Cardano DAO for Marketing and Education - Know Cardano

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Rafael Cardoso

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

Entity (Not Incorporated)

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

8

[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)

Increase the marketing efforts of Cardano by creating a DAO to fund Marketing initiatives, and coordinate specialists to deliver a common strategy, selected by the community.

[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.”

For the software we need to operate, we will be working with a NFT Minting provider, Saturn NFT or NMKR to be able to Mint the voting Passes, and for the DAO Infrastructure, we have contacted and are exploring the possibility of leveraging existing infrastructure, more specifically we will be leveraging either Summon DAO OR Clarity DAO

[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

Everything in this DAO will be open to allow the community to participate and build on top as necessary at every level.

The only thing that won't be open source is any technology we use that is not created or developed by the team.

We will be using the following license.

CC0 1.0 Universal

By marking the work with a CC0 public domain dedication, the creator is giving up their copyright and allowing reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes.

However, if we end up in the process of leveraging tools that already exist and that can bring benefit to the DAO, those tools, that were not developed by us might not be open source.

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG Goals

1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere

4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

SDG Subgoals

1.a - Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions

16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels

16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels

4.4 - By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

4.7 - By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

8.2 - Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

8.3 - Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

8.5 - By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

8.8 - Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

4.4.1 - Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

4.7.1 - Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

8.3.1 - Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex

16.7.2 - Proportion of population who believe decision-making is inclusive and responsive, by sex, age, disability and population group

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

There are many Cardano Community Members criticizing the marketing and reach of Cardano, and stating we need better and more Marketing for Cardano. We agree with them and that is why we are Creating this Marketing DAO. 

In Cardano, we have a lot of great projects and tech being developed, but every time I go to a blockchain event that is not Cardano-specific and talk about Cardano someone always says it is a ghost chain. People are aware of the new niche project building on Polygon and other Ethereum L2s but know nothing about real impactful projects building on Cardano.

We need to get the word out there about all the progress and amazing technology in Cardano, but to do that we need a coordinated strategy and great professionals. 

But do you think the right move is to give a centralized institution all the responsibility of what should be the marketing strategy for Cardano? We think Cardano is much more than a centralized institution, it's a whole vibrant community, no institution will be capable of representing the diverse interests of Cardano, and that is why we need a DAO to vote and create this clear strategy. We will set up the infrastructure, create a legal institution, and create incentives and awareness for professionals and the community to join, and with the right processes in place, we have everything we need for the DAO to define and implement a clear marketing strategy for Cardano.

The great part is that we have so many of these professionals already on Cardano, professionals that have the knowledge and skillsets, but that on top of that share the vision of the Community. Many like content creators do a lot of work, really important and valuable work, for free, to get the message out about Cardano. As a DAO we just need to align incentives for content creators to come together and work towards this common strategy, and become increasingly more professional in the work they do.

That is exactly what we will do, on one side we have the community that will have the chance to make proposals, decide the strategy, create requests, and vote or give consent to everything related to Marketing. The community will have perks and will benefit from the price appreciation of Cardano Projects. Within the community, we will have content creators and other Marketing specialists contributing actively to implement the strategies we all vote for. On the other side, we have companies on Cardano, that are building some amazing tech and use cases and can benefit from this DAO full of specialists to help them in their Marketing efforts, to get the message to more chains, and to onboard individuals into their products with education.

Initially, for this proposal, we will leverage the DAO solutions created by Clarity DAO or Summon DAO, we have researched and are in contact with both solutions to choose the best option for this DAO. So far, we have understood that we will be able to do an initial working version of the DAO with both of these solutions, so we will make a choice based on costs and very importantly the level of upgradability and customization we could have in the future.

It's important to note that there will be some interesting features we won't be able to have right away. However, from the moment we have a working DAO we will be able to test many of our assumptions for the governance model, and be able to create a customizable DAO in the future with the actual data and feedback to back it up. Meanwhile, we will be able to gather the community around this DAO and start to define and deliver a common content creation strategy.

There will be a Voting Pass Mint to participate in the DAO and give you a bunch of perks, benefits, and access, this pass will also provide users with the ability to create proposals, vote, and participate actively in the DAO. All the profits from the mint will go to the treasury of the DAO and will be used to fund the strategies voted by the DAO. 

