The Firestarter program officially started on January 1st, which means we’re now through the first month of operation. Below you’ll find a comprehensive update of the program so far, a breakdown of the applications and their status, and a progress report on the KPIs set forward in the original announcement of the program.
We also want to remind you that you can stay up to date with the status of each grant and the program as a whole through the public dashboard that we maintain.
Executive Summary
- Applications Received: 5
- Applications Approved: 2
- Funds Allocated: $9,600
- Funds Distributed: 3,000
- Funds Remaining: $40,400
Applications Breakdown
Consumer App Support Program by Tempe Techie
Status: Ongoing (until March 1st)
Grant Amount: $4,800
A grant to fund the work needed to evaluate the feasibility of launching a Consumer Apps Support Program (CASP), a new initiative aimed at attracting and supporting consumer mobile applications that can drive meaningful user activity and TVL to Arbitrum One. For the scope of the grant, the grantee will map 10-20 consumer apps, interview consumer-app builders to gather insights into their needs, and align with Arbitrum Foundation ecosystem team and Offchain Labs consumer app team.
The research will culminate into a feasibility report to inform whether a CASP has merit and should be pursued further. If the report’s findings are positive, the grantee will also publish a first draft of what such a program could look like.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
Tempe’s application scores high in the evaluation matrix as:
- There’s a clear outlined plan with defined steps (interview of teams, input from stakeholders, mapping of needs, culmination of insights) and a specific end-goal (a feasibility report, and a forum-ready proposal)
- Tempe has relevant experience as a software developer and founder of a consumer-facing business
- The application falls inside the categories defined by the program, specifically the builder support initiatives for verticals other than DeFi category
- Tempe is decently connected in the Arbitrum ecosystem and he’s already in contact with multiple builders from the Arbitrum ecosystem
- The size of the grant request is based on a more than fair market value for light research, communications and operations work ($30/hr).
- The potential impact of the grant is medium, as it will lead to a feasibility report that will determine whether or not a proposal will be pursued, after which it’s up to governance. It’s that uncertainty of the final outcome that leads to the ‘medium’ scoring.
KPIs
Here are the KPIs we’ve set together with Tempe to keep track of the progress of the grant, along with the progress so far under each.
- Interview at least 20 consumer app builders/teams
- 17 teams have already been interviewed (85%)
- Have at least 10 discovery calls with potential app participants and delegates
- 15 teams and 1 delegate have been interviewed (160%)
- Complete a clear mapping of consumer apps needs (technical and other)
- In Progress
- Feasibility assessment completed and published
- Not started yet
- Forum-ready proposal delivered (only if feasibility assessment is positive)
Tempe had began interviewing consumer app builders/teams and potential participants of the program before the grant was even approved. That’s why the progress has been so rapid compared to when the grant was approved.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
DAO Events Playbook by Tekr0x
Status: Ongoing (until March 1st)
Grant Amount: $30/hr (40hrs min, 160hrs max)
A grant to fund the work needed to create simple, lightweight standards for how the Arbitrum DAO participates in events. The goal is to help the DAO show up consistently, professionally, and with clear intent, without adding unnecessary process or overhead.
For the creation of the playbook, Tekr0x will consult with the events team of Arbitrum Foundation and Offchain Labs, with different event organizers of events that the DAO has sponsored in the past, and with past grantees from the D.A.O program under the ‘Events’ domain. Then, in collaboration with Sinkas, the Program Manager of the OpCo, he’ll work on creating a playbook that can be used to inform event organization in the future and set the standards for the events that the DAO organizes or sponsors.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
Tempe’s application scores medium-to-high in the evaluation matrix as:
- There’s a clear outlined plan with defined steps (interviews with past grantees from D.A.O’s events domain, input from relevant stakeholders and mapping of current efforts, research of event activities in other ecosystems) and a specific end-goal (the DAO Events Playbook)
- Tekr0x is decently connected in the Arbitrum ecosystem and he’s already in contact with multiple stakeholders relevant to events
- Tekr0x has some event organization experience, which is enough to adequately cover the scope of the grant
- The application falls inside the categories defined by the program, specifically the ecosystem initiatives category. Additionally, the timing is really good as the OpCo has been working on a proposal about taking over events organization and management on behalf of the DAO.
