Gimbalabs ｜ VESPR - Cardano Onboarding Workshop Guideline

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Gimbalabs ｜ VESPR - Cardano Onboarding Workshop Guideline

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

60000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

6

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Many Cardano 101 resources exist, but none are designed for normal users. We lack a clear, region-agnostic onboarding guide showing what is “enough” to keep new users active in the ecosystem.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid
,
• https://x.com/gimbalabs
,
• https://vespr.xyz
,
• https://x.com/vesprwallet

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

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

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No dependencies

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

All outputs of this project will be made open source and publicly accessible. The onboarding playbook, workshop materials, and translations will be published. We will:

• Host materials in a public GitHub repository for version control and contributions.
• Provide downloadable formats (PDF, website) for easy access.
• Allow the community to reuse, adapt, and translate the playbook in their own regions.
• Encourage ongoing updates from contributors to keep the content relevant.

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Education

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano.

Targeting new individual users who are curious about Cardano but struggle with the fragmented learning resources available (The first time users).

• Local Cardano community builders and meetups in 5 regions.
• Partnerships with dApps and ecosystem projects to shape the playbook.
• Online channels (social media, forums, Catalyst town halls) for global distribution.

This matters for Cardano because user onboarding is the foundation of adoption. Without simple, region-agnostic guidelines, new users risk dropping off early. A structured playbook will empower individuals to confidently engage.

Provide a list of key activities of your project?

Host regional discussions with builders in 5 regions to validate onboarding scope.

Create multilingual teaching materials covering the Cardano basics, wallet setup, staking, ecosystem, governance, and safety.

Conduct trial workshops in 1–2 regions, including quizzes to measure knowledge gained.

Run a 1-month retention test with participants and refine the final onboarding playbook based on feedback.

What are your success metrics?

Engagement: At least 5 regional builder discussions completed.

Content Delivery: Playbook published in 3 languages with 7 key chapters.

Workshop Impact: 2 trial workshops with at least 30 participants; Quizzes conducted to evaluate learning progress.

Ecosystem Reach: Playbook downloads/views and reuse by communities in multiple regions.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

1. Tailored Onboarding Curriculum

o Create simple, step-by-step teaching materials covering Cardano basics, wallets, staking, governance, and dApp use (Final scope will be defined during the regional discussion sessions).

o Provide translations into 3 languages for global accessibility.

2. Community-Validated Approach

o Hold discussions with builders in 5 regions to shape scope.

o Ensure content is region-agnostic so it can be applied globally.

3. Testing & Refinement

o Trial workshops in 1 or 2 regions with quizzes to measure learning.

o Follow-up tests after 1 month to check retention.

o Collect feedback to refine and finalize the playbook.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

Lowering Barriers for New Users

By providing a clear and practical onboarding pathway, the project makes it easier for individuals with no prior blockchain experience to join Cardano. This lowers the entry barrier and expands the active user base.

Strengthening Ecosystem Adoption

Through a multilingual, region-agnostic playbook, more users will learn how to set up wallets, stake ADA, and interact with dApps. This drives adoption across DeFi, NFTs, and governance, directly benefiting existing projects.

Supporting Governance Participation

Equipping new users with knowledge about staking and Catalyst ensures broader participation in governance actions in Cardano. This leads to a more informed and diverse voting community, strengthening decentralization.

Creating a Reusable Public Good

The open-source playbook can be reused and adapted by communities worldwide, reducing duplication of effort. Local builders gain a ready-to-use resource to onboard their members, amplifying Cardano’s global reach.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?

At Gimbalabs, we have built one of the best technical learning technologies in the Cardano ecosystem, with the ability to extract the fundamentals of complex topics (protocols, tooling, infrastructure, design patterns, etc) and package them into skills. That is our know-how.

Trust and accountability:

• Talented developers, today founders of renowned Cardano startups (JPG store, MeshJS, Gods of Blocks, Loxe inc, Ekival, others), trusted us to take their first steps in the ecosystem: to know everything they needed to know, without restrictions, and from there, build their own path. We did not let them down.
• Gimbalabs is an infrastructure builder: Dandelion, Andamio.
• Gimbalabs is consulting: Joey's Hot Sauce, challenge "Spend ADA in your local community!", OneUpOneDown, Oxford University, Handshake, Blink Labs, MeshJS, SingularityNET, and others.

