Title: Crypto Sapiens Podcast - S3 Proposal
Authors: Humpty, EurekaJohn, flowscience
Squad: Humpty, EurekaJohn, flowscience, Soundman, Sponge, 0xBrandon, Tadii, Farmer, Ornella, Anita, McGuyverWannabe, mitch, Jaris James, InfiniteHomie, blurpleflame
Date Created: December 20, 2021
Date Last Updated: December 21, 2021
Date Posted: December 21, 2021
SUMMARY
Crypto Sapiens is a weekly podcast recorded that is hosted in the Bankless DAO Discord and distributed to all major podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcast and more. Crypto Sapiens is aligned to the Bankless mission and plays an instrumental role in supporting its members through quality discussions with web3 leaders. It plays an integral role in supporting Bankless DAO.
BACKGROUND
Crypto Sapiens supports the mission of the DAO and its position as a leader in media and culture. It consistently delivers compelling and interactive discussions with Web3 builders that allows the community to learn how to navigate and use complex crypto mechanisms, and encourages everyone to go Bankless.
This proposal seeks funding to support the development of the Crypto Sapiens podcast. Funds will be used to cover production costs including remuneration for the following working groups.
[IN SEASON 3 WE ARE AIMING TO BUDGET FUNDS FOR WORKING GROUPS AND NOT INDIVIDUALS. WORKING GROUPS WILL BE LED BY CORE CONTRIBUTORS TO THE PROJECT. REMUNERATION STRATEGIES WILL BE MANAGED BY CORE CONTRIBUTORS AND DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE MULTISIG.]
Autonomous “Working Groups”:
Traditionally companies specify a budget to cover the salaries of each employee from a top down approach as one central economy. In a centralized system there is a natural tendency towards bureaucracy and bottlenecks as a project grows. Over time, there becomes distance created from the original treasury (seed) of the organization, to the withering branches at the outer edges of the organism.
In its infancy, Crypto Sapiens was easily sustainable with a centralized budget that used a traditional allocation of funds to each team member with their respective role. However, as the project grows there arises the need to scale. To quote Frogmonkee in the article “DAOs as Economic Engines” in the BanklessHQ Newsletter from October 13, 2021, “When autonomous working groups are given a pool of capital to use at their discretion, they will begin to standardize around rates for work to better budget and predict expenses, inevitably kickstarting an internal economy.” For season 3, Crypto Sapiens is gearing up to take a different approach to the budget in place of the traditional hierarchical approach.
This new approach will make use of “working groups”. As quoted above, we hope that these working groups will take on a life of their own. When capital is assigned to a working group with its own budgets and mini treasury, the capital is spent more efficiently and with less cumbersome bureaucracy than it normally takes to have to go more than one step up a ladder to have costs approved. The working group then will tend to take on a life of its own and become its own little microeconomy.
Working Group Lead:
Each working group will have a Working Group Lead. At this moment in time, the working groups are small and the entire group may even be only one person. However, beginning with this type of structure allows the program to scale upwards with less friction. A working group does not need to be a permanent group or team. A “Working Group” can also just be the Working Group Lead who uses the allocated budget to hire a back-up in a time of need. Essentially, the Working Group Lead is not necessarily given compensation for completing assigned tasks, they are given a budget to run their own little micro-business focusing on a specific function within the Crypto Sapiens podcast.
Budget hoarding:
The next question one may ask is “What is to prevent the Working Group Lead from hoarding the budget completely to themselves?” Currently, the Crypto Sapiens podcast is still small enough to be able to clearly tell who would be spreading themselves too thin in order to keep the entire budget for themselves. However, as the podcast grows there will be KPIs and metrics established to help determine when it would be appropriate to require delegation of the budget and tasks within the Working Group. We are also striving for a grant that would allow the Working Groups to operate within an ample budget that would not possibly strain the productivity, creativity, and efficiency of each respective discipline.