- The size of the grant request is based on a more than fair market value for light research, communications and operations work ($30/hr)
- The potential impact of the grant is medium, as it will help us create a playbook to be used by the OpCo to help standardize events that the DAO sponsors or organizes. However, the impact of those events is often indirect, thus the medium scoring.
KPIs
Here are the KPIs we’ve set together with Tekr0x to keep track of the progress of the grant, along with the progress so far under each.
- Hold at least three calls with past grantees under the D.A.O program’s Events domain
- Completed (and continuing over target)
- Research event activities and standards from at least 2 other ecosystems
- In progress
- Complete mapping of current event efforts, budgets, workflows and overlaps
- Not started
- Hold at least three calls with ambassadors from the Arbitrum Foundation’s ambassador program
-
In progress
Summary
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Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
Arbitrum Yield & Risk Intelligence Layer by Today in DeFi
Status: In Review
Grant Request: $7,000
A grant to fund the research and development work needed to build the Arbitrum Yield & Risk Intelligence Layer, a specialized analytics dashboard and research hub focused on the critical “missing middle” of DeFi data: deep risk metrics and yield sustainability.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The evaluation of the proposal is still ongoing. Based on the initial draft that TiD submitted, my initial review yielded the following:
- While there is a specific plan for the creation of the analytics dashboard with defined steps, there’s no specific end goal for the use of the dashboard. This can be attributed to the nature of data dashboards, but I’m unsure about an actionable result that access to the data that TiD wants to track will lead to.
- The team does have relevant expertise and experience, and they are decently connected within Arbitrum ecosystem.
- The proposal doesn’t strictly fall within one of the defined categories of the program, even though it’s submitted under the ‘Revenue’ category. I’m evaluating this as an ‘Open Track’ application, which means I want to have strong justification for funding it.
- The proposal does have strategic relevance, especially as Arbitrum, along with the broader crypto ecosystem, is getting more attention for TradFi and financial institutions who need deeper insights before deploying resources. The timing is also good.
- In terms of the grant size, the described work-hours and costs appear to be at a market rate, though this kind of work could be charged at a big premium.
- The impact of the grant can be considered high in the sense that it will fund the creation of the actual dashboards, and not some kind of research about the dashboards potential usefulness. However, the impact that the existence of the dashboards will have on Arbitrum is not something I can adequately gauge.
KPIs
As the proposal is still in review, there are no KPIs that have been set by the OpCo in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
USD-backed ARB stablecoin and a decentralized micro-escrow system by David
Status: In Review
Grant Request: $7,990
A grant to fund the work needed to build an SMS-based micro-escrow on Arbitrum allowing users to trade and secure funds without requiring internet data or smartphones.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The proposal is still under evaluation as it was submitted just 2 days before this update, and the applicant hasn’t had the chance to book a slot on my calendar yet. We will update this thread once the evaluation is complete, and we’ll provide a notice in the next month’s update for more visibility as well.
KPIs
As the proposal is still in review, there are no KPIs that have been set by the OpCo in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
DAO Contributor Program by Rika Goldberg
Status: In Review
Grant Request: $7,000
A grant to fund research and design a practical DAO Contributor Incentives Program. Building on Patrick’s discussion thread and delegate feedback, the research will create clearly defined pathways for contributors to support Arbitrum’s protocol growth through builder engagement and product feedback, and builder onboarding and ecosystem growth.
The deliverable is a comprehensive framework with standards, evaluation criteria, compensation models, and integration plans with existing Arbitrum initiatives—published to the forum for community review and feedback.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The proposal is still under evaluation as it was submitted on the day that this update was published. We will update this thread once the evaluation is complete, and we’ll also provide a notice in the next month’s update for more visibility as well.
KPIs
As the proposal is still in review, there are no KPIs that have been set by the OpCo in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
As there are 3 grants still in review, we will update the thread once a decision has been made on whether or not we will approve them. Until then, you can keep up to date with the progress in the dashboard we maintain. In the next month’s update, we’ll also cover these 3 grants again for extra visibility.
If you want to apply to the Firestarters program, you can do so here.