Easy Engagement - New Members - AIM

A platform that matches between funded proposals needs and member expertise.

Entrepreneurs, connectors, mentors, developers, active community members, AIM team, CAs

Brief explanation:

This proposal was presented in Fund 6 and got great feedback from community members as well as a very high CA rating of 4.78. The proposal nearly got funded but fell short based on the challenge budget process. We decided to apply again as we see the need by the community & funded projects. This time the proposal is part of the Cardano AIM team as it complements other related funded work they are working on and it will be part of a bigger scope and collaboration.

Problem Expanded:

The challenge objective is to accelerate funded proposals and projects on the catalyst/Cardano platforms. Matching between the right mentors and ventures could be a game-changer for progress. Connection to relevant partners, investor leads, legal advice, brainstorming sessions, technology review all could be very helpful for the funded projects and many of those capabilities are already within the Catalyst community.

When we reach out to new members including mentors' networks and accelerators how do we make sure we onboard them in the fastest and efficient way and start bringing additional multiplying value to the ecosystem?

Recently we had discussions with and assisted in onboarding an accelerator and a mentor network to Catalyst called www.seedstars.com. They have started to engage with the process and have made seven proposals in Fund 7 including an acceleration proposal for this challenge. A matching platform would facilitate onboarding more members/mentors from such networks into catalysts. There is a great alignment with values, the stage of the company, and developing countries' focus. We just need to make it easier to connect the networks and match needs with mentors.

Solution Expanded:

This proposal is focusing on matching the needs of the funded projects with NEW members of the community. As the catalyst community is growing fast, the ability to help projects with various needs is also growing. The amount of information a new member needs to grasp can be overwhelming and time-consuming, which limits members' involvement. Members could learn more by actually doing tasks, feeling helpful, and integrating faster into the community.

Let's make it easier for newcomers to participate and support the community efforts.

The following are examples of some of the Tasks we foresee the platform can facilitate to match:

- Task 1: Join the team.

   The project needs a B2C social media expert, 50% capacity, part of the proposal budget

- Task 2:: Brainstorming session about the proposal tech development.

   1 hour, a blockchain developer

- Task 3: UI/UX expert

   One week workshop

- Task 4: Network connection.

   For proposals looking for pilot leads or leads to relevant investors

- Task 5: Legal support.

   An international lawyer, one hour per week, support for funded proposals

Benefits:

The matching platform will increase the support points between members and projects. It will reduce the time that passes between a new member registration to the catalyst and the actual support to projects and will make members feel they are contributing to the community and being an important part of it.

The Solution includes

1. A task generator to be used by funded proposals

2. Tasks center - where all tasks are presented and can be filtered

3. New members expertise - the platform for new members to add their expertise and availability

5. Communication between members and tasks owners

6. Mutual feedback process between members and proposals (this will be developed in the next phase)

In phase 1 the focus is on the process of onboarding new members into the mentor skill platform and the task center for the funded projects to list needed support. This new onboarding process could open opportunities for partnerships with mentor networks and attract & onboard new members.

Roadmap:

The main tasks are to develop a working mechanism that will include the tasks generator, tasks center, and members' expertise profiling and integrating it with other AIM platforms (more below).

1. research and analysis of the key potential tasks. It will include sending a questionnaire to proposals and collecting feedbacks - week 0 - week 4

2. UI/UX process for members profile, tasks, and task center 2 sprint rounds through the 3 months

5. Development, QA, UI improvements - database, filter & search, task generation week 4 - week 10

5. Run test use case week 10 - week 12 with adjustments and fixes

The goal is to finish an initial working version in 3 months which could generate the POC and already bring value to new members and proposals.

Following the POC, the next phase will include marketing activities to promote the platform as well as maintenance & improvements. We will work together with affiliate proposals teams (more below) to facilitate the technology integration within complimentary community platforms. We are also considering revenue opportunities (i.e. fee for matching) with the objective to make the platform self-sustained.

How does success being measured and KPIs:

Progress indicators based on the timeline above will include:

- Good participation by funded proposals in the analysis phase

- Establishing a list of potential tasks

- Completing the first UX sprints

- Development document

- Ready for POC

- Feedback and improvements

- Next phase detailed plan and business model evaluation

KPIs:

# of tasks being generated

- 3 months: 25 tasks

- 6 months: 100 tasks

- 12 months: 400 tasks

# of community members adding expertise and availability to their profile

- 3 months: 30 members

- 6 months: 150 members

- 12 months: 1,000 members

# of matching between profiles and tasks

- 50% of tasks will have a match

# of actual tasks done related to funded proposals

- 25% of tasks will get support by new members

A matching platform would also support a more targeted approach for onboarding more members/mentors/accelerators networks into catalysts based on analysis of tasks requested by funded proposals such as regional focus/industry/stage of activities. Such a database could be connected for example to a bigger corporation with Seedstars.com and connect with their mentor network (which is not yet part of their 7 proposals for fund 7).

