Section 1 - Project Information
- NEAR at Night
- Near at Night - NEARCON 23’ (Nov 7-10th) Live Coverage and Content Creation
- Established 08/21/22
Section 2. Previous Funding
- Trove labs has received funding for NEAR at Night from multiple past approved proposals.
- Please refer to the following proposals for past funding information:
- [Approved] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request
- [Approved] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request (November)
- [Approved] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - 3 Month Funding Request (Edited 02/13/23)
- [Approved] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request 05/03/23 (edited 05/10/23)
- http://gov.near.org/t/approved-near-at-night-twitter-spaces-monthly-funding-request-06-15-23/34950
[Approved] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request August 23' [Edited 08/13/23] - [APPROVED] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request September 23' - #6 by TroveLabs
- Near at Night has not received any additional funding from other sources.
Section 3. Project URLs
- https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT 2
- NEAR at NIGHT targets all regions and countries. For this proposal the liveshows will take place during NEARcon events in the Lisbon timezone (GMT +1).
Section 4. Applicant Information
- Applicant Name: Brandon Cantu (Trove Labs)
- Profile - TroveLabs - NEAR Forum
- Wallet: trovelabs.near
- United States
- Twitter 2
- Trove Labs | LinkedIn
- Trove-team (Trove Labs) · GitHub
Section 5. Team Members
Hosts: Brandon Cantu, David Leer
Social Links:
- https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT 8 21650 Followers
- https://twitter.com/dleer_defi 5,103 Followers
- https://twitter.com/Brand0mand0 21144 Followers
Trove Labs Projects - Twitter Links:
- https://twitter.com/jumpdefi 1 25,600 Followers
- https://twitter.com/goodfortunenft 25,600 Followers + Verified on Twitter
- https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT 1,716 Followers
Brandon Cantu - Host & Coordination
Brandon is a former Laboratory Manager with extensive experience in managing project teams and developing business operations. As Co-Founder of Trove labs, he lives out his passion for web 3.0 by overseeing the product development of Jump DeFi, Good Fortune Felines, & other projects from throughout the crypto ecosystem. He manages projects & communities at a high level.
As Co-Host of NEAR at NIGHT, Brandon helps lead conversation and organizes AMAs with other Near ecosystem projects and teams. Brandon also oversees the grant process for N@N and works closely with the Marketing DAO and NDC to deliver on KPIs and ensure consistent growth from all proposals related to NEAR t NIGHT and trove labs.
David Leer - Host & Coordination
David is the Co-Founder of Trove Labs; developer of NEAR native projects Jump DeFi & NEKO.
David began investing into crypto seriously in 2020; learning how to utilize DeFi to reach financial freedom. David started making crypto content in 2021 to teach others about DeFi and NFTs.
David was a first mover in many alt-layer 1 ecosystems before discovering NEAR in December 2021. At that time, David realized NEAR Protocol is special and he decided to devote his life to building in the ecosystem. David transitioned from a career in engineering to focus on Jump DeFi, NEKO, and the growth of the NEAR Protocol ecosystem full time. David is a passionate leader who works hard to empower people within the NEAR Protocol community.
As host of NEAR at NIGHT, David is responsible for maintaining engaging conversation through the duration of the Twitter Spaces. David moderates the conversation to ensure all speakers feel safe to speak their mind. Additionally, David participates in daily research for the NEAR at NIGHT agenda and coordinates with Şenay to schedule project Founders to attend as speakers.
Section 6. Experience
What related qualifications, experience or track record does your team bring to this initiative?
- Short Summary of Your Professional Experience: (Refer to team experience above)
- Trove labs has developed the following Near ecosystem projects: Jump DeFi, Neko, Near at Night and has been involved/worked with with many other projects in the ecosystem. Brandon, and David, are Near ecosystem founders and Key Opinion Leaders within the community.
Relevant Works:
Relevant Data Points Showing Competencies:
Trove labs has been able to scale N@N to 1686 followers with over 7 months of continued support. We have also been able to market/build the Jump DeFi and Neko communities to 29,000 & 26,000 followers (on twitter alone) respectively. During (July), we had ~14k impressions and ~195 views per space. With dedicated builders from multiple projects within the ecosystem and NDC, we have the necessary skill sets and relationships needed to build a consistent social media presence for Near protocol through NEAR at Night.
Section 7. Project Goals
Project Description:
NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces is a safe space for people to speak their mind about issues they see in the NEAR ecosystem. Founders provide updates on approaching milestones for their respective projects. Near at Night creates its schedule and agenda from open communication with the NEAR ecosystem, while we tend to focus on upcoming projects and project updates, anyone can request to speak on N@N. For this proposal we will be targeting guests participating in Nearcon 23’.
