up tailor-made demos that showcase the relevant features for each prospect. Sales teams can quickly share or deliver demos that keep prospects engaged, and customer success can build interactive tutorials to improve product adoption. Plus, because it directly impacts sales, you’ll quickly see your ROI. : The price is slightly higher than some of the solutions on this list, while they seemingly spend a lot of their resources on marketing campaigns. The bad : The vision With its #WeAreProspects campaign, Walnut positioned itself as the solution to fix the current frustrating SaaS sales process. And it delivers on that promise by letting revenue teams give prospects exactly what they want when they want it. Reprise Another one of the first interactive demo software on the market, came out strong but has struggled with keeping things scalable and user-friendly. The product is mostly split between the ability to showcase the product as an embed and its ability to capture your product for live demos. While its use case can be for companies of all sizes, the pricing mostly lends itself to larger enterprise companies, with the tagline on the website saying it’s for “enterprise sales and marketing teams”. Reprise The good: Reprise offers a good interactive demo for top-of-funnel use and provides users with a lot of control over their guides. For sales demos, with a small amount of R&D help, the final results can be great. The bad: Users have complained a lot about the complicated UX, which makes it difficult to actually achieve the results you need without the help of developers. Likewise, with its focus on enterprise business, the product proves to be less valuable for mid-sized companies and startups. The vision: Reprise brands itself as the solution for storytellers, helping sellers tell the story of their product the way they want to. Demostack Whereas Reprise and Walnut can benefit multiple areas of your go-to-market teams, only targets pre-sales engineers—and does a pretty nice job with it. By easily creating a replica of your SaaS product, Demostack allows reps to present demos that act like the real thing. This can help your team save time and resources building demo environments - but heads up - some market testimonials say that they are frequently pivoting their tech mechanism to find one that is operational, thus creating friction with its customers. Demostack The good: Demostack’s solution is a good option if you want to improve your presales. It takes a very short amount of time to create product replicas, which means a very short time to value. The bad: This solution might be the least innovative of the bunch. That’s because product replicas require sales reps to click through the full product to show prospects each feature, which can lead to a frustrating demo for prospects and a lot of unnecessary feature dumping. Likewise, because only your product is being replicated, you’ll struggle to show prospects how your product integrates with other tech. The vision: Demostack brands itself as the solution for presales teams, helping them spin up demo environments quickly for their sales team. Navattic is a good solution for smaller companies looking to embed a fairly basic product tour on their websites. Unlike the first 2 options on the list, Navattic’s solution only focuses on the top-of-funnel but is less helpful for sales teams. While it is less costly than the others, its capabilities are more limited. Navattic The good: Because they are singularly focused, they offer a very solid solution for marketing teams. They offer a cost-efficient tool that integrates nicely with many other software. The bad: The offering is limited in terms of support and resources and can be prone to bugs. Numerous customers have complained about issues with the technology with some clunky features that don’t always work as they should. Likewise, the result is never fully interactive but acts more like a dynamic screenshot than an actual demo of your product. The vision: Navattic aims to be the leader of the top-of-funnel interactive demo solutions and help SaaS companies better market their products. Storylane An even smaller, top-of-funnel-focused team, offers a similar solution to Navattic. Use it to quickly create some simple interactive guided product tours that you can embed on your website and drive better leads. Storylane The good: The product is fairly easy to use and the packages include customer service and support. This leads to a quick time-to-value. The bad: The offerings are limited to marketing and the solution tends to act like a cheaper and more limited version of some of the other interactive demo software. Also, because it’s the smallest company on this list, they offer a smaller support team. The vision: While they mostly support the top-of-funnel now, they aim to scale their product to be useful to the entire go-to-market team. Consensus recently joined the interactive demo space, after trying to help sellers build and manage video demos for over a decade. They are focused on high-lifting enterprise customers, but most of their clients are still using video demos instead of interactive demos. While they may provide a solid interactive demo solution in the future, at the moment, this offering is quite limited. Consensus The good: The platform has been up and running for over a decade, which can be a good sign of stability, performance, and potentially fewer bugs than its competitors. The bad: This is more of an old-school solution for video products than an innovative demo platform. The vision: Consensus seems to be aiming to step away from its original video product and into interactive demos. Final words Incorporating interactive demo solutions throughout your go-to-market efforts is like having a secret weapon in your arsenal. By simplifying the sales process for your prospects, these solutions provide immense value that goes beyond just showcasing your product. Some of them empower your sales team to deliver personalized experiences, bridge the understanding gap, and build strong connections with potential customers. Others empower your marketing teams to provide site visitors with what they want to see to drive better, stronger leads. And some do all of the above. Interactive demos make complex concepts digestible, allowing prospects to visualize the benefits of your offering firsthand. With their ability to adapt to individual needs and pain points, these demos streamline the sales journey, making it smoother and more engaging. So, if you're looking to supercharge your sales efforts and leave a lasting impression on your prospects, dive into the world of interactive demo solutions and unlock the true potential of your go-to-market strategy.

