knowcardaknow, a marketplace

A Cardano knowledge-sharing marketplace between new, uninvolved or diffident users & educated members who want to monetise their experiences

We were building a customised marketplace - Secretflag, which we abandoned due to the pandemic’s impact on the travel industry. We now want to pivot our learnings & experiences to the Cardano ecosystem

Youtube vid - https://bit.ly/3IMKT7j

Bitbucket - https://bit.ly/3ssPtlC

[IMPACT]

The next few months and years will usher in hundreds of thousands if not millions more into the Cardano ecosystem. Their experiences, journeys, successes & failures will be dependant on their little knowledge & familiarity of all things Cardano compared to those of us who have been in this community longer and may know quite a bit more. That said, there are still some in our community who don’t know everything and learning from someone directly could help overcome hesitation, paranoia, mistrust & disbelief, which have held back active participation in DeFi, CNFTs, and even the basic act of staking to a pool.

Let's face it, we all have friends or family members whose participation in Cardano ended after purchasing ADA from an exchange. They may need additional help, far more than what YouTube vids, blogs, FAQs, IMs and tweets can provide if they are the type of person who consumes knowledge in different ways, i.e. directly learning from someone.

knowcardaknow, our solution of providing a knowledge marketplace where a Cardano-experienced person can make him/herself available for assistance and provide know-how to someone or an organisation who may wish to know more or who is not very good at DYOR, creates another pathway for increased participation.

knowcardaknow will allow users to create profiles and utilise the platform either as Providers or as Clients (for want of better nouns). They will be taken through seamless business flows to agree on the method for the knowledge exchanges. Knowledge shared can of course be free but for those who may monetise their time and effort, initially we will utilise available fiat gateways. At the very least, this indirectly provides basic security that the person with whom you are dealing with is a validated person IRL or in the legacy world, which is critical during the initial stages of the marketplace. This hopefully helps minimise bad actors and scammers. However, in the future when ADA payment gateways are available, e.g. COTI's or Marlowe smart contracts, this would be adopted in future phases.

knowcardaknow will provide a Ratings/Review system post knowledge exchanges and this would assist in the organic growth of user reputation & trust, until ATALA Prism DID is available and can be added to profiles. Exemplary ratings could be the basis of Providers' worth.

A ‘Provider’ can be;

1. A Plutus/ATALA pioneer who may either answer questions, give advice to a project or be recruited into a project
2. A well-known & respectable Cardano YouTuber with generalised knowledge who can answer many ecosystem-wide questions, sharing tips & tricks
3. An experienced CNFT project creator/artist who may want to impart knowledge on NFT creation and marketing
4. A Catalyst Community Advisor/veteran CA who may wish to educate new CAs or new proposers on how to achieve their best
5. A Cardano expert who may offer knowledge, advice or guidance to an organisation, a company or a project who wish to participate in the ecosystem
6. An ordinary, non-technical Cardano user familiar even with the simple creation of wallets, staking & send/receive which could be daunting to a new user
7. An SPO who may want to offer their services to configure, troubleshoot, or share knowledge on the business acumen needed to successfully recruit delegators
8. All of the above Cardanians from countries where English is not commonly spoken

A ‘Client’ can be;

1. a new participant in cryptocurrency
2. A cryptocurrency veteran but unfamiliar with the Cardano ecosystem
3. An organisation who may wish to learn more about Cardano or receive advice & guidance
4. An artist who may want to learn about CNFT minting and its processes
5. A long-standing Cardano Community member who hesitates participating on any of the defi for lack of knowledge or confidence
6. All of the above from countries where English is not commonly spoken.

There could be other personas or situations in our ecosystem for which such a marketplace could help.

To date, our scan of the cryptocurrency industry reveals that such a marketplace doesn't exist. If knowcardaknow becomes the first, we will not only provide another on-boarding mechanism for Cardano participants to our ecosystem but also demonstrate Cardano's progressiveness in the industry. We always think of our community first and those who may want to join us.

knowcardaknow is a knowledge-sharing marketplace open to anyone in the Cardano Community and also to those who have just joined the community whether they intend to actively participate in the ecosystem or not. It is our hope that current Cardano social media personalities and participants sign up as knowledge providers and offer their services and knowledge to anyone who may wish to know more.

