Proposal for No Code NFT Minting on Aurora
###Section 1 - DAO/Project Information
Organization Name: The DeFi Network LLC (Parent company - DBA “Dropspace”)
Established: September, 2021
Category: NFT (Primary marketplace)
###Section 2 - URLs
Note: Had to remove links to post on forum
Is Your Project Targeting a Specific Country? No, it’s worldwide
Which region will your Project support? Any regions worldwide, catering to English speakers
###Section 3 - Previous Funding
Our team has received incentives from Aleph Zero as well as Nibiru in the form of tokens to provide support for their chains.
###Section 4 - Applicant Information
Name of Point of Contact: Mihir or Blake
NEAR Wallet ID: 1e8fb683f04a6cfa449c66a3ee2c47c3e9a79ab6beb8b9176a7f42047ec7c1f0 (team wallet)
Country of Residence: United States
Section 5 - Team Information
We’re all part of a team called The DeFi Network! We’ve been BUIDLing in the space together since 2021.
Blake
Director of Operations
10+ years of growth and entrepreneurial experience
Worked with startups in the web3 space since 2017 on the marketing and operations side
Mihir Wadekar
Co-Founder and Developer
Master’s in Computer Science (Blockchain) from University of California
Chaitenya Gupta
Co-Founder and Developer
Master’s Computer Science in Blockchain from University of California
Liki Crus
Head of Development
More than 15 years of experience in development
In brief, we’re a highly diverse and capable team with innovative solutions. We pride ourselves on creating an excellent user experience on the front end and back end.
We will be solely dedicated to this project during the active grant period and it will get our full attention!
###Section 6 - Experience
Together we have a long track record of driving projects to completion.
Our flagship product is Dropspace, the one we’re proposing to bring to Aurora
We’ve launched a number of projects including Jarritos (a big soda brand in the US and Mexico) and Women and Weapons which was endorsed and minted on our platform by Gary Vaynerchuk (he even tweeted about it).
We’ve seen a range of applications including brand communities, pfp projects, ebooks, memberships, ecommerce items and now we want to expand that even more.
Outside of dropspace, we’ve launched more than 100 web3 smart contracts for clients and developed DeFi protocols, marketplaces, NFT infrastructure and more.
In total we’ve done more than $10,000,000 USD in sales via Dropspace, so there’s proof that it works. We want to bring everything to Aurora!
###Section 7 - Project Goals
Project Overview:
Dropspace is a cutting-edge NFT minting platform designed to simplify the NFT creation process for artists, creators, brands and enthusiasts. It offers an intuitive interface for minting NFTs, adding metadata, and integrating NFT sales into websites.
Sure, there are launchpads but there are a number of downsides:
→ The tech is clunky
→ You don’t own the smart contract
→ You’re forced to launch on their platform
→ You need to give up a percentage of your sale
→ It’s a super rudimentary solution that is not a replacement for hiring a dev - it’s only good for minting one-off NFTs and not doing a blind mint like all popular collections
(I’m sure there are more we’re missing)
Dropspace is a free solution for creating digital collectibles of all types.
Imagine it not like a launchpad but like a Stripe tool for easy NFT minting. You embed the widget on your website and voila, you sell your NFT.
Mission:
To make NFT minting easy and accessible to the masses.
Requested budget:
For this month, we are requesting $4800 USD to get the initial steps set up for bringing our critical NFT infrastucture over to Aurora.
What Problem Are You Aiming to Solve?
We’re trying to solve three problems that are higly related:
-
The majority of NFT creators have little technical knowledge (and perhaps little budget to invest) but are fascinated with the technology. Finances and lack of technical know-how are major barriers to adoption.
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The NFT ecosystem in web3 at large has the following issue: Only quality projects launch using launchpads, and high quality projects have large budgets to develop on their own and do a custom blind mint with delayed reveal.
-
Creators who launch projects on launchpads or on OpenSea directly don’t own their smart contracts and this doesn’t align with the ethos of web3
Here’s why Dropspace helps achieve those:
→ It has no cost to creators
→ It requires no code to deploy an NFT smart contract
→ It allows you to do a blind mint delayed reveal (just like Bored Ape Yacht Club and all the hottest projects)
→ You own the smart contract
→ You can control all aspects through a panel on the back end (withdrawal, sale start/stop, details, etc)
→ It’s super easy to deploy
→ There’s a widget you can easily embed on any website and essentially white label the mint
→ The tech works seamlessly
→ It’s already proven
How Dropspace can help achieve NDC priorities, goals, and KPIs?
Dropspace directly aligns with the following priorities:
P-1: Widening Adoption of NEAR
Dropspace helps remove the barrier to adoption but making it easy for anyone wanting to deploy on Aurora to be able to – and without cost. We will help grow the NFT ecosystem and help with the adoption of NEAR.
P-1.2: Onboard Successful Projects
Dropspace is an already successful project in web3 and this will allow us to onboard to the ecosystem.
Roadmap of Dropspace:
For this month, we propose to get the followng milestone completed:
dropspace Aurora Smart Contracts + Extensive Testing
We will work to create the main smart contracts needed to power Dropspace on Aurora. We will then complete extensive testing and security checks to ensure everything is working smoothly.
Future roadmap items on Aurora include:
-front end testing, testnet + web3 integration + mainnet
-ERC1155 capabilities
-Mint Widget
-rarityspace on Aurora
###Section 8 - Budget
Projected Budget:
$4800
What is the length of Commitment to Delivering Your Project?
This is an ongoing commitment indefinitely, and this can be shown by our dedication to continue expanding and growing the platform since 2021. But this grant will get us through the initial stages of building on Aurora.
We will dedicate the next month to getting the main smart contracts all set up on Dropspace for Aurora and doing comprehensive testing.
Will your team be working on this project full-time?
Yes we will be.
Will your team be fully renumerated from this grant?
Our team will not be fully renumerated from this grant, as we have a monthly burn rate of more than 3x this amount (without the founders taking any salary), but we see the long term viability of building on Aurora and are optimistic that in time, we will be profitable. The grant funds will allow us to offset some of our investment into the project until that point.
NEAR Address where the funds will be transferred:
1e8fb683f04a6cfa449c66a3ee2c47c3e9a79ab6beb8b9176a7f42047ec7c1f0
###Section 9 - Project Longevity
Dropspace on Aurora does not require continous funding - we expect to only apply for funding several times until we are completely on board with Aurora and have developed all our key NFT infrastructure to the ecosystem. By then, we plan to be self-sustaining (at least enough to cover costs on our end).
What are the possible roadblocks to the success of your project/DAO?
The only roadblocks we envision are that there is not enough demand from the community to create NFT projects outside of typical launchpads, but this has not proven to the the case in any other ecosystem we’ve entered. There is no barrier for creation on Dropspace with it being 100% free for creators to launch their own smart contracts/NFT collections, so it’s hard to imagine the community not utilizing it. All the feedback we’ve gotten is positive.
There will be no technical barriers because we have already proven capability to deploy in simialr environments.
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Looking forward to get started building on Aurora! Feel free to ask us any questions.