Cardano-centric YouTube-style site

[IMPACT]

A YouTube-style video-based website that has video and information channels, a forum, a crowd-based Help Desk/FAQ/Knowledge Base, and a future online store selling merch (and offering NFTs when feasible, assuming that market stabilizes and develops credibility).

Features include:

Video Channels - Editor-selected, curated content plus pre-authorized trusted users posting original content subject to editorial review.

News Channels - Editorials, news, and information from official Cardano sources - plus selected MSM articles and staff-written content and/or rebuttals, white papers, etc.

Forum - Read-only is free. Posting and commenting on the forum and submitting help-desk tickets requires monthly membership ($5/mo) to control bad actors and trolls.

Help Desk/FAQ/Knowledge Base - An on-site IT-style Help Desk for member-submitted questions that also offers live agents when practical. Submitted tickets and questions are managed by a core group of 5 trained and managed Help Desk techs plus 60 community member Light Agents who can read and comment, but cannot answer and post. Resolved tickets become part of the site FAQ and KB.

This gives editorial control to trusted staff and community members to shape, form, and control a fact-based flow of information with a singular voice.

Establishes a web-based presence that fosters a decentralized FAM network to produce quality Cardano community-generated media and curated editorial content while providing a go-to source for unbiased, factual information available to both the Cardano community and the general public.

Costs.
Requiring a membership fee to allow more than read-only access will generate an income that is likely inadequate to support the full-blown help desk functions suggested. Using volunteer Agents can reduce costs but increase the need for technical and editorial oversight. Crowd-sourcing information through the 60 Light Agents can redefine the role of unpaid staff Agents to more of a fact-checker, editor function rather than an expert solution-finder. If dedicated expert Agents are required, ongoing staffing costs increase in Year 2 and beyond.

Time and effort by others.
Will require the participation of high-level Cardano staff and experts in the form of an editorial board. Volunteer site editor(s) answer to the editorial board and the amount of oversight required may increase the amount of time needed from Cardano staff and experts beyond current efforts.

Managing community expectations is key.
Turning down content that doesn't meet site requirements because it is opinion rather than fact-based will create consternation in the community. Requiring that content providers/channel owners first demonstrate expertise by serving through an "apprenticeship" as a Light Agent for a period of time before they can post original content would provide a screening mechanism for Channel Ownership that is fair and equitable, for example.

[FEASIBILITY]

This exact model has been in development for over a year for a website based at FSDBeta.com. Modifying the plan as proposed may increase the pre-launch timeline, but taking this proposal as-is could get the site up and running and able to accept paid memberships within 3-4 months. Development of the online store would be a post-launch effort required only if the popularity of the site warrants it, so the store's associated expense and income are not included in the proposal estimates but would follow in a later Fund challenge if applicable. This project uses off-the-shelf components ie. WordPress and an existing VideoTube WP theme plus existing and proven membership and forum plugins and proven and trusted online shopping cart vendors, when applicable. Custom front-end work is needed but the readily available back-end SQL DB and components can be up and running in the form described in a matter of a few months. The front-end work would run concurrently with the back-end development.

Expenses: $48,000 (plus possible additional unknowns. Does not include an online shopping cart)

- Front-end client-facing website domain and hosting, including Wordpress and VideoTube theme - $2500.

- Membership plugin and site integration - $1000.

- Forum plugin and site integration - $1000.

- Additional site artwork, logo, and other front end expenses - $5,000

- Help Desk/FAQ/KB software, training, and support - January 2022 vendor estimate is $3500.
Full agent (5 seats) and Lite Agent (60 seats) licenses are included in the above vendor estimate.

- Paying the Full Agents' wages is estimated at $1000/mo per agent for months 2-6 times 5 agents = $20,000.

- Forum mods are volunteer and unpaid but are key and essential to the success of the forum. Zero cost but infinite value.