State of Interactive Product Demo Software: The Good, the Bad, and What’s Behind the Brands

For a long time, I considered the years I spent as a student participating in a popular comedy TV show as wasted time. Although I was working, I couldn't pursue a serious career because my passion for comedy and humor consumed a lot of time and energy. My classmates moved forward in business while I traveled for shoots and performances. Now, looking back, I can say that my career success in the tech sector is largely influenced by the unconventional experience I gained in a creative collective. Let me try to explain what KVN (the name of the show where comedy teams compete) taught me and how my non-business experience helps me in business. Living "in a team and with a team" (the concept of a collective) It may sound cliché, but the ability to live and get along in a team, understand its culture, respect the personal boundaries of its members, and maintain the necessary distance is extremely important for effective leadership. This is especially true in tech companies where a large portion of people are often true introverts. They are brilliant, professional, and talented individuals who simply don't enjoy socialising. I have been told many times that I have achieved significant success in managing challenging teams, and at some point, I realised that I was applying the experience I gained during… tours. Spending several weeks together with the folks in the same space, creating, rehearsing, refining, and performing (and so on in a loop), you quickly learn how to be part of a collective and get along with different people. This skill and knowledge let me to get a long with a variety of colleagues quickly and efficiently. Understanding the concept of a real deadline Each of us has probably missed a work deadline at some point. I don't believe it has never happened to you. Now imagine that in the case of a comedy show, postponing the deadline is physically impossible. Tickets to the audience are sold, your fans have come, cameras and lights are set up—you must perform, and you cannot be unprepared. In other words: "This release must happen." That feeling that the shoot cannot be rescheduled forever instilled in me a sense of discipline, the importance of planning, and a "get s*** done" approach. I think I have been able to convey this level of importance and responsibility for deadlines to my colleagues across the globe precisely because of this experience. Sometimes, I even make a direct association with television production, which cannot be rescheduled or canceled. Brainstorms: Fun creativity vs methodology I think it's no secret that the most successful creative individuals, such as actors, musicians, and artists, may appear "crazy," but they systematically and strategically think about their craft, and the word "business" is just as important to them as "show." On the other hand, people involved in comedy are often quite serious, even gloomy, in real life. Why is that? I was surprised to learn that the process of writing the funniest jokes, sketches, and performances is a serious, structured, and sometimes even quite dull process. Of course, during brainstorming sessions, passing around notes with punchlines and reprises in complete silence, there is room for uncontrollable laughter and joy, but it only accounts for about 20%, while the remaining 80% is serious brain work that requires maximum concentration. Behind every crazy and "easy" creative success lies serious, routine, structured work. This is another example of experience that I apply to leadership. If even humor writing is approached systematically and with a serious face, then systematicity should definitely be present in any business process. Persistence: Mistakes and rewrites For any creative humoristic collective, there is no scarier word than "Editing." Censors, sometimes getting carried away, can leave you practically without a script, sometimes just a day before the performance. This has happened to us more than once: "Something is not funny this time." It's hard to overestimate the resilience, stress resistance, and grit acquired through such experiences. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger—this is definitely about such a situation. Now I truly appreciate this experience because it serves as an excellent example to motivate the team. Not giving up in a difficult situation for business is another skill I acquired in a creative, far from business-like collective. And how much perseverance is required to come back to a tournament after a defeat and elimination... Definitely no less than when starting a new project after the previous one "failed to take off." Perseverance is the key to success. And this obvious business truth was taught to me not by business experience in my student years. Outsourcing vs. In-house The eternal debate of what is better, in-house or outsourcing, for a range of processes? At some stage of business growth, when resources are depleted, every manager asks themselves this question and faces a choice. You won't believe it, but it turns out I have already encountered this task... while engaging in humor. The thing is, the foundation of success and the main resource of any humoristic collective are its authors (scriptwriters). And during "hyper growth," for example, when your team suddenly enters a higher league by winning a competition, this resource may not be sufficient. That's when the "humor market" offers external, hired authors who can be attracted for outsourcing. Like in regular