Approach validation:

• Gimbalabs started with this successful Fund2 Proposal: https://gimbalabs.com/fund2.pdf (and scored the leading vote tally in Fund1 - before there was real funding)
• Has delivered 4 iterations of Plutus PBL Course, with 5th iteration, Plutus PBL 2024, launching now, in May 2024
• Host of weekly Playground sessions for 3+ years
• Host of twice-weekly (and now more!) Live Coding sessions for 2+ years
• Gimbalabs YouTube is a helpful archive: https://www.youtube.com/c/gimbalabs

Feasibility of implementation:

• Talents: Gimbalabs consists of a group of educators and diverse professionals. The budget would be easily justified by the collective professional hours contributed to deliver one of the best courses on the Cardano ecosystem we strive to be.
• Approach: With the 4+ iterations of Plutus PBL Course, Gimbalabs is proven the expert of delivering such education materials.
• Platform: Gimbalabs founds Andamio, which is a highly effective education platform built on Cardano, natively as the best platform of delivering Cardano education materials.
• Know-how: Gimbalabs gathers a group of expert software engineer with extremely deep knowledge in the course content to be produced.

References:

• Messari's "State of Cardano" report (discussed each quarter by C. Hoskinson) highlighted the role of Gimbalabs every quarter of 2023 as community-run project for education and developer tools, in the section "Community".
• Gimbalabs is part of the CBIA alliance (Cardano Blockchain Infrastructure Alliance) along with recognized names in the ecosystem: Maestro, TxPipe, Koios, Blink Labs, among others.
• Gimbalabs is part of the Certification working group coordinated by Intersect. An example of Gimbalabs' contribution is the document "CTI-2023-ADA-11-04: Multiple Satisfaction" authored by Professor M. Ali Modiri, Gimbalabs instructor and recognized ecosystem developer.

VESPR is the best co-proposer because VESPR has always been on simplifying the onboarding process and the Cardano experience. This combination is the best choice for new user adoption, especially for those who are not very technical or accustomed to web3 intricacies

Proven Infrastructure at Scale:

• VESPR is one of Cardano’s most trusted self-custody wallets, securing $400M+ in assets across 30,000+ monthly active users, and consistently processing $30–40M in daily transaction volume. This demonstrates our ability to deliver reliable, high-performance infrastructure that meets the needs of everyday users at scale.

Market Leadership and Trust:

• Despite entering the wallet market more than two years after established competitors, VESPR has grown rapidly to become the leading revenue-generating Cardano wallet, with 5–8x more operating revenue than all other wallets combined. This is a strong indicator of user trust, sustainable operations, and product-market fit.

Feasibility of Contribution:

• As a co-proposer, VESPR brings:
  • Direct user insights from one of the largest active Cardano user bases, ensuring the onboarding playbook addresses real user needs.
  • Proven expertise in UX and security, critical for guiding new users through wallet creation, staking, and dApp interactions safely.
  • Active workshop support by helping to deliver hands-on onboarding sessions.
  • Token airdrops for testing, enabling participants to safely practice real Cardano transactions without financial risk.
  • Sustainable operations that provide long-term accountability to maintain and improve onboarding resources beyond the initial proposal.

Together, these capabilities make VESPR a trusted and reliable partner to ensure this onboarding initiative delivers high-quality, user-focused outcomes for the Cardano ecosystem.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Regional Discussions with Builders

Milestone Outputs

• Conduct 5 regional discussions with Cardano community builders to identify onboarding gaps, capture regional differences, and define the “minimum knowledge” required for new users. Summarize all findings in a consolidated scope report to guide curriculum design.

Acceptance Criteria

• 5 regional builder sessions are successfully organized and completed across diverse regions.
• Discussions involve active participation from builders, ensuring multiple perspectives are included.
• A consolidated report documents clear findings, reflecting unique regional onboarding needs.

Evidence of Completion

• Publicly available discussion notes or full session recordings are shared for transparency.
• A published onboarding scope report is made available, summarizing insights and recommendations from all 5 sessions.

Delivery Month

1

Cost

12000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Creation of Teaching Materials

Milestone Outputs

• Develop a structured onboarding curriculum covering some key topics (e.g. Intro, Wallets, Staking, Ecosystem, Governance). Translate and publish these resources in English, Chinese, and Japanese to make them accessible to global audiences.

Acceptance Criteria

• A complete draft of the curriculum is produced, reviewed, and refined by the project team.
• Final teaching materials are created and translated into English, Chinese, and Japanese.
• All content is prepared in a format suitable for distribution to the wider community.

Evidence of Completion

• A public GitHub repository is maintained, containing version-controlled content and translations.
• Final multilingual PDFs and/or a website link are shared to provide open access to all materials.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

18000

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Trial Run Workshops

Milestone Outputs

• Deliver 1 or 2 pilot onboarding workshops in collaboration with strategic partners. Test the clarity and usability of materials through quizzes and direct participant feedback, ensuring that the curriculum meets new users’ real learning needs.

Acceptance Criteria

• A minimum of 1 or 2 trial workshops are hosted, with at least 30 participants in total.
• Quizzes are conducted during workshops to evaluate participant knowledge and understanding.
• Feedback is systematically collected from participants to assess content clarity and usability.

Evidence of Completion

• Event photos uploaded (link provided).
• Quiz results are compiled into a summary report showing knowledge improvement.
• A detailed feedback report is produced, reflecting participants’ insights and suggestions.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

18000

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Random Testing & Final Playbook & Final Reporting

Milestone Outputs

• Randomly select participants one month after the workshops to conduct follow-up tests and interviews. Evaluate retention of knowledge and quality of course design, then refine and publish the final version of the onboarding playbook.

Acceptance Criteria

• Random follow-up tests and interviews are carried out with a subset of participants.
• Feedback and results are analyzed and incorporated into content improvements.
• A final, refined version of the onboarding playbook is prepared for release.
• Close-out report & video according to catalyst requirement

Evidence of Completion

• A public report summarizing results from follow-up tests and interviews is published.
• Version 1.0 of the final onboarding playbook is released and openly shared with the community.
• A feedback and refinement report is produced to document the improvements made.
• Close-out report & video according to catalyst requirement

Delivery Month

1

Cost

12000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Cost Breakdown (Total: 60,000 ADA)

Regional Discussions with Builders – 12,000 ADA

Coordination of 5 regional sessions (facilitators, moderators): 5,000 ADA

Documentation & reporting: 3,000 ADA

Translation & accessibility: 4,000 ADA

Creation of Teaching Materials – 18,000 ADA

Curriculum design & content creation: 8,000 ADA

Translation into 3 languages: 5,000 ADA

Layout, design & publishing (PDF/website format): 5,000 ADA

Trial Workshops – 18,000 ADA

Workshop delivery in 1 or 2 regions (venue/logistics or online facilitation): 10,000 ADA

Trainer & facilitator hours: 5,000 ADA

Participant support & feedback collection (incl. quiz tools): 3,000 ADA

Random Testing & Final Playbook & Final Reporting – 12,000 ADA

Follow-up random student testing & evaluation: 3,000 ADA

Refinement of materials based on results: 5,000 ADA

Final publishing & reporting (open-source repo, distribution): 4,000 ADA

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project represents strong value for money because it delivers open-source, reusable onboarding resources that lower barriers for new users across all regions. Similar to how successful Catalyst-funded projects have created lasting public goods, this onboarding playbook will provide a foundational resource for communities and projects worldwideto onboard users consistently.

High Public-Good ROI: Once developed, the playbook and teaching materials can be reused indefinitely by local communities, dApps, and educators without additional cost, multiplying the value of this one-time investment.

Ecosystem Adoption: By guiding individuals from wallet setup to dApp usage and governance, the project directly expands Cardano’s active user base and strengthens adoption across DeFi, NFTs, and governance.

Global Applicability: With multilingual, region-agnostic content, the materials can be applied in diverse regions, reducing duplication of effort and supporting builders worldwide.

Proven Education Expertise (Gimbalabs): With years of experience delivering Cardano education (Plutus PBL, Playground sessions, live coding workshops), Gimbalabs ensures the curriculum is effective, accessible, and engaging.

Trusted Infrastructure Partner (VESPR): With $400M+ secured assets, 30,000+ active users, and $30–40M daily transaction volume, VESPR brings real-world experience in wallet UX and adoption. By supporting workshops and enabling safe test transactions via token airdrops, VESPR ensures hands-on, practical learning for new users.

Governance & Treasury Impact: Equipping more users to participate in staking, Catalyst voting, and constitutional governance leads to more informed participation, improving the effectiveness of Cardano’s multi-billion-dollar treasury.

For 60,000 ADA, the Cardano ecosystem gains a global, open-source onboarding framework created and delivered by two of its most trusted education and infrastructure providers, ensuring high impact and long-term reuse.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes