Growing Cardano’s Small Businesses

[IMPACT]

The ADA Cafe accelerates the growth of Cardano by making it easier, faster, and simpler for Humans creating valuable, community-based products & services. We are an eclectic group of creators, technologists, and collectors with three areas of focus.

• Community, Creators & Curation
• Channels: Web, Twitter Spaces, YouTube, Discord
• Services: Art, Marketing, Design, Audio/Video, strategic guidance for projects
• Technology & Services
• NFT Minting & Setup
• NFV (Non-Fungible Visualizations)
• Stake Pool Operations
• Developer Resources
• Capital & Governance
• Strategic Direction & Patron Engagement
• Treasury Management

At its core, the ADA Café is a business-to-business community hub. We provide resources and services that eliminate or optimize manual/tedious work for proven projects building on Cardano. This is critical to the growth of Cardano. 

Why is this important? 

1. We empower talented people and teams to focus on creating art, products, and services for existing and future community members of Cardano.
2. The more time, insights, and support talent people and projects receive, the faster they will create high quality products that evolve to meet the needs of others. 
3. Creating high quality products and services attracts more people to Cardano and increases the chances people have (and continue to have) a positive experience in the Cardano Ecosystem. 
4. Coming full circle, by combining services and community, the ADA Cafe helps any project reach their audience with marketing and distribution (media + technology services)

The Café officially opened December 21 of 2021. The cafe now has over 630 Regulars, 93+ of which are Patrons (Members), and contributes to the Cardano Community everyday. Here’s a highlight of successes to date and some unique Cafe Patrons. 

• 11 Twitter Spaces, hosting seven days a week providing education, insight, news, and information about Cardano. (Listed Below)
• Providing 100s of Cardano projects to share and connect with the Community, many of which get their “start” on Cafe supported shows
• Cardano and general blockchain news and education
• Facilitated community discussions to talk about important topics impacting the future of Cardano
• Creative spaces exploring and encouraging pushing the creative limits of people and technology
• Launched 3 NFT Projects, onboarding a new female artist and male musician
• Hosted two Shillamania to help people be creative and generate exposure for their projects.
• Hosted 24 Hour Catalyst Governance & Voting Twitter Spaces Marathon
• 600+ (and growing) Discord which also serves as the official Discord for several projects
• Collaborated with programmable.art and Epoch Blockchain to create Non-Fungible Visualizations, a new type of NFT
• 10+ Stake Pool Operators helping secure Cardano
• Cafe Website helping people find Twitters Spaces, NFTs, and more information about their favorite Shows.

Access and Information Sharing

The solution to the organization of Cardano as a Community is by providing reliable data, technical, and financial resources that a) many do not have the skillset today b) shouldn’t be built multiple times. For example, each Twitter Space host should not have to hire technical talent to create analytics or create a guest scheduling app. 

Additionally the Cafe already serves as common ground, making it simpler and easier for anyone to have a trusted, welcoming starting point in their Cardano experience. 

Connecting People and Groups

We know the projects supported by the ADA Cafe are giving people human connection, purpose, and a place for personal growth. We know helping people find their place in the Cardano Community enriches everyone who participates. How do we know this? We live it and we hear it from our Patrons and Regulars.

The ADA Cafe is supporting projects which engage the public everyday – both existing and new Cardano Community members. This proposal accelerates our ability to connect people and groups by eliminating/minimizing time spent on easily automated tasks, maximizing the time people can participate & grow the community. 

The Cafe acts as bridge builders, bringing together people and projects to work together. Our three focus areas allow us to connect and solve for any creative and/or technical need. For example: if one group is working on an educational course platform and another is working on developing workshops we will help bring them together. Or if someone is working on a Dapp or NFT project we will help find people within our network that want to help. 

Mentoring 

The library of resources, people, and organizations that interact in the ADA Cafe is constantly growing. This growth is exciting and it requires more effort to create systems and structures that scale – something we must do and plan for today! 

Organizing the information and data provides a solid foundation to mentor people trying to learn and leverage the benefits Cardano provides us. This proposals ability to free up our Patrons most valuable resource – time – is precisely how we onboard and mentor more people.

By better understanding community member’s needs with new tools, analytics, and time, the ADA Cafe can curate content and efficiently distribute resources. Anyone that comes to the ADA Cafe should be able to find the experience, people, and help that they need to be successful with what they’re pursuing. 