business, I had different experiences working with such outsourcers; I will just say that I learned many lessons and mastered the rule of balance, excuse me for stating the obvious. The balance between outsourcing and in-house is the key to profitable growth and success. It's hard to believe, but I discovered this long before becoming an executive manager in a tech company, all within the same creative collective. Networking with Competitors: It's Normal Often, we avoid and even fear our competitors. However, as practice shows, healthy networking with competitors is beneficial. Many years ago, I was inspired by this idea, thanks to the very same KVN (comedy show). Imagine that during preparations for competitions, during editing and performances, almost all participating teams spend a lot of time together. At some point, you stop treating other folks as your competitors whom you need to outsmart intellectually and artistically in a couple days. Often, interacting with other creative collectives gave rise to great ideas and sometimes synergistic collaborations. The ability not to fear or avoid competitors but to engage in a unique form of careful networking with them also came to me when I was involved in comedy during my student years. Fundraising Yes, as strange as it may sound, I was involved in full-fledged fundraising back in university when I sought sponsors for our team. The thing is, besides being an actor and author, I was also the director of the collective. Tours, costumes, props, and engaging external (outsourced) authors (sometimes it was simply impossible without them)—all of these required substantial funding. So armed with a pitch and presentation, I demonstrated the positive impact that our humoristic collective appearing on television had for the university. The impact, by the way, was real. During admissions interviews, prospective students often mentioned choosing our university because it had a popular KVN team at that time. Back then, I didn't understand, but later I realised that I managed to "raise the money" and “close some rounds“ several times with the help of a some kind of peculiar “elevator pitch”. Final Thoughts Sometimes, seemingly non-obvious experiences can be applied in extremely useful ways if you listen and understand what this non-obvious and strange experience has given you. And how you can apply it. Don't be afraid of the non-obvious, unrelated, creative experience—it can turn out to be very valuable. Have you ever had the experience of applying skills acquired in an interesting and unusual way in business? Share in the comments. And if you like the article, I'm ready to share other examples of non-obvious experience and its application in leadership.

How Non-business, Creative Skills and Experience Can Help With Leadership

The Terminator (Sega Mega-CD) Review

The Art Of Writing & Speaking The English Language Word-Study: Chapter III 

Photo by on Adam Nir Unsplash U.S. Senator and National Monetary Commission chairman Nelson Aldrich. “[T]he study of monetary questions is one of the great causes of insanity." – Introduction Money Money is a technology designed to facilitate commerce and investment. Money was primarily , not economists, although first definitively defined by that great economist . developed by scientists William Stanley Jevons Economists study money.  Scientists defined and engineered it. When the notorious Scottish economist John Law meddled in French monetary policy, he infamously muddled it, destroying France financially. What is Money? summarizes the consensus well: Wikipedia “In Money and the Mechanism of Exchange (1875), famously analyzed money in terms of four functions: a , a common measure of value (or ), a standard of value (or ), and a . By 1919, Jevons's four functions of money were summarized in the : William Stanley Jevons medium of exchange unit of account standard of deferred payment store of value couplet Money's a matter of functions four, A Medium, a Measure, a Standard, a Store. “This couplet would later become widely popular in macroeconomics textbooks. Most modern textbooks now list only three functions, that of the , , and .” medium of exchange unit of account store of value Not for nothing did U.S. Senator Nelson Aldrich -- while reporting, in 1909, on the observations of his National Monetary Commission, in a of New York-- archly quote McLeod to the effect that: speech before the Economic Club "the study of monetary questions is one of the great causes of insanity." This was almost certainly a swipe at free silver demagogue and presidential candidate William Jennings “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold” Bryan. Yet perhaps Sen. Aldrich was prophesying my good friends, Gerard Daché, the founder and executive director of the Government Blockchain Association and Professor Jim Liew, of Johns Hopkins University. And me…. Not so incidentally, let us recall quantum physicist Niels Bohr’s comment to Wolfgang Pauli: “We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.” As it happens, money has a sterling scientific provenance. Ralph Benko addressing a gathering of the Government Blockchain Association January 27, 2022, National Press Club, Washington, DC.  