Last updated 5 months ago
Catalyst lacks structured incentives for early-stage feedback. Valuable reviews happen too late—after submission—wasting treasury funds and limiting proposals improvement.
Actively offer mentorship during the proposal stage to enable early feedback, improve quality, and support proposers before costly reviews are even triggered.
This is the total amount allocated to Project Catalyst Mentorship Bureau.
Please provide your proposal title
Project Catalyst Mentorship Bureau
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
58410
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
12
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Catalyst lacks structured incentives for early-stage feedback. Valuable reviews happen too late—after submission—wasting treasury funds and limiting proposals improvement.
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
No dependencies.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
This proposal will not result in any deliverables involving code or extensive documentation. There will only be feedback reports from clients and users of the mentoring service, which will be publicly available. The mentoring service will be offered openly to all proposers. There will be clear rules for participation, such as a time limit per mentoring client.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Training
Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano.
We aim to support proposers during the submission stage, by offering timely, paid mentorship. We will reach them directly through proactive outreach, monitoring draft proposals on Project Catalyst website (in the comments section), and our social media channels, such as Twitter/X and Discord. This matters because many proposers don’t know who to ask for help, lack access to meaningful feedback, or receive no answers when they do reach out. We want to bridge that gap.
Provide a list of key activities of your project?
Key activities include: recruiting a pool of qualified mentors and consultants; monitoring draft proposals; contacting proposers directly; delivering paid mentorship sessions; producing feedback reports; managing project milestones (SoM, PoL, PoA, PCR); promoting the service through social media; collecting community feedback through forms; and publishing final insights and lessons learned.
What are your success metrics?
Metrics
KPIs
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
This project introduces a structured, proactive mentorship system to support proposers during the submission phase of Project Catalyst. The core idea is to provide high-quality, timely feedback before proposals reach the review stage—filling a persistent gap in the Catalyst process since its inception.
Instead of relying solely on the Community Review stage, which occurs late in the funding cycle and often delivers feedback too late to act upon, our solution offers on-demand, pre-submission mentorship with a pool of qualified mentors and technical consultants.
We will actively monitor draft proposals on Catalyst platforms and reach out to proposers to offer free mentorship, supported by a transparent and trackable allocation system. Each proposer may request:
Up to 4 hours of mentorship in total.
Support for up to 2 proposals, with the 4-hour cap shared between them.
Proposers may choose between two types of mentorship:
General Mentorship
Focused on constructive feedback, ideation, proposal structuring, budget, and alignment with Catalyst goals. Ideal for new community members or those seeking help shaping their narrative, roadmap, or feasibility arguments.
Technical Mentorship
Delivered by developers or technical consultants. Focuses on solution design, architecture, implementation plans, budget realism, and tech stack clarity.
This approach allows proposers to receive tailored support based on the maturity and nature of their ideas.
Mentors will be matched based on proposer needs, availability, and area of expertise. Once matched, the mentorship session will be scheduled and recorded internally with the following protocol:
Proposers submit a brief intake form indicating their proposal(s), the type of mentorship required, and main challenges.
A mentor from the pool will be assigned and compensated based on hours delivered.
Each session is logged, and mentors submit a short feedback report summarizing the topics discussed and recommendations provided.
To avoid long-term dependence on Catalyst funding and promote sustainability, we are embedding an organic monetization path into the system.
If a proposer requires more than 4 hours of mentorship, they will be invited to engage directly with the mentor or consultant through a private agreement.
This opens two critical avenues:
Mentors can turn their participation into an ongoing revenue stream.
Proposers receive extended, custom-tailored support without additional treasury costs.
This model encourages economic autonomy and long-term mentor engagement, while ensuring the funded service remains focused on public good delivery.
The process will unfold in the following steps:
Mentor Pool Formation
Recruit qualified mentors with relevant Catalyst experience (proposal authors, funded teams, developers).
Onboard consultants with technical backgrounds to cover different domains.
Proposal Monitoring & Outreach
Regularly scan draft proposals during the submission phase of each Fund.
Reach out to proposers offering mentorship before they enter final submission.
Session Scheduling & Delivery
Match proposer needs with available mentors.
Conduct 1-on-1 sessions—remote and flexible—or provide written asynchronous feedback, according to the proposer's needs
Session Logging & Internal Reporting
Track hours delivered per mentor.