Besides this, we will also have special sponsorship proposals for companies, where they can pay to get content out and relevant marketing and education strategies to be executed by this DAO. This is useful for companies because instead of having to start a Marketing department and strategy from 0, they can leverage this DAO to get experienced marketing specialists in the ecosystem and to help them get awareness and deliver their marketing strategies, leveraging not only these specialists but the brand and awareness of the DAO. In fact, this DAO will incentivize marketing strategies and collaborations between companies in the future. More than that, this DAO can also be leveraged by companies for education, for example, for creating onboarding guides to a protocol or sharing strategies on how to make the most out of a protocol

These sponsored offers will be valuable sources of revenue to fund the treasury and pay for marketing specialists. We expect to have other relevant revenue streams such as merch, affiliate marketing, and ad revenue that will all help fund the treasury. In the future, we aim to keep developing this DAO and add progressively more features and functionality to maximize impact.

We applied for funding on Catalyst in the previous round, we didn’t get funded but as we saw interest in the project from many areas of the community, we kept working on it at our own cost, creating our own unique governance framework with Feedback from Content Creators and Cardano Community Members and company founders, something that was one of the milestones of the previous proposal.

We've also explored diverse possibilities to build this DAO from a more unique DAO leveraging the customizable DAO technology of Dquadrant (which would exceed the budget available for an individual proposal on Catalyst), from leveraging platforms such as Clarity DAO or Summon DAO, that although not as customizable initially, will give us everything we need to start operating fast and test many of our assumptions before spending more resources building something more customized

Right now we're looking for Catalyst Funding to be able to hire specialists and the necessary services to make this DAO come to life. From the legal constitution of this DAO in a DAO-friendly legislation, from setting up the necessary infrastructure to be able to vote, discuss, and have governance with this DAO, and even the necessary marketing and business development to attract community members of the Cardano ecosystem, marketing specialists, content creators, and educators and of course the companies of the Ecosystem. In fact, during the process of delivering this proposal, we will be searching to hire community members with specific skill sets to help us with marketing and business development.

At the end of the proposal, this DAO will be live and active, with a community actively participating and making the decisions. From the operational decisions related to content and marketing proposals to the more structural decisions related to the overall strategy or even the governance model of the DAO and any future improvements that should be made. The community will also participate in the execution of what is decided by the DAO.

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

I’ve seen many members of the Cardano Cardano Community asking for better marketing and more efforts, and they are right. We need to have stronger and more coordinated marketing actions to be able to reach more people. 

That is exactly what we will do with this DAO. We don’t think there is a unique person or team that should set the strategy, we believe that the community is the one capable of setting a Marketing strategy that best represents Cardano. We also want the community to be able to play an active role by proposing, voting, and executing marketing campaigns or simply by deciding on how to execute this strategy. We have a really big and diverse community in Cardano, with a diverse set of skillsets and expertise and we can leverage it. 

This DAO will be a place for discussions on Marketing and to set a clear strategy to be executed, one that of course can and should evolve with time. With this DAO the main benefit for Cardano is to increase awareness of everything that is being built here across the whole crypto industry and the different ecosystems, and more importantly to support initiatives that can increase the Mainstream adoption of Cardano

This DAO can also be used to help promote and create valuable content for marketing and education of all the amazing projects we have in the Cardano Ecosystem that don’t get the recognition and attention they deserve from the rest of the Crypto Industry. 

More than that, with this DAO we are creating more impartial, professional, and good-quality content that can be useful for the outside, but also for the inside for the whole community to be educated and conscious of the things you can do in the Cardano Ecosystem. Leveraging Blockchain and DAO technology we will be aligning incentives and rewarding the people who are actively contributing to the Marketing, Adoption, and Awareness of Cardano, considering not only their effort but also the results they are able to achieve.

This alignment of incentives is extremely important. We really have some amazing content creators in Cardano who put in so many hours and work for free or almost for free. We have so many individuals with experience in marketing and business development that are so underused. It’s just a matter of having the funds to pay for their work towards a common strategy with clear goals and metrics and we can all benefit from the increase in adoption of Cardano, of Cardano projects, and of course, the increase in price of Cardano and Cardano Native Assets because we attracted a larger community of users.