Photo by Jim Liew. Money’s Provenance Copernicus Money's modern scientific provenance goes back at least to Nicholas Copernicus, the very same savant who persuaded the Earth to orbit the Sun instead of the Sun orbiting the Earth as previously believed. In 1526, yes, nearly 500 years ago, Copernicus wrote a brilliant treatise . It was my arcane privilege to serve as the lead co-editor of what may be its most esteemed modern translation. On the Minting of Money Copernicus warned: “ALTHOUGH THERE ARE COUNTLESS MALADIES that are forever causing the decline of kingdoms, princedoms, and republics, the following four (in my judgment) are the most serious: civil discord, a high death rate, sterility of the soil, and the debasement of the coinage. The first three are so obvious that everybody recognizes the damage they cause; but the fourth one, which has to do with money, is noticed by only a few very thoughtful people, since it does not operate all at once and at a single blow, but gradually overthrows governments and in a hidden, insidious way.” He went on to observe: “Money, or ‘coinage,’ is gold or silver that has been specially marked — in accordance with policy established by any government or head of government — for the purpose of reckoning the prices of things that are bought and sold. “Money is therefore a kind of common “measuring stick” for the valuation of things. Now, whatever is taken as a measure has to be stable — must keep to a fixed limit. Otherwise, public order will necessarily be disturbed, and the buyers and sellers of things will be cheated many times over, just as if basic measures of length [Latin ulna, or ell], bulk measure [Latin modius, or peck], or weight did not have a fixed quantity. “Now, I think that the relevant measure here is the valuation [Latin aestimatio] of the money as such, and, although this is founded in the quality of the metal it is made of, nevertheless, money’s material or metallic value [Latin valor] must be distinguished from its valuation as money [aestimatio]; for money can be valued more in itself than the material it is composed of and vice versa [i.e., its material value may be more than its actual valuation]. “It is necessary for money to be established: even though exchange could also take place simply by weights of gold or silver alone (since, by universal human consent, gold and silver are everywhere highly valued). “Nevertheless, money is needed for two reasons: first, because of the inconvenience of always having to carry around heavy weights of metal, and second, because the real value of the metals is not easily grasped by everyone at a glance. Thus it has become customary to mark money with a public seal, by means of which the proper amount of gold or silver is indicated as present in each coin, and that the public authority is to be trusted in this. … “The [material] value of money is lessened in many ways: either through defect of material alone, namely, when more bronze is mixed with silver than is right for that particular weight of coin; or through the loss of [total] weight of the coin, even though the proportion of bronze to silver is correct; or (and this is the worst case) through both of these defects occurring at the same time; finally, the value can just diminish on its own through usage, over a long passage of time, and this is the only reason for making new money. “The evidence of this happening is, if the silver in the money is found to be significantly less than what can be bought with it — and this is rightly considered debasement [or poverty: Latin penuria] of the currency.” The Prussian nobles who Copernicus was addressing did not heed his wise advice. They eventually suffered the fate he predicted. Newton In addition to observing an apple’s fall and founding modern physics, Sir Isaac Newton served, professionally, as the Master of the Royal Mint of Great Britain toward the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. Per the itself: Royal Mint “When Sir Isaac Newton came to the Royal Mint Britain’s finances were approaching crisis, with up to one in ten circulating coins believed to be forged.  His vision of matchless quality led him to root out and prosecute notorious counterfeiters, improve assaying techniques (the way coin quality is checked), and refine weights and measures to standards never seen before. “In 1699 Newton became Master of the Mint. After overseeing the new coinage for the accession of Queen Anne in 1702 he also supervised the huge task of bringing Scottish coinage into line with English coinage, following the Union of England and Scotland in 1707. Thanks to Newton’s vision, Royal Mint coins remain unrivaled in their accuracy and purity to this day.” How great a figure was Newton? Just for a moment, consider , delivered posthumously by his brother, Geoffrey, singing the praises of Newton in the 1940’s. the last words of the first celebrity economist, John Maynard Keynes ”Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago. Isaac Newton, a posthumous child born with no father on Christmas Day, 1642, was the last wonderchild to whom the Magi could do sincere and appropriate homage.” And per : Christianity Today “Even in Newton’s lifetime, his contemporaries’ adulation verged on worship. Following his death in April 1727, Newton lay in state in Westminster Abbey for a week. At the funeral, his pall was borne by three earls, two dukes, and the Lord Chancellor. Voltaire observed, “He was buried like a king who had done well by his subjects.” “No scientist before or since has been so revered and interred with such high honor. “Who was this man whose stature has dominated the scientific landscape for three centuries? Why did his achievements have such an impact on society? What role did Newton’s faith play in his life and work? … “For Newton the world of science was by no means the whole of life. He spent more time on