Challenges include but are not limited to: 

Maintaining Growth of the Community (Network Strength)

Maintaining authentic engagement in any Community is difficult – much less a decentralized global Community with unpredictable growth patterns. We’re addressing this challenge by providing a variety of social and professional outlets. 

Carrying the welcoming, supportive, and discerning ethos of Cardano well into the future is one of the main reasons for starting the Cafe. We value learning, respect, and quality even if when we disagree. The only way to maintain and grow the community is to cultivate a supportive and productive atmosphere where people are safe to participate. This is a sustainable and regenerative process; as people benefit from the good will of others a natural sense of community and responsibility occurs. 

Executing in a Decentralized Manner

Efficient execution is difficult, even for centralized companies. Given then distributed nature of the ADA Cafe, there is a risk we aren’t able to achieve as much as we are proposing due to the variable nature of working within a global ecosystem. 

We are mitigating this risk with this proposal by having the mandate and resources to incentivize people/teams creating our products & services to maintain focus. 

Unforeseen Technical Challenges

The ADA Cafe is fortunate to have many talented technical professionals. Nonetheless, creating new products and services always has the potential for unplanned issues that require a lot more time (therefore budget) to complete. 

We are mitigating this risk by 1) having highly competent software engineers to contribute 2) iteratively building in small, achievable phases. 

[FEASIBILITY]

Within 3 Months 

Plan

• Finalize detailed technical & functional requirements for each product based on new information between Catalyst Proposal and Funding:
• Twitter Spaces Analytics
• Important for Marketing & Campaigns
• Scheduling
• Audio/Video Production
• Scheduling System
• Website Improvements (2 Phases)

Build & Test

• Create and test minimum viable product & process (MVPP) with initial projects & team within the Cafe. We’ve identified several projects who’ve volunteered for the early testing:
• Cardano Women
• Cardano Over Coffee
• Cardano StonerZ Club
• Dumpling Space
• Epoch’s End
• We expect the following order:
• Scheduling System
• Create, update, and plan Twitter Spaces Guests on Rolling 30 day window for all Twitter Spaces & ADA Cafe Events & Services
• Twitter Spaces Analytics
• Define this: 
• Website Improvements (Phase 1)
• Cardano Wallet Integration
• Customer Portal to receive, process, and connect ADA Cafe customers/community with appropriate Services Team
• Partner Portal to access data, analytics, and coordinate with existing patrons
• Improve Customer and Partner Portal based on initial feedback and experience of users in Phase 1
• Onboarding Form for new Cardano Users to help direct them to best resource(s) 
• Forum
• Audio/Video Production
• Spaces Recording and post-Production Editing
• Social Media Posting Automation (Twitter, Discord, YouTube initially)
• Improve and update MVPP based on initial testing and feedback
• Repeat Test & Improve Phase until initial customers are satisfied with results.

Within 6 Months

Roll Out & Analyze

• Expand offering to all ADA Cafe Supported Business and Projects
• Scheduling System
• Twitter Spaces
• Website Improvements - (Phase 1)
• Audio/Video Production (Phase 1)

Build & Test Phase 2

• Website
• Redesign UI/UX to improve navigation and understanding of ADA Cafe and its mission based on new products & services created
• Public Bounty Board to create repeatable process on defining, soliciting proposals, and building products for the Cafe and/or Spaces
• Improved marketplaces for selling digital product/services which support the Cafe and Shows
• Improve Customer and Partner Portal based on initial feedback and experience of users in Phase 1
• Created data-driven onboarding experience for new Cardano Community Members, Patrons, Projects, and Businesses 
• We want to understand skills, goals, and needs to direct each person or company is able to increase the likelihood of success 

Within 12 Months

Self-sustaining Community Expansion & Accelerate Growth 

• Expanded products & services to others in the Community, empowering them to spend more time on growing Cardano
• Self-sustaining business model allowing the ADA Cafe to continue to evolve and grow, only requesting additional resources to create new systems or accelerate growth.

