What I learned after 1 month as a small stake pool operator

Staking & Delegation
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  1. Our 175k stake/pledge, is good for about 1 block per month (on average). That alone is good enough for me to happily continue!
  2. Delegating to my pool will give you only 85% of what you could earn with a big pool because of the fixed fees (340 ADA) I have no control over.
  3. I will add value to the community as an active community member, copy writer, SPO and translator because I want to help the community grow.
  4. IOG and community are working to optimize the parameters which in the end will improve my pool’s rating:

Not long till ‘d’ (=0) day - IOHK Blog
Dutch translation:
Niet lang tot ‘d’ (=0) dag (ada4good.com)

Please feel free to add to this list. curious about other small stake pool operator’s insights.

PS: I will properly introduce myself and my pool shortly :slight_smile:

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Update:

It seems that I have miscalculated the delegator’s expected rewards if they happen to choose my pool (point number 2 above)!

A friendly community member pointed me to a fantastic site that very accurately calculates the rewards:

Here you can see the delegators average rewards when delegating to my pool:
Cardano Reward Calculator - Dynamic Strategies

and here you can see the delegators average rewards when delegating to a 50m pool:
Cardano Reward Calculator - Dynamic Strategies

My pool will reward heroic delegators ( :smiley:) with 3,5% annual returns
The Big 50m pool will reward delegators with about 5,4% annual returns!

So point 2 has to say 65% and not 85%.
As I said, I don’t mind. I will continue adding value to the community while also understanding (now even more clearly) why delegators are not pouring in to delegate to my pool :smile:

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Hi ADA4Good!
I have a pledge of $150,000 plus a few delegators which puts me just over $200,000. I started my pool around February 22, 2021 and have yet to mint even 1 block! The epoch that started today, no expected blocks. Small pools are definitely getting eaten up by large pools. Grabbing delegators is not as easy as I thought. Looking on Twitter…pools are damn near begging for delegators. Hopefully IOHK comes up with something that works for everyone towards the end of the year when they change the k params. Good luck to you and you pool and keep at it! The network needs the small pools. Cheers.

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Update 2:

I created a blog in which you can find a very simplified way to roughly calculate the odds of your pool finding a block:

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I wouldn’t say small pools are “eaten up” by big pools. This is just the way the system currently works and there are very good reasons for it to be this way. Stake pool operators should investigate these rules before creating a pool. The problem with any system is that it can’t satisfy all players and I don’t even believe it should. That said, IOG does care. They just released a delegation program all single pool operators can apply for. If you get awarded you will get their delegation. Meanwhile the community is continously thinking about fine tuning the parameters. All we have to do is add value to the community and the delegators. May the best pools win :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Update:
Here is the link to the IOG delegation:

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Eaten up probably wasn’t my best choice of words. :grin: I did a lot of research prior to starting my pool. I knew it would be tough. I think it is important for new pool operators to understand that they probably don’t just start minting blocks out of the gates. (Well, most of us don’t) It can take some time to mint A block or mint regular blocks. The downfall of this is delegators not getting rewarded for staking.
Charles, IOG, the community…they ALL care and it shows every single day. Sincerely the best group of humans anywhere. Everyone puts so much thought and time into everything they do. It is pretty incredible.
I agree with a system … or really ANYTHING in life can’t satisfy everyone. I don’t think that would even be possible. I think they will figure out what is best for the network…and if you are in it for the right reasons…that should satisfy.
Thanks for the link to the calculator and for your info on delegators actually receiving less rewards with a small pool due to fixed fees. THAT I did not consider. Thank you for your time! Cheers!

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