stx-grant-bot[bot]
commented
2 years ago Thanks for submitting a grant proposal. Our team will review your submission and get back to you.
Closed TheCStephen closed 1 year ago
stx-grant-bot[bot]
commented
2 years ago Thanks for submitting a grant proposal. Our team will review your submission and get back to you.
will-corcoran
commented
2 years ago Hi @TheCStephen - Thanks for the application. We are pleased to approve this grant! The only modification that we are going to break this up into two milestones $13k and $12k. We want you to prioritize the MVP. For the first milestone focus on a UI prototype in Figma and gathering user feedback / content creator feedback and clearly mapping out all of the user flows. We feel this part of the process will help with the development in milestone 2 and help you develop only what is necessary. Right now, the wallet and web 3 value adds are difficult for us to understand. We hope you focus on fleshing these out and determining just how important they are. There are some other groups in the ecosystem working on projects of a similar flavor we would like you to connect with @zeroauthority and @orlandobtc. Each of your efforts could compliment one another. Best, Will
TheCStephen
commented
2 years ago Thanks for the feedback on this plan, Will! We're grateful for the support of the Stacks Foundation and look forward to building this out while taking into consideration the direction you've offered.
We will focus on building a UI prototype with the essential functions needed to begin testing and getting feedback. We've been assembling an engaged group of community members to assist with the initial testing and iteration cycles.
Milestone 1 will focus on: 1) Clearly mapping all user flows 2) Designing UI prototype 3) Gathering feedback on proposed features and functionality - repeat step 1 if necessary 4) Gather technical requirements with Dev Team Key Basic Features:
5) Build MVP 6) Closed test group to gather user / creator feedback
Let us know what you think of this plan to move forward with M1 and please let us know next steps.
PS - We met with Orlando last week and have time booked to connect with Zero Authority. Thanks for the connection.
Cheers
will-corcoran
commented
2 years ago Hey @TheCStephen sounds perfect!
stx-grant-bot[bot]
commented
2 years ago Congratulations. Your grant is now approved. Please complete the on-boarding link here: https://grants.stacks.org/onboard?q=41708a39c6352a0aa3c34d68c0f44b74
will-corcoran
commented
2 years ago gm @TheCStephen just checking in. Can you please provide us with an update on this grant? Thanks, Will
TheCStephen
commented
2 years ago Hey Will,
Thanks for checking in!
The new Figma wireframes are still in the process of being designed. After going back and forth on the terms of our contract with the dev team we had outsourced, we decided that they were too expensive to be used for full service, end-to-end.
They were going to charge us $14,000 for discovery + UI design + MVP dev. Since we aren’t capitalized to go that route, here’s what we did.
We brought on a new member to our team who is a front end developer, specializing in JavaScript & React. He and our technical lead (Back-end / infrastructure dev) are working with a freelancer who can do the beta UI design for us.
We have been curating a group of beta testers who can help us test when the time is right.
The user flows are mapped out at a high level, but we are still working on granular details. We have roped in Jamil from STXNFT & Mark from MegaPont to consult on some aspects of the project as well.
Hopefully, this update is what you are looking for. We appreciate all the support and look forward to more progress here shortly.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers
CS
On Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 9:07 AM Will Corcoran @.***> wrote:
gm @TheCStephen https://github.com/TheCStephen just checking in. Can you please provide us with an update on this grant? Thanks, Will
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/stacksgov/Stacks-Grants/issues/267#issuecomment-1073248090, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJQK67JI2SWLCNSD5QHFCY3VA4PJJANCNFSM5MNYDRSQ . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675 or Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub.
You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>
-- Courtney Stephen e: @.*** c: (647) 991.5056 Social: @TheCStephen
Athlete - Coach - Mentor CourtneyStephen.com
Sent from my iPhone
will-corcoran
commented
2 years ago perfect. thanks for the update @TheCStephen !
will-corcoran
commented
2 years ago Hello and thank you for participating in the Stacks Foundation Grants Program!
We are in the process of migrating from GitHub to the new Grants Dashboard. In order to complete your grant, you will need to submit any remaining Progress Review and/or Final Review requests through the Dashboard in order to receive your remaining payments.
Lastly, please note we are marking this grant 'closed' on GitHub for organizational purposes, but it is still 'open' on the Grants Dashboard.
Thanks and we hope to continue to support your efforts with additional grants!
Best, Will
Background What problems do you aim to solve? How does it serve the mission of a user owned internet?
The New School connects students with expert mentors on a platform where users are able to earn while they learn. We will give tens of thousands of people a reason to have a Stacks Wallet.
We have a website as well, but I will add it in a comment afterwards so I don't trigger a flag.
Time is the most valuable asset on earth. There is nothing more scarce. Right now, users who watch YouTube, Twitch, and other streaming platforms are exploited for the time and attention that they spend on these platforms. After hours of watching everyday they have nothing to show for it.
Our platform will reward users for the time they spend, while incentivizing content creators to optimize for value delivery instead of CPMs royalties.
Project Overview What solution are you providing?
An online educational platform that allows users to login with a digital wallet and earn rewards based on the time they invest watching and interacting with educational content. Rewards can later be redeemed in a marketplace hosted on the platform.
L&E Model Explained Users can get $LUNCH rewards (Lunch Money) in two ways.
Each minute of watch time will be worth a certain amount of $LUNCH. In this way, users will be rewarded more for watching a longer video than they would be for watching a shorter video. We can also incentivize users to watch certain content by increasing the amount of $LUNCH earned per minute. This could drive traffic to specific videos that we want to showcase.