We hope the marketplace becomes a welcoming entry point for the millions of new ADA hodlers who will soon enter the ecosystem in the coming months and years.

Since the establishment of such a platform is unique, there are no other Project Catalyst Challenge Settings under which this proposal can be submitted hence our participation under the Miscellaneous Challenge.

There are numerous challenges and risks prevalent in any type of online marketplaces and predominantly the main risk is awareness of its existence hence a significant percentage of the funds will be used for marketing purposes in all major social channels. This is intended to make knowcardaknow known within and without the Cardano Community.

The second risk is participation, or rather, the lack thereof. knowcardaknow will require ADA experts and good citizens to offer the types of know-how and tips & tricks which users will want to know. Conversely, it will also require users who seek knowledge to engage with the Providers. To mitigate this challenge, we intend to use a significant percentage of the funds for marketing purposes, targeting the social channels where such personalities are active. Since both 1st & 2nd challenges can be overcome with marketing, and since funds are limited, a very smart campaign is planned to get the 'most bang for the buck' as they say.

Another risk is the presence of bad actors. knowcardaknow will publish the common safety messages/warnings throughout the platform to constantly remind all users to 'NOT SHARE YOUR PASSPHRASE'. In addition, the platform will utilise a ratings/review mechanism (pre-ATALA Prism) to organically surface the best Providers whom users can trust. We expect those with glowing reputations will also command premiums for their knowledge and services so this acts as positive re-enforcement on the platform.

In terms of the platform itself, configuration settings and parameters may not be suitable for our intended services exchange. Notwithstanding, we will endeavour to configure it in the best possible way to drive adoption. It is our intention to create a DAO to decide on the marketplace's direction, when a sustainable future is deemed possible.

[FEASIBILITY]

If successful in securing funding, the team intends to start on the tasks listed immediately following distribution of rewards.

Phase 1 (covered by Fund 8 funding)

*Month # 1 = Secure Sharetribe account + research configuration parameters to select the best option/s for the marketplace

*Months # 2-3 = Configure the platform to best reflect the needs of knowcardaknow + design Landing Page + on-board customised Landing page onto platform + redirect Sharetribe Go domain settings to www.cardaknow.com

*Months # 4-6 = open www.knowcardaknow.com + begin marketing activities + monitor account sign-ups and model growth patterns + align IRL numbers with KPIs

*The team's previous experience in building a customised marketplace should lead to an easier establishment of a fully-functional platform given we're utilising a Marketplace-As-A-Service (MasS) in a short period.

Human Resources ($6250):

Project Management/Admin = $50/hour (30 x $50 = $1500)

Graphic Design = $60/hour = (20 x $60 = $1200)

Custom Landing page Development = $55/hour (10 x $55 = $550)

Platform configuration = $55/hour = (10 x $55 = $550)

Lawyer (Marketplace Privacy, Disclaimer & T&Cs pages) = $3000

*any deviation from projected $/time will be added to/subtracted from the marketing budget

Infrastructure ($4750):

Domain = $66/2 years

email = $4/month (4 x $12 = $48)

Sharetribe Go - Growth Plan (10,000 users) = $159/month (12 x $159 = $1908)

Sharetribe Custom Landing page Add-On = $99/month (12 x $99 = $1188)

Sundries - $1500

Marketing ($9000):

Facebook/Instagram targeted advertisements = $1000/month (3-mo campaign)

Youtube banner advertisement = $1000/month (3-mo campaign)

Google Ads (SEO) = $1000/month (3-mo campaign)

Twitter campaign = no cost

The team has been together for a few years (since 2018) building a customised, service-based gig marketplace named Secretflag, which had to unfortunately be abandoned mid-development due to the COVID pandemic’s impact on the travel industry wherein the marketplace fits. It made no sense to see it through to completion. Its release was intended to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, which in itself was delayed for a year, so we felt our decision was justified. Nonetheless, we intend to use what we had learnt over the years and pivot our marketplace-building experience to the Cardano ecosystem.

