DROPSPOT EMBEDDABLE MARKETPLACE

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Simon Canil

[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

180000

[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)

Our solution is to deliver the new features needed to onboard our WEB 3 partners via our embeddable widget which can be integrated into any partner site, but still operates on the full DS platform.

[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.”

Maestro

Market leading platform for building Web3 applications, we rely on Maestro for API's providing market data and analytics and for the future ability for DS to operate cross chain, further driving mass adoption and commercialisation into the Cardano ecosystem

Tap Tools

Provides portfolio management, live market data and leading analytics.

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

No

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

N/A

[METADATA] SDG rating

N/A

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

DS launched with a focus on supporting the artist community, via premium 1/1 NFTs, through simplifying the onboarding and minting process for WEB 2 artists and organisations, while providing new to market innovations for the WEB 3 community. The underlying architecture was developed to scale in parallel, allowing us to follow up rapidly with the launch of full trading marketplace.

We are now moving into commercialising this proven underlying technology to drive mass adoption of the Cardano ecosystem. Through our founders heritage careers working and consulting to major blue chip companies across the S&P, NASDAQ and ASX top 100, we are utilising our deep network of commercial relationships to deliver real-world solutions for authentication and governance of assets, data and records; across real estate / property, premium collectibles (art, cars, wine) and consumer products, government and education. In parallel, we continue to drop innovative features for our core trader community, providing the most premium user trading experience in the space.

This proposal, should it be successful, will allow us to complete development, create and execute the marketing strategy that is required to provide a compelling real world user case to these top tier global businesses.

Success will be demonstrated by our partners adoption and use of Cardano to provide governance over their business process and manage their assets, products and records. This technology will also be offered to all NFT projects on Cardano offering them a chance to tailor their go to market to their own communities leading also to an increase in traditional NFT trading for this core market.

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

Commercialisation and mass adoption benefits the whole community, not just NFT traders. The volume of commercial NFTs that global organisations will be required to mint to support their various business processes will dwarf the current volume of traditional NFTs currently on chain. Imagine the records required to store every persons health record, university degree or property title. Records for classic cars, rare wines and other collectibles. Globally.

All putting fees back into the ecosystem, but also increasing the requirement for properly paid professional resources across business management, technical development and marketing. Real world careers with matching remuneration.

Again, the impact will be measured by our clients moving on chain, NFT's minted, fees generated and increase in human capital requirements.

All client case studies and success stories will be marketed and shared transparently with the community. All successes will be shared back to the community.

[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?

DS has demonstrated a sustained and proven track record of delivering an incredible Dapp on Cardano and our marketplace is known for its premium user experience and features. There cannot be delivery without a proven, stable and innovation technology stack. This architectural innovation and flexibility has only possible due to our heritage of real world experience in delivering highly complex global application solutions to the world's leading companies and organisations.

Some notable innovations from our marketplace include Cardano’s First Smart Contract Minting Engine, Liquid Offers (multi-asset offers with one batch of ADA) and, Staked Offers (allowing a buyer’s ADA to remain staked to them even when in the contract of an offer).

DS has been building since March 2021, right through the most challenging bear market in history, self funded throughout. The founders and some key investors have continued to keep the dream alive, funding throughout the past 12 months as the CNFT market dipped to all time lows. We are still self funding and we firmly believe in this opportunity - for the greater good of the Cardano community.

The technical development scoping and planning is complete. Early development is progressing with internal testing. The real challenge is to create a compelling story that is delivered via a comprehensive marketing strategy to a level accustomed by these types of organisations. This is our heritage and now that we have delivered the proven technology to support our ideas, we can tell the story with compelling confidence.

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

Commercial

Research and develop use cases for marketing of the embeddable marketplace solution.

Continue development of embeddable marketplace.

Commence marketing strategy definition.

Trader

Pro trader dashboard

• Development of pro-trader mode, enhancing trading capacity and volume
• Cart / Multi-contract sweeper

Maturation of Liquid Offers

• Aggregated liquidity / Cross marketplace
• Open API Layer - Integration
• Automated offers 
• Attribute Offers

Commercial

Create marketing assets while in parallel contacting personal commercial network contacts - with the goal of locking down a highly visible proof of concept global partner.

Continue development work.

Trader

Halo Mint & Marketplace Features

Native token purchases

Queuing system

Upgrade system (CIP68) / Dynamic Assets

Scalping Features / Automated purchases

Native token trading

Swaps

Commercial

Finalise marketing assets and commence initial marketing activities.

Finalise key launch partner agreements and commence planning of proof of concept.

Trader

Gaming Integration (iOS, Web, Flutter)

Commercial

Launch marketing campaign via personal networks.

Commence integrated development and proof of concept with key client partner.

Finalise development of embeddable marketplace (SaaS) via community invitation to beta testing and other initiatives.

Commercial

Launch wide ranging marketing campaign.

Finalise key partner integrated development.

Update community with progress (this will happen all along the roadmap timeline also)

Commercial

Launch / go live first embeddable marketplace with key partner client.

Intensive marketing post go live using detailed case study with client support offering cost effective global marketing reach.

Embeddable SaaS offering live.

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

Simon Canil - Founder, Head Architect, Full Stack Engineer

Stephen Giderson - Founder, Growth & Commercial Partnerships, Marketing

James Stocks - Founder, Finance & Operations, Commercial Partnerships, Marketing

Gavin Harris - Architect, Engineer, Smart Contract Developer.

Chase Donovan - Full stack engineer

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

Milestone 1 - 30k - Development Scope finalisation, Marketing Strategy

Milestone 2 - 30k - Development / Testing, Marketing Assets, Partnership engagement

Milestone 3 - 30k - Development, Marketing Execution, Partner launch

Milestone 4 - 30k - Go to Market / Launch Partner / Market SaaS launch

Technical Development - 40%

Marketing - 50%

Management & Strategy - 10%

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

The request for 180,000 ADA will not cover this initiative - we are simply looking for a small contribution from the community to assist us to achieve this multi year mission.

We have already self funded the proven technology and kept our project running; this grant will provide cash flow to complement the ongoing founder contributions, for resources across development. marketing and partnership networking.