Allowances:
The distribution of funds from Working Groups would be managed from the project’s multisig. Working group leads are able to budget according to their group’s needs and submit payment, remuneration expenses to the multisig for approval. An accumulation of gas costs for immediate expenses and bounty payouts can be budgeted in as an average estimate allowance or the recorded transaction hashes for later reimbursement. Each Working Group Lead would be responsible for keeping a ledger of all expenses and gas fees. At the end of the season, all delegation of the Working Group budget would be reported to the Executive Producer in order to accumulate data, form metrics and develop KPIs for future budgeting and statistical purposes.
Working Group summary:
Overall, the main point of independently budgeted Working Groups is to accomplish the following:
- Empower each Working Group Lead with ownership and confidence.
- Streamline operations with better attention to the needs of each department resulting in more efficient spending of the budget allocated.
- Provide relief, vacation time, and overall time to think which will lead to more efficient work when active.
- Allow the Working Group Lead the ability to delegate standard tasks in order to research novel approaches to their process.
- [OPERATIONS]
- Executive Producer: Responsible for all aspects of a podcast’s production and delivery, responding to issues as needed, and managing the production schedule—both on a day-by-day basis, and in terms of season planning. Manages the relationships between guests and individuals in the production team helping define their individual responsibilities. Works with the host and research to develop briefs and scripts. Manages budgets, grants, and sponsorship.
- Host: Responsible for setting the editorial tone of the show. Storyteller, shaping the show through editorial decisions and personality. Narrate the show using scripts provided by EP and research. Writing and editing as needed. Review content edits prior to publishing.
- Project Manager: Supports the EP. Lead coordinator across working groups (WG). Sets up spaces for LIVE events, coordination between guests and WG, and weekly update meetings. Delegates weekly duties for recording LIVE events and distributing POAPs using Craig-bot and Degen-bot respectively.
- [AV]
- Engineer: Responsible for good-quality audio on the back end. Create the soundscape for the show as determined by the host and executive producer. Audio-editing, finesse fades, generally creating a seamless listening experience consistent in tone and quality across all podcasts. Give the proper pauses here and there free of jarring transitions, sounds, or distractions. Compose and score the podcast as well.
- Editor: Makes necessary adjustments to create coherent and interesting episodes. Ensures proper cadence and flow of a conversation, while keeping the show within reasonable time constraints. Upload preliminary edits for review and final edits for mastering using proper naming and storage conventions within the DAM system making the files accessible to the relevant parties.
- [RESEARCH]
- Researchers: Help EP and host figure out the best approach for an episode. Oversees the development of story ideas and provides feedback on story frameworks and scripts. Communicate with the EP so that he can plot out the production calendar. Ensure that there is consistency and flow between episodes. Identify speakers and projects, compile key contributions of the speaker, unique and innovative use cases of their protocol, meaningful details from the community, into briefing documents and scripts.
- [MARKETING]
- Marketers: Plan campaigns, content distribution calendar, workflow, coordination and implementation. Ensure all content is published (audio, text, video). Liaison with marketing guild. Generate weekly and monthly reports on listenership, distribution and engagement then present insights to the team.
- Audio: Prepare episode titles and descriptions then schedule publication of mixed/mastered final content edit on Podbean.
- Publish audio/video to YouTube. Revise headings for timestamp chapters and key points, Podcasts to podbean.
- Text: Use AI transcription app then listen to each episode and make manual spelling and grammar edits. Add speaker names and timestamps to episodes. Take notes during live sessions to capture key points and audience questions. dit to optimize SEO for transcriptions. Write a monthly newsletter. Publish transcriptions to Substack.
- Social media: Distribute audio, format text & images for each platform, scheduling, announce post CTAs in groups/channels, like/share/retweet, like and reply to comments, monitor dm’s.
- Designers: Create graphics for events, social media, and podcast platforms, design relevant infographics from podcast content.
- Writers: Write thoughtful articles inspired by web3 for blog and newsletter. Transcribe podcasts and post on blogs.
- [GENERAL BOUNTIES]
- For incentivizing miscellaneous contributorship outside the predefined working groups and roles established above. (i.e. setting up Craig-bot, Degen, creating and nurturing leads, taking notes, etc.)
MISSION & VALUES ALIGNMENT
The BanklessDAO mission is to “help the world go Bankless by creating user-friendly onramps for people to discover decentralized financial technologies through education, media, and culture.”