Collect feedback summaries to improve service quality and transparency.
Community Promotion & Visibility
Promote the mentorship service on social platforms (X, Discord, Telegram).
Collaborate with local hubs to amplify access, especially in underrepresented regions.
Sustainability Layer
Feedback Collection & Public Reporting
Collect satisfaction data and qualitative feedback via forms.
Publish public summaries of lessons learned and process outcomes.
This is not just about helping proposers polish their text. It is about correcting a fundamental inefficiency in the Catalyst pipeline:
Proposers currently receive structured feedback too late to act on it.
Community reviewers are paid, but many reviews are read only after it's too late for improvement.
First-time proposers, or those without strong social ties, often submit low-quality proposals due to lack of access to constructive input.
Our mentorship framework offers:
Equal access to guidance regardless of background or connections.
Reduced reviewer workload, as proposals arrive in better shape.
Higher overall funding quality, with proposals that are technically, structurally, and strategically sound.
Proposers receive relevant, early support before it’s too late.
Mentors are compensated fairly and incentivized to remain involved.
Catalyst funding is used more efficiently—mentorship costs less than late-stage rejections.
A sustainability path is embedded via optional extended mentorship.
The entire community benefits from higher quality proposals and broader inclusion.
Mentorship will not guarantee Catalyst approval or scoring advantages.
Mentors will never write proposals on behalf of proposers.
Sessions focus on coaching, feedback, and clarity—not favoritism.
This is a modular, scalable, and community-first approach to improving participation and proposal quality in Catalyst—while preparing for a more sustainable, decentralized future.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
This proposal is designed to create a ripple effect across multiple layers of the Cardano ecosystem, particularly within Project Catalyst. Its impact goes beyond individual mentorship sessions—it targets systemic inefficiencies, improves governance processes, and creates lasting infrastructure for onboarding, education, and collaboration.
By offering proactive mentorship before proposals reach the review stage, this project significantly increases the overall quality of submissions. Many proposers, especially newcomers, struggle with key aspects of Catalyst such as clarity, feasibility, roadmap planning, budgeting, or technical articulation. Early guidance ensures:
Better structured proposals
More realistic technical plans
Budgets aligned with project scope
Alignment with Catalyst’s strategic goals
This directly reduces the burden on community reviewers and makes the review process more meaningful and focused on refinement rather than damage control.
The proposal is intentionally designed to reach people who lack access to feedback or don’t even know where to ask for help. This includes:
First-time proposers with little or no network
Non-technical founders
By actively monitoring draft proposals and offering free support, the project levels the playing field and supports decentralization—not only in voting power, but also in who gets to propose and succeed.
Catalyst has historically concentrated feedback in the Community Review stage. However, this occurs after proposals are finalized, leaving proposers with little or no opportunity to improve. This project shifts that dynamic.
We introduce a feedback-first approach that:
Unlocks value earlier in the lifecycle
Makes reviews more effective downstream
Reduces proposal churn and resubmission rates
It also creates a cultural shift toward iteration, refinement, and community learning—values deeply aligned with Cardano’s mission.
This mentorship system is not a one-off service; it's a model. The tools, workflows, mentor onboarding, and intake processes built during this pilot can be:
Scaled across future Catalyst rounds
Adopted by regional hubs
It provides a bridge between proposers and the ecosystem, creating an interface for collaboration, shared learning, and eventually, peer-to-peer mentorship systems.
Instead of relying solely on treasury funds indefinitely, the proposal includes a sustainability mechanism: if a proposer requires more than 4 hours of support, they can contract the mentor privately. This:
Creates long-term incentives for mentors
Reduces dependency on Catalyst for repeat funding
Stimulates a service layer around governance and grants
In the long run, it nurtures ecosystem professionals who are embedded in Cardano and can serve projects, DAOs, or communities through paid expertise.
Through social media outreach, feedback reports, and public summaries, the project will:
Increase visibility into the mentorship process
Showcase examples of good proposals and learning journeys
Encourage more people to submit drafts early
Cultivate a culture of help, not competition
It reframes proposal writing as a collaborative, iterative journey—not a solitary, winner-takes-all process.
