API3 DAO BD Team Proposal
Business Development Team Proposal, August-October 2022 (Cycle 8)
Team: Unified Business Development Team -
(dApps & Platforms BD, Enterprise BD, dAPI/Beacon BD)
Operations cycle: #8
Period: 1 August 2022 – 31 October 2022 (3-months)
Amount: 26,738.23 USDC
Destination: Gnosis Safe (Multi-sig wallet)
address 0xE2279B907f027CC89fE744B2b5cf46F978e502d3
signers:
Dave - dav3.eth
Gio - 0x3afB3530Da3CBa4d8B278Af63872FAA80F1fC87D
Alex - 0xDF3801FBf19C1Bd0af6D24C483A3781129Eee65d
2/3 Multisig
Scope
The Unified Business Development team drives holistic organizational-wide value within the DAO. Sub-teams consist of Enterprise Development, dApps and Platforms and dAPI/ Beacon focused Business Development teams.
Each sub-team is self-driven, targeting various elements of business development as it translates into the achievement of quick-wins. This is achieved through smaller actions and accomplishments on the micro level. This gives the team the ability to zoom out/in while aligning on the greater unit’s collective goals on a macro level. The team cross-pollinates ideas, synchronizing areas of overlap which leads to greater coordination and utilization of resources.
API3’s vision is to be the first choice, in open-source software infrastructure as it pertains to data oracles and data feeds for Web3. Thus, achieving ubiquity in the API3’s product-use, remains key in achieving traditional industry standardizations similar to that of QWERTY keyboards, USB, Bluetooth etc.
The BD team remains lean and is focusing on scaling-up and expanding the adoption of beacons and dAPIs up-take. This translates into direct DAO value, pushing ROI and revenues from beacon and dAPI subscriptions which is explained more in Section 3. BD – dAPI/Beacon Focus.
For the purpose of this proposal, the Business Development Teams responsibilities encompasses customer-specific tasks and overarching responsibilities that relate to:
Sales process
- Outreach
- Continuous improvement of outreach processes
- CRM structure
Recruitment & HR (In-line with product growth)
- Onboarding
- Training
- Practice
- Ongoing support
Reporting
- Accounting processes
Coordinate with the marketing and ecosystem sub team’s
- Projects in the ecosystem
- General networking
- Articles, blogs and content
- Liaising with other relevant API3 sub teams
- Attend conferences and workshops
R&D
- Technical-side feasibility of integrations
- Business-side feasibility assessment
Internal workshops and meetings
- Attend mandatory sub team and team meetings
- Knowledge dissemination and internal knowledge workshops or materials
Team Movements
Over the course of the cycle, there has been one team member addition and no further internal movements.
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Kevin, is focusing on growing beacon feed uptake. He further specializes in data analytics and assists other teams in number crunching and statistical analysis where needed.
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Joeri, is still in an advisory capacity from his previous part-time designation in providing ad hoc introductions, strategic guidance and networks where needed. His grant compensation has been removed.
1.BD- Enterprise Focus:
The Enterprise team has the following responsibilities in addition to general business development activities. The business development scope of the project will expand over time, and this list represents the current state.
I* n conjunction with the dApps team lead, the Enterprise team lead sets and implements strategic actions within the BD team
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Meet the general business development framework, outlined above
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Oversee and support the BD team sales funnel
Host Enterprise workshops:
- Enterprise consortia technical integration workshop to explore Airnode integration feasibility across consortia members
- Product demo of Airnode-enabled product developed by Technical Integration Engineer
- Enterprise use case workshop with Enterprise prospects
Proof of Concept development with Enterprise customer(s)
- Enterprise Airnode integrations
- Custom solution development
- Link enterprise customers with implementation partners for any smart contract or dApp development
Completed Deliverables (Cycle #7)
During cycle #7, the following progress has been made from the last Enterprise Team Quarterly Report.
The Enterprise team in close coordination with the technical team hosted two new workshops with:
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A large consulting house – status: at the commercial signing
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A large financial data institution – status: still engaging
Our goal with PoCs/Pilots is to demo live use-cases of the Airnode and make large TradFi (traditional finance) players feel comfortable with the technology, while reducing any risk vectors (regulatory, tech or DeFi-wise).
Following-through from the previous quarterly update:
- Update 1: A large weather data provider – status: signed and closed
- Update 2 : A medium-size market data provider (A) – status: signed and closed
- Update 3: A large market data provider (B) - status: in pilot testing phase
- Update 4 : A large financial data institution – status: still engaging
- Update 5 : A large reinsurance institution – status: still engaging
- Update 6 : A nation-state federal department – status: still engaging
New engagements over the quarter:
- Update 7: A medium-size market data provider (C) – status: signed and closed
- Update 8: A medium-size market data provider (D) – status: signed and closed
- Update 9: A large consulting house – status: at the commercial signing phase
- Update 10: A medium-size crypto market data provider (E) – status: at the commercial signing
- Update 11: A medium-size market data provider (F) – status: at the commercial signing phase
- Update 12: A large-size market data provider (G) – status: still engaging
- Update 13: A large-size crypto market data provider (H) – status: still engaging
- Update 14: A large-size crypto market data provider (I) – status: still engaging
- Update 15: A large-size market data provider (J) – status: still engaging
- Update 16: A large-size market data provider (K) – status: still engaging
- Update 17: A large enterprise blockchain provider (L) – status: still engaging
During the cycle, the Enterprise team attended the following events over the quarter: the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance Showcase (virtual), APIdays India (virtual), APIdays Singapore (virtual), APIX Brazil (virtual) and Consensus Austin (face-to-face). The outcomes of which have led to tier 1 leads which are currently being engaged. While at Consensus we met with some of our dApp partners and networked with key projects.
The BD team attended the EthCC 5 conference in Paris (API3 was a sponsor), in order to launch the data feed products and prospects for new dApp customers. Our data feeds are available on Avalanche, Polygon, Rootstock and Binance Smart Chain. You can learn more here. We want to thank the Marketing team for making this a success.
Finally, the team continuously has ongoing efforts on researching and outreaching other relevant industry associations, enterprises and consortia.
You can view the current quarterly progress report here , for further insights.
We will also endeavor to update the community, as soon as large deals are signed and legally possible – due to some of these large interactions are of strategic importance or can have effects on brand reputation aspects.
Previous quarterly reports:
API3 Enterprise Development Report, August/September 2021
API3 Enterprise Development Report, September/October 2021
API3 Enterprise Development Report, November-December 2021, January 2022
API3 Enterprise Development Report, February, March, April 2022
Deliverables (Cycle #8)
As for the last two cycles, we are following-through and moving forward with the interactions 3-6 and 9-17 outlined above (Cycle #7). For business development cycle #8, the enterprise-facing business development team’s main focus is to grow the number of high-quality crypto/market data providers to connect additional data feeds and dAPIs.
This focus will create robustness and choice within the data feed product while offering all crypto and TradFi based financial instrument data. Thus, the priority will be to outreach, secure and continuously engage with our partners. The Enterprise team will further support the Technical and Ecosystem teams, from the business side to ensure smooth integration and continuous touchpoints with our partners. A secondary priority would be focusing on PoC/Pilots with large brands to drive Airnode and data feed ubiquity within the mainstream TradFi segment.
The enterprise approach and strategy has been working well and we will continue this at a faster pace for cycle #8. This is through email interactions, virtual and face-to-face conferences and venture capital networks. In this way, we will continue to showcase PoCs and live Airnode use to large partners.
The Enterprise team in coordination with the Marketing and Ecosystem teams will also endeavor to create PoC videos and materials that any dApp or Enterprise can pick up and ideate with. This will showcase the Airnode’s potential and its application to beacons/dAPIs in action. The Ecosystem team will focus on driving the developer community while in parallel getting input from enterprises, dApps and providers.
For the next cycle the Enterprise team will be attending (virtual and/or face-to-face) events and finding opportunities to partake in various Industry-focused conferences as delegates or as speakers: Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA), Token 2049 Singapore, ETH Lisbon and Solana Breakpoint Lisbon are tentatively on our schedules.
2.BD – dApps and Platforms:
In addition to the above business development responsibilities, the Platform/dApps BD team will focus on building-out the dApp and Platforms ecosystem. The overarching aim is to improve the options for developers looking to use API3 data by deploying on as many platforms as possible, and reach out to the projects being developed on these to find consumers for our beacon, dAPIs and Airnode-enabled APIs.
Outreach (Platforms & dApps)
- Communicate with projects and platforms identified through R&D
- Identify areas for collaboration
- Propose a deliverable and mutually beneficial solution
- Establish integration potential and discuss marketing to developers
Communicate with development team and integration team for integrations
- Smart contract platforms
- dApps
Communicate with the Marketing sub team to raise awareness among the general community
- Co-author blog posts
- Ensure technical content of posts correct
- Schedule announcements, verify content and timing with partners
- Discuss and align publicity requirements with prospective partners and marketing
Communicate with the ecosystem sub team
- Help raise awareness of API3 within each chain’s developer communities, taking part in events where it would be beneficial.
Completed Deliverables (Cycle #7)
At the end of cycle #7, API3’s total TVS is still composed entirely of request-response protocol usage. dAPI usage is only just approaching production readiness, so although we are unable to include any from this cycle, we expect to be able to include TVS from this for next cycle. The BD team plans to collaborate with the marketing team to ensure the TVS will be accurately tracked by DeFi dashboards like DeFiLlama.
API3 also launched QRNG during the last cycle. As QRNG is a public good, and projects are not in any way obliged to partner with us to utilize it, tracking number of requests is a good way to monitor adoption. At the time of writing this proposal, there were over 3.8k requests for random numbers across all supported chains including testnets, of which approximately 1k were one of the supported non-testnet chains. The majority of these requests were made on Fantom, Moonbeam, Polygon and Gnosis Chain. Projects using QRNG include Exiled Racers, Quantomons, Pipcards and Dystoworld.
Deliverables (Cycle #8)
As dAPIs enter production, we expect TVS will also provide an objective indication of success. The BD team will continue liaising with the marketing team to ensure this is available as a metric on existing DeFi dashboards once the first dAPI users are on boarded and live in production.
3. BD – dAPI/Beacon Focus:
The API team has evolved towards a fluid team that expands and contracts based on demand. The team leads of dApps and Platforms and Enterprise are managing and guiding this team’s success.
This is the general team that new joiners start in and if they prove their abilities can move into other critical or needed roles within the wider DAO. Thus, this unit will have a high turn-over rate with those proving their BD skill and grit.
In addition to the above general Business Development responsibilities, the BD-dAPI/Beacon team responsibilities relate to growing the number of new and active subscriptions for dAPI and beacons.
Customer Relationship Management and growth
- Lead generation
- Lead engagement
- Account management
Qualifying dAPI opportunities
- Researching and lead generation
- Following up on open or not outreached interactions within the database
- Aiding other business development teams through the sales funnel
Completed Deliverables (Cycle #7)
During the cycle #7 Cycle, the API team pivoted to focusing on dAPI/ beacon outreach providing assistance across BD verticals. In addition to this focus, Alex has been focusing on building out and strengthening our Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) product. We announced a partnership with the Australian National University (ANU) Physics department bringing its QRNG generation to Web3 and DeFi. API3 sees the QRNG product as a public utility that grows randomness inputs for dApps and smart contracts with applications for online gaming, NFT creation and security. The API3 QRNG is available now on: Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Fantom, Gnosis Chain, Metis, Milkomeda-Cardano, Moonbeam, Moonriver, Optimism, Polygon, and RSK.
In addition to this exciting partnership announcement, we have continued to deepen relationships with the world’s top quantum number providers for our QRNG product. The goal of which is to add one or two additional QRNG providers to make the number generation tool more robust, achieving ‘true’ randomness. Other notable interactions over the quarter includes a fintech marketplace with an array of financially focused APIs which is still ongoing.
The next cycle’s focus will be on driving ROI through dAPI/beacon subscription uptake.
Deliverables (Cycle #8)
The next cycle’s focus will be on targeting dAPIs/beacon uptake in active subscription sign-ups and the QRNG adoption within dApps and use-cases.
Due to the current market conditions, we have suspended active hiring on the team. We have refocused our attention to drive beacon subscriptions across our sub team. There are still success commissions for successful deal closures which aligns directly to revenues in, to compensation payments made out to BDs.
Once we reinstate the hiring process, new BDs will be given a small grant for the first three months, thereafter, the grant base will fall-away and rolling subscription commissions will be the primary source of BD commissions.
The initial grant given is to give the BD the opportunity to build up their rolling subscription book to a sustainable point and show their BD acumen and skill. This incentivizes high-performance without a continuous grant outflow. It further aligns as when API3 receives subscription revenues; commissions are paid. Thus, a core focus is achieving a balanced cash-flow and sustainable approach to BD.
Business Development Budget
| Amount (USDC) | |
|---|---|
| Grants | 40,125 |
| New BD Grants (Paused) | 0 |
| Expenses & Success Commissions | 34,100 |
| Grant Sub Total | 74,225 |
| Total Credit Roll over from last cycle (UNI-BD) | -47,486 |
| Grant Total (Less Roll-over) | 26,738 |
Team and Grants
The team is composed of Business Development personnel.
| Team member | Role | Focus | Monthly Grant (USDC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Dave | Team Lead & Business Developer | dApps & Platforms | 2,000.00 |
| *Gio | Team Lead & Business Developer | Enterprise | 4,375.00 |
| *Alex | Business Developer | Enterprise, dApps & Platforms, APIs | 3,000.00 |
| Mo | Business Developer | dApps & Platforms | 2,000.00 |
| Kevin | Business Developer & Analyst | dApps & Platforms, APIs | 2,000.00 |
*The destination will be a multi-signature wallet address managed by Dave, Gio & Alex . Requested compensation levels are as per the API3 DAO Compensation Guidelines
Expenses
The team has suspended the recruiting of new business developers on a contractor basis. The success commissions still remain in effect in order to highlight the non-performers from the skillful hunters. Thus, there is an allocation for BDs in order to ramp-up active subscriptions for beacons/dAPIs.
The business development team will also be attending events as indicated as critical to drive new partnerships and ecosystem growth. Conferences and events that fall outside of large Marketing team sponsored events will be funded by the business development teams grant budget as per the Travel Reimbursement schedule.
In addition to the conference expenses, the team will potentially need access to tools to help streamline the BD pipeline. Some specific examples (not an exhaustive list) are:
- HubSpot
- Docsend
- LinkedIn Premium (Prospecting or Job Posting)
- Hunter.io (Prospecting)
When tools or features are chosen, receipts will be kept for production at the end of the cycle. Any remaining expenses will be rolled over to the next cycle.
The final category of expenses is for on-chain transactions in disbursing grants payments and such as creating proposals in other DAOs. Transaction IDs will be retained for these and produced at the end of the cycle.
Any unspent amount will roll over to the next cycle. A supplementary proposal will be made if the team see a larger-than-estimated number of expenses tied to performance or of business development outcomes generated.
Explanation of Proposal Parameters:
Target contract address is the USDC token contract address, which is 0xa0b86991c6218b36c1d19d4a2e9eb0ce3606eb48
Target contract signature: transfer (address, uint256). This is the function to call on the target contract, which triggers a transfer of USDC tokens.
The parameters stated include the address these USDC are to be sent to, which should match the proposal address, followed by the number of USDC. USDC has 6 decimal places, and solidity is unable to deal with decimal places - hence we add 6 zeros after the proposed USDC number. The number of decimal places can be verified on the USDC contract page of Etherscan - $1.00 | USD Coin (USDC) Token Tracker | Etherscan