theology than on science; indeed, he wrote about 1.3 million words on biblical subjects. Yet this vast legacy lay hidden from public view for two centuries until the auction of his nonscientific writings in 1936. “Newton’s understanding of God came primarily from the Bible, which he studied for days and weeks at a time. He took a special interest in miracles and prophecy, calculating dates of Old Testament books and analyzing their texts to discover their authorship. In a manuscript on rules for interpreting prophecy, Newton noted the similar goals of the scientist and the prophecy expositor: simplicity and unity.” Although the Sermon on the Mountain contains an aphorism holding that you cannot serve both God and money, Newton proves a clear exception to that rule. What was Newton’s Monetary Legacy? A happy accident by Newton led to the gold standard, a monetary system which helped Great Britain prosper, proving instrumental in Britain’s becoming a dominant world power. : Wikipedia ”Great Britain accidentally adopted a de facto gold standard in 1717 when Sir__ __, then-master of the , set the exchange rate of silver to gold too low, thus causing silver coins to go out of circulation. Isaac Newton Royal Mint “A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when adopted it following the introduction of the by the new Royal Mint at in 1816. Britain gold sovereign Tower Hill “As Great Britain became the world's leading financial and commercial power in the 19th century, other states increasingly adopted Britain's monetary system. … “The gold specie standard came to an end in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire with the outbreak of .” World War I Contemporaneously with Newton, John Law, a Scottish economist, introduced (what some today call “fiat”) in France. This led to a speculative bubble, horrendous inflation, and both France's and Law's financial ruin. a paper money standard Per : Wikipedia “[Law] served as Controller General of Finances under the , who was regent for the juvenile . In 1716, Law set up a private in France. A year later it was nationalized at his request and renamed as . … Duke of Orleans Louis XV of France Banque Générale Banque Royale “Law also set up and directed the , funded by the Banque Royale. Its chaotic collapse has been compared to the 17th-century in Holland. The Mississippi bubble coincided with the in England, which allegedly took ideas from it. Law as a would win card games by mentally calculating …. The term " " was coined for beneficiaries of Law's scheme. Mississippi Company tulip mania South Sea bubble gambler odds millionaire … “Speculation gave way to panic as people flooded the market with future shares trading as high as 15,000 livres per share, while the shares themselves remained at 10,000 livres each. “By May 1720, prices fell to 4,000 livres per share, a 73 per cent decrease within a year. The rush to convert paper money to coins led to sporadic bank hours and riots… The descent of a relatively unknown man came as fast as his rise, leaving an economic power vacuum. Law's theories live on 300 years later and ‘captured many key conceptual points which are very much a part of modern monetary theorizing.’" Priestley Fast forward again, now toward the mid-to-late 1700s. One of the first great chemists, Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen and the inventor of carbonation (an invention upon which our soft-drink industry is based) wrote extensively and eruditely on the gold standard, providing an extensive lecture on the mechanics of money later published in his y (1793). Lectures on History and General Philosoph Per : Wikipedia “Lectures on History and General Policy (1788) is the published version of a set of lectures on history and government given by the 18th-century British to the students of . polymath Joseph Priestley Warrington Academy “The Lectures cover an array of topics—"forms of government, the feudal system, the rise of corporations, law, agriculture, commerce, the arts, finance and taxation, colonies, manners, population, war and peace"—demonstrating how all-encompassing Priestley believed the study of history to be. “Priestley offers a version of history in which all events are ‘an exhibition of the ways of God.’ Studying history and nature, according to Priestley, ‘leads us to the knowledge of his perfections and of his will.’ Understanding history thus allows one to comprehend the natural laws God established and the perfection towards which they allow the world to tend. This outlook is tied together with Priestley's belief in scientific progress and the improvement of the human race.’” millennial Stornetta and Haber The author taking a snapshot of Dr. Stornetta and Congressional blockchain thought leader Lizzy Fallon, Capitol Hill, January 10, 2022. Photo by Jim Liew. Fast forward yet again, to the late 20th century. In 1991, Dr. W. Scott Stornetta, together with Dr. Stuart Haber, published . This was the breakthrough that is the blockchain, cited three times (out of eight citations) in Satoshi's white paper. How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document Per , Coingeek " Working at Bellcore Labs in the 1990s, scientists Stuart Haber and Scott Stornetta were allowed to pick their own research projects. For Scott, a problem worth solving was the authentication of digital documents: how could you be sure the version you were looking at had not been altered from its original? “The two worked as a team and were on the point of proving to themselves that the question of trust made the