Collaboration:

The solution is done for a very captive audience which is the proposal owners and the community members.

We will collaborate with other community services such as The Catalyst School, Swarm, Wada, Cardano4Climate, and others to promote the platform for new members and funded projects.

Once the task center is ready and populated with tasks it will be easier to check the needs and connect to relevant external networks of mentors/accelerators.

Affiliate proposals:

Also in order to help the challenge objectives, we are in talks for collaboration altogether with two other projects that are related to Mentoring within Cardano and Catalyst.

1. Proposals Mentors Marketplace -Cont (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Proposals-Mentors-Marketplace-Cont/382926-48088)

Complement a fund 6 Proposal Mentor Marketplace project with a second stage functionality aimed to help Funded Proposers to be matched with Skilled mentors that help them to Deliver on their promises.

2. Bring more women to Cardano - AIM

(https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/AI-powered-mentor-matching-platform/384036-48088) which aims to help women-to-women mentorship with their very successful AI algorithm. So we are talking to collaborate including the AI algorithm in the platform and also produce a women section that seeks to attract and impulse more women within Catalyst.

Team:

* ​​Alex has 20+ years of experience building Digital Products and Companies. He has a dual background, on one side a Solutions Architect and Developer (Cloud, Blockchain, C#, .NET, Java, Angular, DevOps) and on the other side a Company Builder and Advisor, building high-performance teams to deliver products that customers love (Customer Development, Agile, Lean, Design Thinking). Alex is also a professor and public speaker, helping to build common knowledge around Digital Transformation, Exponential Organizations, and Abundance. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apestchanker/

Within Cardano, Alex is an active community member, helping now to build the LATAM ecosystem, performed as Community Advisor in F6, with high ratings on his assessments, and won a fund for his co-proposal Proposals Mentors Marketplace ( https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/369749-48088 )

* Phil has a business and design background. Is a founder of Cardano AIM and has already successfully funded proposals in funds 4, 5, and 6 which include: Community tools (https://cardanocataly.st/en/tools), Community Landing Page (https://cardanocataly.st/ ), Incentivized Voters Survey (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Incentivized-Voter-Survey-AIM/369554-48088 ), Proposal Framework Tool (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Proposal-Framework-Tool-AIM/369300-48088 ) and others.

* Yoram has 20+ years of business experience working with technology companies (strategy, partnerships, investors). In the last years, Yoram is focused on combining impact and business. 4 years ago he left his comfort zone and worked for 2 years for an NGO Earthworm.org focusing on sustainable business models across agriculture supply chains. Yoram also constantly works with starts as an advisor and mentor i.e. GivingWay.com. https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoram-ben-zvi-446836/

Within Catalyst, Yoram is an active community member, CA, proposer, and very active with Cardano4Climate

* UX team that is currently working also on the Proposers Mentors Market Place funded proposal

* Developers - we have several options to evaluate such as Blace.io, or other developers we are collaborating with and that can support the project. The goal will be to use the same developers as for the affiliated proposals.

* AIM:

Phil, Alex, and Yoram are part of Cardano AIM (Assembly Inspiring Masses) which brings together active Catalyst Community members to design and build tools that support the community. Some examples: include the popular voter-tool (https://cardanocataly.st/voter-tool/#/), the Community Advisor Tools (CA and vCA-tools) (https://cardanocataly.st/ca-tool/#/ & https://cardanocataly.st/vca-tool/#/)) as well as the Community Landing Page (https://cardanocataly.st/). AIM continues to focus on developing the best services and tools for the benefit of the Cardano community.

Budget:

- Project lead & community & New Members/accelerators - USD1500 x 3 months = USD 4500

- 2.5 Developers and UX/UI- USD3000 per month each for 3 months = USD22500

- Project lead developers & UX - USD1000 for 3 months = USD3000

- Project lead integration with AIM services - USD 750 the 3 months = USD2250

- Infrastructure and other platforms costs, USD 2000.

Requested funds in USD 34,250

Challenges:

There will be challenges on the way to success, here are some:

Challenge 1 - getting attention from the community

This will be a key challenge and key success factor as we need to attract new members or members that are less active as well as the funded proposals. 

Challenge 2 - getting right the UI and communication

The UI for tasks as well as for member profiles is very important to make sure the process gets adoptions. Making it simple and easy to use

Challenge 3 - ongoing operation

Once POC is successful, we need to guarantee the ongoing operation through integration with other platforms, more funding and revenue opportunities

SDG goals alignment (based on AIM Proposer SDG tool - https://cardanocataly.st/proposer-tool-sdg):**:)

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

SDG subgoals:

17.16 Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources, to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, in particular developing countries

17.9 Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South, and triangular cooperation

9.a Facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries through enhanced financial, technological, and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing States

#proposertoolsdg

Summary:

This proposal aims to better connect new members and networks (accelerators/business incubators) to participate and take action in accelerating funded proposals. Connecting new members directly with funded projects will lead to feeling useful and part of the community for many more successful engagements.