Social network for deep connections

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

A social network that uses near-peer mentor matching as a tool for the effective formation of deep quality-centered connections, and mutual growth within a large network. 

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

OneUpOneDown is a software company that has developed an operational automated AI-powered mentor-matchmaking platform with engaged users. The team is highly experienced and committed Catalyst members and Cardano Ambassadors.

[GENERAL] Requested funds in USD.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The long-term vision behind OneUpOneDown is to build a decentralized social network to connect users on the basis of mentorship. The value proposition to users is a tool to serve their desire for growth and connection by facilitating relationships with the most relevant people within the global network. 

OneUpOneDown’s existing product works by proposing high-quality peer-to-peer matches within a network of mentors and mentees. Matches are proposed on an ongoing basis using OneUpOneDown’s AI matching algorithm when a user's profile is set to available. Through ongoing engagement, users build up a network of trusted relationships with other users as mentors and/or mentees. 

In addition to engagement with the Dapp through mentor/mentee relationships, ongoing engagement will be achieved through discovery functionality, allowing users to find and access new areas for growth through mentorship, and to access high-quality community content within self-selected areas of interest. 

We have been building OneUpOneDown for two years on Web2 infrastructure to validate our product and understand user needs and behaviour. We believe blockchain infrastructure has now reached a maturity level where it is possible to build a decentralized product without compromising user experience. OneUpOneDown’s model is well suited to decentralized infrastructure because at it’s core, the value comes from the network of users and their relationships between each other. OneUpOneDown’s core function within the network is to programmatically solve the problem of who to connect within the network and when, and to provide the tools and resources to support the development of deep relationships between paired users. 

The mechanisms available for a blockchain solution will directly solve a business need for OneUpOneDown, which is to incentivize mentors to participate in the network. Tokenisation will provide a way to measure and assign value to the impact of the relationships formed within the network, to build a digital identity of the users within the network, and to reward users for participation in the network. 

A social network for deep connections

Instead of facilitating a high level of “loose connection” as is the case with social network sites such as Twitter and Linkedin, OneUpOneDown focuses on facilitating a smaller number of “deep connections” by proposing the best possible match available within the network at a given time, and through the formation of the relationship which is based on OneUpOneDowns mentoring framework. Loose connections are achieved through the engagement functionality of the app, but are not the core value proposition.

Hubs within the network are formed through OneUpOneDown’s Pool functionality, which groups users based on shared experience and growth objectives, such as industry pools. This supports effective matching and provides a filter for providing relevant engagement and learning opportunities for users. 

The nature of the network reflects a Scale-Free network. In the diagram below, the nodes are users and the edge is the connection between the nodes (users). OneUpOneDown’s AI-powered matching model, the structure of the matching protocol and the features of the DApp are designed to strengthen the edges (connections) in the network.

OneUpOneDown’s social network solves the following problems and needs of users which are not being met through current popular social networking sites:

1. The formation of deep relationships based on trust and a high level of peer-to-peer interaction and longer-form digital engagement (video meetings).
2. Optimisation for the strength of relationships and growth of the individuals within the relationship. 

In Fund 8 we received funding to improve the development of our AI mentor matching software and to produce a white paper modeling a Mentorship Incentivization DAO. This proposal is for funding to proceed to the next stage of this project and achieve the following milestones:

• Concept design for decentralized mentoring social network protocol
• Infrastructure architecture 
• Development of monetization strategy to support social network

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Cardano needs a thriving ecosystem of different Dapps, products and integrations for the community to use that increasingly become the better alternatives over current centralized providers. Many decentralised social media alternatives have failed to get traction because, beyond being decentralised, they haven’t had a strong enough unique value proposition to drive enough adoption to make the social network valuable.

OneUpOneDown can succeed as a decentralised social network because it has a unique value proposition servicing a different & specific need - the need for deep connections and mentorship - and it is not dependent on mass adoption to create significant value for users. A successful social network DApp build on Cardano blockchain and protocols will drive increase interaction within the Cardano ecosystem. 

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Risk of not delivering: Reliance on other protocols for core functionality (dependencies). We will mitigate this risk by doing sound due diligence on the protocols we’ll use, which will be part of the white paper process (successful proposal in Fund 8).

Risk of not reaching the desired outcome: User Uptake - a Dapp introduces some additional complexity for users, e.g. connecting a wallet. This may impact the user experience especially for users who have not user blockchain based products previously. We will mitigate this risk through good user interface design and support materials. We’re launching a Web3 Pool within the current user network to encourage users to learn more about Web3 technologies to support this transition.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Roadmap

Fund 8: Further development of centralized solution

• AI mentor matching software
• Mentorship Incentivization DAO

June - September 2022

• Secure at least 2 new partnerships to run a mentor-matching program. (1 is already secured) 
• Onboard new organisations to recruit mentors and mentees from within their networks. (1 is in process of onboarding)
• Complete matching and launch the first matching program within the organisations. (in progress)
• Hire necessary team

Fund 9: Re-design and improvement of centralized solution

• Concept design
• CI/CD & Infrastructure
• Monetization & Tokenomics

October - December 2022

The social application for building deep connections has 3 key main components that we plan to restructure and build again. The main reason for this is to prepare the software for scalability while building strong foundations and writing clean code. The 3 main components that we will focus on in the next 3 months are:

• Core value: The program must match two users and track their relationship for a period of 3 months. 

