Andamio by Gimbalabs: a learning management system (LMS) built on Cardano with skill-tracking, treasury management, and smart contract capabilities.

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Roberto Mayen-Hess

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

robertomh@gimbalabs.io

Additional applicants

• James Dunseith
• M. Ali Modiri
• Sebastian Pabon
• Nori Nishigaya
• Yoram Ben Zvi
• Adrian Hüetter
• Nelson Kshetrimayum
• Juan Salvador Magán Valero
• HongJing (Jingles) K

[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

dApp

[METADATA] SDG rating

Our project falls within the following SDG categories:

• SDG 4 Quality Education
• SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth 
• SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

We perceive three interconnected problems:

1. Currently, education is focused on compliance and competition instead of problem-solving and contribution. 
2. As organizations grow, they become too bureaucratic which impedes their capacity to solve problems in an efficient manner.
3. Individuals struggle to find meaning in their work and build relationships of trust.

Background

As a result of the work Gimbalabs has done over the past years through the Plutus PBL program, Gimbalabs Playground, and Gimbalabs Live Coding, we have observed that these problems also affect decentralized organizations, providing the perfect opportunity to solve them using a different approach. 

We created Andamio to change how education works, making it more accessible and interactive, helping organizations collaborate and building relationships within the community based on trust. By developing and scaling the Andamio LMS platform on the Cardano blockchain, we will support Cardano’s efforts to “bring about a positive global change” in a unique way. 

Minimum viable product (MVP)

We have taken the initiative to onboard new developers to Cardano through our highly successful Plutus PBL program (4th iteration is live at: https://plutuspbl.io/) which has empowered more than 500 students to start learning Cardano development and gain invaluable real-world experience. After two years of insightful observations and continuous improvement, we have developed and reached a significant milestone—an MVP that tackles the problem of tracking skills and contributions head-on.

Fig 1. The Andamio platform: A) Landing page, B) Student skills and contributions record; C) Skills and contributions record dashboard; D) Student record aggregate

We built Andamio’s infrastructure on Cardano blockchain technology. Its LMS integrates:

• Project-Based Learning methodologies
• Mastery-Based Assessment
• Smart Contract-based Skills and Contribution Tracking
• Treasury management and reward contracts

We have designed our project to engage two key stakeholder groups:

• Members of the Cardano community seeking to contribute to real-world projects.
• Organizations looking to onboard contributors to their projects.

Further, various organizations within the Cardano ecosystem, such as Wada, MeshJS, Governance Guild, Cardano Foundation, and Emurgo, have already shared their interest in using the Andamio platform to support their onboarding and education programs.

This proposal’s aim is to provide funding to take the Andamio platform from its MVP stage to a pilot project where we will offer it to other organizations within the community. 

For this, we have identified the following needs:

1. Beta testing: get the Andamio LMS platform in front of potential contributors to test the platform and gather feedback.
2. Lead generation: Collaborations with multiple organizations within and outside the Cardano ecosystem that will benefit from the use of Andamio.
3. Implementation and adoption support: make sure interested organizations implement and adopt the Andamio platform and gather feedback.
4. Market research: Competitor, competitive and industry analysis. Target market validation and refinement and go-to-market strategy.
5. Business analysis: Revenue stream and cost structure analysis and business modeling. 
6. Legal and regulatory compliance: Legal and regulatory compliance for mainnet deployment.
7. Design and prototyping: Improving user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design and refine products functionalities. 

Cardano seeks to “bring about a positive global change”. By developing and scaling the Andamio LMS platform on the Cardano blockchain, we will support this ecosystem in achieving its goal.

Our long term plans include, but are not limited to:

• Implementation of the Andamio platform across the Cardano ecosystem.
• Promotion of the platform to Universities and organizations offering educational programs outside the blockchain industry.
• Securing external funding and generating different revenue streams to continue to improve and promote our product.

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

The challenge asks the question: What products and integrations can be developed or improved that will offer more use cases to the Cardano ecosystem that are high impact and drive more adoption?

