Connecting Tech 2 Business. Promoting Cardano tech startups to business customers for sales, pilot or market feedback.

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Bridgebuilders

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

info@bridgebuilders.io

Additional applicants

Nori Nishigaya

Felix Weber

Juliane Montag 

Dean Taylor 

Yoram Ben Zvi

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of proposal

Incubation

[METADATA] SDG rating

9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Background:

Part of the gap we identified is the need in the ecosystem for business development support for tech projects building on Cardano and we often receive requests for support. 

There are great tech entrepreneurs building on Cardano, but at times they lack the knowledge, experience and connections to connect to businesses. This becomes a bigger issue with new technology like blockchain and the crypto atmosphere around it.

The aim of this proposal:

To provide business development support services to companies building on Catalyst and Cardano. 

The support will include:

• Business strategy analysis and focus to set and identified the needs 
• Prepare the company to discussions with business entities 
• Set up key objectives for the meetings
• Market feedback
• Pilot
• Commercial relationship
• Coordinate meetings with relevant companies through our network
• Participate in the meetings
• Support with follow ups and next steps
• Develop a guide to support companies on the approach for business development activities    

About Bridge Builders 

Bridge Builders is an aligned team of highly engaged and committed Catalyst Community members coming together as a community driven Assembly to provide value to their environment. We sensor and identify gaps within the ecosystem to co design and initiate required solutions. We have deep knowledge of the Cardano technology and strong relations across the Cardano ecosystem. 

Bridgebuilders already created a bridge between many companies and the Cardano ecosystem including Ledger, Goodwall, Seedstars, Digifarm to name a few. 

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Key related points from the challenge brief: 

How do we equip and support developers with tools and working infrastructure? How do we make Cardano their first choice when it comes to building dApps, innovating and collaborating?

 • How do we attract developers from outside of our current community to participate in Catalyst? 

 • What do developers want, and how do they get it from the Cardano dev ecosystem?

 • What would make it a developer motivated to grind through the docs

and code no matter how hard it is to create a dApp?

 • What are enterprise dev managers looking for in order to be able to build out enterprise projects -

either internal or commercial?

This proposal covers all of those areas providing a strong support for developers making their projects connect to business opportunities. It is not enough to have tech tools, support with business strategy and business development is essential for the success of the ecosystem and to attract more developers. 

 • Knowledge base & Documentation

 • Support structures

 • Incentivization structures

 • Collaborative structures

The proposal is aligned with those potential suggested directions. We are building a support service for business activities for tech/developer entrepreneurs  

Why is it important? Beyond tools and infrastructure, we need to nurture a growing developer community with incentives for ambitious infrastructure projects.

Again full alignment with the project goals. By helping with business activities we provide developer skills and support in areas which they might not be strong with. 

Through this proposal we expect to support the Cardano projects with business connections and knowledge how to develop and approach the business go to market. 

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Key Metrics to measure:

Number of companies supported in this proposal 

Number of companies using the knowledge based docs

Number of connection to business relation and business opportunities

Number of agreements 

Feedback from supported companies about the value of the collaboration. 

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Knowledge base guide will be public

Develop few use case with the companies participating and share with the community

Detailed monthly/milestone reports

After Town hall sessions & swarm sessions - both will be recorded

An example guide that the team participated in writing about a lead generation project: Community Impact Lead Generator - https://bit.ly/3JQ8CVr 

Bridgebuilders will share all information possible. However, sharing information related to specific companies in the program will depend on their willingness to share it. Some information that will be related to business activities might not be shared.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

The Bridgebuilder team is active on the Cardano community and Ecosystem for over 2 years, including on project Catalyst. The team has a strong track record of contributing to the community and successfully completing funded projects. This specific proposal is highly related to the core activities of the team and we are already providing support to a range of companies in the ecosystem. Example companies we collaborated with include proofspace, Nmkr, goodwall, Emurgo, CF, Seedstars, Socious, OneupOnedown and more.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Main Goals:

• Support to tech companies to establish business strategy and connect to business opportunities 
• Build knowledge base for tech companies re business approach
• "kick start" the business work for the company and provide the guidance continue  

The approach is very feasible as the team has a strong experience with business development activities and a strong network (for more details on the team please check the team section). Through our activities in the last 2 years we have gained relationships with many of the companies active on Cardano, so there is a strong base for further collaboration.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

• Phase 1, Week 0-4:
• Promotion of the service to Catalyst and Cardano community
• Workshops explaining the service offering
• Register a list of interested companies  

• Phase 2 week 5-8:
• One on one sessions with companies to guide and define business needs and set up business needs
• Support session to companies to prepare for business meetings

 

• Phase 3 week 8-20:
• Set up business meetings for the companies in the program
• Followup meeting and support in next steps 

• Phase 4 week 21-24:
• Based on the work develop the business guide for tech companies
• Closing report with feedback and results analysis

Future plans:

Based on the success of the proposal we will evaluate how to continue and maintain the service for the ecosystem. Several models to further finance it could include a fee by the companies or commission based on successful deals or a combination of both models.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

• Phase 1, Onboard companies 
• Workshop explaining the service
• 7-10 companies registered

• Phase 2, preparation sessions with companies
• Overall we expect 2-3 hours per company and total of 20 hours mentorship with 2 mentors 

 

• Phase 3, business meetings 
• Set up business meetings for the companies in the program, 3 meetings per company
• Followup meeting and support in defining next steps, 1 meetings/session per company 

• Phase 4 week 21-24:
• Based on the work develop the business guide for tech companies
• Closing report

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Budget is based on 7 companies but will stay the same up to serving 10 companies.

• Phase 1, Onboard companies 
• Project lead: 10 hours x 300 ₳ = 3,000 ₳  
• Community lead: 10 Hours x 300 ₳ = 3,000 ₳ 

Total 6,000 ₳ 

• Phase 2, preparation sessions with companies
• Project lead coordination: 10 hours x 300 ₳ = 3,000 ₳  
• Community lead coordination: 10 Hours x 300 ₳ = 3,000 ₳ 
• 20 hours mentorship with 2 mentors = 40 hours x 300 ₳ = 12,000

Total 18,000 ₳

• Phase 3, business meetings 
• 20 business meetings/20 hours X 1.5 mentors (some meetings we will be 2 mentors) = 30 hours x 300 ₳ = 9,000 ₳
• 20 x 1 hours support sessions before & after the meetings x 300 ₳ = 6,000 ₳
• 10 followup sessions x 300 ₳ = 3,000 ₳
• Communication and coordination of meetings 10 hours x 300 ₳ = 3,000 ₳

Total 21,000 ₳

• Phase 4 week 21-24:
• Develop guide book x 15 hours x 300 ₳ = x 4,500 ₳  
• Closing report, milestones, admin 4,000 ₳

Total 8,500 ₳

Total budget: 53,500 ₳ 

Total amount with 10% buffer: 58,850 ₳*

*The rates are calculated based on the current ADA value of 0.3 USD. We strongly believe ADA will go up overtime but it is important to have some protection for personal needs in case of volatility. Additional buffer of 10% is added in order to protect from decrease of ADA value. In case of increase in value we will adjust payments accordingly and use the additional amounts to provide additional services related to the proposal such as additional mentorship support.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Over 100 hours of support and business meetings for 7-10 companies for a cost per company of around than 7,500 ₳ (around Euro 2000) and 30 hours of session with potential clients as well as support in business strategy, seems to be high value for the budget requested. Obviously we can judge at the end by the final results and actual connections established and satisfaction by the companies participating in the program. 

For comparison a retainer fee for such a service could be between euro 1500-2000/month company x 7 companies x 6 months. 

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept