[Top Builder 2024]: Erik and Sud (BitcoinMastermind_R2)

[ealvar13]

🏗️ Top Builder 2024 Application Form to track progress through Round 1 - 3 ~ Currently in Round 1

📝 Instructions

1. Only complete this form if you have been chosen for Top Builder, by PlebLab.
2. Provide detailed information to assist the judges in evaluating your project.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The Team

• Team Name: Bitcoin Mastermind: Bitcoin Lightning Quiz & Survey Maker

• Number of Founders: 1

• Team Background:

• Erik Alvarez: Engineer & project manager with over 15 years of experience. Erik has been focusing on Bitcoin and Lightning projects since 2020.

• Sudhanshu Dubey: Web developer with over 10 years of experience in full-stack web development. Sud has over 3 years of working on bitcoin-focused sites.

• Bitcoin & Lightning Involvement: We are a software development company that specializes in Bitcoin, Lightning Network, and (now) NOSTR integrations.

• Origin Story: Velas Commerce was founded in 2014 by Hannah Rosenberg with one mission: to promote Bitcoin adoption by integrating Bitcoin into websites, mobile apps and custom software.

💡 The Idea

• Project Overview: Introducing Bitcoin Mastermind – a game-changer for user engagement on WordPress. Seamlessly integrate Bitcoin rewards into quizzes and surveys for an engaging and rewarding user experience.

• Website: In progress

• GitHub: https://github.com/ealvar13/hd-quiz-bitcoin-rewards

• Project Stage: We have a working prototype that runs on Testnet.

• Supplementary Materials: Check out our demo video and our pitch deck

📚 Additional Information

• Our software is free and open source, which benefits the whole Bitcoin community.
• Bitcoin Mastermind has a dead simple, dev-friendly tech stack of PHP and JavaScript
• We use Lightning Addresses to make Bitcoin rewards simple enough for any user.
• Our software is designed to work with any Bitcoin Lightning implementation.

📌 Submission Type

• [x] Initial Project Creation

🚀 Current Project Progress

• Progress Made: We have a working demo that runs on Testnet in local dev environments.
• Challenges Faced: Our current plugin is an add-on to an existing WordPress quiz plugin. To make it a great tool for the Bitcoin Community, we need to make it a standalone plugin with perfect UX.
• Future Roadmap of what's next: Get our local prototype running on one of our testing sites for user feedback and testing.

⏳ Round 1 Milestone

• Keep in mind that completion will need to be by February 10th, 2024.
• First-round milestone the team has set for themselves: We will have our plugin hosted on a publicly available, working site to start getting real world user testing and feedback.

📝 Submission Complete

• All required information has been provided above.

📅 Top Builder Program Structure

Registration Opens: Monday, December 18, 2023

• Application: Interested teams apply for Top Builder.
• Selection: Teams will be chosen based on their application. See FAQ for details.

Round 1: January 13 - February 10, 2024

• Workshops: PlebLab weekly workshops start, available live and online.
• Chat Access: Selected teams join the PlebLab internal chat.
• Mentorship: Begins for teams.
• Project Milestones: Teams are set and judged on their first-round milestones.

Round 2: February 10 - 24, 2024

• Team Reduction: PlebLab cuts half of the Top Builder teams. (Only half continued in Round 2.)
• Project Milestones: Teams are set and judged on their second-round milestones.
• Workshops: PlebLab weekly workshops continue.
• Mentorship: Continues.

Round 3: Starting February 24, 2024

• Team Reduction: PlebLab narrows down to 6 Top Builder teams. (All will be pitching in Austin.)
• Final Milestones: Teams set final project milestones for the last round.
• Preparation: Teams prepare their pitch in front of judges. Final teams are contacted to come to Austin for Startup Day.

Final Round at Startup Day: March 14, 2024

• Preparation: Teams work on their final pitches at PlebLab.
• Presentations: Final teams present before judges on Startup Day.
• Deliberation: Judges decide during a happy hour.
• Announcement: The winner of Top Builder is announced at Austin BitDevs.
• Celebration: After-party for Top Builder.

