AddonX: A skills and knowledge exchange platform using personalized tokens (PFTs)

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

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

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

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

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

A prototype platform for professionals to exchange their services without intermediaries or fiat currency. We will create personalized tokens for each provider to use in transactions.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[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?

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

At the moment the platform will be private in order to validate the proof-of-concept but all the steps will be available for the community in our Discord and on the workboard.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Problem:

Currently, professional consultancy and educational services are in high demand. Almost all online users either have skills to offer or require new knowledge. Centralized platforms, however, still face several significant issues:

• Even peer to peer transactions use centralized payment solutions.
• It is difficult to exchange time and services without using local currency.
• Blockchain technology utilization is currently missing in this sector. 

Solution:

We are establishing a decentralized professional service exchange platform on the Cardano blockchain. This platform aims to:

• Be the world's first personalized fungible token (PFT) exchange.
• Allow users to make direct payments on the platform using ADA or unique personalized Cardano tokens.
• Connect professionals offering services in exchange for tokens.

Our proposal is to develop a complete Proof-of-Concept for our idea. 

This will be achieved by the creation of a prototype platform for providers and consumers of professional and educational services. The platform will have a minting service, a shop where tokens are listed and sold, a booking page and an exchange page. 

The platform will facilitate the transactions between users and act as a booking system for live classes and sessions hosted by service providers. 

We see the enormous potential in the Cardano blockchain ecosystem to enable secure peer to peer transactions between these types of users.

Our prototype platform will create a personalized token for each provider and then list these tokens as payment for the providers service. We will approach this solution assuming that the user has some knowledge of the on-chain process. We will also offer tutorials to help with the onboarding.

The concept of personalized tokens is completely new and offers immense potential for token utility. These tokens can be purchased or exchanged on the platform and used to book and validate classes or webinars. We will develop an automated flow and on-chain validation at each stage of the process.

The aim will be to onboard community members, teachers, educators, content creators and learners and we will create a UI/UX that is accessible and easy to navigate. 

The Proof-of-concept will allow us to see our ideas working in real time and give us the feedback and data needed to move to the next phase of the project.

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

The AddonX platform has the potential to bring thousands of users to Cardano. The market for live educational experiences is expected to rise rapidly in the next few years. Integrating the Cardano blockchain into the educational content sector can significantly increase transaction volumes on Cardano.

We are providing an outstanding utility for Cardano users. Our personalized tokens are a completely new innovation and will add value to the ‘Powered by Cardano’ brand. The AddonX tokens will be valued and sold in ADA meaning more ADA purchased and a corresponding increase in liquidity.

This project contributes to the broader adoption and utilization of blockchain technology, particularly on the Cardano platform. It stands with the principles of decentralization, transparency, and user empowerment. As the project progresses, it will be interesting to see how it evolves and how users take advantage and innovate with the personalized token concept.

Our blog and social media channels will document the development process and the project will follow the ‘build in public’ trend.

Members of the Cardano community will be the project’s first users, sharing skills and making the most of the free classes in subjects such as English speaking skills, project management, market analytics and various tech topics.

[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?

I have been a successful freelance Business English Teacher for 20 years and I started as a pioneer of online education 15 years ago. I have a deep knowledge of my subject and I have extensive experience teaching in the financial and technology sectors. 

As well as teaching groups and individuals I hold weekly English speaking discussion workshops where I bring together and host professionals from around the world. This has given me a great experience of online event management.

I have a large network of contacts and I have put together a team of professionals with the relevant experience capable of delivering this project. 

I have been involved in the Cardano ecosystem for the last 3 years and began accepting ADA for my classes when a number of developers from the Cardano ecosystem approached me for classes. I had been exploring ways to adapt the provision of online educational services to Web3 for some years and the Cardano developers opened my eyes to the possibilities of Blockchain transactions. 

Since that time I have given English classes to Cardano developers in exchange for advice and education regarding the blockchain. Together we saw the potential of tokenizing our respective skills in order to validate our exchanges. The concept of our platform grew organically from this process. 

For the last 9 months I have been working closely with the project’s Development Advisers Paulo and Alan and together we have created the documentation available today. We have a solid plan and are extremely confident that we can deliver our project on time and on budget. 

I have also been engaging with other key members of the Cardano community and business professionals in my personal network and we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the feasibility of our project. 

Our Project Management Adviser Luis has over 30 years of experience in the IT sector including delivering large-scale projects for the Spanish Stock Exchange. He is a long time student of mine and will take an unpaid role offering advice and guidance when we need it.

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

Describe and develop UI/UX

In this milestone we will develop the designs and flow needed to complete the POC platform.

Milestone Outputs:

• Homepage design

An attractive homepage where the user will be able to browse upcoming events and check the tokens accepted by those events.

• Provider area

This area is for all users who are providers of event content. They will access this area by connecting their wallet. When connected the user will be able to create their token and schedule their events.