Andamio is a unique innovation on the Cardano blockchain that combines a PBL-based LMS with a treasury management system. It offers organizations a smooth onboarding process and helps contributors transition from learning to real-world project participation. We provide the Andamio platform to Cardano organizations as a business solution, simplifying contributor onboarding and offering educational resources for acquiring project-related skills.

The Andamio platform on Cardano:

• Integrates PBL methodologies and tracks skills and contributions for onboarding contributors to real-world projects.
• Enables organizations to create treasuries for rewarding student or contributor contributions, leading to faster feedback loops.
• Streamlines the recruitment and onboarding process, reducing costs and time for organizations.
• Incentivizes trust-based relationships between organizations and contributors.
• Promotes community building and growth by connecting different Andamio instances into a network of contributors and organizations sharing knowledge and working towards common goals.

Cardano needs innovative solutions to help the ecosystem reach its potential and help improve the systems we use worldwide. The above mentioned solution presents how Andamio supports the Cardano ecosystem and builds a blockchain-based LMS platform that any educational organization/content can use.

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

Within a six-month period:

• No. of organizations using Andamio 
• No. of contributors enrolled in PBL programs
• No. of contributors completing PBL programs
• No. of contributors onboarded to Cardano organizations
• Ada distributed as rewards for contributions
• No. contributor tokens minted* 

In the short-term, we expect organizations using the Andamio platform to implement PBL modules that will greatly improve their contributor onboarding process. In the mid-term, we expect to attract new developers to the Cardano ecosystem offering a more rewarding, low-risk/high-reward training and onboarding process. In the long-term, we estimate the Andamio platform will reduce the time and amount of resources spent in educating and onboarding contributors to real-world projects by at least 50%. 

We expect that, In the future, the Andamio platform will be used not only by the Cardano community but by the education and learning services industry in general.

*Contributors can choose to not go through a PBL module if they consider they have the expertise to deliver on a project/task, however, they will be at a disadvantage over those contributors that have taken the time engaging and developing a relationship with the organization.

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

We are already developing Andamio in the open. We will continue to share the outputs of our project through: 

• Comprehensive documentation of development on an Andamio instance
• Live coding sessions and recordings available on YouTube
• Our Discord server
• Progress reports will be made available through our website

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

Background

Gimbalabs is a successful proposal of Fund 1 of Project Catalyst. It has provided value through initiatives such as the Plutus PBL, Gimbalabs Playground, Gimbalabs Live Coding, and recently Governance workshops. Its team has a track record of delivering value far exceeding the amount received in funding, actively engaging and fostering Cardano community creation and growth, and delivering on its promises.

Andamio

The Andamio team is a unique blend of strong developers, project managers, and business experts working together in the Cardano ecosystem for over two years. With their roots in Gimbalabs, a project deeply involved in the growth of Cardano, they share common values and goals, forming a dedicated and cohesive team. Over the past six months, they have diligently bootstrapped the Andamio platform as an open-source solution to address the challenges and pain points identified throughout their engagement with the Cardano community, where they have gathered valuable insights and collaborated with numerous learners and organizations. 

After six months of rigorous testing, we are excited to present an open-source software development kit (SDK), ready to be developed into a platform that any Cardano organization can leverage. 

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

The main goals for the project are:

1. Provide an open-source tool that Cardano organizations can use to improve their contributor onboarding process using PBL methodologies.
2. Provide contributors an on-chain record of skills acquired and real-world contributions made to projects by participating in the Cardano organization’s PBL contributor onboarding program. 
3. By providing these tools, improve the contributor onboarding process in general and for Cardano organizations in particular. 

As stated in the previous section ([IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?), we will validate the feasibility of our approach through quantitative and qualitative measures.

[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.

For a more detailed project timeline, please see here: 

Fund 10: Andamio Products & Integrations Milestones & Deliverables Timeline Breakdown

Over the past 6 months our team has worked without pay bootstrapping a solution for the benefit of the Cardano community. Through our pilot Plutus PBL program, we have provided free education and onboarded new developers to the ecosystem.

