Good news! Glory comes only to the brave at heart who take risks. I like it that way. Its all or nothing. And nothing is nothing, but “All” is 50% more. I can’t resist the temptation! 
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Yes but I will not wait till my coins be worthless
Hard to read this as anything other than sad news, but not entirely unexpected on the basis of falling crypto prices, and also the fact that we’re coming to the end of the two years we knew the company was funded for.
Sincere thanks and best wishes to all those who have had to go through redundancy and contract terminations. Good luck for the future, it would be really nice if it could involve some coming back into the fold at some point.
Completely disagree with those who are suggesting that all roles other than engineering are superfluous, but certainly understand the inefficiencies that creep in as a company gets bigger, and also of course the reality that Maidsafe is still a company that’s essentially Research and Development based.
Having had this on the back of my mind for a while, glad at least to see some clarity that funding is secure for a good bit into the future, and glad to see the ability and willingness to support the team from the community.
I think getting the word out will be important, but my experience in music (which I think bears some comparison to the current crypto and tech scenes) is that a few strong and genuine connections go a lot further than a lot of shallow ones, and also that something amazing usually gathers its own momentum (once it’s released!)
For my own part I’ll keep plugging away at the things I’ve been working on, which for the past couple of weeks has been learning about vectors and scrolling through wallpaper images, so the frivolous things will not be entirely neglected!
Good luck to David and the remaining team in seeing this through to launch and beyond. I’ve never been one of the ones to think that SAFE can solve everything, but when I see knowledge and agency cynically being taken away from people here in the UK, as well as of course in so many other places in the world, it is one of the few things that gives me hope.
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Very sad to hear people losing their jobs. Thanks to everybody for your efforts and good luck for your future!
The only thing I’m not 100% in agreement is having the whole team remote without any office at all. I understand it may be necessary, but I think a place to meet face to face would be a good thing to have. If you meet your loan plan, please consider to have some kind of a shackle to house a meeting every now and then?
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If you are not going to wait till your coins are worthless, are you maybe going to wait until they are almost worthless - and what does that difference matter to you?
Because I actually would wait until they are worthless. Not that it is necessarily wise thing to do, but I have to admit that… that is what I would actually do, and what I have done before. There are projects that I have invested in and now they are almost worthless. Doesn’t make sense to sell now, when there is still a slight chance of them getting somewhere. I think the perceived risk / reward ratio is getting better all the time with almost-failing projects. I’m not gaining much by selling now, just realizing losses. Very hard to make a decicion to sell at any point.
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Upon re-reading this and the other updates and loan offer post after calming down and sitting down from my gym session this morning, some thoughts:
A) Yes somewhat sad that people are leaving in a way, in another way like they say one door closes another opens or like in Hinduism the ages of the Kali Yuga or signify the last chapter but what comes after the last is the first again. This sort of stuff happens all the time in companies all across the globe especially in start ups, especially in crypto and tech start ups. Sad but not sad they don’t need our pity, they are big boys and girls, i’m sure they will be fine, wish them all the best and thank them for their time.
B) RE speed to market, great news! Much needed focus in fact. This is exactly what many of us wanted to hear. An engineering and technology company working solely and focusing solely on engineering and technology. I have absolutely no fears about the team locking themselves away so to speak. When writers and artists have done this in the past, great things have happened. Its the same of the old sorcerer or mystic in the movies and ancient texts. They bunker down into the cave for the winter, great things begin to happen.
C) Re the funding and loan mechanism; If I were to give anything it’d literally be like that, to give it, when you “loan” money to friends or family, don’t expect it back or your setting yourself up for failure. I see Maidsafe in way kind of like a weird online family, I expect that they will do great things but in the case there is a problem, I would not be fased seeing as I have only given what I could afford to lose/donate freely, I’d advise others to do the same, here is why; the price may reach a high peak before launch and so if the money is returned after launch you may have missed your opportunity to profit greatly, think about that and only give what you can afford to not get back is my advice.
D) Marketing, i’ve said for a long time now that it is our project too, anyone can write, film, edit, record, promote this thing, we don’t need a marketing team, we are the marketing team. In fact I am already drafting emails to news rooms about this update so that we can kind of control the narrative, its positive not negative. You all will see some more from me on this (marketing) now that this has occurred.
Onward and upward!
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Maybe, if you get the timing right with the peak, which may not be so easy. And even if there is a peak before launch it may get to the same level and above some time after.
