Growing Web3 Mentorship Pool

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Trusted relationships are the foundation for productive collaboration. OneUpOneDown is a mentorship-focused social network that facilitates deep connections between people based on levels of experience within industries. This is achieved using a protocol that creates short term mentorship pairs, each lasting three months with four one-to-one meetings within this time period. Matches are made by taking into consideration the experience of all users and proposing the best matches across the network at a given time. 

Our solution is a highly scalable way to create connections, communication and collaboration opportunities between individuals within the Web3 industry, working across different blockchain platforms and protocols.

In Fund 8, we received funding to develop a pool for matching mentors and mentees within Web3, to create connections within Cardano and to bring more people into the Cardano network. Cardano is formally recognised as a sponsor of this Pool and Catalyst community members will be involved in the creation of educational materials to develop the knowledge of people within this pool. 

We are applying for funding to build out this Pool with functionality to improve our ability to make matches and engage participants within this network, and for marketing activities generate awareness about the Web3 Pool across blockchain networks. 

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

The proposed solution will be an effective way to build deep relationships between people working across different blockchain platforms, which will effectively increase communication, coordination and collaboration between blockchain communities that are currently siloed. 

Alignment with Challenge KPIs:

• A group of people who has proved their consistent actions and willingness to make contributions to the ecosystem.
• Opening the doors to other communities can increase the number of Catalyst members and broaden their perspectives and knowhow.
• Learning from other open source communities 
• Increasing the brand awareness and bringing in curious developers from outside of the Cardano community.

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

1. Unable to generate enough demand from blockchain communities. We will mitigate this risk by working with existing communities, including Cardano Women, to promote the opportunity to their existing network. We will focus on Women in Blockchain groups who are aligned in a shared mission of supporting more women to be successful in Web3. 
2. Inability to make high-quality matches at scale - we are mitigating this risk by continuing to develop our AI matching software and user interface to better facilitate mentor matches. We have received funding for this in Fund8. 
3. Busy people with not enough time to be mentors - we can mitigate this risk by incentivising mentors through payment in ADA and/or tokens. 

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

This proposal builds on the development of the funded proposal in Fund 8 under the New Member Onboarding challenge: Automated mentor-matching tool. We are currently working on building the Catalyst mentoring pool by leveraging existing OneUpOneDown infrastructure. Members of the Catalyst community will be invited to join as mentors through a specific code for the Catalyst pool. New members will be invited to sign up as mentees. Both will then be able to create profiles and select their preferences. 

The funding requested in this proposal is builds the work that is currently being done by expanding the pool to include mentors and mentees from other blockchain communities, to improve cross-chain collaboration. 

Roadmap

June - September 2022 (Fund 8)

• Technical setup, and mentors and mentee onboarding
• Matchmaking to pair mentors with mentees
• Match management - checkins and comms
• Feedback and KPIs tracking

October - December 2022 (Fund 9)

• PR and Marketing initiatives for building deep connections with leaders from other chains
• Incentivization strategy for the mentors in the Cardano Catalyst community
• Project-Based Learning (PBL) development for building trusted relationships

Proposed Cardano mentor incentivization - 100 ADA per 1 match (3 months, 4 meetings)

Target:

• Connect 50 women from the Cardano Catalyst community with 50 women from outside communities
• 1 match per mentor as minimum

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

USD 7500 * 3 months = USD 22 500

• Program manager and Operations - USD 2000/month
• Educational content creator & Meeting Facilitator - USD 1000/month
• Blockchain Incentivization Strategy - USD 1500/month
• PR Strategy and comms - USD 1500/month
• Technical & Design support - USD 1500/month

[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

Amanda Michel, Chief Marketing Officer at OneUpOneDown

• MBA Master of Business Administration at INSEAD, The Business School for the
• Co-president INSEAD Women In Business ClubMBA Gradi at INSEAD
• 2+ years experience in marketing and operations
• 4+ years experience in events and project management
• 4+ years coaching experience

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)

[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 and the next steps required more data.

[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?

KPIs:

1. Number of participants in the Web3 Pool
2. Number of mentors
3. Number of mentees
4. Number of matches made
5. Distribution across blockchains (which blockchains are users actively engaged with)
6. Revenue from sponsors

Recorded from data collected in app.

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

Goals:

1. Bringing 3 sponsors for the web3 pool 
2. Growing the web3 pool up to 100 users
3. Operations and cross-chain speaker for Cardano Catalyst Women space

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

Automated mentor-matching tool

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/399250

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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