problem insoluble: there always needed to be some independent person or body to verify authenticity—but what if they were also part of a collusion? But then, Scott says, as he was waiting to go into a restaurant (author’s note, as he told me, a Friendly’s) with his family, he had a brainwave. “If you needed to keep adding extra trusted parties to vouch for the honesty of the existing players, then, logically, the list would expand infinitely until the whole world was required. And that still wouldn’t be enough. Scott’s insight was, as he explains it, ‘I realised that if you turn that upside down and created a system of interlinked documents with essentially everyone as a witness, then you had, in fact, solved the problem.’” Behold the seed of cryptocurrency, the money of the future. Conclusion And there you have a potted history of the scientists who invented money as we knew it and know it today: Copernicus, Newton, Priestley. And the secret origin story of future money by scientists: Stornetta and Haber. I have treated you to the scientific provenance of the key makers of money, with brief detours to the distinguished monetary economist Jevons, a passing reference to the first celebrity economist, John Maynard Keynes, and a revelation of the notorious economist John Law, proponent of promiscuously issued paper money with its attendant catastrophic debasement. And here we are today at the Government Blockchain Association's . Future of Money, Governance and the Law Contemplating the contributions of five distinguished scientists, coupled with brief forays to three influential economists, gives us insight into the potential future of money, governance and the law. What possibilities for greater prosperity, equity and financial stability does the blockchain create? So glad you asked. Let us reprise the view of the great discoverer of oxygen who offers: “A version of history in which all events are ‘an exhibition of the ways of God;’ studying history and nature, according to Priestley, to lead “us to the knowledge of [God’s] perfections and of [God’s] will." Let us reprise the quest of the great Newton, who sought, both as to prophecy and science, simplicity and unity. What possibilities does the blockchain create? Welcome. You’ve come to the right place. Adapted from at the Government Blockchain Association’s the National Press Club January 27, 2022. remarks presented The Future of Money, Governance and the Law, Dedicated to Ellen Stevens, editor extraordinaire.

A Brief History of Money

Super Heroes have never been more popular and profitable than they ever have. Whether from Marvel, DC, or somewhere else, it’s never been a better time to be a Super Hero fan. Luckily, some of the best Super Heroes of all time have also been part of the very best that the gaming industry has to offer. Spider-Man, Batman: Arkham City, Injustice, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the list goes on and on. While some heroes have been given the light of day, some are still stuck in the shadows, praying when they can get the game that they deserve. These are just some of the heroes that deserve their own game. Even if they’ve co-starred with other heroes or starred in a forgotten gem, it’s about time they get the game that does them justice in today’s age. 1. The Punisher Frank Castle has had an interesting life in the gaming world. He starred in a few titles back in the early ‘90s and even had a pretty decent movie game that saw Thomas Jane reprise his role from the 2004 flick. After a god-awful Multiplayer game on the PS3, he has stuck to the sidelines as a playable character in games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and a few mobile titles. The Punisher can be an easy character to adapt, but you either need to have an over-the-top bloodbath game or a gritty-noir story to do the character justice. We can easily see studios like Naughty Dog, for its grounded storytelling in The Last of Us, Machine Games, for its delightfully violent Wolfenstein games, or Remedy Entertainment, for basically making a Punisher game called Max Payne, taking on a project like this. 2. Wonder Woman Wonder Woman has been featured in many games that starred the Justice League, but not so much as her own solo adventure. With Gal Gadot bringing the heroine to life on the big screen, you’d think that people would want to play an action-adventure game starring Comic’s First Lady. Warner Brothers have plenty of studios under its belt, with Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith being the perfect devs to bring her first digital adventure to life. Who doesn’t want to see Wonder Woman stabbing and chopping heads off in an M-rated action game? 3. Black Panther It’s hard to put into words how much of an impact Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther had on the entertainment industry. While Marvel has had a few black Super Heroes, none have become as iconic as Prince T’challa. He’s become a symbol of black empowerment and has starred in the highest-grossing solo superhero movie. While he’s made appearances in Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, it’s about time we see the industry give him his own solo adventure. Marvel’s Avengers had some elements to make a Black Panther game, but they were never fully realized so that the developers could make another expansion for the live-service experiment. If given a chance, Crystal Dynamics could knock a Black Panther game out of the park. 4. Batman Beyond Batman is no stranger to the Gaming Industry, with the Arkham series being one of the most iconic Super Hero franchises. Though his sidekicks will be taking the stage in the upcoming Gotham Knights, his future successor hasn’t had the best luck. Batman Beyond has plenty of potential for a brand new take on Terry McGuiness and his relationship with a retired Bruce Wayne. The younger version of Batman needs at least one good game under his belt, especially after that awful Return of the Joker game. Even if it’s not Rocksteady, we can see WB Montréal create a digital version of Neo-Gotham. 