$30,000

Twitter Space Analytics & Dashboard || $5,000

• Software Licensing
• Database
• Visualization Library
• Development & Testing
• Data Parsing & Normalization
• Analytics Portal
• Process Automation and Optimization

Audio/Video Production & Processing || $12,000

• Software Licensing
• Audio/Video Editor
• Social Media Distribution Automation
• Development & Testing
• Media intake and processing form
• Social Media Distribution Automation
• Process Automation and Optimization

Scheduling System || $1,000

• Software Licensing
• Development/Setup Time
• Ongoing Maintenance

Website Redesign & Improvements || $12,000

• Software Licensings
• Forum Software
• Development Time
• UI/UX
• Database
• QA

Proposal / Governance Team

Cardano 420: https://twitter.com/Cardano_420

Cardano Guru: https://twitter.com/cardanoguru

Cardano Waifu: https://twitter.com/CardanoWaifus

Cookthyme: https://twitter.com/cookthymeNFT

EPOCH Pool: https://twitter.com/EPOCHpool

Quasar: https://twitter.com/QuasarSure

unsigned.patrick: https://twitter.com/the_unsigned_

Patron Support

When people buy the first Non-fungible Visualizations, the Epoch Clock, they y gain access to more resources and channels in the community in exchange for helping us to make this a sustainable effort. There are 93 people that have already epoch clocks and we bring in more Patrons each week! 

Creative & Community Team

Cardano Over Coffee

Daily talk show about all things Cardano, including interviews, speakers and news updates. 

Cardano RealFi

Subcritical teaches all things Decentralized Finance on Cardano. The space is meant to be an open space to learn, ask questions and develop decentralized finance strategies for financial freedom. Sundays & Tuesdays at 11:30 AM EST.

Cardano Stonerz Club

High-minded conversation that's sometimes about Cardano. The Cardano StonerZ Club has become one of the most unique, community building Spaces within Cardano – including Charles Hoskinson who stops by every now and then.

Cardano Women

A place for the Women of Cardano to connect with and learn from each other. Men allowed. ;)

Real Talk

Every Tuesday, Cinnamon Bunn, KDev, and David King talk about spicy Cardano Topics.

Dumpling Talk

Global, epochly news updates from across the world, including what's going on in the Cardano Chinese community. Dumpling has become the Space discussing and debating the most important topics in Cardano. 

Epoch’s End 

The oldest regular Cardano Twitter Spaces. It’s Every 5 days, at Epoch's End, we catch up on all things Cardano!

Flawwed Beginnings

Flawwed’s weekly show helping onboard people to Cardano, ensuring anyone can get help and education on how to begin their journey in Cardano.

Lido Nation

Three times a week, Lido Nation hosts a space to ask anything you want about Cardano, blockchain, or anything else 

Cardano Nights

Late Night show about all things Cardano every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday! Hosting speakers, interviews and news updates.   

Weekly News Wrap Up

An weekly, hour-long news show that provides update and context to 5 important topics to Cardano Community

Programmable.Art Studio

We talk about the ideas, impact, and humanity of programmable art. What does blockchain native art unlock for you, me, and our communities?

Blockchain Learning Center

We’re working towards developing courses and workshops about the blockchain. We’re bringing these courses to people online as well as in person via classroom and streams. By allowing anyone to make a course on our online platform we’re including the community and rewarding content creators.

[AUDITABILITY]

We will measure the progress and development by regularly recording KPI’s (key performance indicators) as well as documenting work performed on the project via shared document with the team. 

Project Management

• Complete milestones within projected timeline
• Complete phases of projects within or under budget

Outcomes

• Empowering Higher Quality Content
• Twitter Spaces
• 100% have Twitter Spaces Analytics Dashboard
• Each Space increases 10% average audience
• Twitter Spaces hosts who choose to leverage the audio/video production spend less than 5% of their time on producing and posting audio
• YouTube
• All YouTube posters spend less than 10% of their time on producing, editing, and posting YouTube videos so they can spend more time on content and growth of show.
• All guest scheduling is coordinated via a platform so all guest-driven shows spend <2% of their time
• Each ADA Cafe onboards 20 people a month
• Sustain
• Cafe generates enough revenue to maintain the treasury while paying all costs related to all products and services. 
• Redesigned ADA Cafe website increases traffic 1,000%
• Each YouTube Channel achieves at least 1000 Followers

Success for this project means successfully creating all the products & services stated in this proposal, on time, on budget. 

The services eliminate repetitive, manual tasks for all shows and content creators which also provides potential entry-level jobs and work.

The value of ADA Cafe’s services are validate by the market who begin paying the ADA Cafe for some, if not all, of the products & services.

The ADA Cafe is able to sustainably onboard more Community media talent!

Provider marketing / exposure for 100+ Cardano Projects.

Every month, ADA Cafe is onboarding at least 10 individuals and 2 businesses per quarter.

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