Request for Ideas: Product Discovery for Cardano

[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] Requested funds in ada

90000

[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)

We will analyze the Fund 12 submissions, survey the community, and provide a snapshot of what other ecosystems are funding at this time, perform a gap analysis, and provide recommendations.

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

Project's results will be fully open source and made available to the community.

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG Goals

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

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

SDG Subgoals

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

9.1 - Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all

9.3 - Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

9.3.1 - Proportion of small-scale industries in total industry value added

9.3.2 - Proportion of small-scale industries with a loan or line of credit

8.2.1 - Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

We propose a Request for Ideas mechanism for Fund13, to guide builders to choose what to build.

We will provide the Cardano ecosystem with high-value project categories and ideas for the Cardano Foundation or Catalyst team to review and endorse, and for the community to gather around and build with funding from Catalyst Fund 13.

We will do this by analyzing the Fund 12 submissions, both funded and non-funded, and providing a snapshot of what other ecosystems are funding at this time. We will analyze the gaps and opportunities created by these differences, and produce reports, graphics, and specific project ideas for the community to iterate on for the next round of proposals, separated by category.

The raw data and report will be provided to the Cardano Foundation and Catalyst teams prior to the selection of the Fund 13, and also provided to the community.  

Implementing a "Request for Ideas" (RFI) suggestion mechanism within the Cardano Catalyst Grants offers several strategic advantages to builders and the Cardano ecosystem as a whole:

• Directing Development Focus: By listing the most interesting development solutions for Cardano, RFI guides builders by identifying what the community and ecosystem most urgently need. By categorizing requests into areas like Concept, MVP, Product, Open Source, and Ecosystem, it helps developers focus their efforts on creating solutions that are most likely to receive support and funding.
• Enhancing Innovation: Actively soliciting ideas from the community via a form prepared by Storm Partner (and the results of which will be shared with Catalyst), the RFI mechanism broadens the scope of innovation. It not only captures a diverse range of creative and practical ideas but also ensures that the projects developed are aligned with the real demands and creative directions desired by the Cardano community. This leads to a more dynamic development environment where novel concepts and projects can flourish.
• Addressing Ecosystem Gaps: Through community input, obtained thanks to the submission of ideas via the form made available, the RFI can pinpoint specific gaps within the Cardano ecosystem that may not be evident to project developers or even the broader market. By comparing these needs against other leading blockchain ecosystems, Cardano can target improvements where they are most needed, ensuring the ecosystem remains competitive and comprehensive.
• Boosting Community Engagement and Ownership: An RFI mechanism inherently increases community engagement by involving members in the ideation phase of projects. This involvement fosters a sense of ownership and commitment among community members, leading to more support and better feedback for projects.

In summary, by integrating a “pseudo-RFI” mechanism into Catalyst, in which Catalyst can present the actual needs and shortcomings of the Cardano ecosystem, Cardano Catalyst Grants can cultivate a more responsive, engaged and innovative development environment. This approach not only fuels the creation of features, infrastructure and applications that are directly beneficial to the Cardano ecosystem, but also ensures that the ecosystem evolves in a manner congruent with the needs and aspirations of its user base.

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

In essence, the RFI aligns projects with community needs, ensuring the ecosystem grows and evolves in a way that maximizes both immediate benefits and long-term sustainability. It mechanism cultivates a more responsive, engaged, and innovative development environment within the Cardano ecosystem.

Implementing a "Request for Ideas" (RFI) mechanism within the Cardano Catalyst Grants can have a profoundly positive impact on the wider Cardano community by:

• Focusing Development: the RFI mechanism inspires development efforts and partnerships by clarifying the community's needs and priorities. It systematically categorizes areas of development—like Concept, MVP, Product, Open Source, and Ecosystem—guiding developers to projects that align with the community's aspirations and have high potential for support and funding. This targeted approach helps streamline resources and efforts towards impactful solutions
• Stimulating Innovation: we all have great ideas we don't have the time or skills to build. By soliciting ideas directly from the community, the RFI mechanism significantly widens the innovation aperture. It encourages a rich diversity of ideas from various perspectives, which not only fulfills immediate community needs but also seeds future technological advancements. This continuous influx of fresh ideas ensures that the Cardano ecosystem remains dynamic and forward-thinking
• Identifying and Addressing Gaps: The RFI enables a deeper understanding of the ecosystem's needs by highlighting gaps that are not immediately apparent to developers or the broader market. By benchmarking against other leading blockchain ecosystems and identifying these gaps, Cardano can strategically enhance its competitiveness and comprehensiveness
• Enhancing Community Engagement: The RFI mechanism fosters greater community engagement by involving community members in the ideation phase. This participatory approach builds a sense of ownership and commitment, leading to stronger support and richer feedback for projects, enhancing their quality and relevance
• Optimizing Funding Efficiency: With the RFI process, proposals are more strategically allocated to projects that directly address the community's desires and requirements, and therefore funding is better spent. This targeted funding not only ensures efficient use of resources but also increases the probability of success and impact of the projects, maximizing the return on investment.