This proposal directly reinforces several key principles embedded in Cardano’s vision:
Decentralization: By empowering new and diverse voices to participate
Education: By delivering free mentorship and technical guidance
Transparency: Through feedback form reporting, and open communication
Sustainability: Through post-funding monetization models and self-organizing support systems
Governance Maturity: By reducing waste and creating infrastructure for better decisions
| Impact Area | Contribution |
|-------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| Proposal quality | Early-stage feedback, technical input, and structure guidance |
| Inclusion and access | Support for newcomers, underrepresented groups, and non-devs |
| Governance efficiency | Less wasted review effort, higher-quality ballots |
| Culture of learning | Promotes iterative feedback and community collaboration |
| Ecosystem professionalization | Creates paid roles for mentors and consultants |
| Tooling and process reusability | Workflows can be reused by other teams and hubs |
| Funding sustainability | Introduces opt-in monetization model post-funding |
By tackling the feedback gap at its root, this proposal doesn't just improve proposals—it strengthens the Catalyst lifecycle, empowers proposers, and elevates governance outcomes. It is a strategic step toward a more inclusive, efficient, and sustainable Cardano.
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 designed for high-confidence execution by a team with direct, relevant experience in Cardano governance, community onboarding, and Catalyst project delivery. The systems, workflows, and roles required are already well understood by the team, and many of the components have been tested informally in the ecosystem across multiple Catalyst rounds. This is not a theoretical plan—it is a targeted intervention based on observed gaps and operational experience.
The team is led by Rodrigo Pacini, a seasoned governance researcher, dRep, and project manager with a deep track record in Project Catalyst. Rodrigo is responsible for general mentorship, project coordination, and outreach. He has served in multiple roles since Fund 2—Veteran Community Advisor, Moderator, Reviewer Level 2, and Funded Proposer—and has moderated over 3,000 reviews, reviewed 1,000+ proposals, validated 100+ milestones, assisted dozens of proposers on Project Catalyst with mentorship services, and authored nine funded Challenge Settings that mobilized ~$3M in treasury funding.
Rodrigo also leads AGORA, an independent research and governance initiative in Cardano, and co-manages the DReps LATAM – Brasil project as well as the Manifesto Cardano Brasil, both focused on representation and community participation. His academic background includes economics, blockchain, and DeFi research, and he has voted in over 40 governance actions on-chain.
To support the delivery of technical mentorship, the project includes a small circle of external collaborators. Among them is Erick Romero, a blockchain and full-stack developer with 15+ years of experience, a strong background in zk-tech, and participation in the Plutus, Aiken, Marlowe, and Midnight Pioneer Programs. Erick contributes as a technical consultant and mentor, offering support in smart contract design, infrastructure feasibility, and language accessibility, being fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. His advisory presence strengthens the technical dimension of the mentorship service when requested.
This structure enables:
A lean, highly experienced core team capable of executing efficiently
Flexible access to specialized knowledge through a trusted advisory network
Reliable, focused delivery with the ability to scale support as needed
The team’s combined experience offers deep familiarity with the Catalyst lifecycle, the gaps in early-stage proposer support, and the operational discipline required to run a high-impact, mentorship-driven initiative.
The project structure has been designed to minimize complexity and maximize clarity of delivery. The following elements ensure feasibility:
Simple and measurable offer: Each proposer is eligible for up to 4 hours of mentorship across a maximum of 2 proposals. This cap ensures resource planning and avoids overextension.
Mentor pool structure: General mentors and technical mentors are pre-identified and matched based on proposer needs and availability.
Session protocol: All mentorships are logged, and mentors submit feedback summaries after each session for accountability.
Coordination: A dedicated project manager will handle scheduling, tracking, communications, reporting, and milestone management using standard tools.
Tooling: The team will use well-known platforms (Zoom, Discord, X, Notion, Gitbook, Forms, etc.) and maintain subscription-based tools already in active use.
Feedback mechanism: Post-session surveys and open-ended forms will validate quality, measure satisfaction, and guide iterative improvements.
To validate feasibility and course-correct in real-time, the project integrates lightweight feedback loops:
After each mentorship session, both the proposer and the mentor can flag issues or areas for improvement.
A structured but short post-session feedback form will track satisfaction, usefulness, and clarity.
These insights will inform adjustments in mentor allocation, outreach strategy, and communications.
By treating every cycle of feedback as actionable data, we ensure the service remains focused, efficient, and aligned with community needs.
