I am unhappy with the current progress of Lisk and this stems from the small size of the core tech, their limited resources and the poor execution by the legal consultants in getting a business structure setup. This said, it seems the worst is over and they are now centralized in Berlin, the ggmbh is in process and they will soon have access to their trust funds from what I've been told.
Given this newfound momentum, Lisk needs to start hiring. They need 3-5 more talented developers localized in Berlin. They need a cryptographer on staff to review and enhance their existing protocol. They need more community management staff. They also need someone to worry about DevEx on the team while they plan their SDK.
The good news is that they should be funded to accommodate their needs and I have also connected Max and Oliver to my extensive rolodex of contacts. If they want to hire and execute, then they should be able to do so. It's up to the Lisk community to hold them accountable.
As for IOHK getting involved, it is too early to tell. We'll circle back in a few months.
Thank you for your response. I read that Max and Oliver are planning on hiring an in-house cryptographer:
"18. The weakness of LSK is security, so team have any plans to sign strong security team? (bawga)
Oliver: We have been advised to factor out code security audits to a third party, rather than employ from within. Initially we will request an overall security audit, with follow up audits being performed after significant milestones have been achieved along the roadmap.
We are also planning to employ an in-house cryptographer whose role will be to improve and document the cryptographic elements of Lisk."
Hiring wise, they have said that they intend to start hiring some developers for key areas (security, core devs for front and backend) soon:
"Doweig: Do you have any plans on technical hirings? I mean how many tech people will you need in 6 month or 1 year from now
Max: Definitely! We made the decision to hire local talents in order to increase our efficiency (as we only have so many funds/time, and Lisk is a huge project) to the maximum.
That means starting now, after finally being in Berlin in our office, we can look for further technical employees.
We are definitely looking for 2 core devs and 2 (or more) frontend devs ASAP, but our whole team will grow to about 15 people at the end. With ASAP I mean as soon as possible to help out at urgent construction sides of Lisk."
It does look like they are starting to get things together quite a bit now and it's great that they have a decent office in Berlin to work from. For me personally, I am looking forward to them getting their GmbH status which will enable them to access the ICO funds (14K+ BTC) and start hiring some great talent.
[Sources via Lisk Blog] Lisk Community Technical Meeting Summary — August 13th
https://blog.lisk.io/lisk-community-technical-meeting-summary-august-13th-c958b5f8b0fc#.lcmclrdoc