Although we believe this project could have a huge impact in terms of Marketing for Cardano, it’s not the only reason why we are delivering it. In this DAO we will have operational proposals related to marketing and content creation, but we will also have structural proposals, related to the structure of the DAO which includes the governance model and infrastructure. This gives us (The Cardano Ecosystem) a huge opportunity to test new ideas and leverage this DAO to experiment with Governance, different governance models, and different iterations and find a good governance model that can be used in this DAO and even used as inspiration for other DAOs and Institutions. Having this DAO can be a great mechanism to really experiment with alternative and interesting ideas for Governance, so if are passionate or interested in Web3 governance this is definitely a place to try to share, test, and implement some of your ideas.

Finally, these initiatives further contribute to the decentralization of Cardano, because we put another very important part of the blockchain development and adoption which is Marketing in the hands of the community. Marketing is important but many times underrated because we can build the most amazing thing in this world, but if no one knows about it no one will use it. There are so many amazing things being built here that are not known outside of Cardano, and instead of centralizing that responsibility on IOG or the Cardano Foundation, we have the chance to decentralize it to the real experts. Yes, we the community are the real experts because we know how we got into Cardano, and we can replicate or even improve that process by creating a strategy and the necessary content and initiatives. We have in the community several experts that can help us with marketing at many different levels it’s only a matter of creating the right incentives for them to do so, and we can do it through this DAO.

[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 have a passionate and very competent Team, that has been working hard in their own free time and thinking about this for a while. 

We've created our own unique governance model, adapting it to work for the current DAO infrastructure available while having a clear plan of features that we would like to build and add for the future, and that will be presented in a Roadmap to the Community once the DAO is live and working, to be approved or rejected by the community.

The governance model we created was developed considering the feedback we got from meetings and discussions with community members, content creators, marketing specialists, and even a few founders of companies in Cardano who showed interest and availability to use this DAO. The community feedback is reflected in the MVP of Governance we intend to build with the existing DAO infrastructure on Cardano, but also on many features we intend to add in the future. This increases the feasibility of this proposal considering we have gathered feedback from the target audience for this DAO, the ones that need to be satisfied and capable of using it for the project to succeed,

The approach we've taken considering the feedback and opinions of the community, shows our commitment to decentralization and to giving power to the community. Of course, we are also aware of the importance of aligning incentives for every relevant stakeholder mentioned in this proposal to participate actively and take a part of the responsibility for the future of this DAO.

The work we've done so far, in our own free time and spending our own resources, shows our commitment to this idea, and to carry this project forward until it is delivered. The only thing that can stop us, is you the Cardano Community, if you feel marketing is not important and that having such an institution would not add any value. Otherwise, we will find a way to make it happen!

Furthermore, the governance model developed for the MVP and the tools we are using assure us that in the future this governance model can be upgradable and customizable if necessary which gives us the capacity to change the governance model if there is a need for it.

In fact, with these tools, we can quickly set up a DAO with our minimum requirements, and be able to bring the community to interact so that we can get real-life feedback and see how the infrastructure and the DAO need to be improved.

In addition, with the live DAO, the community itself will be able to make proposals and suggestions of improvements for the DAO, and the Cardano ecosystem leveraging this DAO will have the capability to decide what changes need to be done and what is the best for the DAO.

In terms of confirmation of the idea in itself and the need for it, we did some customer discovery and spoke to members of the community and the response was very positive, especially on the side of marketing specialists and content creators who showed a lot of excitement in participating, and of some companies, who depending on the quality of the results showed interest in leveraging this DAO.

We will be hiring and working with experts for the legal establishment of the DAO in legislation with clear rules for DAOs, giving us a high level of feasibility.

In terms of Marketing, we have a budget and plans to bring awareness to the project and reach the community. We also have a budget for giveaways and to align the incentives for new community members. In addition, we will leverage experts to help us with marketing, get more reach, and create a more effective strategy. Furthermore, we will make focused business development efforts to attract marketing specialists and companies to the project.