[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?

This project is essentially a product management exercise performed in a decentralized way. We will perform the upcoming releases review to assess what the resources of the ecosystem are being put toward, and conduct market research to identify what gaps or opportunities might exist for the ecosystem as a whole.

Marco Moshi, the STORM Partners ecosystem director, has decades of product and development experience, starting with database programming in the 1990s and more recently responsible for growing and developing Polygon’s ecosystem. He is a deep expert in the levers that allow blockchain protocols and ecosystems to grow.

Darby Bodden, the STORM Partners director of operations, has gone through SCRUM product owner certification and built a product team from the ground up in a blockchain startup environment.

They are further supported by a team of analysts within STORM Partners, and will use the opportunity of this project to consult with the Cardano community. The goal is to combine the best practices of the industry and the wisdom of the ecosystem to provide timely data which the community can use to inform its decisions.

The data required to perform the analysis is accessible and already secured by the team. In addition, we were careful to limit the scope and the timeframe to ensure that the results were not just sufficient but also timely in order to help with decision making.

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

Our goal in the first milestone will be to initiate the project, set responsibilities, and plan the work for the following weeks and months.

Outputs

1. Project onboarding document (draft)
2. Team lead introduction to the community
3. Research methodology

Acceptance Criteria

1. A draft .pdf document with the team members, the milestones and subtasks, key deadlines. This document will be a draft because it will be updated as the project progresses.
2. A 1-2 minute video introducing the team and the project to the community, shared on social media (channel TBC, but probably TG or Twitter)
3. A .pdf document defining how the analysis of the Fund 12 funding results will be analyzed, as well as which competing ecosystems will be analyzed and according to what criteria.

Evidence

1. A link to the draft.
2. A link to the video and a link (twitter) or photo (TG) of the social post.
3. A link to the document.

All evidence to be presented per the acceptance criteria and stored on a public notion page or shared folder.

The goal in milestone 2 will be to collect the information to produce the analysis and strategy recommendations.

Outputs

1. A spreadsheet containing the Fund12 project data.
2. A survey for the community.
3. A social post of the survey to the community.
4. A preliminary report.

Acceptance Criteria

1. The .pdf file contains a line for all the Fund 12 participant based off the public information provided by Catalyst and sorts them by Catalyst category and the tags or metrics defined in the research methodology (see Milestone 1)
2. A google form with questions about under- or over-served needs within the Cardano ecosystem.
3. A picture (TG) or link (Twitter) of the survey being shared with the community.
4. A .pdf of a preliminary report identifying over- and under-represented projects as categorized by the research methodology from a Cardano-centric perspective.

Evidence

1. A link to the file.
2. A link to the form.
3. A link to the picture or post.
4. A link to the pdf.

All evidence to be presented per the acceptance criteria and stored on a public notion page or shared folder.

Our goal in milestone 3 will be to conduct external research on what other ecosystems are funding at this moment, based on publicly available data.

Outputs

1. Updated research methodology
2. Raw data from comparative research
3. Draft report

Acceptance Criteria

1. We will update the milestone 1 research methodology (if needed) regarding which competing ecosystems should be researched and the metrics or categories to be assessed, and identify what learnings from milestone 2 prompted those changes. Provided as a .pdf, as before.
2. A .pdf of the raw data from the comparative research, as defined in the research methodology above.
3. A .pdf updating the report from milestone 2, adding the results of the external survey and drawing preliminary conclusions.

Evidence

1. A link to the .pdf.
2. A link to the .pdf
3. A link to the .pdf

All evidence to be presented per the acceptance criteria and stored on a public notion page or shared folder.

