NFT Bids - Powered by Balou

An iOS and Android application allowing users to buy/sell NFTs in an auction format with an escrow service protecting the transaction.

Adrien Cirou: CEO Balou - 15+ yrs Business Development and Marketing

Michele Pires: 10+ yrs UX/UI Designer, PgM

Travis Yatsko: COO Balou -  6+ yrs SWE, SPO, TPM

Tanner Cox: 10+ yrs Senior SWE

[IMPACT]

Balou, LLC was started in 2018 and launched its first mobile application, Balou, in 2019. Balou is a mobile marketing tool that allows exhibitors to display, on an app downloaded by attendees (can be integrable with existing app), all the giveaways they are giving out at an event. It ranges from swag, samples, show specials, to much larger prizes. The mobile platform is a foot traffic solution for exhibitors and an attendee engagement tool for show organizers. In 2021, we launched privately our second mobile platform, Balou Bids which is a silent auction app for virtual, in-person, and hybrid events. Users of Balou Bids can view, bid, and pay for won items directly on the app. In 2022, Balou Bids will be released to the general public.

This iOS and Android Application will be based upon Balou Bids and tailored for the Cardano community. NFT Bids would give users the ability to sell NFTs to the larger community. The selling process would include the creation of an escrow wallet, controlled by the seller, to ensure trust in the auction process.

NFT consumers that are seeking a dedicated solution to buy and sell NFTs after the initial drop. The application will not focus on minting NFTs, but will instead target the long term exchange of NFTs between parties with the hope of fostering continued growth in the NFT community. 

NFT Bids would give users the ability to sell NFTs through the application and its escrow wallet service. The keys to the escrow wallet would be stored locally on the users device and the mnemonic phrases would be presented to the user for them to document. The escrow wallet will support sending to and from other wallets. To protect buyers, auctions can only be listed if an NFT is in an escrow wallet. Additionally if an NFT is removed from the escrow wallet, the auction listing will be taken down and the buyer will not be able to initiate the purchase process. When the auction ends and a buyer has won the auction, the NFT will be locked within the application to ensure that the seller does not have the ability to pull the NFT after the auction has ended. Additionally the buyer will not be able to send payment for an NFT if the seller has removed it from the escrow wallet. For the user’s privacy, no data would be collected or stored remotely. The service will charge a 3% charge on all transactions (transfer of NFT for ADA) up to a five ADA maximum.The seller will be responsible for the gas fees when transferring NFTs between the escrow wallet and their other wallets.

Building trust in the product will be a dominant risk. We will need to instill trust in users that the escrow wallets they create will be under their control. Conversely we will also have to build trust in buyers that the NFTs they are bidding on will be awarded to them when payment is made. The speed of the Cardano network will also pose a risk in the transaction speed when NFTs are exchanged for payment. We will use our servers from Balou Bids to track and keep current prices up to date using websockets. However, we will need to streamline the transaction experience between the buyer’s wallet and the escrow wallet to ensure that buyers do not feel that they have sent ADA without receiving the NFT in return.

[FEASIBILITY]

One month:

• Finalized architecture and UI/UX using Google’s Flutter Framework.

Three month:

• Release initial Marketing website
• Standup Cardano Node and Wallet API
• Fork Balou Bids servers to support NFTs
• Fork Balou Bids Flutter Code to to support NFTs

Six month: 

• Release MVP that supports
• Creating escrow wallets
• Transferring NFTs in and out of the escrow wallet
• Listing an NFT for Sale
• Paying for auctions won using ADA
• Acquiring 10 NFTs for initial Auctions
• Run a micro campaign with the goal of generating 100 downloads on iOS and Android.

Six month to One year: 

• Iterative releases that support 
• Recovering Escrow wallets
• Listing Multiple NFTs for sale as collections
• Paying for auctions with Cardano native tokens
• Acquire an additional 20 NFTs for one year anniversary celebration auctions
• Run a campaign targeting 1,000 downloads on iOS and Android.

One year on: - On going maintenance and additional campaigns. 

Two year: - Reach 10,000 users across iOS and Android.

Engineering: $14,000

• UI/UX - $2,000
• Flutter Developer(s) - $6,000
• Backend Developer(s) - $6,000

Servers: $2,000

• AWS 16GB VPC $80/month for 2+ years

Marketing campaigns: $4,000

• $2,000 acquire initial NFTs to Auction
• Proceeds from Auctions will be used to enhance development/marketing cost.
• $2,000 for ads campaigns.

Adrien will serve as the primary for the project. As a Senior Marketing Manager by day, Adrien will provide general marketing strategy and will lead the awareness campaigns. 

As a Technical Product Manager by day, Travis will provide general product vision as well as lend his experience as a software engineer and build the platform’s front end.

Michele will be leading the app’s UX/UI, website design, and digital collateral.

As a Senior Software Engineer by day, Tanner will be leading and building the platform’s back end.

[AUDITABILITY]

Development progress will be tracked by the ability to meet the milestones outlined in the roadmap. Financially the project's ability to stay within budget will be an indicator of planned progress, deviation would indicate known risks being realized. Our planned marketing efforts will be tracked using ROI and download KPIs to ensure that our campaigns are meeting goals as well as our product has been developed and designed to meet the use cases identified.

Success would be achieved through the release of the application on iOS and Android, with the possibility of releasing a web app. Reaching 10,000 total downloads would serve as the primary KPI at the two year mark.

New Catalyst Project