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Sure. But what I am saying is that if the money you loan to MS is only returned after launch, you’re not in control of those funds from point A to B so as long as you are OK with that and potentially missing out on the opportunity to sell those coins you loaned at a hypothetical peak prior to launch then go for it, I just wanted to make sure people are aware of one of these potential risks if they have not already considered it. Like I say, with any investment treat it like giving money to family, only give what you can afford to never get back and you’ll be fine no matter what happens.
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Thanks for the continued effort!
The show must go on!
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You are aboslutely right here. But on the other hand, for some people in tough financial situations, this can also be an advantage. If you are at risk of a personal bankrupt, this is a chance to protect your holdings for the future and even profit from that.
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Does this mean that with the Loan Mechanism added to existing funds and given the status quo, the runway extends to 2+ years?
Edit: Ignore the above, I see the answer is in the update above.
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Slightly disagree with this model even(separation of engineering from testing I mean). Small companies should hire full stack devops that do e2e design, develop, test, release(hopefully familiar with releasing via a pipeline). Even at large old Fortune 500 companies I see the QA roles getting shrunk more and more as a relic of the past because the expectation is that the engineers who wrote the technology have proper functional and unit tests in place to confirm all the basics, then yall being an open source technology releasing test nets to your community invites further “free” QA at scale.
I do hope if the project survives and eventually thrives again, that the past will not repeat itself. I have always been a fan of work from home and running lean. Build a product before trying to promote it etc. Sounds like steps are being taken in the right direction, I just hope its not too late.
I would suggest rather than weekly dev updates in pure text why not actually do product demos. Its what my team does. Every sprint end we have goals, something to implement and show off. Why not just link to youtube video’s letting your developers talk through the things they made and record it to release? Then you get feedback on youtube and in the forum on the features and it gives your engineers a real chance to show their stuff and shine. Plus its great too for their careers, they can link back to all the cool things they have demo’ed and talked through for hiring purposes. Certainly some weeks there won’t be stuff to demo, but if you go too long without a demo its likely not being worked on the right way(constant iteration, testing, and release). I know most developers HATE having to do demo’s or show off their code or what they built, but its really good to get in the habit of it and not shy away from it.
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The issue is we are worldwide, Scotland, Rome, Serbia, China and well beyond. so a meetup is a lot of planes and frankly these days I am more inclined to ban all travel where we can do daily skype/hangouts etc. The offices are a centralising thing and can in fact create fife-domes and issues where people group and become their own agency. So the decision to fully remote was not all financial really. To me it is necessary for a flatter structure where we all have equal access. I never had a desk in the office in any case, I much prefer remote and think travel is so destructive to time and the planet.
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Maidsafe is like a totally stripped-down race-car by now. No excess baggage, no frills and no comfy seats anymore. Just racing towards the milestones. I like it!
Hard decisions but had to be done. Thanks to everyone on the team, past and present.
I’ve been here since the crowdsale and I’ll be here until launch.
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I feel a bit heartbroken after reading this most recent news, I can feel the pressure you all must be having right now.
I sent an email offering all my MAID for the loan, all or nothing, I am not jumping out of this boat.
I would like to be more helpful, but unfortunately I have my own responsibilities and limitations and can’t do much more right now.
I love you all, I know you will never surrender and neither will I.
Respect! 
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This is exactly why we are here. I have always said the person who gives their last pound to a beggar is to be admired much more than the millionaire who gives a hundred pounds. Not that you are poor, or us beggars, but the sentiment holds. Hold your head high, like me and others you have shown belief and that’s a force to be proud of. If it all failed I would not care as long as I believe we all gave as much effort as is feasible. This is not a do or die, this is a do and change the world, failure is long gone. We already have changed some things, we have folk who copy us, tv programs talking about us and much more.
I do what I do because I have no family and work to make this happen, not for riches, I could not care a jot about that, but because this is right. that is what drives many of us and that is not a measurable thing, certainly not in £ $ or maidsafecoins.
Bottom line, we are the change, many of us just don’t realise it, including me at times.
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There are things that can’t be explained from a utilitarian perspective, sometimes the urge to build something is like a personal mission on this planet. The purpose.
I believe, and pardon me for the religious words, I believe, the universe gives us resources to fulfill our function in it, like our body does with the cells, and sometimes the universe takes away these resources to heal the mind and the spirit, because the money distracts, distracts a lot. And sometimes having “just enough” and not more, gives a clarity, that is lost in the abundance.
I believe in you, and I believe in your success.
This just another necessary step.
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Thank you for making these difficult decisions to ensure the success of this project. It can’t have been easy. This seems to be an excellent plan to provide some needed breathing room while focusing all the energy on the most important deliverable. Respect.
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Indeed, but if someone outside wants to develop an ERC-linked token that would be great! 
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And confuse anybody who is not totally up to date with thngs
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