The project was intentionally scoped to be:
Lean: Clear caps on hours, proposals, and scope reduce overhead and risk.
Modular: Mentor sessions, reporting, and outreach can be scaled up or down depending on demand.
Sustainable: The private follow-up mentorship model (where proposers can contract mentors after using their free hours) creates an organic economic incentive for mentors and reduces long-term funding dependency.
Because the model is modular, it could later be absorbed by regional hubs, integrated into governance tooling, or replicated in other ecosystems.
This mentorship system was not designed in a vacuum. It is built based on years of community involvement, observation, and friction points reported by dozens of proposers. It fills a critical gap that Catalyst has never formally addressed: the absence of structured, funded, early-stage feedback.
By focusing on feasibility, repeatability, and clear boundaries (e.g., no ghostwriting or proposal creation), the system respects Catalyst’s open innovation nature while boosting proposer capability—without requiring top-down control.
To ensure transparency and confidence in execution:
All mentorship hours will be documented and auditable.
Public-facing reports will summarize session volumes, proposer types, feedback trends, and satisfaction levels.
The mentor pool and matching process will be shared publicly.
The team is accountable through Catalyst’s milestone system and open community scrutiny.
The process is designed to be fully auditable by the community and easily understandable by IOG reviewers and Catalyst operators.
We are fully prepared to deliver this project with a high degree of confidence because:
We’ve done it before, in parts, across many Catalyst roles.
The processes and tools are already in place.
The proposal is scoped realistically and sustainably.
Feedback loops are built-in to track feasibility and success.
The team has a proven, transparent track record in Cardano governance.
This is not a high-risk experiment. It’s an operational intervention built by experienced Catalyst contributors to make the system work better for everyone—especially those who need help but don’t know where to turn.
Milestone Title
First Batch of Mentorship Services
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
4
Cost
17000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Second Batch of Mentorship Services
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
8
Cost
17000
Progress
60 %
Milestone Title
Third Batch of Mentorship Services
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
11
Cost
17000
Progress
90 %
Milestone Title
Project Close-Out
Milestone Outputs
Delivery of the Project Close-out Report (PCR) and the Project Close-out Video (PCV), summarizing the full scope of work, key outcomes, and metrics achieved according to the Project Catalyst guidelines
Acceptance Criteria
Delivery of the Project Close-out Report (PCR) and the Project Close-out Video (PCV), summarizing the full scope of work, key outcomes, and metrics achieved according to the Project Catalyst guidelines publicly available
Evidence of Completion
Links of the Project Close-out Report (PDF) and Project Close-out Video publicly available on a public repository
Delivery Month
12
Cost
7410
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Exchange rate: 1 ADA = $0.80
30 mentorships × 3h × $50/h × 3 Funds = 270 hours
Focus: Proposal planning and structure (non-technical)
USD: $13,500
ADA: ₳16,875.00
30 mentorships × 3h × $70/h × 3 Funds = 270 hours
Focus: Developer-led technical guidance
USD: $18,900
ADA: ₳23,625.00
Milestone Statement (SoM): $500
Proof of Life: $50
Proof of Achievement (4 × 8h @ $40/h): $1,280
Project Close-Out Report & Video (50h @ $40/h): $2,000
Team Coordination (12 × $300): $3,600
Total USD: $7,430
Total ADA: ₳9,287.50
ChatGPT Plus
Zoom Pro
X (Twitter) Premium
Canva Pro
Total USD: $900
Total ADA: ₳1,125.00
1h/week × 50 weeks × $25/h
Purpose: Mentorship program promotion on social media
Total USD: $1,250
Total ADA: ₳1,562.50
Feedback form creation: $250
Report summarizing collected feedback: $250
Purpose: Collect qualitative community feedback
Total USD: $500
Total ADA: ₳625.00
USD: $42,480
ADA: ₳53,100.00
10% of subtotal
USD: $4,248
ADA: ₳5,310.00
Total USD: $46,728
Total ADA: ₳58,410.00
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
This project delivers a high-impact intervention with a lean team, measurable KPIs, and cost structures that align with international benchmarks and current Catalyst standards.
