[Proposal] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces + Founder Days - Monthly Funding Request May 24’
Section 1 - Project Information
NEAR at Night Near at Night - Monthly Funding Request (May 24’) 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) 1 [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) [Approved] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request 06/15/23 [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’ 1 [APPROVED] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request December 24’ [APPROVED] NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces - Monthly Funding Request February 24’
Near at Night has not received any additional funding from other sources.
Section 3. Project URLs
https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT 2 1 NEAR at NIGHT targets all regions and countries with a varied time frame M -T 3pm EDT, & W -Th 10pm EDT allowing for more opportunity for viewers from other timezones to participate.
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 NEAR at NIGHT has also been approved to host an event at NEAR APAC. Relevant proposal linked here 1. Section 5. Team Members
Hosts: David Leer, Brandon Cantu
Co-Host: Zach Harmon
Research: Şenay Akdemir Bükrek
Social Links:
https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT 1 1775 Followers https://twitter.com/dleer_defi 5,735 Followers https://twitter.com/monzaNFT 3,684 Followers https://twitter.com/Brand0mand0 1275 Followers https://twitter.com/Krikkraktrak 784 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 leads 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.
David Leer - Host
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.
Zach Harmon - Social Media Manager/Co-Host
Zach Harmon has been in the crypto space as a participant/consumer for over 3 years. In January 2022 he transitioned to a more active role building in the crypto community; specifically on NEAR Protocol. Zach has a degree in Education and a passion for helping people learn. The crypto space can be extremely difficult for newcomers, Zach and his partners are working to make the transition from web2 to web3 easier. Zach has worked with NEARNFTDAO, and he is a core member of WGMI Solutions Team working with various projects on Web3, as well as a core team member of The Murder Mystery Collective.
As Co-Host of NEAR at NIGHT, Zach helps lead conversation and build out the daily Spaces agenda. Zach is also the main moderator during NEAR at NIGHT. He makes sure speakers requests are accepted quickly, he pins important links during different points of discussion and mutes/removes any speakers that are being disrespectful to others.
Şenay Akdemir Bükrek - Research & Coordination
Şenay has been a full time crypto degen since 2020. She enjoys playing around on testnet betas, following early products, supporting builders and being a dedicated member of NFT communities. Şenay is a major contributor to NEAR native projects, working as Community Manager for the Mr. Brown Project and is a part of the NDC as a core contributor for the NFT Work. Şenay is committed to the women in crypto movement and LGBTI+s adaptation to crypto.
Şenay has a background in Labor Economics and Industry Relations. She has worked in different sectors of administrative duties including Personal Assistant, Executive Assistant, Logistics, Governance, Project Management, HR and Residence Planning for more than 15 years. She is passionate about giving back to society by participating in multiple NGOs including Purple Roof Women’s Shelter, Greenpeace and Doğa Derneği(Nature Organization).
Şenay is supporting NEAR at NIGHT with research and coordination. She helps assemble the daily agenda by finding important news and events happening in crypto and the NEAR ecosystem. Şenay reaches out to Founders of NEAR native projects to schedule them as a speaker during NEAR at NIGHT.
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)
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, David, and Monza are all Near ecosystem founders and Senay is a core contributor for the NFT workgroup.
Relevant Data Points Showing Competencies:
Trove labs has been able to scale N@N to 2031 followers with over 10 months of continued support. For the December N@N proposal, we held 16/16 spaces from 01/10/24 to 02/13/24, with topics focusing on the NDC, BOS as well as new projects and founders building on NEAR Protocol. We have averaged 220.4 viewers tuning in and 1057 impressions per session. Our performance this proposal saw over 100% growth in views from last run, and we had consistent views for each space.
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. The community receives information on how to participate in community-led marketing efforts. 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.
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.
Our most recent partnership with Near Horizon will allow us to take over founder fridays, to highlight current founders in the NH2 cohort, and promote signups for Near Horizon 3! Our efforts are extremely beneficial for new founders within the Near ecosystem.
For this proposal, we are asking for an additional month of funding. Our efforts at Near at Night have continued to draw a regular audience as well as highlight many of the projects still building on NEAR protocol. Twitter blue has helped to create a marked increase in our visibility.
We have also been using our platform to promote and discuss important events within the NDC on a weekly basis. On July 7th, we had over 26,000 impressions for our spaces showing a continuous significant impact from our efforts.