• Booking process

This page is for all users to be able to buy tokens and book the events they wish to attend. 

• Events token exchange

In this area, a user can exchange a provider token with another user.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Acceptable user feedback
• Figma project with all design flows
• Simple and intuitive interfaces

Evidence of milestone completion:

• All outputs will be available online (Figma link)

Timeline: 1 month

Develop components of the working interface

In this milestone, the developer team will work on developing the platform based on the Figma designs. This process will involve frontend development, backend development and infrastructure(DevOps).

Milestone Outputs:

• Discovery tech tasks

The developers and the product manager will discover and organize all tasks on a workboard based on the Figma design.

• Mapping Ecosystem for developers

Configure the Addonx organization on GitHub and create repositories. Prepare ci/cd to automate the environment of the applications.

• Provision of infrastructure environment

An environment to deploy the application and make it available to test. Choose the best cloud provider for the apps and Cardano services.

• Delivery of all tasks on the workboard

The team will develop and validate the application and Cardano integrations.

• Community reports

The community can follow all the processes in the public workboard.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Quality Assurance
• Acceptable UX/UI implementation
• Stable infrastructure with the applications online
• Comprehensive documentation

Evidence of milestone completion:

• A link with the POC platform working.

Timeline: 5 months

Community validation and onboarding

This is the time to validate and try the platform, the team will work with the current community helping with onboarding and collecting feedback to improve and adjust the platform. A marketing campaign will be created to bring people and increase the community around Addonx Discord.

Milestone Outputs:

• Platform being used by users

New members will have tutorials offered by Addonx to help with the on-chain process and support on Discord.

• Discord community increased

The server will have more users discussing the events on the platform, and sharing information and reviews about providers.

• Marketing campaigns in social media

Posting on social media about the platform and the advantages of using the platform

Acceptance Criteria:

• Support on Discord with tickets
• Relevant marketing strategy

Evidence of milestone completion:

• Community increased
• Generation of more providers, users and events.

Timeline: 1 month

Final Milestone: Completion of prototype platform and preparation and planning to scale to MVP

The project's final milestone will be the delivery of a working prototype as a web APP with the concept of the project validated.

Milestone Outputs:

• Prototype working and validated

The platform working with the flows and concept viability validated by users.

• Plan for the next stage - MVP platform

Based on feedback, discovery of more ideas and improvements for the MVP.

• Report back to cardano community

Project Close-out Report and Video

Acceptance Criteria:

• Feedback collected from the users and the team.
• A plan with new features to improve the platform.
• Feedback from Cardano community

Evidence of milestone completion:

• Blog post and Close-out video explaining the process of the validation and showing the results.
• A new page on the AddonX website outlining the plan for the MVP (Phase 2)

Timeline: 1 month

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

Our team comprises seasoned educators, blockchain experts, and technology experimenters, all united by a shared passion for self improvement through learning. Each member brings unique expertise, driving AddonX towards excellence and innovation.

Founder

• James Reilly

Freelance English Teacher

https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-reilly-english-teacher

Advisers

• Paulo Bressan - Development

TxPipe - Software Engineer

Cardano Warriors - CTO

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulo-b-335501115/

• Luis Garcia - Project Management

Responsable de Formación en Instituto BME

Luis Sánchez Vila | LinkedIn

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

Tools and infrastructure

Pay for application tools to help the team and pay for a minimal infrastructure

4000 ADA

8 months

UX/UI Designer

Create designs of the interfaces and flows

4000 ADA

3 months

Frontend Developer

Develop the UX/UI designs

12000 ADA

6 months

Backend Developer

Create the APIs

20000 ADA

6 months

Product manager

Management of the team and the project pathway.

15000 ADA

8 months

Community manager

Manage social media and Discord community. 

Video and other media production for marketing and community awareness.

10000 ADA 

3 months

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

The main cost of our project will be salaries for the design, development and marketing. The designers and developers will be contracted in Brazil where developers' salaries range from $1,000 to $2,000 USD. Paying developers within this salary range is considered reasonable and quite competitive globally, especially when compared to developer salaries in other countries. 

The project also brings a large amount of added value offering free educational services and skill-sharing opportunities to the Cardano community. We have already held token-gated events and workshops using the Cardano blockchain. 

Our weekly English speaking groups have joined together professionals from the business world and members of the Cardano community. We have held Blockchain basic classes and given tutorials of how to set up a wallet as well as how to mint, list and sell tokens all using our own personalized provider tokens. 

With this initial funding AddonX will be able to create a prototype platform that can organize events, conferences and webinars for members, it will become a fantastic resource for the Cardano community. We will invite and empower more educators, students and content creators to share their skills and knowledge using the personalized token system. 

As the community grows, more tokens will be bought and transacted adding liquidity to the Cardano ecosystem and offering additional utilities and value to ADA holders in general. The community can enjoy the personalized token exchange and will give valuable data about the service requirements and educational needs its members.