5. Jessica Jones There have been plenty of detective games, but few with a grounded, Super Hero protagonist. Jessica Jones is the ultimate private eye of the Marvel Universe. She has immense strength, but rather than go up against alien threats, she keeps things grounded and investigates the dirty underbellies of the Marvel universe. This could allow for some intriguing, crime-solving gameplay, similar to games like LA Noir or Judgement. While Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Daredevil have had their moments as playable characters, Jessica Jones could benefit the most of all the Defenders. 6. Captain America Captain America has been no stranger to the gaming world, but few have put him at the center stage. Those that have done so have been less than exciting, ranging from generic 2-D Beat’em ups or licensed-tie-ins. His last game, Captain America: Super Soldier, had a lot of potential but was ultimately wasted so it could coincide with the 2011 flick. If given another chance for a similar Prince of Persia meets Arkham Asylum style of game, Steve Rogers could knock it out of the park. But if they feel like Rogers is too played out, there’s always the chance of bringing his recent replacement, Sam Wilson. 7. Black Widow Spy games were all the rage back in the late ‘90s and throughout the 2000s. Splinter Cell, Metal Gear, and Perfect Dark were just some of the biggest names in the spy genre, but we haven’t seen much of them in the AAA scene. What better way to bring it back than having the most famous super spy around, Black Widow? The game could take inspiration from Splinter Cell Blacklist and allow players to customize the way they play. Or, we could see an action RPG from Obsidian, similar to the cult hit, Alpha Protocol. The possibilities are never-ending. 8. Blade Before Black Panther, Spider-Man, X-Men, and The Avengers made it to the big screen, Blade was the character that helped prove that Marvel movies could be entertaining and violent. While he’s headlined a few games, they were the typical licensed movie tie-in garbage. With the character set to make his MCU debut, it is a perfect time to make a Blade video game that does him justice. Blade is a snarky, one-line throwing bad-ass that wields a sword and guns. While Capcom creating it might be a stretch, we can see Ninja Theory, who developed DMC: Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword, taking on the mantle. Conclusion With Marvel’s Guardian’s of the Galaxy coming out next month and Gotham Knights out next year, we’re slowly starting to see the big two comic book companies finally take some risks in the gaming industry. No one would’ve guessed the Avengers would ever assemble in gaming or expected that Batman starred some of the best games of all time. Now that Marvel and DC have made their marks in the gaming space, they’ll both need to take more risks if they want to stay on top.

5 Super Heroes Who Need their Own Game

Wikipedia Sucks: There's a Solution by Wiki’s Real Daddy

Payroll taxes are in the news. President Donald Trump said he wanted to defer the collection of employee portion of the Social Security portion of the payroll tax in order to provide pandemic-related economic relief to workers. The Congress didn’t agree, so he issued an executive order to do just that on August 13. , and there are questions about whether it is legal. Much is unclear about how his order is supposed to work All this prompts me to reprise an article I wrote in May 2017, . At the time, Trump had been in office a few months, both houses of Congress was controlled by Republicans, and income tax cuts were on the agenda. Reduced Employer Payroll Taxes: A Direct Path to Job Creation The G.O.P. was arguing that one would spur job creation, and enough growth to pay for itself. That is, the drop in tax collections resulting from lower tax rates would be offset by an increase in collections due to greater economic activity. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin went further, suggesting that this could happen enough to . the deficit reduce When Trump signed the into law, he predicted it would cause the economy to grow 6 percent per year, but growth was merely . Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council, envisioned an “investment boom,” but business investment grew modestly for just two quarters, then it dropped below what it had been before the tax cut. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2.2% in 2017, 3.2% in 2018, and 2.3% in 2019 The new law was proved to be a bad bet; it provided little benefit to most people, and substantially increased the deficit. The Congressional Budget Office projects debt held by the public will rise from —higher than any point since just after World War II. 81% of GDP in 2020 to 98% of GDP by 2030 In my 2017 article (and now), I argue that if the goal was job creation, it makes more sense to reduce the employer share of payroll taxes than to reduce income taxes. [Note: A 12.4% federal payroll tax funds Social Security and Medicare. About half the tax is paid by employees via payroll withholdings—the employer pays the rest. Self-employed individuals pay both portions.] Trump’s executive order provides temporary benefit for employ ; it defers their payment of their post-order 2020 payroll taxes until 2021. In contrast, I propose a permanent reduction in taxes employ pay when they employ someone. ees ers Here is how they compare. Half of that—$600 billion—was paid by employers. How do I propose to pay for a reduction in employer payroll taxes? In 2019, $1.2 trillion was collected in total payroll taxes. A combination of two new taxes: A transaction tax on the of equity securities—the transfer of stock from one shareholder to another. To be clear, that excludes new stock sold . That is, no tax when a company raises capital, only when the subsequent ownership of its stock changes. The World Bank reports that in equity securities were traded in 2019, and that 38 percent of that—$23 trillion—was traded in the U.S. That indicates that a 1 percent transaction tax in would have generated $230 billion in 2019, enough to cut the employer payroll tax by 38 percent.  A 1% tariff on imported goods could paydown the employer payroll tax by another 4%. The Department of Commerce estimates the value of imported goods in 2019 at ; a 1% tariff would have generated $25 billion. non-original sale by a company $60 trillion $2.5 trillion The World Bank figure on stock trading excludes private market sales between investors, as well as acquisitions. A one percent tax on the value shareholders receive on those transactions by U.S. shareholders could reduce the employer payroll tax further than 42.5 percent. Alternatively, it could be used to reduce the burden of Social Security obligations on the future workforce, or to help reduce student loan debt. The overarching rationale for my proposal is that the U.S. economy is transitioning from a world in which it was the unquestionable dominant player, to one where it is less so. By making it less expensive for companies to create or preserve domestic jobs, my proposal makes U.S. labor more competitive without reducing pay or benefits. That buffers the effect of three trends that have eroded the prospects for U.S. workers over recent decades: It has made it easier to move work. Initially, within a workplace, then outside a company; eventually, to anywhere in the world. TECHNOLOGY The idea that management's principal job is to maximize shareholder wealth emerged in the 1970s and gained traction in the 1980s. A derivative economic theory is that companies should focus on their core competencies and outsource the rest. Together, they led work to be moved to lower cost locations; first from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, then to other countries. ECONOMIC THEORY The end of the Cold War encouraged inward-looking countries to adopt an export mentality. That enlarged the supply of labor available to perform work that might have otherwise been performed in developed economies. LARGER SUPPLY OF LABOR. These trends bolstered returns on investment and so, those whose wealth is largely derived from the return on capital have done well. On the other hand, these trends weaken the return on labor—the existence of good jobs, with appealing prospects for advancement. The result is that people who rely on the return on labor are increasingly anxious, and less optimistic about the future. How can the U.S. improve the return on labor? It will take time to develop and implement ideas. Absent progress, pressure will mount on the economic theories that guide corporate decisions. That’s the situation we are in. One thing, however, is clear today. The payroll tax structure creates disincentive for employers to have U.S. workers. For labor-intensive companies that are unprofitable or marginally profitable, it makes it harder to survive, let alone thrive. For all companies, it makes it tempting to offshore work or automate it, and to import goods rather than build them, or buy them from domestic manufacturers. A lower employer payroll tax can abate that. A tariff reduces the advantage of workforces with low wage rates, and/or weak labor and environmental standards. From a competitive standpoint, it might only be sustainable for a decade. Nonetheless, it can help ease pressing needs while the economy is in transition. A transaction tax on the resale of securities is more controversial. It will cause some to gag—but it makes sense because: The U.S. has competitive advantage in capital markets. It is due to investor confidence, which largely flows from respected and enforced legal and accounting practices, as well as established institutions. A transaction tax contributes a return on the societal investment that maintains that investor-friendly environment. The risk that a transaction tax will lead much stock trading to move offshore seems slight. A parallel may be the “sin taxes”—high taxes on tobacco and alcohol products; they have less effect on sales than one might expect. de minimis Stock trading does not create value—a stock that changes ownership multiple times a month is not inherently worth more than one that does not. Value creation comes from the design, manufacture, and distribution of products and services—the type of activity that a reduction in employer payroll taxes encourages. A tax on stock trades help ease a real problem—the relative cost of U.S. employees— without creating a comparable problem in the capital markets.

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