NEAR at NIGHT has scaled its own Twitter account into a popular platform; enabling more people to take on host roles as we grow to accommodate multiple time zones. Also, we have diversified the timing of certain NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces to ensure any NEAR Project can be a guest regardless of their geographic location, with spaces Mon-Tues @ 3pm EST & Wed-Thurs @ 10pm EST.
Most important, NEAR at NIGHT and Trove Labs have onboarded multiple individuals and projects to the ecosystem resulting in an increase in critical infrastructure and projects required for a thriving community.
For this proposal, we are asking for funding to allow our team to provide live coverage of Nearco 23’ in Lisbon, as well as to highlight and obtain footage from all three venues at the event. We will then create short form video content to showcase the incredibly talented teams and individuals that participate in Nearcon, including creators, hackathon participants, and more. We would also like to work with shardog to conduct a giveaway for those attending the livestreams during the event. Those that attend and obtain the claimable token via shardDog link, will be eligible for the giveaway. We know giveaways can often be abused, but we feel that given the importance of the event, the giveaway is justified. Carefully executed giveaways help incentivize the general public to learn more about the community and individuals behind the NEAR ecosystem while helping to create new Near wallets proving an overall positive impact to the ecosystem…
What Problem Are You Aiming to Solve?
NEAR Protocol needs a stronger marketing presence in order to achieve its goal of onboarding 1 billion users. It is a critical time for Near Protocol as an ecosystem, with huge milestones like the NDC and BOS being a focus for the Near foundation. A consistent community presence established by professional quality content and presence is important for onboarding new users and strengthening existing projects and teams within NEAR protocol. Live coverage of conference events helps to multiply the impact and provide accessibility for those not able to attend in person.
How Does This Project Help Solve the Problems You’ve Listed?
Since the initial NEAR at NIGHT spaces in August 2022, Near at Night has been providing an inclusive platform for all Near ecosystem projects and their communities for a total of 9 months!
NEAR at NIGHT has served as a platform for Founders and team members of NEAR native projects to showcase what they are building and discuss upcoming roadmap milestones. Additionally, we covered the latest updates and news from all facets of the NEAR ecosystem. NEAR at NIGHT is a node for the NEAR community to stay up to date and involved with the NEAR ecosystem. Also, Near at Night provides a platform which generates significant impressions and views for projects that need a boost in engagement
For this proposal, N@N will be able to amplify the impact of Nearcon 2023 and provide a community perspective of the event via quality video content, both live, and short form for continued consumption via youtube, twitter, etc.
There has been precedent for the efficacy of live conference coverage by community teams (RLO at Nearcon 22’), and we know that NEAR at NIGHT can achieve the same impact, while highlighting important developments vital for Near Protocol’s successes. (NDC V1, Hackathon, BOS, etc.).
NEAR at Night Goals:
- Consistently grow out the N@N audience & impact
- Cover all 3 days of Nearcon 23’.
- Cover all three venue’s, including the hackathon and speaking events.
- Invite guests attending/participating in Nearcon 23’
- Highlight NEAR ecosystem News/updates
- Obtain footage to develop short form content from post event
- Use ShardDog links to promote engagement and onboard near wallets via giveaway.
- Maintain KPIs and impressions for N@N content & Marketing DAO directives.
Section 8. Project Deliverables
N@N will deliver 6 LIVE spaces during NEARcon to provide realtime coverage of the event, hackathon participants and ecosystem members present at the conference.
N@N will also film all three venues of the event (including the Nearcon HQ, Hacker HQ, and Community HQ) to acquire footage for short form content (1-3 minute videos), and create 8 video content pieces post Nearcon to further highlight the event and community.
For an example of the short form content quality, click HERE
With the beginning of V1 of the NDC, the focus on the BOS, and the arrival of the biggest NEARcon event so far, N@N will be able to leverage its audience and professional content creation capabilities to further amplify the NEAR ecosystem via live coverage and content videos highlighting the event. Furthermore, there was a considerable impact from a similar live coverage initiative from Ready Layer One. Illia Polosukhin at NEARCON 2022 discussing NEAR Protocol
For the event, NIGHT at NIGHT will use restream to simultaneously stream the event to youtube, twitter, instagram and more for maximum efficacy and accessibility. We will also market the event and streams via our twitter account before and after Nearcon. Short for content will be distributed via twitter and youtube. https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT 2
The N@N twitter profile will post frequently (5-10 posts a week) leading up to and during NEARcon 23’.