[ealvar13]

Week 1 Bitcoin Mastermind Project Updates

Development Update - Week 1

• Converted the plugin from an add-on to a standalone plugin.
• Updated and tested with latest HDQuiz version.
• Updating WP backend styling and content.
• Added a “Delete all results” feature on the backend.
• Bug fix: BTCPay Server store id not saving correctly.
• Bug fix: Overwriting API keys on settings changes.

Marketing Update - Week 1

• Started social media posts about the project. Check out our recent tweets:
  • VelasCommerce Tweet - 1750162637386571806
  • VelasCommerce Tweet - 1749838122332852313
  • VelasCommerce Tweet - 1747606169449812355

Business and Strategy - Week 1

• Decided to continue as a fork of HD Quiz plugin.
• Onboarded a second developer.
• Contacted original plugin developer for their blessing.
• Started a monetization plan and discussed with Car.

[ealvar13]

Week 2 Bitcoin Mastermind Project Updates

Development Update - Week 2

• Now we’re on Mainnet!
• Completed an Alby Wallet integration: Site operators can now connect to the plugin with either BTCPay Server or an Alby Wallet.
• Improved front-end styling for Lightning Address inputs, quiz rules modal, and rewards sending modals.
• Updated the UI to cover the use case where the user doesn’t enter their Lightning Address.
• Got the CSS style sheets working and removed all the inline styling.
• Added a CSV export feature on the backend.
• Improved the “Delete Results” function to ensure user confirmation before proceeding.
• Deleted the “Only store results for logged-on users” option.
• Bug fix: Resolved issue with confusing 0 satoshi reward amount showing up before the reward is calculated.

Marketing Update - Week 1

• Created a landing page for the project: VelasCommerce Bitcoin Mastermind
• Set up a Substack for sending updates, quizzes, and surveys.
• Continued social media campaign:
  • VelasCommerce Tweet - 1751283690846454197

Business and Strategy - Week 2

• Monetization Plan: We're adding a small payment to every reward payment that will be sent to one of our wallets. We might let users configure this amount or even opt out (to be determined).
  • Note: This idea was inspired by Moritz’ workshop. It's a challenge to monetize FOSS.
• Plugin Testing Signups from various Bitcoin-related platforms:
  • A Bitcoin education site.
  • A Bitcoin meetup site.
  • A Bitcoin podcast site.

[ealvar13]

Bitcoin Mastermind Proof of Work, Week 3

We’ve made some huge advances in week 3, including hitting our Phase 1 milestone! Our plugin is deployed, and we have active bitcoin quizzes on two websites.

Check them out here:

• The Bitcoin Quiz Page at CryptoChicago
• Skunkworks Bitcoin Quiz at Innovative Commerce Group

Development Update - Week 3

• We’re live! This was our first milestone complete ✅
• Surveys are implemented and working well!
• Export survey results to CSV feature complete
• Added a confetti animation to the reward success message - this sounds small, but it seems to make a big UX improvement
• Reorganized the WordPress backend
• Lots of bug fixes and other improvements

Marketing Update - Week 3

• Demo video
• First project update substack newsletter
• Second project update substack newsletter

Business and Strategy Update - Week 3

• We’re keeping a list of user feedback and new feature requests
• We’re doing live testing! We guided our first site operator through installation and configuration of the plugin on 2/4/2024. We’re taking notes of pain points here too.

[ealvar13]

Bitcoin Mastermind Proof of Work, Round 1 Recap

As we wrap up Round 1 of the Top Builder competition, the Bitcoin Mastermind project has experienced tremendous growth, thanks to the mentoring, interactive workshops, and collaboration with other teams.

Also, we're excited to announce that Bitcoin Mastermind will soon be powering user rewards and surveys for Dirty Coin The Movie! 🎬

DIRTY COIN is a feature documentary currently in post-production focusing on how Bitcoin miners are monetizing stranded energy assets in remote locations around the world.

More info to follow next week!

Achievements Unlocked

We're thrilled to announce the completion of our Round 1 milestone, with live implementations now operational on Mainnet. This milestone marks a significant step in our project, demonstrating our capability to develop and deploy functional, real-world applications of our technology.

But don't take our word for it, check out our deployed quizzes here:

• Bitcoin Mastermind Quiz at VelasCommerce
• Bitcoin Mastermind Survey at VelasCommerce - This is how we gathered user feedback for our next improvements
• The Bitcoin Quiz Page at Crypto Chicago - This one went through the budget in record time, proving you can get engagement through bitcoin rewards!
• Skunkworks Bitcoin Quiz at Innovative Commerce Group

You can also check out our code base and recent commits here: GitHub Repository for HD Quiz Bitcoin Rewards

Looking Ahead

Our roadmap for the forthcoming rounds is ambitious but clear. We aim to:

• Finalize the admin area of our plugin, enhancing usability and control.
• Submit our plugin to wordpress.org, broadening our reach.
• Develop and implement monetization strategies for the plugin while remaining committed to FOSS.
• Refine our business plans, laying a solid foundation for future growth.

Community Engagement

Central to our project is the feedback from users and site operators. We've implemented a dynamic feedback mechanism within our software, allowing us to capture and act upon user insights rapidly. An example of this in action is the feature request votes collected over the past week, which have already begun to shape our development priorities.

Round 1 Top Ten Highlights

Round 1 of the Top Builder competition has been both challenging and rewarding, and we're eager to continue this momentum into Round 2 and beyond.

Here's our Round 1 Top Ten Highlights:

1. Launched on Mainnet - Successfully transitioned the plugin to operate on the Bitcoin Mainnet, enabling real transactions.
2. Alby Wallet Integration - Completed integration with Alby Wallet, allowing site operators to connect using either BTCPay Server or Alby Wallet for enhanced flexibility.
3. Standalone Plugin Conversion - Transformed the plugin from an add-on to a standalone plugin, increasing its utility and accessibility.
4. CSV Export Feature - Added a CSV export functionality for backend results, facilitating data analysis and reporting. In fact, we used it to gather the user feedback results shown below.
5. Live Deployments - Achieved the first milestone with active bitcoin quizzes on three websites, showcasing the plugin's real-world application.
6. Monetization Plan Initiation - Developed and began implementation of a monetization strategy, incorporating a novel approach to sustain the project financially while continuing our committment to Free and Open Source Software.
7. User Engagement and Feedback - Initiated live testing and started compiling user feedback and feature requests, emphasizing the project's user-centric development approach.
8. UI and UX Enhancements - Made significant improvements to the front end styling, including confetti animation for reward success, enhancing the overall user experience.
9. Social Media and Community Outreach - Launched a social media campaign, created a landing page and a substack, increasing project visibility and engagement.
10. Strategic Collaborations and Team Expansion - Onboarded a second developer and engaged with the original plugin developer for support, showcasing a commitment to community and collaboration within the open-source ecosystem.

User Feedback Samples

What would be the coolest feature to implement next?

Feature	Count
Pay sats to get a link to my very own quizzes and surveys.	6
Easily get a Lightning Address if you don't already have one	7
Gating questions: i.e., ask different questions based on the user's response to survey questions.	5

What is the main issue you experienced when testing out our quizzes so far?

Issue	Count
Haven't tried it yet	4
I forgot to enter my Lightning Address at the start of the quiz	2
I get payment errors trying to send to my Lightning Address	2
The styling looks weird	4
The user interface is confusing	5

Do you have a WordPress website?

Answer	Count
I don't even know what that means	2
No	6
Yes	9

[ealvar13]

We spent some time making sure our Round 2 goals aligned with our business plan and commitment to developing FOSS for the Bitcoin Community. We are so humbled and excited to continue to Round 2 of Top Builder and appreciate the opportunity 🙏

Bitcoin Mastermind milestones for Round 2 of Top Builder⚡

Business & Tech

• Implement payment splits so we can start earning revenue for maintenance and future improvements.
• By the end of Round 2, we WILL be earning satoshis. Even if we’ve stacked 20 sats, it will be > 0.
• This is essential for the long-term sustainability of our project.

Marketing

• We will have completed our 1st flagship integration and have a published survey for Dirty Coin the movie.