- Proposer's project development and oversight contract = $2500/mo for first 6 months = $15,000. Community management of the project by others is required after 6 months at an unknown cost.

Potential project Income:

- Income potential of $54,000 in years following the pilot, plus online store income if applicable.

- The site does not accept advertising.

- Read-only www access of all sections (video and editorial content, read-only forum access, read-only FAQ and KB access, and store access) will not require registration and will not generate fee-based income. It's there to provide factual information to the public at no charge.

- $5/mo membership required to comment on videos, participate in the forums, and submit tickets to the help desk. 500 memberships = $2500/mo. in income in months 4-6 = $7,500 and = $30,000 per annum post-pilot.

- $25/mo. membership required to serve as Light Agent (and apprentice as Channel Owner) times 60 seats = $1,500/mo. in months 6-12 = or $18,000 per annum ongoing.

- $50/mo. license fee to operate a channel and sell merch for an estimated 10 Channel Owners = $500/mo. (Could be strictly commission-based with no fees required for the apprenticed Light Agents, so potential income could be $0 - $??) Based on $50/month = $500/mo in months 6-12 = $3000 in income in year 1 and $6,000 a year thereafter,  with no fee income during the 6-month pilot.

The recurring portion of the 6-month projected $48,000 in expenses could be offset by the potential pilot income estimated at $13,500. Running this as a 6-month pilot project only (3 months pre-launch and 3 months in operation) would limit the losses to $48,000 with potentially no income to offset those expenses.

Estimated expenses beyond the 6-month project.

- The Help Desk software and support is an annual license and an annual recurring cost at $3,500/yr.

- Front-end developer and back-end administration costs are ongoing and would vary greatly from $0 for all-volunteer to $25,000/yr for paid staff and would be potentially covered by the potential income in future years.

- Legal support for the first 6 months is potentially included in the proposer's estimate of $15,000 but requires confirmation and approval by our legal partner, which will be obtained prior to funding. On-going legal support costs are undetermined beyond the first 6 months.

- Previously cited editorial support for the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX.com) which included both community-building efforts and a highly-targeted, industry-specific newsletter.

- Development of a hand-coded website at a time when other options didn't exist. Developed commercial aspects of the site and generated a small income. Learned basic Apache server management related to site management.

- 20+ years of front-line supervision and management of an award-winning technical staff who provided 24/7/365 excellence in mission-critical operations.

- 15+ years of IS&T-related help desk management at a major U.S. university grad school and while providing C-level tech support for executive-level managers and experts in their field, both commercial, in academia, and in public service, non-profit orgs.

- 1+ years developing this same community-supported, web-based model centered on Tesla's autonomous, Full Self Driving (FSD) technology.

- An understanding of equity markets that stems from participation and leaderboard excellence in the Hollywood Stock Exchange and from day-trading Tesla ($TSLA) stock in 2019-2021 and involvement in that web-based community. These combined experiences result in a deep understanding of how to manage expectations and promote success by cutting through the FUD and follies that surround investments and that drive markets.

Proposer LinkedIn: (www.linkedin.com/in/eric-dauster/)
FSD-related work (www.youtube.com/channel/UCwzDyXF0wK5ZfktBqfNsn5w and www.FSDBeta.com (pre-launch)

[AUDITABILITY]

- Meet the to-be-established milestones for the development and launch of the website, currently estimated at 3-4 months following funding.

- A formal Go/No-Go decision to extend the project would occur 3 months after the website launch and would be based on community support, the technical efficacy of the Help Desk/FAQ/KB function as it addresses the need for trusted information for the public and media, and through the validation of the expense/income models included in the proposal or developed during and after the pilot.

The project meets the needs of the Cardano community, ADA markets, and the general public in a manner that is affordable, if not fully self-supporting, and sustainable long-term.

A review of previously funded projects in Catalyst that are similar to this proposal has not been done to date. This is the first cycle for the proposer, who anticipates submitting additional proposals under this and/or other Fund8 challenges.