Onboarding App, introducing investors/artists to the Cardano Ecosystem

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Matthew Bedford

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

oddshapeshadow@gmail.com

Additional applicants

N/A

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

12

[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?

Yes

[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.” .

The Web app is built and hosted on a user friendly App builder called Adalo. A Monthly fee is paid to use their services, they are an established company and have been running since 2018.

[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

Education

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The "Welcome to ADA" App (W.ADA) has been designed to simplify the initial onboarding journey into the Cardano ecosystem. When starting out on a new blockchain there's a barrier to entry, this is caused by lack of familiarity with the tools, products and services available. Imagine if you had been given an overview or use guide of the entire ecosystem in the palm of your hands when you first found Cardano. Imagine having a tool that clarifies, educates and links you to the opportunities to get involved quickly and network.

The Apps mission is to share a consolidated view of the existing wallets, projects, marketplaces and much more in one simple place. It contains interactive flows for blockchain beginners and experienced users. This allows a wide range of users to benefit from customised content, reducing time to competence in being an active retail investor or creative in the community.

It has been built in the most cost effective way using Adalo. This is an app building service which allows for low cost content editing and maximum device compatibility. This reduces the time taken to update and amend information and means cost is predictable throughout the year.

Key benefits:

• Free to use, no sign up required
• Step by step guide to onboard complete beginners in Web3
• Open use by all reputable projects, individuals or SPO's
• Consolidated information for beginners
• Low build cost and hosting
• Helps with exposure for all builders/developers in the space
• Designed with the communities real-world experience

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

The App is already being used by members of the community and helping them provide a free simple tool to onboard new people into Cardano with a consolidated simple view of what happens in Cardano. Initial tests of the App in April/May saw over 3500 interactions in short period of time with limited marketing and posts from my personal twitter Account to share the link.

Use cases

• Onboarding complete beginners or other blockchain users
• To be used at events to avoid handouts and flyers, the Web app can be accessed with seconds and needs no sign up or large download, compatible across IOS and Android
• Social media friendly link
• Stake pools can be featured to expose them to new investors fresh into the ecosystem
• Education and exposure for others educational resources and content
• The app can support community projects and non profits to share information in an easily accessible format
• Lists key developers, minting platforms, influencers, event information for users to network and explore deeper into the complex community

The ultimate aim is to encourage a diverse range of individuals to interact and experience Cardano primarily as retail investors and creators.

Key areas of development

• I have collaborated with NEWM to start building out a Musician/Artist onboarding flow to encourage creators to enter and bring their fans to Web3
• We currently hold many types of projects to expose new entrants to a range of products and services in the ecosystem
• Currently building PC/Tablet compatible layouts
• Onboarding more projects with focus on no gatekeeping behaviors
• further development of custom flows for projects that can be complex to keep track of via Discord, Twitter, Threads or other platforms.

Future sustainability

There is scope post funding and community establishment to open up the opportunity to allow sponsorship for the running/hosting costs

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

Measures Include

• Total projects onboarded to feature information
• User actions in App
• Total Projects using at IRL events
• Community feedback

Future measures

• App Downloads if made live on Apple Store/Google Play
• Ratings from App stores

As the App serves as walkthrough guide and link consolidation tool, the traffic to listed links could be queried and if projects have unique links this would highlight the apps impact on traffic through to specific sites and sign ups to services like wallets.

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

As the App is live and in continuous development the output can be seen by accessing the Web App directly to see progress and content addition.

When the user base grows or traffic increases this would be marketed to encourage projects, start ups and service providers to provide their information to offer them exposure to a new audience

I am an active member within Cardano and will actively share progress with many communities that are seen of Hubs of News and events across different areas in Cardano such as Cardano Over Coffee, The Listening Room, NEWM, Sound Rig, Sick City.

Whilst much of the output may initially be qualitative in nature or evidenced in the final App content there are opportunities to measure specific App user behaviors at an general level to share current trends in new entrants to Cardano heading to specific products or areas such as DEFI, NFTs or Music.

