Project Name: Ready Layer One Podcast
Link: Ready Layer One • A podcast on Anchor
Funding: Monthly (This is a new grant after our original)
Hello all! We’re back proposing a new grant to help continue and grow the Ready Layer One podcast. We have had a lot of success since our last request despite the market conditions and have a clear action plan to continue building and growing our content in support of the NEAR ecosystem.
Changes & Growth Since Last Grant Request:
- A new website (readylayeronepodcast.com) to organize all of our content which includes the podcasts, videos, and blogs.
- Twitter following & engagement has 4x
- The listener audience size has 3x (listeners from 54 different countries)
- 10+ New episodes recorded
- Added a YouTube channel
Project Description:
Two long-time friends have a weekly podcast about what is going on in the crypto world, specifically within NEAR. Joe, a software architect, and developer, tries to guide listeners on the technical side of crypto. Jared looks at the community, narratives, branding, and adoption side of crypto. Their calls cover current topics on the technology, community, and economics of cryptocurrency and Web3 through the lens of the NEAR ecosystem.
Team (Hosts):
Jared is a content creator and crypto investor. Starting his crypto journey in early 2017 he learned a lot from the ICO boom and bust cycle, followed by the multiyear bear market. Today he focuses on web3 and NFTs. He’s the director of video for a tech company in NYC. For the past 10 years he’s been focused on marketing content that amplifies the brand strategy and delivers the content globally for marketing and social media teams.
Joe is a software developer and architect with over 15 years in the web2 space. He started with crypto back in 2017 as well and began tinkering with web3 and NEAR in 2021. His day job currently is as an integration architect for a global software development company but is working to move to web3. He provides the technical viewpoints on the podcast and will serve as tech lead for any Ready Layer One related projects.
Social Links:
https://twitter.com/ready_layer_one
https://twitter.com/joespano_
https://twitter.com/jarednotjerry1
Funding Requests:
We are looking for a grant to support the next month (9,600 USD total / ~2,857N at the moment):
- At least 8 (4 audio-only + 4 audio/video) full-length episodes (time for research, recording, editing, promotion) - at least 2 episodes released per week (similar to what we have done so far) ~ 3,600 USD
- This includes help for editing videos and cutting clips for social media.
- An additional 12+ pieces of original content per episode to expand reach on social (YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and blogs). ~ 1,000 USD
Additional Cost per episode breakdown (5,000 USD total):- Recording 2 hours x 2 hosts (~$200)
- Editor $175
- Post Production $150
- Optimized Show Notes
- Social Media Artwork
- Audio & Video Trailer
- Featured Quotes
- SEO Heavy Blog Post & Transcripts
- Social Media promotion & content ~ 1-2 hours (~$100)
Additional monthly considerations:
- at least 1 long-form blog post
- community management
- recording subscriptions
DAO: ready-layer-one.sputnik-dao.near
Wallet: readylayerone.near - Owned by Jared & Joe
Continued Impact:
This will continue to help promote the NEAR ecosystem by giving those within the ecosystem a chance to tell their story and be part of the recorded history of NEAR. We also believe that we can become a positive voice in the community to help educate newcomers and current users on what is happening in the NEAR ecosystem and how to make the best of their experience. Since our original grant we now have projects of all sizes coming to us to be on the podcast (ie, Mintbase, Metapool, Octopus Network). We also had a presence at the Miami Hacker House which led to more exposure.
We have accelerated our participation in the podcast space by increasing our output to now have recorded 25 episodes and released 24. We have released at least 1 per week and have recorded a demo episode for a potential partnership with NEARWEEK. We have started to add in a weekly recap episode in addition to our guest interviews.
Additionally, both Jared and Joe have continued to be very active on Twitter as the Ready Layer One account and as themselves helping promote different projects and initiatives within the NEAR ecosystem, as well in various Discords.
Lastly, we are now expanding with YouTube videos, bite-sized audio/video for Twitter, and TikTok.
Continued Success measurements:
Success for us will be both listeners (per episode and across all) and community engagement. For community engagement, we will try to measure the reach of our show/content on social media channels and qualitative feedback on the work we are doing.
We believe our endeavor will continue to be successful since we are passionate about NEAR, podcasting, and community engagement. Our two different perspectives have helped add color to every conversation. Additionally, with our different backgrounds in marketing and software, we are well equipped to develop and execute a roadmap that includes content creation, marketing, and product development. Thank you for your continued support.