Inspiration
WiFi has been around for over 2 decades and it is still the same binary option of having an "open" WiFi network that has massive security vulnerabilities and poor reliability or a "closed" WiFi network that locks out 99.9% of people and if you share you PSK (pre shared key / WiFi Password) to the wrong person you have just made your network just as venerable as an open network. Why does free WiFi still suck? Why is there no map that shows all the free WiFi hotspots? Why do I need to ask my friends what their WiFi password is? Why can't I share my internet connection when I'm not using it? Why does an apartment building with 50x units have 50x monthly connections and 50x WiFi routers? Why do we need to put passwords on our WiFi? Why do I need to remember a WiFi password? Why does my work WiFi require a username and a password? Why can't the internet authenticate my physical device in stead of asking for a password? Why do 2.9B people still not have access to the internet?
What it does
Using custom firmware installed on WiFi6 routers we use the blockchain as a AAA authentication database to allow devices to connect to a network without passwords. Once you connect to one network your settings are then on the blockchain so when you connect to another network anywhere in the world it remembers what you have access to and if you have any custom settings like VPN or QoS.
Devices get their own VLAN unless the device is captured by the network administrator using an app, then it can be moved and other rules can be applied to them. Using EOS / Antelope we have 0.5 second block times so changes to the network feel instant. Routers don't do any cryptographic processing & don't need to hold a copy of the blockchain. To earn rewards you need to share a free WiFi connection and stake some tokens, then each week rewards will be air drop to these network providers.
What's new and novel as a result of the ideathon It came to my realization that Nomad Nodes was originally only poised to be a crypto project and as such this would only be able to capture 20% of the market and potentially polarized people from using & deploying the network as there are still a lot of skepticism out there around crypto. As a result I had to think of a way to increase the market opportunity and limit the risk that crypto projects have of fluctuating token prices and bear market sentiments. The resulting idea was to create a new market entirely and get people into use crypto without them knowing they are using crypto. We are now creating a new market place entirely of "SaaS for networking hardware", the sales of WiFi routers is a $10b a year industry and nobody is selling software for consumer routers - before smart phone the market for mobile Apps was zero and now it is a $200b a year industry. With the smartphone market being $450b that means a 44% pentation, it could be possible to create a $4.4b SaaS marketplace. Getting people into crypto without them knowing is about promoting the SaaS features (parental control, VPN's, ad blocking ect) more than the crypto rewards and allowing people to pay inside the mobile app using credit cards. Every app will have a built in wallet (not that most users will know) and payments will be transacted as stable coins and then sent to us with smart contracts allowing the features to be unlocked. We can work with a crypto payment processor to deal with all the fiat payments, refund & regulations while we roll out to more users and have 5x'ed our target market. In time users will be exposed to their crypto wallet more and more as we can put extra features into the wallet like rewards for confirming the speed of other Nomad Nodes. Another realization is to use parts of the Microsoft business model and parts of the Starbucks business model. Bill Gates never tried to create the best operating system in the works, he wanted to make the most popular and have his OS on as many devices as possible. We are going to do freemium firmware so the firmware is free for anyone to install and base OS is still going to have a better feature set than the manufacturers router. Starbucks makes a lot of their profit from their gift cards because people give them money up front they know they can spend and they have access to that liquidity, in turn they invest it. I don't think we can sell gift cards but we can get people to pay for large blocks of freemium features that we can in turn invest back into the business or even buying our token back. The freemium features would have a very high margin because similar to antivirus software once all the hard work is done extra people paying for the service is almost pure profit. One extra realization that has come up is not everyone wonts to have a WiFi router that doesn't have a password, many people will want to use our freemium features like parental control, VPNs or ad blocking but still want to use a PSK (Pre Shared Key) / normal password protected system. In order to throw our net the widest we will accommodate this for clients
How we built it
We haven't yet. It is architected, we have a white paper and a provisional patent application that covers at least 6 unique aspects including a new proof mechanism.
Challenges we ran into
Not having enough hours in the day and trying to wear every hat until I find the right co-founder
Accomplishments that we're proud of
My extremely supporting wife hasn't left me. Technically stress testing the architected plan with experts to ensure it is all achievable
What we learned
If you get the idea of building a unicorn or a decacorn you need to do it! ! !
What's next for Project 1
We would love to get some publicity on this! ! ! Finish assembling the team and raise capital so we can build it and deliver this to the world.
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