Usability

• We will have the WordPress backend cleaned up for no-instruction deployment on new partner sites.
• Our project is a fork of an existing WordPress plugin and the backend contains a lot of irrelevant and possibly confusing information to site operators. We will have this cleaned up by the end of Round 2.
• This will lay the groundwork for our Round 3 goal: version 1.0.0 plugin submitted to Wordpress.org.

Research and Design

• We are also continuing the research and design for our most requested feature, sending user rewards for users that don’t have a Lightning Address. However, we need to make sure this feature doesn’t interfere with our overall objective of super easy UI for site operators and users, and our revenue model.

[ealvar13]

Proof of Work for Bitcoin Mastermind, Round 2 - Week 1

We’ve been working hard on our Round 2 milestones and are excited to share our progress on all fronts! We’re confident we can hit all our goals by the end of Round 2 so stay tuned here!

Business & Tech

• ✅ We have implemented payments splits! So we are officially making sats for every survey and quiz taken with the updated plugin!
• Check out the code updates here: GitHub Commit

Marketing

• We have our flagship integration with Dirty Coin the Movie almost ready to go. We’re doing some final tweaks to the social media sharing and then we should be good to go.
• We had over 200 surveys taken within 12 hours of doing a Twitter Spaces with PlebLab about the Top Builder projects.
• Also, the numbers are in: these quizzes and surveys have also boosted our website traffic enormously over the last month!
• We put out a summary of these findings in our substack page for the project here: Substack Update

Usability

• ✅ The Wordpress backend has been completely redesigned.
• You can check out all the code updates here: GitHub Commit
• This lays the groundwork for our Round 3 Goal: Version 1.0.0 plugin submitted to Wordpress.org.

Research and Design

• We’ve been doing research into our most requested feature: sending rewards without requiring a Lightning Address.
• Moritz with Alby made us a feature request to have this functionality easily supported by the Alby Wallet API using LNURLw protocol.
  • Feature Request on Alby
• We will have a writeup of our findings by the end of Round 2.

[ealvar13]

End of Round 2 Recap

Hi Top Builders, Judges, and Mentors!

We’re happy to report that we have achieved all Round 2 Milestones! Lots more on that below.

But before any of that, we want to take this opportunity to thank you all for this opportunity to be a part of Top Builder. Being part of this program has been inspiring. The quality of our fellow builders, projects, mentorship, and workshops has really been top-notch, and we appreciate it so much 🙏

It’s been an action-packed two weeks, and our project has really benefited from the push!

Round 2 Milestones:

• ✅ We have implemented payment splits! So we are officially making sats for every survey and quiz taken with the updated plugin! Our current sat count is 139 for the week as of this writing 😅 We’re looking forward to stacking many more as more people download and use the plugin. Proof of Work

• ✅ The Wordpress backend has been completely redesigned. We even got to show it off on our livestream with PlebLab yesterday and had some interest from the audience! Proof of Work

• ✅ Our flagship integration with Dirty Coin the Movie is up! Check it out here: https://surveysats.com/

• ✅ Our feature request research is complete, and we have learned a lot about how we can implement rewards for users without a Lightning Address. For proof of work, check out our findings here: Proof of Work

Some additional highlights:

• We got to implement user feedback surveys for the LNPlay experience in Buenos Aires!
• A Nostr user is testing out and offering improvement suggestions for our plugin.
• We released Substack updates to our alpha user list for the start of Round 2 (link) and at the end of Round 2, Week 1 (link).
• We did a number of bug fixes and minor improvements.
• We’ve established that these surveys and quizzes can take off with a little publicity!
• We had over 200 surveys taken within 12 hours of doing a Twitter Spaces with PlebLab about the Top Builder projects 😅

Closing Words at the End of Round 2

We couldn’t be more blessed for this opportunity. Our project has jumped forward light years as a part of Top Builder.

We’re hopeful to continue to Round 3, and our goal is clear: a finished Version 1.0.0 plugin submitted to WordPress.org, freely and easily available to the entire Bitcoin and WordPress communities.

Thanks you all!