If users do not have enough $LUNCH rewards for an item that they want in the marketplace, they can purchase additional $LUNCH with STX or Dollars.
Lunch Money ($LUNCH) In-Platform Rewards System Each wallet address used to login to The New School platform will be used to generate a user account. All $LUNCH earned by users will accrue to the account corresponding to their wallet address. So, to be clear - Users will have an account on our website. The internal account ID = wallet address. Users will be able to modify their name as other users see it on the platform. For opsec reasons, Wallet IDs will not be displayed publicly.
$LUNCH is not a cryptocurrency, so $LUNCH will not be held in a digital wallet. $LUNCH will only exist on The New School platform, similar to VBucks in Fortnite or VC in NBA2K.
The amount of $LUNCH distributed per minute and the cost of $LUNCH in the marketplace will be tested and adjusted until the internal economy of the platform is well balanced. This will happen over time as more users interact with the platform.
Why $LUNCH is not a token We don't see a need to add another token to the 10,000 that already exist. That would only add layers of complexity to our platform and business that are unnecessary. Tokens can also attract the wrong type of users to your platform. $LUNCH is simply a way of keeping score. The focus is on providing items in the marketplace that users can truly own and take possession of. The value is extracted from the marketplace, not though a token. The marketplace will offer digital items, physical goods, IRL experiences, and virtual experiences.
The marketplace will be sustained by revenue generated through:
Who will it serve? 1) Newcomers to crypto and NFTs. In the early stages, the platform will focus on attracting content creators in the broader investing and digital asset space. Content will be available for everyone from beginners to advanced users who want to deepen their knowledge in specific areas.
2) Users who want to learn and anyone who wants to teach. As the platform grows, educational content creators will join from other niches. Similar to Twitch or YouTube, we will serve all flavors of educational content.
3) Organizations who want to run events online. Additionally, we will have an enterprise/business license for our platform to cater to large organizations who want to host private events through the platform. These enterprise licenses can integrate NFT ticketing, simple password login (like zoom), or open access public events. For example, if you can't make it to Blockworks' "Permissionless" Conference or "Bitcoin 2022", you could watch a live stream instead.
Scope What are the components or technical specs of the project? What will the final deliverable look like? How will you measure success?
The final deliverable will make live (and on-demand) learning experiences easily accessible from anywhere in the world. These experiences include;
95% of the content on our platform will be publicly accessible, but a small subset of premium content will only be accessible to members (or those who buy tickets to the event). Membership is represented by an access token NFT. Membership unlocks special benefits, such as 'Learn & Earn' capability. Memberships can be resold on the secondary market.
Content creators can register for free. Creators can also receive STX tips p2p directly from viewers who want to support their content. Content creators keep 100% of their tips.
Technical specs The platform will have 3 tiers of content:
The platform will require the following functionality:
KPIs Since our primary goal is to promote education, we genuinely need our platform to be useful. Engagement will be used as a proxy for the utility of our platform since users will not continue to engage with content that they do not find helpful or valuable in some way. Key Engagement Metrics:
Budget and Milestones What grant amount are you seeking? How long will the project take in hours? If more than 20, please break down the project into milestones, with a clear output (e.g., low-fi mockup, MVP with two features) and include the estimated work hours for each milestone.
Total Grant Request: $25,000
MVP: Wallet login Membership access token NFT verification Live streaming Permissioned content tiers Homepage, content viewing page, profile page, memberships page
Team Who is building this? What relevant experience do you bring to this project? Are there skills sets you are missing that you are seeking from the community? Please share links to previous work.
Juwan Brescacin - Graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in journalism. Recently finished his fifth season as a professional football player in the Canadian Football League. Juwan has been involved in the NFT space for over a year now as a mod for multiple NFT projects and has been in charge of community building. He has built an impressive network in the NFT space since he joined and has recently signed to David Gokhstein’s crypto marketing agency as one of their athletes.
Courtney Stephen - Graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Psychology. Played professional football for 7 seasons in the Canadian Football League and has an expansive network in Canada & the US. Turned $7,000 into a 6-figure youth mentorship academy between 2014 and 2020. Over 15 years of coaching and leadership experience. Currently, on the management team of a professional sports franchise.
Drew Hare - Graduated from Northern Illinois University with an MBA. Currently a sales representative for Stryker. Drew brings business experience in sales, business management, relationship building, and business analytics. Jake Hare - Our lead technical consultant, Jake has experience in technology project management, software development, computer systems management, and data analytics.
We have also interviewed (and are prepared to hire) a team of developers from Toronto, ON.
Risks What dependencies or obstacles do you anticipate? What contingency plans do you have in place?
The biggest risk would be a difficulty curating or producing educational content. Solution 1: Secure relationships with content creators before launching. Solution 2: Crowdsource content ideas from our community and then create or curate specific content based on the requests of our community members. Solution 3: Host webinars with experts instead of creating full courses. Webinars are easier and faster to create than courses. Solution 4: Go to live events and broadcast them live. People who can't travel to attend will pay to watch online.
Community and Supporting Materials Do you have previous projects, code commits, or experiences that are relevant to this application? What community feedback or input have you received? How do you plan to share your plan to the community over time and as the final deliverable?
We have assembled an experienced team of advisors to help guide us through this process. One of our advisors has been building enterprise technology solutions for over 20 years. His involvement gives us a mentor that we can lean on during the project rollout and as we inevitably encounter challenges in the process of bringing our platform to market.
We’ve done market research in the areas of online learning, live event production, community building, NFT technology, Stacks, and traditional education systems. We have also sought out feedback on our vision for a live, online learning platform.
Our advisors include: