Funding the Growth of Adapulse

[IMPACT]

As mentioned in the problem statement, the need for fair and balanced media outlets covering relevant topics within the Cardano ecosystem is paramount. Adapulse is an online media outlet that publishes articles on community proposals and Cardano related topics. Adapulse was formed by two Stakepool Operators - Jeff from SWAG and the Genzod from ZOD. We began reaching out to independent community members that shared a common thread of generating content to educate our ecosystem on catalyst proposals, current events, and projects within Cardano. Adapulse seeks to remain a project built for the community and supported by our community.

Adapulse averages ~20k unique visitors monthly with very little to no advertising outside of a Twitter profile and posting on Facebook and Reddit. We’ve published articles that highlighted community projects and proposals that garnered social traction such as Western African Decentralized Alliance, PlayerMint, NFTMaker, Empowa, Dandelion API, and many more.

The need for independent media covering proposals and topics will only benefit the expansion of our community. By providing analysis and coverage of Cardano outside of the major pillars (IOG,CF, & Emurgo), proves that the community is not dependent solely the founders and inclusion is vital and necessary in our ecosystem.

Many times the articles written by Adapulse are helping projects place a spotlight on what these teams are building as they aren't entirely focused on advertisement of their funding proposals or simply do not have the capital to do so.

In 2021, we published over 165 articles in 9 months. This year we plan to build on this achievement and hit 300 articles and doubling the size of the Adapulse audience within the next 12 months.

A primary challenge would be the lack of funding. Building an outlet for proficient technical writers within the community to review and analyze projects and proposals in our ecosystem isn't the most profitable endeavor.  For a medium to remain balanced while providing content to its audience it requires the right financial incentives to thwart the possibility of funding to cover projects or prioritizing projects.

[FEASIBILITY]

Content Creation:

Our projection of publishing 300 articles in a calendar year would almost double the amount of articles generated in 2021. These articles would also be rolled into a weekly newsletter moving forward.

Marketing/Expanding Audience:

Current metrics for the past few months identify, on average, Adapulse sees ~20k unique readers monthly with little to no marketing. We're projecting to see a healthy increase of at least 1k new readers and subscribers monthly after initiating our campaign to introduce Adapulse to the wider Cardano community. The expectation is to double our unique readers to 40k within the next 12 months.

Current funding breakdown is dependent on contingencies but below are some primary costs:

Operation cost: 300 articles (over the course of a year) x $150 per article (5 hrs. x $30hr) = $45K USD.

$20k - hire social media management

$20k - promotional content campaigns/events/merchandise

Jeff - SWAG Stakepool/Technical Writer/Editor - https://www.ada-swag.com

Genzod - ZOD Stakepool/Web Dev - https://www.zodpool.com/

Josh - ATM Pool/Video Content Creator - https://www.youtube.com/c/AdaPulse

LiberLion - Technical Writer/Content Creator - https://liberlion3.wordpress.com/

Alex Hamilton - Technical Writer/Content Creator

Dickson Mwendia - Technical Writer/Content Creator - https://github.com/Dickson-Mwendia

Edwin Kinoti - Technical Writer/Content Creator

Amanda - Designer / Visual Artist

[AUDITABILITY]

In the last newsletter of the month, Adapulse will publish our metrics (unique readership & # of published articles to date) for the respective month. This will provide insight on where we stand on our initiative of growing and expanding the reach of Adapulse.

Success is when the goals/metrics outlined are accomplished. Success is also the continued effort of publishing content that informs the community, they appreciate, and share amongst other community members.

This is a new proposal that has no previous dependencies.