Our mentorship system targets one of the most under-optimized areas of Project Catalyst: the lack of early-stage support for proposers. By delivering structured guidance before proposals are finalized, we prevent avoidable mistakes, reduce downstream inefficiencies, and increase the overall success rate of submissions.
The value generated by this initiative is both quantifiable and strategic, as demonstrated by our key performance indicators:
60+ proposers mentored during the project
75%+ satisfaction rate in feedback forms
75% of mentored proposals submitted successfully
20%+ of mentored proposals receiving community funding
Each hour of mentorship has the potential to save reviewers time, improve funding decision quality, and increase proposer confidence—all while being delivered at rates that reflect responsible use of treasury funds.
Mentorship services will be provided by professionals with proven track records in governance, technical design, and project delivery. Hourly rates are as follows:
$50/hour for general mentorship
$70/hour for technical mentorship
These rates are well within international market averages, as shown in platforms such as ZipRecruiter and Glassdoor for equivalent roles (e.g., grant consultant, technical advisor, project coach). They are also consistent with values regularly seen in past Catalyst proposals across multiple funds.
Compared to the cost of wasted reviews, rejected proposals, or misaligned submissions, this preventive investment is minimal and highly effective. With up to 4 hours of mentorship available per proposer (across a maximum of two proposals), we are optimizing for high leverage rather than high volume or unchecked expansion.
The project operates with a fixed team of two, supported by a flexible network of collaborators engaged only when necessary. All tools used (e.g., Zoom, X Premium, ChatGPT, Canva) are low-cost and already integrated into the team’s workflow. There is no investment in custom infrastructure, no dependency on external vendors, and minimal overhead.
Administrative tasks (scheduling, logging, reporting, feedback collection) are streamlined, and all mentor time is directly linked to verifiable activities. This ensures that every dollar requested translates to direct value delivery.
To ensure that the system does not become indefinitely reliant on Catalyst funding, we’ve embedded a sustainability mechanism: proposers requiring more than 4 hours of mentorship will be encouraged to privately contract the mentor for additional support. This hybrid model provides early-stage public goods (free mentorship) and long-term optional services (paid continuation), ensuring relevance, scalability, and independence over time.
This is a lean, targeted, and cost-conscious initiative that delivers tangible value across multiple fronts: education, decentralization, proposer empowerment, and treasury efficiency. The cost structure is transparent, the outcomes are measurable, and the benefits compound across funding rounds.
Terms and Conditions:
Yes
Rodrigo Pacini – General Mentorship, Project Management and Social Media Management
Researcher, active dRep, and project manager with extensive experience in Cardano governance. Active in Project Catalyst since Fund 2 as Veteran Community Advisor, Reviewer Level 2, Moderator, and Funded Proposer (Fund 10). Over 1,000 proposals reviewed, 3,000+ community reviews moderated, and 100+ milestones validated. Mentored dozens of proposers on different Funding rounds. Author of nine funded Challenge Settings mobilizing ~$3M in treasury funding. Former Cardano Ambassador Moderator.
Founder of AGORA an independent research and advocacy initiative focused on improving governance quality and decentralization in Cardano through frameworks, analysis, and community education.
Project manager of DReps LATAM – Brasil – Exploration & Community Sensing and co-lead of Manifesto Cardano Brasil a funded research project exploring political identity, representation, and governance in the Brazilian Cardano community. Has participated in over 40 on-chain governance votes as a dRep. Background in economics, blockchain, and DeFi research since 2018, with a BTech in Naval Construction.
🔗 Links:
Erick Romero - Technical Mentorship
Blockchain & Full-Stack Developer, deep expertise in blockchain technology, software development, and project management, strategically guiding each initiative to ensure technical excellence.
With over 15 years of experience in the tech field, Erick has actively participated in the Plutus Pioneer Program, Aiken-Mesh PBL, Marlowe Pioneer Program, Midnight Pioneer Program and the Cardano Blockchain Certified Associate. He has a robust understanding of zero-knowledge technology and its application in smart contracts, thanks to his role as a lead developer in the Midnight hackathon, where Edda Labs secured first place. Additionally, Erick is the co-host of the Cardano Constitutional Workshop in Peru. Fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, Erick's ability to communicate across languages aligns with the project’s multilingual content creation goal. His background in project management is bolstered by a master’s degree in renewable energy and an MBA, ensuring financial discipline and transparency across all projects.
🔗 Links: