Cardano User Journeys

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Sheraz Ahmed

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[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] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

The proposal will analyze 279 projects for quality, accessibility, virality, and value to boost Cardano's brand. We will select the best and use cost-efficient marketing to increase their visibility.

[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 chosen projects’ materials must still be live and accessible via link or downloadable so we can reshare them. If this is not the case, we will have to divert to the next-best project.

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

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Our project will be open source throughout its entire lifecycle, ensuring that all outputs are accessible to the community. 

[METADATA] Horizons

Education

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

We will perform a marketing and ecosystem-value analysis of the 279 educational projects funded by the Catalyst funding program. Our goal will be to identify projects that have untapped or overlooked value when it comes to increasing the understanding, adoption, and perceived value of the Cardano ecosystem. If we are unable to find what we need within that subgroup, we will evaluate and decide as a team whether we should expand to other tags or categorizations of past funded projects. The overall goal would be to find content, functionality, or pages with higher likelihoods of producing engagement by people outside of the Cardano ecosystem (retail users or institutional users) or to increase the amount of partnerships and utilization within the Cardano ecosystem (by making community members aware of resources they might have missed.

• We will screen out projects that are incomplete or have been discontinued
• We will consider regrouping and marketing jointly several projects which might have greater value if viewed or used together rather than individually

Once we have identified up to ten projects or journeys that would benefit from additional visibility and that we believe would bring value to the Cardano ecosystem by doing so, we will draw up a two-stage plan to get more visibility for them:

• We will first run small experiments to determine if there is outsized performance in a particular channel, theme, project, or journey, weighting those that get good traction and replacing or cutting those that don’t.
• We will then push for a more complete implementation on those projects and channels that have been most successful.
• Channels may include one or more of the following: Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Discord, Telegram, YouTube, Farcaster, Cardano SPOT, and others.
• Methods may include one or more of the following: organic social content (including breaking long content down into short content or making graphics), paid ads, KOLs, or other methods.
• We are not committing to the above, but rather we will test things and explain why we did them.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

The first and most important aspect is to give great projects delivered through Catalyst additional leverage in terms of ROI. The best content producers, especially on technical subjects, are not always the best content distributors, and Cardano in particular can sometimes suffer from serving long content into a market with a 6-second attention span. This benefits the project, but also the ecosystem as it typically costs less to distribute content than make it (especially if the remake would also not be distributed).

The second is to increase the awareness of the Cardano ecosystem and the evidence that it is active and growing. We’ll pick the content with impact in mind, hopefully creating more tangible adoption and activity (but acknowledging that this may be harder to track than views and engagement).

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

We were approved for and successfully delivered Catalyst Project 1100203, which involved the creation of educational materials for Cardano. While we will not be re-distributing our own project, we saw how big of a difference short content or paid distribution made, and we think both from our experience with Cardano and with other ecosystems that there is value to be created by finding and redistributing great but underutilized content.

STORM Partners includes a full-service marketing department which is capable of analyzing the marketability of videos, evaluating its approachability to both Web3 and Web2 audiences, editing the videos for either length, subtitles, or explanations, and putting that long or short-form content on different platforms.

We also have an ecosystem support team that can analyze the metrics of the distribution and see if any impact can be measured or implied from it.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1* Data Gathering and Sorting

Required

Output:

1. A spreadsheet with project information from Lidonation and/or ideascale 
2. An updated spreadsheet identifying top projects and current reach
3. A report on which projects were chosen and the methods to be used in testing them

Acceptance Criteria:

1. Project Information Spreadsheet
2. Top Project Identification and Reach
3. Selection Report

Evidence:

1. Spreadsheet Evidence
2. Report Evidence

Milestone 2:* Campaign Preparation

Required

Output:

1. Copy (content) and graphics for testing and distributing the materials.
2. Cut down or otherwise edited videos.
3. An updated report on which projects were chosen and the methods to be used in testing them

Acceptance Criteria:

1. Copy and Graphics for Testing and Distribution
2. Edited Videos
3. Updated Report on the Project Selection and Testing Methods

Evidence:

1. Screenshot, file, or links to content and graphics evidence
2. Video Evidence
3. Updated Report

Milestone 3: Campaign Execution and Analysis

Required

Output:

1. A page with links to social posts and other activity
2. A report with the results of initial testing and recommendations
3. A further updated report on which projects were chosen and the methods to be used in distributing them

Acceptance Criteria:

1. Social Posts and Activity Links
2. Initial Testing Results and Recommendations Report
3. Updated Project Distribution Report

Evidence:

1. Social Activity Evidence
2. Testing Results Report Evidence
3. Distribution Report Evidence

(Final) Milestone 4:

Output:

1. A page with links to social posts and other activity
2. A final report on the results of the distribution
3. A project closeout report
4. A project closeout video

Acceptance Criteria:

1. Social Activity Links or Screenshot
2. Final Distribution Results Report
3. Project Closeout Report
4. Project Closeout Video

Evidence:

1. Social Activity Evidence
2. Final Results Report Evidence
3. Project Closeout Report Evidence
4. Project Closeout Video Evidence

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Sheraz Ahmed - Managing Partner

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherazahmed1/

Sheraz Ahmed has advised hundreds of organisations on the implementation of modern Web3 practices to further their business objectives. As the Managing Partner of STORM Partners, an all-in-one service provider, and as the Co-Executive Director of the Crypto Valley Association, he drives growth, collaboration, and integrity across the global blockchain ecosystem!

Darby (D.J.) Bodden - Director of Operations & Ecosystem Department

https://www.linkedin.com/in/d-j-bodden-00598a5b/ 

D.J. is a 20-year professional with a focus in organizing both large formal and small startup operations. He started as a military officer, and then transitioned to commodity trading before helping start and fund a blockchain traceability startup from the ground up, working with large enterprises to deliver the solution. He has since then used the lessons learned from those experiences to help businesses refine their strategy, operations, and processes.

Natcha Chaiprasit - Project Manager/ Data Analyst 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natchanok-c-308849168/

Natcha is a Sr. Analyst in the Ecosystem department at STORM Partners, with a master's degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). With deep exposure to the blockchain ecosystem, Natcha currently oversees Catalyst grants from Cardano, applying her expertise in project management to support the development and execution of key initiatives. 

Channabasava - Team Lead 

Lead Cardano Grants analysis reports, and been on the founding team of Polygon’s Grants function Prev. Voucher Grants Lead at Polygon, founding member Polygon Village and Polygon DAO. Experienced across building Grants and Ecosystem programs  

General Manager of Decentral House.

Ellissa Koch

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellissakoch/

Ellissa Koch has a Master's in Business Administration,with over 10 years of experience in marketing, sales, and client relations. She has experience working in various sectors including art, fashion, finance, and publishing, and is committed to expanding the reach of women in industry.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Breakdown of the budget for this project is projected as follows:

25,000 ADA - Review of created educational projects, analysis of projects, selection of min. 10 projects and analysis of content platforms (including liveness and best fit for content types and subject matter)

10,000 ADA - Testing of various content on social platforms or paid ads and review of KPI’s. This estimate includes paid ad spend for 1-3 projects selected on multiple platforms.

55,000 ADA - Review of all projects chosen based on previous milestones, and determination of channels for promotion (may differ per project). 

Details: A rough estimate for the development and promotion of educational materials for this project would be 5,500 ADA per project as a minimum, with the potential cost breakdown being ⅔ overhead and ⅓ paid ad spend; this would include:

1. A review and determination of the best method and strategies to promote each individual project, i.e. should a long form video be broken down into smaller videos, how should a website/landing page be promoted, with the likelihood of promoting each selected item of original content being promoted in multiple ways.
2. The processes needed to enact this plan, including video editing, filming of video(s) to promote static items, and creation of static ads and video ads (if chosen as a strategy to promote). 
3. Additional cost in this would be the one-time purchase of a yearly subscription for a video editing software (300 ADA / year Filmstock)
4. Paid ad spend as determined (suggested around 1800 ADA). This could include: Google ads, youtube ads, X (FKA Twitter) ads, linkedin ads, other social media or search engine ads, or KOL outreach, as determined in previous milestone. Where possible we will optimize ad spend to draw attention to multiple content projects as possible to allow us to promote more than 10 projects. Paid ad spend may vary per project being promoted depending on the type of content, choice of updated version of project (if broken down into multiple, webpage, etc), and platform(s) chosen and selected audience targeting.

Project Total: 90,000 ADA

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

Our project aims to enhance visibility for 1,640 educational proposals in the Cardano ecosystem, specifically targeting the proposals lacking traction. The costs associated with this initiative are justified based on average wages and industry-standard freelance rates, ensuring alignment with market practices. By investing in professional marketing services, we aim to boost engagement and participation, ultimately delivering a strong return on investment. This approach not only supports individual projects but also strengthens the Cardano ecosystem as a whole, making the investment a valuable contribution to community growth and knowledge-sharing.