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

Over the past 4 months of the App going live the project has been self funded. It is available for use in its basic form and already holds value add content for new investors.

I have developed a range of skills in my career from working in highly technical environments for large telecommunications companies in project management, training and development, and senior people management roles. I have a full time role with a company currently and use my spare time to learn new things about developing web3 ecosystems. I have a passion for improving the accessibility of web3 for normal members of the public. This was born out of a frustration of siloed environments where information is not available without large time investments or word of mouth.

I have a generalised skillset with design, content creation, music production and work well with community input to build upon ideas to benefit the wider community. I have chosen to lead on this Onboarding app initiative to lower the barrier to entry, simply because its something I would have wanted when I first started. It offers me the chance to interact with project creators, artists, and brand new investors to learn more.

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

Objectives

1. Continue to offer a free simple onboarding tool for use by existing projects or communities for both new/existing blockchain users to safely enter the Cardano ecosystem and have access to a consolidated view of products, services and opportunities there are on offer.
2. Create a sustainable model of funding after 12months where perceived and evidence of traffic can encourage external projects or businesses to list on the app for an optional fee
3. Market and promote the tool within wide range of communities and encourage use at IRL events and on websites as a value add

[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.

Due to the App being live already the focus will be on 4 key areas to compliment the adoption of the tool over the 12month period

1. Marketing within community and externally via social channels
2. Addition of range of content, platforms, market places, communities, twitter space lists, influencer, developer and content creator information, catalogue education offerings and list projects who would like to be featured as well as Stake pools.
3. Ongoing refinement of the onboarding flows and step by step process with input from community
4. Development of music/visual artist flows, to allow easy steps to sell work on chain.

Primary actions will be:

1. Payment and securing of hosting deal with Webapp Hosting service
2. Community feedback exercise to refine content and flows
3. Marketing and socials to document and evidence engagement

Work will be agile and multiple areas of the above plan will be delivered in a balanced approach according to community demand and user experience feedback.

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

The result of the ongoing work over the year will be to maintain and improve upon existing content, UI and provide a regular update as to changes additions and response to community feedback in an open format to evidence the benefits for the community if funded. Within the regular review can be user interactions from the back end analysis tools on the app hosting website.

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

Hosting costs

Adalo app builder

12month estimate 9000ADA

Info: Built with a margin for ADA Price reduction of 10% from current market price and also amendment of plan to include higher usage limits up to 100k App actions on flexible plan. negotiations with pricing team can also be undertaken once traffic is established and forecasted.

Graphic design tools

Canva 12 months

650ADA, based on $12.99 p/m

A.I Tools

Midjourney 12months

450ADA

Personal Time Investment

4hrs per week at UK Minimum wage at £10.42ph

52weeks x 4hrs = 208hrs

208hrs x £10.42 = £2167.36

£2167.36 = 9756.48ADA

Marketing

IRL Events and Networking UK based. 3000ADA

Socials - 2250ADA based on predicted spend over 5 key promotion drives.

Outsourced work

To allow scope for external work to be completed by specialist on Databases UX/UI and in app functions above, I'm requesting a budget of 50hrs over the 12months for one off consultations charged at max $50ph 9000ADA

Total = 34107 ADA

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

1 Man project with a sustainable 4hr per week commitment to update content and add new features ongoing. Minimum product is live and working. Costs are calculated with 10% error margin based on the price of ADA should the price reduce throughout the year.

My time is charged at UK national Minimum living wage which allows me to realistically set aside the time in my working week to commit to the initiative for the community.

Due to having a broad and generalised skill set I am able to in house the majority of the tasks and have good knowledge of current A.I tools to assist content creation and efficiency.

The 35k ADA requested is offset very quickly by onboarding and bringing new investors into the ecosystem, providing exposure for multiple projects in the community. We will be lowering the knowledge barrier and access to the amazing tools we have on Cardano in a simple effective way.

[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