The great part is that we have strong incentives to attract each of the relevant stakeholders to the DAO:

• Companies on Cardano need and benefit from marketing, awareness, and education, as it will allow them to onboard more users and grow both user base and revenue
• Marketing specialists and content creators will benefit from having a way to turn their interest in Cardano into something profitable and more professional through these proposals and this DAO, that will fund their activities.
• Community members, will play an active role in the adoption of the Chain, have a say in strategy, get perks and benefits from participating from companies and content creators, and will benefit from the increase in the price of ADA and other Cardano Native Assets.

In terms of the team, I will be the one responsible for the proposal, but besides hiring experts to work with me to deliver each of these milestones, I will be leveraging also the power of the community and interested community members to make this project move forward and even get some consultation about important decisions. We will search to leverage and incentivize proactive and skilled community members to help deliver these milestones.

In case you want a bit more information about me, I'm Rafael, an economist by trade who has been learning and investing in Cardano since 2020. Besides participating in CIP 1964 workshops, and being an active participator in Catalyst, and Deep Funding where I actually got a Marketing proposal funded he has also a lot of business and marketing experience working in the Web2 Startup world for the last 5 years. In this experience, I've been in front of projects, managing and hiring teams, and working with budgets for the last 3 years.

I also have some technical knowledge, having completed the Emurgo and Dapp 360 Cardano Full-Stack Smart Contract Developer Course. While I don't consider myself a proficient developer, I have blockchain knowledge and am able to create simple smart contracts and front ends. This technical knowledge will certainly be useful in this process.

Most importantly, I'm also a content creator, with his YouTube channel Decentralized Nation, and I have experience and knowledge of what is necessary to help create the processes and infrastructure of the DAO to be able to achieve effective content creation and marketing on Cardano. More importantly, I know the challenges and language of content creators and marketers on Cardano and how to bring them into this project, something he has already been doing. 

Besides this, as we are creating a DAO where we need to have an active community, that is engaged and has the power of contributing, we will need to be extremely transparent with everything we are working on and doing. This community will also keep us accountable to deliver, and the great part is that everyone reading this proposal is welcome to join our discord to participate actively and keep us accountable

In addition, we also share a clear plan and budget with the costs of developing this proposal in the principle of transparency so that you know where every ADA will be invested.

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

Legal establishment of the DAO-> We need to establish the DAO as a legal entity to be legally compliant. We’re researching some of the jurisdictions such as Wyoming, but besides our own research, it’s important to get in touch with experts and get the necessary counseling to be able to move within the different jurisdictions and to assist us when the final decision is made and we need to complete the legal entity creation process.

• Research and contact lawyers in different legislations -> Speak to lawyers and experts to get more information and counseling.
• Get necessary documentation -> ( We’ve noticed during research, that there is always quite some legal documentation that needs to be created about the DAO regardless of the jurisdiction, and we will need to work with a lawyer for this)
• Initiate the DAO registration process -> ( To start the process we usually need to hire a representative in the country and we need to pay for costs to set up the institution)

We’ve done some work already researching some jurisdictions, and so far Wyoming seems to be a very interesting option. But we need to get advice and recommendations from experts in different jurisdictions to get the necessary information and help set up everything properly. This is a very important step to make sure that there are no liabilities for DAO members and that they are secure while participating and being part of the DAO.

Acceptance Criteria -> File the application with payments and all necessary documentation to register this DAO as a legal entity.

Timeline: 2,5 months

Cost: 20,835 ADA

Note about Timeline -> On our side we assess we are able to develop and file the necessary documentation in 2 and a half months, but the timelines for approval are dependent on the governmental entities of the jurisdiction.

Set up the DAO Infrastructure-> We will be leveraging Clarity DAO or Summon DAO for the infrastructure, which means will be able to set it up rather quickly, however, there is some important work to be done to add some customization and make sure the infrastructure is working properly. We will also need additional infrastructure for discussion, and likely a website for individuals searching to learn more about this DAO.

Tasks:

• Set up Onchain voting infrastructure for the DAO - for structural proposals.
• Set up Offchain voting infrastructure for the DAO - for operational decisions that require constant voting and more flexibility.
• Get Community Feedback and work on improvements

Acceptance Criteria -> Have on-chain and off-chain voting infrastructure working for the DAO in Mainnet.