1. Matching algorithm - a mechanism for scaling the process of making high-quality 1:1 matches across a network

• Onboarding: A user must be able to create and complete an account by filling up their profile with the required information. 

1. Matching experience - Mentor-mentee experience is about solving a specific challenge. This is a type of Project-Based learning (PBL) that gives us an opportunity to bring PBL creators and improve the matching experience. PBL creators will support mentors so mentors can better support mentees.   

• Retention: A user must be able to join industry pools and read/write answers to questions anonymously.

1. Industry pools functionality - anonymous forum feed for specific industries 

Fund 10: Designing decentralized model

• Zero-Knowledge Proof-of-Identity to avoid self-selection bias
• Identity Solution (ATALA Prism)

Fund 11: AI decentralized social network for building deep connections

• AI Mentor matching (SingularityNET)
• Native tokens and NFTs incentivizing for providing an extraordinary mentorship experience (CNFT.IO)

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

USD11 500 per month x 3 = USD 36 500

• Senior ML/Back-end developer - USD 3500
• Senior Front-end developer - USD 2000
• UI/UX Product designer - USD 1000 
• Product Lead - USD 1500
• Program Design Lead - USD 1500 
• PBL Development - USD 2000

In the next stage of this project, the budget and our focus will be on bringing 2 Plutus developers, and continuing work on PBL development & Tokenomics.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Co-founder, CEO at OneUpOneDown - Natalie Robinson

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliecrobinson/ 

• 10+ years in sales, marketing, finance and startup
• business development experience
• 5+ years experience mentoring entrepreneurs in
• early stage business development
• 5+ years experience learning & development
• programme design
• Member of Catalyst Leadership Academy and Cardano Creatives.

Co-founder, CTO at OneUpOneDown & Cardano Ambassador - Dzhuliana Nikolova

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dzhuliana-nikolova-b6805714a/ 
• https://forum.cardano.org/t/ambassador-stories-journal-25-dzhuliana-nikolova-andreas-sosilo/101749/
• 7+ years experience in UX/UI design & product development
• 5+ years experience in software development
• 5+ years experience in self-development, education, and mentoring
• Cardano Ambassador and Challenge Team Lead in Fund8 & Fund9
• After Town Hall - “Cardano Catalyst Women” Room Host

Lead Software Engineer - Dimitar Sodev, Software Engineer at OneUpOneDown

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitar-sodev-451808a7/ 
• 20+ years of experience in Python, AWS, Java, SQL, AI/ML, TensorFlow, Linux, JavaScript, PHP, LAMP, Pandas, Apache.

UI/UX Product Designer at OneUpOneDown - Anastasiia Koval

Senior Front-end developer (Hired in Fund8)

Plutus developer (Hiring process)

Advisory Team

Yoram Ben-Zvi, Partnership lead https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoram-ben-zvi-446836

• A social entrepreneur. In the last five years, Yoram is focusing on combining impact and business. A mentor with the international board, operations, and startup experience. Yoram is an active catalyst member, CA, and part of the Cardano4Climate community. In Addition, active in promoting the Catalyst and Cardano community to impact companies and networks to connect them to the ecosystem (i.e. seedstars.com)

James Dunseith: Decentralised architecture and Tokenomics

https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-dunseith-0135651/

Gimbalabs co-founder, Plutus Pioneer Cohort 1

James creates learning experiences by running development courses, creating asynchronous learning resources, and helping to launch experiments that allow people to contribute their diverse talent to share goals. He is also the front-end developer of gimbalabs.com and is working to create resilient, reusable components that help other people to launch their work.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Yes, this is an ongoing project as explained in the KPI and key milestones section.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

With the previous proposal, we have discovered that in order to achieve the kpis we have set, we must develop further the industry pools functionality which is the reason to set a proposal in this fund.

Goals:

1. Redesign the front-end application to improve the matching experience and to achieve social network goal
2. Develop pool functionality in the application
3. Develop decentralized architecture for social web application

KPI’s:

• Re-design front-end application 
• Develop Industry pool functionality in-app to generate revenue  

Develop decentralised architecture

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Measuring success:

1. Deliver core functionality 

We will consider this stage of the project successful if we can deliver (do a demo) a functional desktop application that includes the core functionality mentioned above.

1. Present decentralised logic and tokenomics model

We will consider this stage of the decentralised network for successful if we can deliver proof-of-concept for a blockchain space.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

AI Mentor matching software

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/399243

Mentorship Incentivization DAO

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/404785

Sustainable Development Goals (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

SDG subgoals:

4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life

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

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

4.4.1 Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

4.7.1 Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

5.5.1 Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments

5.5.2 Proportion of women in managerial positions

5.b.1 Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex

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