GROW3DGE: BUILDER GROWTH PROGRAM FOR CARDANO BUILDERS

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

GROW3DGE: BUILDER GROWTH PROGRAM FOR CARDANO BUILDERS

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

35000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

7

[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?

Blockchain builders are struggling to grow their projects as they often lack marketing experience, are building in silos, and small devrel teams have limited resources to support their growth.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://bit.ly/grow3dge
,
• https://si3.fibery.io/default/Grow3dge-Builder-Growth-Program-487?sharing-key=0f04382b-1662-49ae-a402-5dff047e36d5
,
• https://si3.space/

[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?

No

Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.

N/A

[Theme Selection] Theme

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

Training

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

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

Our program is designed for blockchains and their builder teams. After a successful Season 1 of our Grow3dge program with 25 blockchains, DAO's, dApps and protocols participating, we are now introducing Season 2. Season 2 continues with our general Grow3dge programming (bi-weekly peer-to-peer education sessions on growth-related topics, and networking and partnerships), and is adding our 6-month growth framework for blockchains and their builders.

This proposal entails inviting 20 builder teams (2-3 people from each team) from the Cardano ecosystem to participate in our 6-month program and receive the strategic support and resources offered within the program. Each participating blockchain receives their own dedicated floor within our Kumospace virtual office, which operates as our virtual learning space. This supports the cohesion and interconnection of the builders with one another, and the opportunity for Cardano's growth and DevRel teams to join in.

We would ask that Cardano's team select and invite 20 high potential post-MVP builder teams to participate, and we will provide a PDF to share with the builder to onboard them into the program. If the team needs support in sourcing Cardano projects to participate, our team can also support in this process.

Provide a list of key activities of your project:

1. Grow3dge team shares a pre-recorded learning video at the beginning of each month to be watched within our SI U learning platform. Each month, the weekly activities with templates, resources and checklists are shared with participants via Fibery, with individual Fibery portals for accessing the templates. SI<3> engages with the builders several times per week in Kumospace and in Fibery to answer questions.
2. SI<3>'s team performs weekly strategic feedback reviews of the builder team's progress from their reporting in their checklists. In addition, we will offer weekly office hours on Tuesdays (accessible across North American, Europe, Africa and Asia time zones) in Kumospace, open to all builders to attend to discuss learnings and ask questions.
3. Participants are also invited to participate in Season 2 of our Grow3dge education program (meets bi-weekly on Thursdays from 4-5 pm UTC), in our Grow3dge Telegram group, and receive access to our SI U learning platform for Grow3dge replays and session summaries.

GROW3DGE BUILDER GROWTH PROGRAM OUTLINE & ACTIVITIES:

Month 1: Marketing Foundations

• Watch our 'Marketing Foundations' video to prepare analytics, KPI's, channels and marketing funnels
• Set up and/or review your marketing analytics dashboard
• Select 2-3 channels & KPI's to focus on (email, social, user growth) and focus on executing channel growth throughout the program, and exploratory growth strategies
• Map your growth marketing funnel and track your metrics at each stage

Month 2: Know Your Customers

• Watch our 'Know Your Customers' video to establish clarity over your customers, their pain points, and early community-market fit assessment
• Receive SI<3>'s Persona Mapping Canva template and map your customer personas
• Hold 3-4 existing and/or new potential customer interviews, receiving insights to help shape your product and market fit.
• Summarize your users' pain points and opportunities from your metrics analysis and customer interviews, and develop the problem and solution statement that your organization is solving.
• Assess early community-market fit stages (receive our C/M/F template in Fibery)

Month 3: Go-to-Market

• Watch our 'Go-to-Market' video to start taking action towards your marketing & content activities
• Develop your marketing campaign outline and content development needs, and map your campaign launch timeline (receive our campaign launch template in Fibery), including the opportunity to launch your content within SI<3>'s free and open Scholars tier in our social learning platform.
• Initiate marketing content development
• Continue development of your marketing campaign and content

Month 4: Activate Your Community

• Watch our 'Community Growth' video to learn how develop, manage and incentivize your communities
• Develop your community, content and incentivization strategy
• Begin to execute your community strategy and track your metrics
• Launch your marketing campaign through your community channels! (and track your metrics)

Month 5: PR & Partnerships

• Watch our 'PR & Partnerships' video to learn how to develop relationships with journalists and communities for paid and organic PR, and develop meaningful partnerships with aligned organizations, communities and individuals
• Map out 2-3 partnership opportunities and begin to take action towards those, with partnership agreements
• Follow and engage with journalists and develop your press kit (receive our CRM template in Fibery) and develop your PR announcement
• Announce your product with your partners and potential journalists

Month 6: Iterate & Scale

• Review the performance (with Grow3dge team) of your go-to-market activities and rate your channel growth by highest performing to least performing.
• Select 1-2 channels that are not activated that you would like to test
• Set up and test one new growth channel, and build a roadmap for continued testing. Also outline a marketing roadmap (recommend testing one new strategy per month)
• Re-engage with your highest performing growth channel and strategy. Forecast how this channel could perform with the potential for paid incentives
• Review and summarize your experience in the Grow3dge Builder Growth program with a recap of your learnings and next steps

What are your success metrics?

These are the qualitative and quantitative metrics that we aim to reach with each participating blockchain and their builder teams. Grow3dge will provide Cardano a summary of learnings and reporting post-program with these metrics and a survey summary from the builders and their experience and learnings.

• 80% builder team completion rate, which entails builder teams actively participating and submitting 80% of the action steps outlined in the program
• 70-80% of teams doubling their user growth or more from the program
• Ecosystem and devrel teams have 2-3x greater understanding of their high-potential builders and their products and growth rates throughout and post-program
• Improved ecosystem cohesion and collaboration between builders seen through partnerships and integrations with the Cardano builders as well as cross-chain collaborations
• Loyalty and referrals increased to the Cardano ecosystem due to the support offered to them in this Grow3dge program, acknowledging that Cardano supports the growth of their projects beyond just technical building

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Grow3dge offers a valuable 6-month framework for high-potential Cardano projects to set a solid foundation for sustained growth. From analytics & KPI's, to marketing channels and campaigns, this program covers the core areas of growth that every startup needs.

We offer this program for 6 months as we know as community builders and marketing leaders ourselves that projects need more than a few weeks, or even few months, to prepare, launch and grow.

Throughout the program our team provides strategic support, encouraging and positive reminders for the completion of tasks, and reporting to the Cardano ecosystem. We also foster collaboration within the Cardano builder teams, and cross-chain collaboration with other builder teams.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

This program will have a positive impact on the Cardano ecosystem as it provides its builders with a platform to grow. We will see improved growth metrics in these 6 months, and position the builders for continued, long-term growth.

We believe and understand that builders need support beyond just technical, and this program signals to the broader community that Cardano understands this as well.

[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?

We have had very positive experiences in our partnerships and programs with blockchains and protocols, as shared in our Grow3dge deck and on our website.

The milestone approach ensures that deliverables are provided to the best of our abilities. This also requires the efforts of the companies participating, and with our positive encouraging and supportive team, we believe we will motivate the builders to continue as engaged participants.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Cardano Builders Onboarded & Marketing Foundations Complete

Milestone Outputs

• Builder teams onboarded into the Grow3dge program onto our Kumospace virtual office and Fibery project management tool
• Builders launched their marketing analytics dashboards with our custom template and completed the actions in Marketing Foundations month (watched Marketing Foundations video, selected 2-3 focus channels and KPIs, and outlined strategies for each)
• SI3's team reviewed and provided feedback on each builder's deliverables for Marketing Foundations

Acceptance Criteria

• All 20 builder teams successfully onboarded into the builder growth program
• 80% completion rate of Marketing Foundations deliverables by the builders
• 100% completion rate of SI<3>'s reviews of all builders

Evidence of Completion

This will be delivered in a public link utilizing the Fibery project management tool that we are utilizing within the program

Delivery Month

2

Cost

10000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Cardano Builders Communities Activated

Milestone Outputs

• Builder teams will have completed all activites within our 'Know Your Customers', 'Go-To-Market' & 'Activate Your Community' months.
• SI3 Team will have reviewed and provided strategic feedback and recommendations to all builder teams on all 3 of these month's activities

Acceptance Criteria

• 70% of builder teams completed all activities within the first 4 months of the program
• 100% reviews completed by SI3's team of each builder team's activities
• 70% of teams should have added their content marketing campaign into our SI U social learning platform for their organization to be discoverable

Evidence of Completion

This will be delivered in a public link utilizing the Fibery project management tool that we are utilizing within the program

Delivery Month

5

Cost

10000

Progress

60 %

Milestone Title

Grow3dge Builder Growth Program Successfully Completed

Milestone Outputs

• Builders successfully completed the deliverables within the program, including the final month's activites within the 'PR & Partnerships' & 'Iterate & Scale' topics
• Builders will have completed their program summary documentation and survey
• Strategic reviews will have been completed by SI<3>'s team

Acceptance Criteria

• 80% of builders successfully completed deliverables with the program
• 80% of builders completed their program summary documentation and survey
• 100% of strategic reviews completed by SI<3>'s team

Evidence of Completion

This will be delivered in a public link utilizing the Fibery project management tool that we are utilizing within the program.

Delivery Month

7

Cost

15000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

• 15% of budget goes towards the cost of the virtual workspace in Kumospace
• 85% of budget goes towards our team's costs for managing, engaging with and offering strategic support to the builders throughout the 7 months of the program

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

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

Grow3dge is highly valuable for the Cardano ecosystem in that it offers strategic support for builders at scale.

The program costs $750 USD per builder team ($15k/20 teams) in USD, or $125 per month per team. This program is a very low-cost alternative to strategic marketing agency support, and also invites the teams to learn, test and put marketing strategies in action.

It is a 6-month program as we want to see tangible, real-world and meaningful growth results through the program. As marketers ourselves, we understand that long-lasting growth comes from setting solid foundations from the start and that this should be an integral part of every startup's processes, vs outsourced.

Grow3dge providers startups the opportunity to dive deep and execute the foundations of marketing and will allow Cardano to better understand and grow with its high-potential projects.

[Self-Assessment] Self-Assessment Checklist

I confirm that the proposal is a non-technical initiative, with ≤20% of the budget for tech support.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal provides verifiable evidence (portfolio, links, reports) of the team's ability to deliver the project.

Yes

I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes clear objectives with both Output Metrics (what proposal did) and Adoption-Focused Metrics (what effect proposal had).

Yes

I confirm that the proposal clearly explains the user journey and provides a credible plan for how the project will equip and motivate users for future on-chain activity.

Yes

I confirm that the initiative clearly demonstrates how it will grow the Cardano ecosystem or onboard users.

Yes

I confirm that the project plan and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic and well-defined.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal commits to public outputs and justifies any exceptions.

Yes

I confirm that the budget adheres to all policies: it is for future work, follows the merchandise rule, and excludes establishing local treasuries, incentives/giveaways, re-grants.

Yes

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

I Agree

Yes