Timeline: 2,5 months

Cost: 40 000 ADA

Set up Onboarding Infrastructure -> Onboarding is a crucial part of DAOs that is often ignored. How can we make sure that users are empowered and have all the knowledge to actively understand the discussions and contribute to the success of the project? We need to establish the processes for a constantly evolving Onboarding experience that provides users with the most important knowledge and information to participate. This is what this milestone is for.

Tasks:

• Development of Website
• Create an Onboarding Experience for Newcomers
• Create Content and Documentation for Onboarding

Acceptance Criteria -> Have all the infrastructure in place and working, have a working website, have a process and resources to effectively onboard newcomers to the DAO

Timeline: 1,5 months

Cost: 16,500 ADA

Marketing Initiatives -> Prepare and execute a plan to bring awareness about this DAO. This will focus on marketing initiatives to bring awareness to the DAO, and bring more community members to actively participate and be aware of the existence of this DAO. We will focus on campaigns for the general community to have everyone who has an active interest in ADA participating.

Tasks:

• Create and execute a Marketing Plan with the help of specialists.
• Have social media in place ( Twitter, Discord, etc.) with posts and activity.
• Marketing Campaigns, Giveaways, and initiatives with the Cardano Community to bring Community Members to the DAO.

Acceptance Criteria -> Have a social media presence up and running, especially Twitter, with regular content and interactions. Have Discord organized with activities and members of the DAO. Have giveaways, special campaigns, and collaborations to bring awareness to this DAO.

Timeline: 2 Months

Cost: 27,500 ADA

Business Development Initiatives -> Marketing Specialists and Content Creators will play a huge role in this DAO by creating the necessary high-quality marketing campaign and content to bring awareness and educate more people about Cardano and achieve the results we desire. Companies will also play a crucial role, being one of the main benefactors of these DAOs by being able to create sponsored proposals to get the DAO to deliver campaigns for these companies, and create the marketing and education content they need to onboard more users into their projects. As such, we need to dedicate special attention, to these two groups, so we will have targeted business development initiatives for more direct contact with companies and specialists to share this opportunity and help onboard them into the DAO.

Tasks:

• Business Development Initiatives to bring Marketing Specialists and Content Creators.
• Business Development Initiatives to bring Companies from the Cardano Ecosystem into the DAO.

Acceptance Criteria -> Initiate contact with more than 20 content creators and marketing specialists, and more than 10 companies in the Cardano Ecosystem.

Timeline: 2 Months

Cost: 14,590 ADA

Voting Pass Creation and Distribution -> Create and mint the voting passes, that will represent the voting power of each of the members of the DAO. Voting passes will be minted with ADA, to make sure the people involved have some ADA and interest in the success and price appreciation of the token. Voting Passes will be CIP-68 tokens and will be upgradable considering your contributions to the DAO. All the profits made from the mint will go to the Treasury to fund the activities of the DAO, and the proposals that will be created by the community.

Tasks 

• Create the art for the NFT
• Prepare the CIP-68 evolution rules
• Set up Minting Infrastructure leveraging NMKR or SaturnNFT
• Marketing Campaign Around NFTs

Acceptance Criteria -> Have a live Minting of the CIP-68 NFTs. Be able to use these NFTS to vote in the DAO.

Timeline: 3 months

Cost: 44,490 ADA

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

Rafael -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-cardoso-2b03ba146/

• Experience - 5 years of tech startup experience in the Web2 world with a focus on marketing and business development. Last 3 years leading teams and starting projects with limited independent budgets to achieve KPIs. I’ve been learning and investing in Blockchain and Cardano since 2020, learning every day and starting my own YouTube channel on the topic called Decentralized Nation. I’m aware of the marketing and content creation process, to be able to create a DAO that works and that aligns incentives to get results. Also, participated in revolutionary Web3 projects such as Deep Funding Academy, a decentralized learning platform, and have been funded for a Marketing Proposal on Deep Funding.

Besides myself, as stated in the proposal we will be hiring professional freelancers to execute certain tasks and allow us to achieve high-quality deliverables for each of our milestones.

