RFC - Grant Proposal for Blockchain Product Development Incubation

General
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Hello Community,

We are seeking feedback on a proposed incubation program for blockchain product development. The program aims to facilitate collaboration among native builders and launch their products on Arbitrum. It will run for six months and involve 64 participants with prior experience in product management, software development, and related fields. Participants will work in teams to build 16 different products.

At the end of the program, there will be a competition to determine the top four teams. Members of these teams will receive $20k, $15k, $10k, and $5k, respectively, while the remaining participants will receive $2k each plus cloud credits.

Benefits to the Ecosystem:

  • Increased number of builders
  • More innovative solutions

These are answers to some of the questions that readers might have in mind:

  1. Why not a hackathon?

Unlike a hackathon, this program is designed to provide more long-term support to builders and help them develop sustainable products.

  1. How will the program measure its success and impact?

During the incubation program, participants will develop solutions that address real-world challenges in DeFi, logistics, and other related areas.

  1. Why is the duration 6 months?

As highlighted above, the program is designed to produce usable products. The longer time frame will ensure that we can deliver quality.

  1. How do we ensure the security of the proposed funds?

To ensure trust and transparency, we will use a single milestone system. Funds will only be made available once the products have been fully launched on Arbitrum.

  1. How will participants be selected for the program?

We will select people with prior experience in product management, software development, and related fields to increase our chances of success.

  1. What will be our success metric?

The success metric will be the number of usable products launched on Arbitrum by program participants, as well as any other positive impact on the ecosystem that results from the program (e.g., number of people using the product, number of new users onboarded into the ecosystem).

Please leave your suggestions and questions.

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Definitely required.
The sum of money seems smaller though.

Polygon recently launched a program where they help projects to access their marketing network and provide better deals and support for Go-To-Market. In addition to investing network.

Ideally Arbitrum should support in all areas of the startup… not just funds. If you do, we are happy to use Arbitrum for our current projects as well, tapping into a trillion dollar industry. :yum:

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Picture a cutting-edge program designed to foster creativity and collaboration among local builders.
This thrilling incubation project unites a group of individuals with diverse expertise in product management, software development, and related fields.

These brilliant minds will work in teams to brainstorm and generate a range of pioneering products. Inspired by trailblazing programs like CGP 2.0, compound Finance, the program is determined to make a resounding impact in the industry, surpassing comparable initiatives.
We empower builders to push the boundaries of the blockchain ecosystem, forging ahead into uncharted territories. At the culmination of the program, exceptional teams will be distinguished and feted for their extraordinary work. While some members may receive incentives, all participants will be recognized for their unwavering commitment and dedication to the program. This exceptional initiative will have a far-reaching impact, igniting a surge in builders and propelling a fresh wave of innovative solutions.
It’s an unparalleled invitation, offering continuous support and guidance to enable the creation of genuinely sustainable and pioneering products.

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Thank you for your contribution. We are open to partnership in areas of mentorship, etc.

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The below response reflects the views of L2BEAT’s governance team, composed of @kaereste and @Sinkas, and it’s based on the combined research, fact-checking and ideation of the two.

We like the overall idea and we’d get behind a program that provides long-term support to builders on Arbitrum. It’s also important to note that such a program wouldn’t be conflicting with the current grant frameworks being discussed/voted on if they pass.

With that in mind, we’d like to see some additional information in the RFC before forming an opinion. The information we’d like to see includes:

  1. Who is going to undertake the execution of the program? We’d feel much comfortable with a team undertaking the task, instead of an individual.
  2. What makes you suitable to organize such a program? Having some additional information regarding the proposer and their team, if any, would help us better judge their suitability.
  3. What will the operational process of the program be like? How will you handle the legal aspect for participants to receive their money?
  4. What are the criteria that will be used to select participants? Given that each participant will receive $2,000 as stated in the proposal, we believe that selecting participants should be a transparent process.
  5. What are some KPIs to measure the success of the program?

Should you be interested in discussing the RFC and the aforementioned questions further, we’d like to invite you to L2BEAT Office Hours for Arbitrum on each Thursday at 3pm UTC/ 11am EST on Google Meet.

We believe that such a program would benefit the Arbitrum ecosystem by incentivizing more builders to deliver usable products. However, in its current form, this proposal would be better suited as a discussion starter, as it lacks a lot of critical information to help contributors form an opinion and therefore provide comments on the proposal itself.

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Thank you for your valuable contribution, @krst. We will refine our upcoming proposal based on your feedback. First and foremost, Let me address your concerns one by one:

  1. I would like to clarify that this is not a one-man project. Instead, it is managed by the Blockchain Innovation Hub, which is a product of ORX Solutions Limited, a registered entity. For more information about us, please visit https://bih.com.ng. Below are pictures of our facility.

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  2. The Blockchain Innovation Hub has a skilled team of diverse members, including experienced developers, DevRel, and CEOs. Also, we are seeking collaboration with professionals to onboard more partners and VCs for the project’s success.

  3. Our legal team is on the ground to help with any legal issues relating to the program and ensure compliance with the law.

  4. We will choose the teams based on their qualifications and experience. Our goal is for each team to create a usable Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within the first three months. During the subsequent months, we will focus on getting feedback from users and improving the solution. It’s important to note that we will only reward projects, not individuals.

  5. Our success metrics include the number of usable products launched on Arbitrum by participants, user adoption rates, and the revenue generated or Total Locked Value (TLV) within the projects.

Lastly, thank you for inviting us to Office Hours. We assure you that our team will be available to answer any further questions you may have. We are also open to ideas and contributions from all the community members.

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Launched products it’s a vanity metric… I suggest you extend the duration and see how many users those products have in a timeframe of 2/3 months (it could be more). Maybe you can do it in two steps and the second one is to see how those products are going.

The rest it’s ok. Great proposal!

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