Crypto Kweens - Rarible Grant Application
Intro / TLDR
Crypto Kweens will be the first-ever female-centric NFT Marketplace in the web 3.0 space built on the Rarible protocol. This project was created as part of the NFT Vision Hackathon that took place last Summer; I was selected as a finalist with Alex, CEO of Rarible, making a positive comment about the project.
I thought I would apply for this funding based on the following article - https://rarible.medium.com/introducing-the-rarible-protocol-an-open-source-cross-chain-tool-for-nft-innovation-318f7c7fb4f0
Problem / Opportunity
It was recently reported that only 5% of NFT sales are made by women - It's A Man's Market: NFT Female Artists Made 5% Of Sales In 21 Months
What Crypto Kweens hopes to solve is to create a safe, secure and supportive space for women and other marginalised groups to claim their space in web 3:0 and in doing so create more diversity and inclusion in the Blockchain ecosystem.
I believe âniche marketplacesâ will be a future trend for the NFT space.
The feedback to this has been very positive across social media (twitter) and via my LiVES.
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Funding Milestones and Payments
Note: Proposers should deliver on something before asking for payment, which is a common practice in other DAO communities like Yearn. What is delivered as a first milestone is flexible and will depend on the project! This could include: designs, a demo, a detailed execution plan, etc.
- WIBT Milestones & Payments:
Phase 1: Phase one will be the creation of the prototype (see below), and proof of market interest in the form of a waiting list - Nov 2021 - $10k - DONE!
Phase 2. Phase two is building the marketplace and acquiring our first 10 artists as well as releasing our first collection - Daughters of Blockchain onto the platform - via a smart contract. Dec 2021 / Jan 2022 - $25k .
We released the Xmas special edition of DOB collection but without the funds and support to build the community the sales were minimal. We now require funds to fully build the NFT Marketplace on the Protocol.
Phase 3. Test on the platform (once built) with our selected 10 artists and execute a marketing plan for social growth and awareness with a marketing / social media company - Jan/Feb 2022 - $30k
Phase 4, Full launch of the platform March 2021 in conjunction with International Womenâs Month - promotional costs will be required for this - $10k
The total payment requested is $70K USD, complete upon delivery of phases.
Based on the article mentioned above I understand that this is possible as a first request.
Payments will be made to the following Ethereum address: 0x4E49824a03344365801f354BA70fFBc7BBF0c5AB (USDT ERC20)
We consider ourselves independent contractors of the Rarible DAO and will report taxes accordingly based on the legislation of the tax jurisdiction the team belongs to.
Use of funds
Funds will be used for the deliverables stated plus to pay myself living costs as I work on this project full time.
Business Model
The business model is in the form of a marketplace, so income will be made from the successful sales of the artistâs NFTs.
I will find artists and buyers through my professional network of over 3k on Twitter, 5k on Linkedin, and my WiBT (Women in Blockchain Talks) community of over 1000 plus and growing.
Using the CK waiting list, we currently have 5 confirmed artists and plan to have 10 confirmed by the end of January. These ten artists will test the platform and then in March, we will open up the Marketplace fully to others on the waiting list. We plan for this all to coincide with International Womenâs Day/Month (March 8th).
It is important to say that we will not just be a âmarketplaceâ but an educational/service platform. What do I mean by this - well the following are our 6 USPs.
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Female-Centric - we want to support women in the space as well as encourage women to come into the space. The numbers speak for themselves (see article above)
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80/20 - Although Crypto Kweens is female-centric we are all about INCLUSION so we have put in place an 80/20 rule where 80% of artists and creators are women and 20% will be men and non-binary. This way we are creating a platform for many and not just a few.
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Curation Model - the model we have chosen to use is similar to Known Origin. This will allow us to keep a level of quality as well as ensure, to the best of our ability, the 80/20 rule. So, we wonât be âopenâ like Opeansea.
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Marketing Support - We understand that artists want to focus on being artists and that marketing is not their key business skill, so what Crypto Kween will offer are Marketing 101 talks, exercises as well as spotlighting in the CK community and social media.
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Community Support - Again, community building is not a strong skill for many, so Crypto Kween will provide a channel under the umbrella of the CK Discord server, as well as give tips on how to build a community.
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Tech (Smart contract) Support - Creating a generative art collection requires a smart contract. We will provide recommendations to those without their own tech team or experts to an experienced 3rd party tech team to assist and support them with their projects. In doing this it will help lower the barrier to entry for many.
Team Members
Person A: Founder. Lavinia Osbourne -
Lavinia is the host and founder of the award-winning blockchain education and events networking platform - Women in Blockchain Talks. It was founded in 2019 and at its heart is the promotion of diversity and inclusion in all its forms but in particular gender, minority groups, and languages/cultures. Although female-led, the community is open to ALL genders.
In addition to the above WiBT launched the diversity campaign - 50k women into blockchain by 2023.
Lavinia is also a Linkedin leading voice in Technology & Innovation 2021, as well as a Wirex Rising Women in Crypto (Powerlist) 2021.
Person B: Tech lead / Developer, Mihirsinh Parmar - He is the Founder of Chain Lab India, in addition to this he works for Curve Labs in Germany
Person C: Designer, Jay Kadam -
Person D: Community Lead, Claire McLean -
The contact person for this project will be Person A - Lavinia Osbourne.
Her contact information is lavinia AT womeninblockchiantalks DOT com and her Discord handle is #laviniao
We have been working together as a team since October/November 2021
Accountability
Our project will attend community calls on at least a monthly basis, and provide updates on our milestones as we make progress. In the event that we canât fulfill our commitment, funds will be returned to Rarible DAO. We will also work with community members to ensure updates are distributed through the Rarible communication channels.
Why should Rarible DAO fund this?
Crypto Kweens is a legitimate project building on the Rarible protocol which will lead to others using the platform and perhaps building their own ânicheâ marketplace on the platform. This is a key driver according to the Rarible article mentioned above.
We stand for inclusivity and diversity which is important in creating and putting solutions in place in order for all of us to do our best so that web 3.0 is as equitable for all, as much as possible.
The Rarible DAO fund will make a difference in creating momentum and building something beautiful in the NFT / Blockchain space.
I can only post two links so I will add my âLinks & Other Mediaâ below.
Thank you for reading! 