At the end of the proposal, the influence of this team should be minimal in decision making and most of the execution will be in the hands of the community.

Besides this, as the community grows and develops, we will search to leverage the community and its skills in the process of delivering this proposal, in the principle of decentralization.

It’s important to note that our team is here mostly to develop the infrastructure, create the legal entity, and bring the community together, the community will make the decisions, and as we develop the infrastructure, move for this MVP, and grow our technology and establish decentralized processes, and infrastructure there will be further decentralization of the entire process, until a point where we are no longer needed and are just another community member.

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

1 - Legal establishment of the DAO

One jurisdiction we thought was very interesting is Wyoming so we will estimate our costs based on the costs we would have in this legislation, and also considering that initial consultations for information about regulations are usually free.

Costs

• Costs with documentation -> Costs of working with an expert to get the necessary documentation done. We estimate 3 weeks of work. Considering the average rate in Wyoming for a Lawyer we have a rate of 60.10$ per hour. 
• 60.10$* 15 days* 8 hours = 7,212$
• Cost = 18,030 ADA

• Cost with lawyer representation -> Costs for meetings with the Lawyer with representatives, filling of documents,etc. We estimate 16 hours should be enough Considering the average rate in Wyoming for a Lawyer we have a rate of 60,10$ per hour. 
• 60.10$ *16 hours = 961.9$
• Cost in ADA= 2,405 ADA

• Costs with DAO Legilstation filling -> According to Wyoming these are the costs to set up a DAO.
• 160$
• Cost = 400 ADA

Total Cost = 20,835 ADA

For this math, we assume a price of ada of 0.4$ to make sure we get enough USD to be able to pay professionals and actually deliver ON THE MILESTONES.

Timeline: 2,5 months

2 - Set up the DAO Infrastructure

We will work with the teams of these solutions and their efforts to try to create the most customizable solution possible considering their existing technology and our needs, all that process will have costs and we're sharing the cheapest quotes we were able to get. For the minting infrastructure, we will either use SaturnNFT or NMKR.

Costs

• Setting up Onchain voting infrastructure -> We will search to customize the existing infrastructure providers solution as as much as possible and there will naturally be costs to set it up. We would be charged around $40 per hour, leveraging the specialists from these DAO solutions which is a bit below the average rate for the average salary of a developer. We estimate a total of 3 weeks will be needed to have it ready for Mainnet.
• Cost = $40 x 8 hours x 15 days = $4,800
• Total Cost = 12,000 ADA

• Setting up Off-chain voting infrastructure for the DAO -> Leveraging the DAO infrastructure and team of experts for the customization of the off-chain voting infrastructure we get a similar rate to the one mentioned above. We have estimated a total of 5 weeks for this, as it requires a bit more complexity and more specific functionalities with their existing infrastructure.
• Cost = $40 x 8 hours x 25 days = $8,000
• Total Cost = 20,000 ADA

• Improvements from Community Feedback -> We need to be prepared for the need to make some changes to the Off-chain or on-chain governance in order to ensure that this MVP is working properly and the DAO is fulfilling that purpose. We will have a budget for delivering such improvements and the most requested features by the Community. If by chance there are no possible improvements we all add these funds to the Treasury of the DAO.
• Cost = $40 x 8 hours x 10 days = $3,200
• Total Cost = 8000 ADA

Total Cost = 40 000 ADA

Timeline: 2,5 months

For this math, we assume a price of ada of 0.4$ to make sure we get enough USD to be able to pay professionals and actually deliver ON THE MILESTONES.

3 - Set up Onboarding Infrastructure

We will set up a website for information and to onboard new users into the relevant community channels and voting infrastructure. Besides that, we will create a whole onboarding experience for newcomers, in order to give them enough knowledge to feel empowered to actively participate in the DAO and in the discussions

Costs

• Development of Website -> We got a quote from a website designer to develop our website. He estimates 2 weeks to create the website at a price of 30$ per hour this is a very competitive price according to this article from Forbes.
• Cost = $20 x 8 hours x 10 days = 1,600$
• Total Cost = 4,000 ADA

