BizDev: Working (Contributor) Proposal

TLDR

Rarible DAO is an established player in the NFT vertical, and given the rapid development within the space it needs to start expanding the ecosystem and thinking about new business models (revenue opportunities).

It needs a core team of business development and partnership that will help identify partners to connect with the DAO, and help manage the relationship. This in essence will allow Rarible DAO to identify new opportunities in a robust manner. This is key to attracting and retaining NFT innovators and builders on the protocol.

I have over 8 years of experience across the US, Europe, and Asia in consulting, building and investing in ventures, and more recently, leading business development and strategic alliances effort for a unicorn venture. I can help the DAO leverage my existing experience and skills to build this arm from the ground up.

Problem / Opportunity

In the last couple of months the Rarible DAO made a huge expansion with a lot of startups building on it. The DAO needs to continue the momentum, identifying and interacting with multiple projects looking to build on it. This requires a team that has prior experience building similar relationships in the past either in Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 ventures.

The products/features need to be informed based on the market dynamic, and I see business development being the first line of attack in helping understand what various projects are looking to build, how we can help them build it, and finally communicate those requirements to our builders/ developers.

I am looking to provide (upto) 30 hours/week to help build and scale the business development arm. However, in the early phase, the time dedication will primarily be driven by building the processes, identifying initial use cases, bringing structure to the unit, and communicating the opportunities with the DAO.

My contribution to the DAO will have several benefits:

  1. Identify use cases and connect with projects in the ecosystem.
  2. Help build out the biz dev sales pitch and deck to enable the team to communicate the value proposition of the protocol, and identify ways to collaborate
  3. Help raise awareness about the DAO and ecosystem. Showcase what is being built, and how we are the leading NFT innovation. This will help attract more builders who are interested in shaping the future of NFTs on top of the Rarible protocol.
  4. Effectively communicate the needs of the market with the internal team including product and development.
  5. Help build out a seamless process for communication between business development and other DAO units (potential based on the RACI model)
  6. Day to day communication and cooperation with DAO for the expansion of use cases and identifying new channels for growing the ecosystem, for example, hackathons, accelerators, etc.

My Background:

Rohan is a startup builder, operator and investor and after spending 8+ years helping analyze, invest, build, and grow companies across the US, South East Asia, and Europe, Rohan knows what truly drives early state ventures, and what it takes for them to scale. He currently works at NEAR protocol as their Creator in Residence (Accelerator Program) working with DeFi, NFTs, DAO, Open Finance startups, and crypto venture capitalists to build an ecosystem of innovative products.

Prior to it, he worked at the fintech unicorn, Socure, helping them grow their revenue and partner pipeline focusing on BaaS, fintech, and crypto companies. Before that he was responsible for running BBVA’s Venture Studio and Incubator in the US and Europe, and eventually managed their portfolio of 6 ventures across the Americas. There he also worked with Consensys Labs to build and invest in public blockchain companies and even co-authored a paper around the role of FIs in the world of crypto and stablecoins. He spent four years as a management consultant at Ernst & Young working with some of the largest financial institutions across the US and Southeast Asia improving their business operations, and consulting on their M&A strategy. While in Singapore, he built a coalition of FIs to discuss the use cases for blockchain technology, and to understand the challenges and opportunities of implementing the technology.

Useful links/ Contact information:

Email: rohan@rarible.org

Linkedin: Rohan Handa - Creator in Residence (CiR) - NEAR Protocol | LinkedIn

Discord: rohanda#3478

Twitter: @RoParzival

Funding Milestones and Payments

The first scope of my engagement will be to lead business development calls, identifying verticals to target, looking for new use cases, laying out the strategic roadmap for growth, and communicating with various stakeholders – internal and external on all things business development.

I propose to work for (up to) 30 hours/week @ $10,000/month paid in RARI.

Payments will be made to the following Ethereum address:

0xc66E78a18D54A211E2FA2b80ec5389d0B4D4C45e

Accountability

I will attend weekly community calls where I share my progress to the community, providing and updating the milestones accordingly as I make progress.