For May, we will continue to promote/cover the MDAO focus points. Our proposal aligns with the current Marketing DAO guidelines for April by:
Covering chain abstraction and Data availability Educating users about Nearcon,NDC, BOS and other active projects via AMA spaces. (Metrics measured via impressions and views per space) Encouraging developers to build on NEAR by providing spotlight and encouraging users to interact/engage with what they are developing Using ShardDog links to measure on chain interactions and promote onboarding.
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. A consistent community presence on Twitter is extremely important for onboarding new users and strengthening existing projects and teams within NEAR protocol. Regular Twitter Spaces shows act as a primary source of information and community interaction for many people in Web3 and in the NEAR community. We are proud to continue providing this much needed presence for the NEAR ecosystem via the Near at Night platform which has continued to gain momentum since our first proposal.
How Does This Project Help Solve the Problems You’ve Listed?
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
Professionally structured Twitter Spaces for the NEAR community, by the NEAR community, is one of the highest impact community-led marketing activities that exists at this time.
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.
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.
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.
Near at Night has led 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 the community and the appropriate institutions (MDAO, NDC, Etc.) to improve our proposals and deliverables.
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.
Section 8. Project Deliverables
N@N will deliver 16 twitter Spaces AMAs for the month of April with a mix of guests from the NEAR ecosystem with an increased focus on the BOS, Nearcon updates, and the NDC.
NEAR @ NIGHT AMAs are distributed on twitter via our N@N account on twitter https://twitter.com/NEAR_at_NIGHT
The N@N twitter profile posts multiple announcements and reminders per AMA each month, ~50 posts per month minimum.
AMAs and interviews are formatted to allow each project time (~1 hour) to highlight what they are building and to address the audience and answer questions. AMAs are announced 48 hours in advance, with a general agenda being created with the attending project. N@N is open to any project seeking to participate in an AMA and often takes feedback & polls from the community to select projects for upcoming AMAs.
Section 9. Budget
Projected Budget for the next three months (In USD for each Task/Milestone) $12408 for the next 3 months. Links to Similar Proposals from Near Foundation, existing GDAOs, Near ECO (if applicable)
Wild user Interviews Podcast Chill & Shill Neko Morning Show Ready Layer One
What is the length of Commitment to Delivering Your Project? Will your team be working on this project full-time?
The team will not be full time. Will your team be fully renumerated from this budget?
The team receives a portion of the budget with the rest going to maintaining the production and covering operating fees.
We are requesting funding for 1 month (4 weeks, Mon-Tues No-name profile
3pm 3pm EST, Wed-Thurs No-name profile
10pm 10pm EST) of NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces from the date (In Dec) we receive funding. Total of 16 QTY NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces.
Content > Podcast/Twitter Spaces > Educational = $258 (~120.56 NEAR) per Spaces session = $4128 (~2268.13 NEAR) per month (16 spaces) + Twitter Blue @ $8 per month
$4136 per month
16 QTY NEAR at NIGHT Twitter Spaces per month at a total cost of $4136
$258.50 per Spaces session
See below breakdown of costs including 1 host, 2 co-hosts and 1 researcher
Breakdown of David Leer time:
Research / Create Agenda: 1 hour per day Coordination: 30 minutes per day Host Spaces: 1 hour per day Breakdown of Brandon Cantu time:
Research / Create Agenda: 1 hour per day Coordination: 30 minutes per day Co-Host Spaces: 1 hour per day Breakdown of Zach Harmon time:
Manage N@N Social Platform: 30 min per day Co-Host Spaces: 1 hour per day Breakdown of Şenay Akdemir Bükrek time:
Research / Create Agenda: 1 hour per day Coordination: 1 hour per day Start date of the proposal will be as soon as we are approved.
Section 10. Project/DAO longevity Does your project/DAO require one-time or continuous funding?
Near at Night provides a common good service for the Near community. We bring together KOLs and project founders from across the entire ecosystem and provide a space for them to share innovative ideas and discuss important web 3 topics.
Will your DAO/Project device way of sustaining itself after this round of funding?
Near at Night is not designed for monetization of discussions/AMAs besides potential youtube monetization for short/longform content… This would not create a conducive environment for the core values of the show. We will instead focus on amplifying the Near community to onboard and educate newcomers to the ecosystem.
What are the possible roadblocks to the success of your project/DAO?
A lack of funding or support for the Near community would prevent us from benefiting the Near ecosystem and from increasing exposure for talented teams and projects within Near.