Milestone 0: Self-funded development - Completed

• PBL methodology has been used to successfully onboard Plutus developers to Cardano over the past two years.
• A pilot of the LMS open-source platform has been built and tested over the past six months, tracking contributors' skills and contributions.
• The Andamio open-source platform is in its final stages of development. We seek funding to complete it and make it available to the Cardano community. 
• There is an ongoing Andamio contributor pilot and progress survey.

Milestone 1: Andamio platform beta launch (6 weeks)

Beta testing

• Internally test and document the Contribution Platform, preparing it for public availability.
• Conduct three workshops to showcase the Andamio LMS and Contributor Platform and generate interest.
• Gather user feedback and make necessary refinements and improvements.

Adoption and implementation

• Support the adoption of Andamio by at least two Cardano organizations.

Legal and regulatory compliance

• Consult with legal experts to ensure compliance for the mainnet launch.

Lead generation

• Develop Andamio onboarding PBL and generate leads for further organizational adoption of the platform.

Milestone 2: Pilot project expansion and integration (8 weeks)

Adoption and implementation

• Expand the pilot project, involving more participants and organizations in the Cardano ecosystem.
• Collaborate closely with participating organizations to ensure smooth onboarding onto the platform.

Market research and business analysis

• Collect feedback from participants and organizations to identify areas for improvement, customization, and potential revenue streams.
• Regularly evaluate and assess the pilot project's impact on skill tracking, contributions, and community engagement.

Milestone 3: Launch and community adoption (10 weeks)

Design and prototyping

• Implement refinements and enhancements based on the pilot project and user feedback.

Market research and business analysis

• Launch a marketing campaign to promote the platform, showcasing benefits and success stories from the pilot program.
• Monitor key metrics to measure platform adoption and success, including organizations onboarded, student engagement, and Cardano ecosystem growth. 

Go-To-Market strategy

• Engage with the Cardano community and stakeholders to address concerns and gather feedback for continuous improvement.

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

You can find the online version here

You can find the online version here

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

For a more detailed budget breakdown, please see here: Fund 10: Products & Integrations Budget

For a more detailed budget breakdown, please see here: Fund 10: Products & Integrations Budget

Budget by spending category

• Project management - 74,000
• Community manager - 30,000
• Beta testing - 100,000
• Adoption and implementation - 39,800
• Legal and regulatory compliance - 24,000
• Lead generation - 26,800
• Market research and business analysis - 77,500
• Design and prototyping - 46,400
• Go-To-Market strategy - 31,600

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

Over the past years, we have actively engaged with the community to gain insights into their needs and challenges. Drawing upon this research, we have created the Andamio platform, a pioneering innovation designed to address the underserved market of edTech and professional training and development. 

Leveraging the power of Cardano blockchain technology, we have developed a minimum viable product (MVP) already delivering value to the Cardano community. We have worked on the project without any financial compensation for over six months, showing our commitment. In line with Cardano's mission to drive meaningful change and promote adoption, we are now seeking funding to develop further and scale this open-source Cardano product, which has the potential to make a significant impact on organizations both within and beyond the Cardano ecosystem, as well as the broader blockchain industry.

The funding will enable us to execute a strategic plan that drives the adoption of the Andamio platform and conducts essential research to ensure its long-term sustainability. By positioning the Cardano blockchain as a go-to marketplace for talent search and onboarding, the Andamio platform aims to have a lasting and high-impact presence within the Cardano community.

Some important benchmark metrics to keep in mind: 

In the U.S

• USD 170 billion (USD 1,286 per employee) is spent annually on employee training (300 billion worldwide).
• This cost represents, on average, only 42 hours of training per employee. 
• USD 90 billion is spent annually generating internal training resources.
• A typical hiring process consists of at least three stages (recruitment, selection, and onboarding), each with associated tasks and resource requirements. 
• On average, it costs a company between USD 4,200 - 7,500 to hire an employee; this does not consider onboarding costs. 

These problems are exacerbated in decentralized organizations, which depend on bootstrapping or seed funding to find and train talent. This problem is especially true within the Cardano ecosystem, which has a notoriously steep learning curve for new developers.

[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