Grant proposal - Asia's Web3 builders DAO apacdao.net

Title
Asia’s leading web3 builders community APAC DAO

Description
APAC DAO is an ever growing web3 builders community of 1,600+ members - 500+ projects - 15+ APAC countries & 4M+ blockchain enthusiasts through members’ communities.

We want to foster a community to educate, crowdsource, and support high quality projects in a DAO-governing model through 3 key pillars Education & Meetup - Business Matching - Decentralized Launchpad.

Manifesto/Vision
We enable a funnel to support builders from education, networking/business matching to pulling resources to launch their projects or initiatives.

Problem
Below issues are becoming more acute to builders in the current bear market.

  • Cost optimization
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Complete solution to support builders

Also Asia is the biggest market for a number of verticals like DeFi and Gamefi yet there has been a lack of regional neutral community and platform to support the builders going to Asia in a comprehensive approach.

Solution
Since our inception in April 2022, we have seen the mindset and behavior shift from working with KOLs, agencies and centralized parties to more peer-to-peer business development and community-based activities.

The project builders are increasingly aware of the power of the community, DAO and collaboration with other peer project builders to survive in the current market condition. Hence, we want to develop APAC DAO as a one-stop platform for builders to:

  • Learn about web3 and connect with other peers and web3 players
  • Explore business development opportunities with other builders
  • Leverage our community and network to support their products and initiatives instead of spending a lot of time and/or money or effort with an existing centralized launchpad or incubator/accelerator program.

The builders as members can vote for the projects that they believe in and in return they can also explore the potential of launching their project within our DAO to include genuine builders and enthusiasts who have genuine stakes in the project. This is definitely different than launching something among strangers who have been WL due to their budget and track record of queuing up for launchpad token sale, rather than their genuine interest in the project.

We are looking for grants to create the first incentive pool for DAO members to contribute by hosting events, introducing projects, connecting players etc. The fund would go to a treasury to incentivize the early comers and encourage more members to contribute in a DAO model,

Product

  • Education & Meetup: we have hosted 14 meetups across Southeast Asian in the past 6 months and already planning on an Asian tour this year around 10+ major regional conferences
  • Business matching: we are building our Discord to verify members and offer business matching service in an open manner to our community. We also encourage partners like AWS, Certik etc. to offer exclusive perks for our verified members like discount, vouchers and service credits.
  • Decentralized Launchpad: scheduled for Q3 2023, this initiative is designed to leverage our membership and partnership developed through the previous pillars of Education & Meetup and Business Matching

Validation

  • 14+ meetups on Gamefi, Defi, web3 and infrastructure in 6+ APAC cities
  • 20+ partners including AWS, Certik, Klaytn
  • Organic growth to 1,600+ members after 6 months with 60% are builders

Progress
Business Matching and Events are ongoing. Decentralized Launchpad scheduled for Q3 2023.
The following has been set up:

  • Community channel on Telegram (for the public) and Discord (for verified members and partners for business matching)
  • Event track record of 14 events last year and 2023 plan
  • Business Matching framework to onboard 10+ partners in January 2023 and 10+ more in Q1 2023
  • Decentralized Launchpad deck ready to share with interested parties

Differentiation

  • One of the first APAC-focused web3 builders or B2B community focusing on Asia. We also focus on bridging APAC with communities in Europe and the US in 2023.
  • Connections with 20+ partners and 10+ community partners across APAC with 4M+ enthusiasts impacted
  • Consistent education webinar and meetup series since April 2022
  • Fostering an end-to-end funnel for builders as members to learn, network and crowdsource their projects via a DAO model
  • Totally FREE membership

Team
Nicole Nguyen - Co-founder
Nicole is currently Co-founder of APAC DAO - an Asia-centric blockchain/web3 community initiative. She’s also the ASEAN Vice-chair of the Global Impact Fintech (GIFT) thinktank.

Nicole is among the most active community builders for blockchain in Vietnam/SEA and the key organizer of serial initiatives such as Vietnam Blockchain Hackathon and Vietnam Blockchain Week. She also led Asia Blockchain Review - one of the first Asia-focused media back in 2018 and initiated a number of community events, initiatives in APAC. She’s also the organizer of BUIDL Vietnam developer conference and over 30+ meetups across APAC.

**Grant Request **
10,000$

Funds
Funds will be input to our DAO treasure as initial incentives to get people to contribute to the DAO - hosting events, nominating projects for the launchpad, facilitating meaningful connections etc. We will issue tokens equivalent to 10K grant first and issue more tokens later subject to the incoming grant in a transparent way and offer incentives for early comers as well as followers.

Additional Resources
Deck DocSend
Website https://apacdao.net/