Here is a marketing artefact from the project which shows how it inspired this Fund 8 proposal for the knowcardaknow marketplace -

Three of the team have also ran the now retired Waratah Stakepool (ticker: WRTAH) from April 2021 to Feb 2022 - https://waratahpool.info

Members

Lester Mata - Project Mngt; SPO Business Partner (ticker: WRTAH, retired); linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lestermata/

*twitter: @b1tbyb17

Glen Warton - Graphic Designer; Artist - analog & digital; Project Mngt; Instagram (@gashgordon= https://www.instagram.com/gashgordon/))

*twitter: @just_art_cnfts

Weng-Lock Mock - Full stack Web Appl Dev - Symfohy, Angular JS, PHP, Java, C++); SPO Technical Partner (ticker: WRTAH); linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wenglockmok/

Ming Johan Putra - Solutions Dev; SPO Technical Partner (ticker: WRTAH, retired); linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ming-johan-putra-840a92176/

*twitter: @wsnhmdgot

[AUDITABILITY]

Updates and comms during the build will be available on the following channels:

Twitter: @knowcardaknow

Bitbook: https://know-cardaknow.gitbook.io/knowcardaknow-a-knowledge-based-marketplace/

Or we can be contacted directly on

eMail: knowcardaknow@gmail.com

Phase 1 (covered by Fund 8 funding)

*Months 1 = Secure Sharetribe account and research configuration parameters to select the best option/s for the marketplace

*Months 2-3 = Configure the platform to best reflect the needs of knowcardaknow + design Landing page + build Landing page onto platform + redirect domain settings

*Months 4-6 = open www.knowcardaknow.com + begin marketing activities + monitor account sign-ups and model growth patterns + align IRL numbers with KPIs

Phase 2 (covered by future Catalyst proposal (Fund 10?) or with income generated)

*Add an ADA payment system, e.g. COTI’s ADA Pay or Marlowe smart contracts, when available

*Add ATALA Prism DID, when available, for credibility/reputation ratings

*Continue marketing where it has been successful

*Develop incentive schemes or affiliate programs

*Assess Sharetribe Go plan and scale, as necessary (currently limited to 10,000 users)

http://www.knowcardaknow.com target release is at the beginning of the 4th month from receiving funding.

KPIs (months 4-6):

Number of users as Providers on the marketplace

*after 1 month from release = 50

*after 3 months from release = 300

Number of users as Clients

*after 1 month from release = 100

*after 3 months from release = 500

Number of users as neither Provider/Client (browsers)

*after 1 month from release = 500

*after 3 months from release = 2000+

Number of knowledge exchanges completed

*after 1 month of release = 20

*after 3 months from release = 100

Marketing KPIs (months 4-6):

From Facebook/Instagram: 1000+ direct clicks to ads

From Youtube banner ads: 1000+ direct clicks to ads

Google ad search: 2000+ searches & clicks to website

*A portion of each channels' marketing budget will be used to specifically target certain demographics to hopefully increase their involvement in the Cardano ecosystem. These include:

1) Women

2) Older generation

3) People from non-English speaking backgrounds

Cardano Ecosystem KPIs:

Number of mentions or engagements on twitter (@knowcardaknow)

*after 1 month from release = 500

*after 3 months from release = 5000

This is a new proposal

SDG Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

SDG subgoals:

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations

5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

4.3.1 Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex

We plan to allocate a significant amount of the funding to marketing activities to find and encourage participation in key demographics. We hope to achieve the following KPIs in terms of active knowcardaknow marketplace participation:

• After 6 months (NOTE: these KPIs are double of Forbes' 2021 crypto survey):
• Women = 25% of users
• Older generation (30-65) = 50% of users
• Non-english speaking background = 30% of users

#proposertoolsdg