The goal of the final milestone will be to communicate the project and close it out.

Outputs

1. End of project report
2. End of project video

Acceptance criteria

1. The .pdf of the end of project report will combine the finalized report from Milestone 3, including design elements like graphics and specific recommendations for each Catalyst category, the team's lessons learned from implementing the project, and any closeout statements from the team lead. Further, it will list the organizations and channels to whom or in which the report was made available (at minimum the community through TG or Twitter and the Cardano Foundation).
2. A 2-3 minute summary of the findings from the end of project report.

Evidence

1. A link to the pdf.
2. A link to the video

All evidence to be presented per the acceptance criteria and stored on a public notion page or shared folder.

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

Ecosystem Department

Marco Moshi - Ecosystem Director

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-moshi/

Marco Moshi is a dynamic leader in the Web3 ecosystem, currently serving as the Ecosystem Director at Storm Partners. With a profound understanding of decentralized technologies, Marco has spearheaded key initiatives such as Polygon Village and the Polygon DAO. His technical expertise and strategic insight have significantly contributed to lowering entry thresholds in Web3 and enhancing decentralized governance across major organizations. Committed to the progressive decentralization of business and social layers, Marco continues to drive impactful growth and innovation within the blockchain space.

Operations Department

Darby (D.J.) Bodden - Director of Operations

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 those experiences to help businesses refine their strategy, operations, and processes.

Marketing Department - Community Engagement & Design

Leon Waters

https://www.linkedin.com/in/leon-waters-leon-tk/

With over a decade of experience, first as a journalist in the music industry and then as a polyvalent marketer in Web3, Leon Waters is a flexible and capable professional who brings a higher level of engagement, reach, and clarity to any project he participates in.

Project Coordinator - 

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!

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

This will be a research-intensive project. The breakdown should be approximately as follows:

Project management and Catalyst reporting: 9,000 ADA

Consolidation and analysis of the Fund 12 results: 12,000 ADA

Survey design and outreach to the community: 9000 ADA

Compiling and communicating the initial report: 10,000 ADA

Competitor analysis of other ecosystems: 10,000 ADA x 3

Revision and finalization of the report: 7,000 ADA

Category by category recommendations: 13,000 ADA

The above numbers will be internally adjusted to deliver the output.

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

The cost of implementing a "Request for Ideas" (RFI) mechanism within the Cardano Catalyst Grants represents substantial value for money for the Cardano ecosystem for several reasons:

• Strategic Alignment of Development: The RFI mechanism channels resources into projects that are prioritized by the community, ensuring that development efforts are not just speculative but are directed at fulfilling the most urgent needs. This focused allocation of resources prevents wasteful spending and supports the development of projects that have higher probabilities of adoption and success.
• Enhanced Innovation: By encouraging a wide range of community inputs, the RFI mechanism broadens the innovation landscape. This diversity leads to more creative and varied solutions, which can propel the ecosystem forward in unexpected and beneficial directions. The costs incurred in managing this process are offset by the high potential for groundbreaking projects that can offer significant returns in terms of technological advancement and user engagement.
• Identification and Addressing of Ecosystem Gaps: The RFI approach allows Cardano to remain competitive by continuously identifying and addressing any gaps in its ecosystem compared to other blockchains. This proactive stance on improvement helps Cardano maintain its edge as a leading blockchain platform, making expenditures in this area a strategic investment in its future viability and success.
• Increased Community Engagement and Ownership: By involving the community directly in the ideation phase, the RFI mechanism fosters a deeper sense of involvement and commitment among community members. This engagement translates into better quality feedback and more robust support for projects, enhancing their success rates and, by extension, the effective use of funds.
• Efficient and Effective Funding: The RFI mechanism ensures that funding is allocated to projects that are closely aligned with the community’s needs and desires, enhancing the effectiveness of every dollar spent. This targeted funding approach leads to higher success rates for projects and a greater overall impact on the ecosystem, providing excellent value for the investment made.

In summary, the cost associated with implementing the RFI mechanism in the Cardano Catalyst Grants is justified by the considerable benefits it brings in terms of strategic project alignment, innovation stimulation, ecosystem competitiveness, community engagement, and funding efficiency. These factors collectively enhance the growth and sustainability of the Cardano ecosystem, ensuring that it remains a dynamic and competitive force in the blockchain space.