Last updated 2 weeks ago
Cardano has 1-on-1 discussions but needs an ongoing agent to engage with Enterprises, stay up to date with their priorities, and promote Cardano projects.
Include Cardano into STORM Partners’ enterprise adoption program as an active participant, creating reports and hosting events for large institutions as well as promoting Cardano use cases.
Please provide your proposal title
Enterprise Events, BD & Partnerships - STORM Partners
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
59500
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
8
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Cardano has 1-on-1 discussions but needs an ongoing agent to engage with Enterprises, stay up to date with their priorities, and promote Cardano projects.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
Having members of the founding entities, Intersect, or flagship ecosystem projects, participate in the events and sessions would enhance the outcomes, and their participation would be beneficial to any actual Enterprise POCs or partnerships unless they were directly working with a Cardano project. This is primarily because enterprises sometimes have trouble understanding how a decentralized ecosystem works, and they need an “official” touchpoint before stepping in. We’ve also been working on enterprise outreach with the Intersect product committee, and that’s also worked. Worst case scenario, we can push ahead alone, though.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
We’ll openly share any reports or deliverables required by the statement of milestones. Any confidential or proprietary information of the enterprises or Cardano projects remains their purview.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Events
Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano.
We are targeting enterprises and institutions across sectors such as finance, luxury, NGOs, and corporate innovation. They will be reached through curated events, panels, and facilitated discussions in Geneva, alongside structured follow-ups and reporting. This matters for Cardano because it positions the ecosystem in front of decision-makers, raises awareness of Cardano’s capabilities, and creates structured opportunities for projects to understand enterprise pain points and align their messaging accordingly.
Provide a list of key activities of your project?
What are your success metrics?
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
The Cardano Ecosystem has done a great job of reaching out to Enterprises and institutions like UNDP, UNHCR, the Georgian government, and more commercial players like FC Barcelona, but a large part of enterprise sales is being in continuous contact with potential clients and adopters so they can be engaged at the moment they are most open to change.
The STORM Partners enterprise engagement program was designed with this in mind. It puts large traditional companies in contact with Web3-focused projects in a setting that maximizes their strengths. The core program is a series of four annual events: one focused on the Luxury industry, one on Finance, one on NGOs and development, and one on corporate innovation in general. Past attendees include:
And more...
Each event we host combines panels, opportunities to network, and the facilitation of follow-up meetings. In addition, we engage with Enterprise members to uncover pains that might be solvable with blockchain, equipping Web3 members with proof-of-concept and proof-of-value scopes that can be used by Cardano projects to pitch Enterprises on their solutions.
This is a similar approach to the Hedera Governing Council, the Chainlink SCALE and Enterprise Alliances, the Energy Web Foundation, the R3 Corda Consortium, Hyperledger’s governance, and the Avalanche Evergreen Subnets, which are generally the standard when it comes to enterprise adoption.
Our overall goal is to increase the number of opportunities the Cardano ecosystem and its projects have to generate meaningful Enterprise adoption. To do that, we need to:
We will pursue these concurrently and use a scoring system to ensure that we are delivering value to the ecosystem regardless of market conditions.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
By creating structured opportunities for Cardano ecosystem members to encounter large Enterprises in a setting where those Enterprises are focused on innovation and Web3 adoption, we expect to reduce the cost of BD efforts (by having multiple enterprises in one place), position Cardano at the front of Enterprise innovators and leaders’ minds, directly create opportunities for Cardano to learn about Enterprise pains, and facilitate Cardano projects in pitching Enterprises with the right solutions that have real-world applications.
If this project is widely successful, we would expect to see multiple multi-year engagements by enterprises, ideally within a specific high-adoption vertical, leading to a competitive advantage for the ecosystem and paid transactions being registered on the network.
A medium success would be the initiation of multiple POCs with different enterprises and industries, creating more showcases and case studies to convince enterprises that working with Cardano was feasible and a key part of a serious innovation program.
A less successful but still useful outcome would be to find out that, particularly in certain verticals, there are either gaps in adoption, alternative products, or other reasons why an implementation would be of insufficient value, leading to either better designs or the prioritization of more viable use cases.
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?
STORM Partners is a Web3 strategy consultancy trusted by leading L1 ecosystems. We’ve supported Cardano’s growth through several Catalyst initiatives, DRep participation, and structured business development campaigns. Our team combines traditional enterprise expertise with proven Web3 execution, helping bridge the gap between Cardano and high-value external partners.
This is our third year running this program, and our continued work with Cardano entities and projects is grounded in successful delivery. We had the honor of being named an “Enterprise Implementation Partner.” by the Cardano Foundation.
Moreover, STORM Partners has been conducting outreach and business discovery calls with prospective enterprise partners on behalf of the Intersect Product Committee. These have included: Maerki Baumann, Hublot, Cité Gestion, Bondy, Incore, Vodafone, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Kaleido, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Fongit, among others.
Scoring methodology & Validation Approach:
In order to maximize the value of each milestone without limiting the scope to a specific methodology, we’ll use a point system to measure the value of the engagements brought to Cardano:
a. 1pt for each Enterprise member that receives a report showcasing Cardano projects or features.
b. 10pts for creating a report on Cardano projects or features. Each report shall be a minimum of six pages including design elements and suitable for sharing by email or social media.
c. 5pts per Enterprise (>$5M ARR) present at one of our quarterly events, multiplied by the number of participating Cardano projects, organizations, or origin bodies.
d. 20pts for a discovery session between a Cardano project or organization enabled by the project.
e. 30pts for a podcast or AMA between a Cardano project, body, or origin organization and an Enterprise enabled by the project.
f. 50pts for a scoping and/or POC, POV, or pilot proposal with an Enterprise enabled by the project.
g. 100pts for a signed POC, POV, or pilot with an Enterprise enabled by the project.
This model allows flexibility while ensuring all efforts create measurable value for the ecosystem. At the end of each milestone, we’ll deliver a public-facing report with an executive summary, detailed scoring breakdown, and lessons learned, including pain points and user stories where confidentiality permits. This ensures full transparency and reusable insights for the broader Cardano community.
Milestone Title
Initial Enterprise Engagement Report
Milestone Outputs
Report on Enterprise Engagement Activity: A comprehensive written report that captures the first set of enterprise engagement activities and outcomes. The document will detail the specific actions undertaken during the milestone period-
Acceptance Criteria
The report will include at minimum an executive summary of the actions performed during the milestone, an itemized “scoring” of the engagements, and any lessons learned that might be useful for Cardano bodies or projects looking to engage with Enterprises. If applicable, this will include problem statements, user stories, or pain discovery briefs provided by Enterprises (confidentiality permitting). We’ll include pictures and other media of the events if we can, but this is not a hard requirement for milestone approval. Each milestone will consist of a minimum of 120pts as defined in the scoring methodology section.
Evidence of Completion
A link to a .pdf report on enterprise engagement activities
Note: Documents and links will be hosted on a public Notion page. We may additionally consider providing the evidence in other mediums to facilitate milestone reviewer access, but this shall not be the basis of a milestone rejection unless the reviewer is unable to access the page.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
15000
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Continued Enterprise Engagement Report
Milestone Outputs
A structured report that captures the second wave of enterprise engagement activities and results within the Cardano ecosystem. This deliverable will present a detailed narrative of the outreach and engagement work carried out,
Acceptance Criteria
A report on the outcomes delivered to the Cardano ecosystem as part of the Enterprise engagement efforts. The report will include at minimum an executive summary of the actions performed during the milestone, an itemized “scoring” of the engagements, and any lessons learned that might be useful for Cardano bodies or projects looking to engage with Enterprises. If applicable, this will include problem statements, user stories, or pain discovery briefs provided by Enterprises (confidentiality permitting). We’ll include pictures and other media of the events if we can, but this is not a hard requirement for milestone approval. Each milestone will consist of a minimum of 120pts as defined in the scoring methodology section.
Evidence of Completion
A link to a .pdf report on enterprise engagement activities
Note: Documents and links will be hosted on a public Notion page. We may additionally consider providing the evidence in other mediums to facilitate milestone reviewer access, but this shall not be the basis of a milestone rejection unless the reviewer is unable to access the page.
Delivery Month
5
Cost
15000
Progress
50 %
Milestone Title
Continued Enterprise Engagement Report
Milestone Outputs
A third report documenting enterprise engagement activity, building on previous deliverables with a focus on consolidating the results achieved so far. This deliverable will present a detailed narrative of the outreach and engagement work carried out.
Acceptance Criteria
A report on the outcomes delivered to the Cardano ecosystem as part of the Enterprise engagement efforts. The report will include at minimum an executive summary of the actions performed during the milestone, an itemized “scoring” of the engagements, and any lessons learned that might be useful for Cardano bodies or projects looking to engage with Enterprises. If applicable, this will include problem statements, user stories, or pain discovery briefs provided by Enterprises (confidentiality permitting). We’ll include pictures and other media of the events if we can, but this is not a hard requirement for milestone approval. Each milestone will consist of a minimum of 120pts as defined in the scoring methodology section.
Evidence of Completion
A link to a .pdf report on enterprise engagement activities
Note: Documents and links will be hosted on a public Notion page. We may additionally consider providing the evidence in other mediums to facilitate milestone reviewer access, but this shall not be the basis of a milestone rejection unless the reviewer is unable to access the page.
Delivery Month
7
Cost
15000
Progress
70 %
Milestone Title
Final Enterprise Engagement & Project Close-Out
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Notes: Documents and links will be hosted on a public Notion page. We may additionally consider providing the evidence in other mediums to facilitate milestone reviewer access, but this shall not be the basis of a milestone rejection unless the reviewer is unable to access the page.
Delivery Month
8
Cost
14500
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
The below rationale numbers assume ADA = about 0.50 USD
If we consider just the events:
Event Space: We will typically spend between 2,000 to 4,000 ADA on the daily cost of the space.
Catering: food and drink for the event costs between 8,000 and 10,000 ADA
Media participation: we typically end up spending 6,000 to 8,000 ADA on journalist accommodation/facilitation (not counting paid distribution)
Staff costs: we can factor an additional 6,000 to 8,000 into planning, direct outreach, and social media activity
Total: between 22,000 and 30,000 ADA for the main event, and 7,000 to 10,000 for each of the smaller ones, so 40-60k ADA in total.
A report usually represents at least 4 hours of work; a discovery meeting is a minimum of .5 hours of work to make introductions; a POC meeting requires at least 4 hours of coordination; and a signed POC represents at least 10-20 hours of skilled pain/solution fitting. If we consider that we will facilitate (approximate number, refer to milestones for exact targets) 4 reports, 8 intros, 4 POC discussions, and 2 projects, that would be over 60 hours of work. Our average billing rate is (normally) 600-650 ADA / hr (depending on market level), so this means we will need to be very efficient to hit the 120pt targets set in the milestones.
At the same time, we think this is the best way to deliver value for money to the ecosystem, and we’re committed to our long-term relationship with the Cardano ecosystem.
If the price of ADA is higher, we’ll consider delivering more value either in this project scope or in other ways to support the ecosystem at our discretion, more likely in the later milestones, as we need to manage the risk throughout the duration of the project. If the price of ADA goes lower, we’ll try to optimize for cost effectiveness while still hitting our “points” (see milestones)
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
Cardano is currently paying 150k ADA to 2M ADA for projects with single Enterprises. Our proposal will potentially generate multiple projects. We are located in Geneva, which is a hub for many international organizations that would all be good targets for the Cardano ecosystem.
In addition, the point system described in the milestones greatly incentivizes us to deliver actual 1-on-1 discussions and project proposals rather than just running events and workshops.
At less than 60k ADA, even though it doesn’t guarantee a signed POC, it’s still a great value for money.
Terms and Conditions:
Yes
Sheraz Ahmed – Managing Partner: Ensures client and ecosystem alignment, leads high-level partnership engagements, and handles senior stakeholder communication.
Axel Sabbag - Innovation Manager: Axel runs the corporate innovation program. He is responsible for BD and outreach to enterprises, producing reports on blockchain use cases in different industries, and bringing together the needs of our industry partners to be addressed by ecosystem product teams.
Ellissa Koch - General Manager: Elli is the general manager of our events space, where the meetings and round tables will be held. She coordinates scheduling, media relations, catering, advertising, and event management for the events.
Natchanok Chaiprasit - Strategy & Research Specialist: Natcha is the project manager for the program and will ensure that the project stays on schedule, evidence is collected, and reports are submitted within the Milestone reporting tool.
Darby (D.J.) Bodden - Strategy & Research Director: D.J. has over 20 years of both public and private sector experience. He consults on Enterprise sales and scoping for POCs, POVs, and Pilots to facilitate the successful initiation of projects.