Live streams are formatted to allow each guest/project time (~1 hour) to highlight what they are building and to address important events taking place at Nearcon. Shows will be announced in advance, with guests being confirmed closer to the event. Guests will include ecosystem contributors, teams, and hackathon participants to equally represent the conference in a robust manner. Content creation will be taken from team interviews, event coverage and other footage taken from the conference.
Section 9. Budget
We are requesting funding for 3 full days of live coverage for Nearcon 2023 (6 livestreams), 8 short form content videos, and production costs associated. In coordination with the Near Foundation & Nearweek, we are also requesting a space to conduct livestream interviews at the venue.
Content > Podcast/Live Streams > Educational/Live coverage = $280 per Spaces session = 6 livestreams ($280 X 6) = $1680
Content > Short Form Content > Educational = $280 per short content video = 8 Videos ($280 X 8) = $2240
Production Costs + Supplemental Equipment + Giveaway + Supportive Funds = $1080
Total = $5000
See below breakdown of costs/time for N@N team.
Breakdown of David Leer time:
- Live Host Event: min. 6 hour Hosting during event (6 Livestreams)
- Coordination: 1 Hour per day (3 Days)
- Footage: 1 Hour per Day (3 Days)
- Content Creation/Video editing: 1-2 Hours/video (8 Videos)
Breakdown of Brandon Cantu time:
- Live Host Event: min. 6 hour Hosting during event (6 Livestreams)
- Coordination: 1 Hour per day (3 Days)
- Footage: 1 Hour per Day (3 Days)
- Content Creation/Video editing: 1-2 Hours/video (8 Videos)
Near Digital Collective Core Values Update [10/22/23] @marketingdao-council @Bakaka :
1. Empowering the ecosystem (for people by people)
NEAR at NIGHT empowers the ecosystem by providing a spotlight for projects, teams, and Key opinion leaders to amplify themselves and engage in compelling discussion with the N@N audience and community members from throughout the NEAR ecosystem. We follow important updates and engage in natural conversation that provides a comfortable environment for those looking to onboard onto NEAR protocol.
2. Respected by the ecosystem (fair, accountable, transparent, and reliable)
Our team has been deeply rooted in the NEAR ecosystem since 2021 and has fostered strong relationships within the community. We frequently host guests from the most prestigious and respected projects/organizations on NEAR, and are dedicated to maintaining a strong reputation within our platform.
3. Dedicated to ideas of decentralization (antifragile, scalable, with collective decision-making)
The main focus of our show is to highlight and discuss the ways in which decentralization and Near protocol can advance the future of technology through blockchain innovations. We consistently amplify the values of the Near Foundation and NDC and target guests related to the above values and topics.
4. Efficient operation (don’t be a burden; instead, help the Community to be more efficient)
Near at Night has lead the way with the AMA show format and proposal structure used by most of the Near community to date. We pride ourselves in our efficient operations, reports, and proposals. We constantly work with community and the appropriate institutions (MDAO, NDC, Etc.) to improve our proposals and deliverables.
5. Continuous improvement via weekly iterations (plan, measure results, and adjust continuously)
N@N constantly improves its content and structure monthly according to feedback and changes. Recently we have added an on chain metric in the form of ShardDog links claimable during most AMAs. We have maintained one of the highest views and impressions rates per show without use of giveaway incentives. We are open to any feedback from the NDC/MDAO and will adjust as needed.
Metrics
1. Accounts retention after 1/2/4/8 weeks — the percentage of accounts who continue interacting on the chain over a given time period (higher is better)
N@N continues to steadily grow month after month. Our follower/impression growth is organic and reported monthly.
2. Account acquisition cost — budget divided by the number of accounts interacting through the funded initiative (lower is better)
For our last fully completed report in august we averaged 68 viewers ($3.67 per view) and 1186 impressions per space ($.21 per impression). However this was during a time of limited funding and momentum caused by MDAO’s focus on NDC elections.
Prior to this in the month of July we had an average of 195 viewers ($1.32 per view) and 13679 impressions per space ($.0189) per impression.
3. Median number of dApps used by P95 accounts retained for 1+ week (higher is better)
We do not currently have a way of tracking this other than ShardDog’s claimed. (data will be in next report for the month of October)
4. Number of accounts retained for 1+ week using at least three dApps (higher is better)
We do not currently have a way of tracking this other than ShardDog’s claimed. (data will be in next report for the month of October)
5. Social engagement score — some compound metric of the number of posts, likes, and followers/views in social media produced by the users.
October 21 - 25th time for proposals from the Community, updates accordingly to NDC Metrics;
October 27-31st, House of Merit (HOM) will review your proposal;
October 31 – HOM will vote for your proposal on-chain;