• Create an Onboarding Experience for Newcomers -> We will be creating an onboarding experience directly on our website or in the discord. This experience will require the creation of a flow within the different channels, but also a way to catch up with the most important information, most important decisions, and principles. There should also be knowledge of the different ways individuals can participate and the necessary documentation and video content to give them clarity. For flow creation, documentation, and video content creation we expect to spend a total of 1 month of full-time work. We might get an expert or distribute multiple of these tasks across the community to deliver on them and we will pay 25$ per hour, this should be a fair value that allows us to attract good quality professionals but also keep the costs reduced.
• Cost = 25$ x 8 hours x 25 days = 5,000$
• Total Cost = 12,500 ADA

Total Cost = 16,500 ADA

For this math, we assume a price of ada of 0.4$ to make sure we get enough USD to be able to pay professionals and actually deliver ON THE MILESTONES.

Timeline: 1,5 months

4- Marketing and Business Development

Marketing and Business Development -> All the efforts we need to make sure people in the Cardano Community are aware and have the right incentives to participate in this DAO. Attract marketing professionals and content creators, to ensure high-quality professionals.

Costs

• Hiring Specialists -> We will be hiring Web3 marketing specialists to help us with Marketing as Marketing is a very important part of getting contributors. We’ve gotten several quotes, and the most competitive quote we got from an experienced team was $5,000 per month, which according to this article is a competitive quote. A month to achieve more reach should be enough, besides the normal efforts that will be carried out by the team. 
• 5,000$
• Cost = 12,500 ADA

• Content Creators -> We will work with content creators to broaden the reach of the DAO, make more content, and get the word out about giveaways and incentivization programs. For that, we will have a 2,000$ budget to reward content creators.
• 2,000$
• Cost = 5,000 ADA

• Giveaways -> We will be hosting special giveaways for the community and an incentivization program to spread the word and we believe this would be a good budget for that. Naturally, this money will be distributed across the Cardano Community for interactions with the DAO.
• Budget = 4,000$ 
• Cost = 10,000 ADA

Total Cost= 27,500 ADA

For this math, we assume a price of ada of 0.4$ to make sure we get enough USD to be able to pay professionals and actually deliver ON THE MILESTONES.

Timeline: 3 Months

5 - Business Development Initiatives

We will have more focused business development initiatives to make sure we are able to bring key stakeholders, such as large content creators, renowned marketing specialists, and companies in the Cardano Ecosystem. With business development, we can have 1-1 call and support and get some of these members in the beginning. They will be important because the first ones are responsible for delivering the proposals with high quality, while the second ones are the ones creating sponsored proposals and assisting the DAO in the process of becoming self-sustainable.

Costs

• Business Development -> We will be hiring a business developer to get in touch with companies, marketing specialists, and content creators to participate more actively in the DAO. We are able to get a business developer at a rate of 35,000$ per year which is a smaller than average salary rate for business developers in the UK. We estimate that 2 months of work should be enough:
• 35,000$ /12 months *2months = 5,835$
• Cost = 14,590 ADA

Total Cost = 14,590 ADA

For this math, we assume a price of ada of 0.4$ to make sure we get enough USD to be able to pay professionals and actually deliver ON THE MILESTONES.

Timeline: 2 months

6 - Voting Pass Creation and Distribution

We will prepare the CIP-68 NFTs and select one of the two options we have defined that would be a good fit for our minting infrastructure, more specifically NMKR and Saturn NFT, and set up everything for the mint to go live, including the evolution rules for CIP-68.

Tasks ->

• Create the art for the NFT -> We will hire an artist and work with him to get the desired visuals. We asked for several quotes, and the best quote we got was 25$ per hour for a quality artist, an estimate of 2 weeks work for all the art we need, including evolutions.

• Prepare the CIP-68 evolution rules -> Prepare rules and also a tracking mechanism to make sure we get the relevant data and APIs to validate upgrading each NFT. Setting up everything will be 3 weeks of work for a developer at a very competitive rate of 50$ per hour. We also have an estimate of 795$ for APIs ( we believe this is a reasonable cost considering expected usage)

• Cost of Minting Infrastructure -> Using the cheapest option of a trusted platform for CIP- 68 NFTs, like NMKR or Saturn NFT, as an example, if we go with the bulk minting option, which is the cheapest option we could use, we would need 1.5 ada per NFT.

• Marketing Campaign Around NFTs -> We will use this budget to get some partnerships, giveaways, and campaigns and even get some extra help and incentives to be able to get more reach and awareness about the mint of these voting passes in the whole Cardano Community.

Cost

• NFT art = 25$ * 8 hours *10 days = 2,000$ 
• Total Costs = 5,000 ADA

• CIP-68 Evolution = 50$ *8 hours * 15 days + 795$=6,795$
• Total Costs = 16,990 ADA

• NFT Minting = 1.5 ADA* 10,000 NFTs = 15,000 ADA

• Marketing Budget = 3,000$ = 7,500 ADA

Total ADA = 44,490 ADA

For this math, we assume a price of ada of 0.4$ to make sure we get enough USD to be able to pay professionals and actually deliver ON THE MILESTONES.

Timeline: 3 months

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

First, we expect this protocol to be a net benefit for everyone in Cardano, we are searching to align incentives for Marketing on Cardano. While content creators and marketing specialists will benefit, projects and everyone participating in the DAO will benefit as well, and in the long-run, even ADA holders who are not actively participating will benefit from increased adoption and price appreciation.

For projects, for example, they can leverage this DAO to bring awareness to what they are building but also to help onboard new users into their protocol. For DAO participants, because they are ADA holders, and probably even holders of Cardano native tokens, the increase in adoption we can achieve in the long run with this DAO will translate into price increases and gains thanks to the price appreciation of these tokens considering the increased demand.

The second very important benefit of this project is to create a decentralized institution that can be self-sustainable and that can keep funding marketing initiatives on Cardano to increase adoption and awareness of the blockchain and the whole Ecosystem. This can be an extremely important Institution when we consider how hard and expensive it can be for Cardano projects to promote themselves outside of the Cardano Ecosystem, this DAO will significantly reduce these costs for projects.

The DAO also presents a way to organize and coordinate the actions of individuals towards a common goal and following a common strategy, this should increase the impact of our efforts because it gives a clear direction to the community and clear results and outcomes to be measured and achieve when talking about Marketing and Awareness.

Another very important benefit is that besides having an Institution to coordinate and spearhead marketing on Cardano, this is an actual decentralized institution, one that is controlled by the Cardano community and the ADA holders, the ones that currently stand the most to gain from increased Cardano Adoption by being holders of ADA and other native tokens in the Ecosystem. 

Being a decentralized institution we will also be able to do several experiments on governance, we will deliver this initial version of the DAO, but the community will propose and decide on future iterations what needs to be changed and how we can upgrade our governance model. This model could eventually be used for other projects in the ecosystem as everything we are doing here, including development is open source.

In terms of value for money, we’ve invested a lot of work and resources in this dream and vision. After much research and even participation in decentralized governance ecosystems, we created our own model for the Governance of this DAO. All of this is for a vision we believe will be extremely impactful for Cardano and from which we will not profit directly.

This proposal as you can see is for the Cardano community, and its only purpose is to bring awareness to our ecosystem, it’s a DAO for the community where everyone including ourselves will have the exact same access to opportunities. For that reason, we believe this is the perfect project for Catalyst Funding, as the real beneficiaries will be the Cardano Ecosystem as a whole. 

Besides this, we have put a lot of research and due diligence into planning this proposal, we’ve considered the different crucial aspects of this project such as marketing, governance, onboarding, development, and legal, and we have actually achieved some really competitive quotes in diverse areas, taking this into account and the impact this project can have for the community, the projects building on Cardano, and the adoption of Cardano the value for money is considerably high. 

In the end, this DAO also aims to be self-sustainable with the diverse sources of income we are trying to explore, so it’s like investing in a fruit tree that will keep on giving, it’s not just what this proposal can provide in the short term, but also the impact this project could have in the long-run. This is a positive circle where the growth of this DAO leads to the growth of Cardano and vice versa. 

But of course, to be honest none of this matters without the Community. If you are not excited by this idea and its potential there is honestly no point in funding it. This could be a hugely impactful project for Cardano, but only if the community acknowledges its value and potential and participates in it.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund 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