Crypto Sapiens supports the mission of the DAO by advancing meaningful discussions aimed to mobilize everyone to participate in Bankless money systems. It solves a fundamental challenge in crypto by connecting key technology builders with community members, involving them in thoughtful, educational, and accessible discussions, empowering them with the knowledge they need to become crypto natives.
Support media projects like Crypto Sapiens allow Bankless DAO to continue being the foremost destination for media and education. Crypto Sapiens promotes the efforts of the DAO by mobilizing its community, supporting the development of a media production pipeline powered by guild members, and distributing it in partnership with Bankless DAO. The podcast team makes concerted efforts to tie in the Bankless DAO intro its communication and promotional materials whenever possible.
SPECIFICATION
Crypto Sapiens is a podcast recorded weekly in the Bankless DAO Discord where Humpty Calderon hosts thought-provoking discussion with product leaders of innovative Web3 projects. Some of the projects that have been recently recorded include ENS, Coordinape, Colony, Seed Club, and Gitcoin among others.
Production tasks as described in the background section are delegated to relevant departments to improve the development of this show, and to facilitate its distribution and sponsorship opportunities. The following departments were created to maximize the growth of the Crypto Sapiens podcast and ensure the podcast maintains the ethos and narrative that the Bankless DAO intends to communicate: AV, Research, and Marketing. There are also bounties made available to new members to participate in the development of the project.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Total = 580,000 BANK
Season 2: January 8 - April 7 (13 weeks)
- Cost Breakdown:
- Operations: 150,000
- AV: 130,000
- Research: 100,000
- Marketing: 180,000
- General bounties: 20,000
BRAND USAGE
Crypto Sapiens leverages the Bankless DAO brand to represent its alignment to the mission of the DAO. Furthermore, the Bankless DAO brand is used to increase awareness, membership and participation in the DAO.
SUCCESS METRICS OR KPIS
Metrics to measure the success of the project include, but not limited to, are:
Monetization (we will pursue the following in Season 3)
- Sponsorships: episodes, live sessions, newsletters
- Podbean Patreon (donations)
- Spotify content creator monetization
- YouTube content creator monetization
- External grants
- Premium content (e.g. NFTs, exclusive live sessions/events/panels/AMAs, newsletter, video, recordings/courses/etc using Podbean Premium, merchandise)
Listenership
Social media activity:
Twitter: 390 followers, 82 monthly growth, 119 posts
Instagram: 61 followers, 38 monthly growth, 12 posts
Facebook: 5 followers, 4 monthly growth, 11 posts
Attendees at live event: 11/16/21 = 43
LinkTree: 79 views, 45 clicks = 57% CTR
Upcoming growth metrics:
- Number of Transcriptions published via Substack
- Email subscribers/open rates/CTR
- Social platform analytics (YouTube subscribers, engagement)
- Website traffic (google analytics) and search performance (google search console) to monitor and improve our Podbean site and Substack Blog.
- Number of mini-segments/features of other Bankless DAO projects
RECENT WINS
- Recorded our 18th podcast!
- Published our 12th podcast for a combined >2500+ downloadst!!
- Defined “working group” leader roles to empower active contributors and promote ownership in the project.
- Working groups now own various elements of the production process including AV, research, marketing, and design to create a more inclusive ecosystem.
- Improved team communication with a dedicated category on the bDAO Discord server to better communicate across working groups.
- New distribution and promotion channels
NEXT STEPS
- Refine our speaker list, onboarding experience.
- Fine-tune define working groups, leadership to increase ownership, accountability, efficiency.
- Standardize working schedules for core contributors. If possible, establish vacation time, holiday leave, etc.
- Define bounties to ease new member activation, increase contributorship to the project.
- Diversify treasury with funding from other grants. (i.e. Yearn, Gitcoin, etc.)
- Develop sponsorship strategy to create revenue streams for sustainable growth and reduced dependency on bDAO grants.
- Transcriptions published via Substack and Mirror
- Email subscribers/open rates/CTR
- Website traffic (google analytics) and search performance (google search console) to monitor and improve our Podbean site and Substack Blog.
- Expand social media channels to include Twitter Spaces, TikTok, etc.
- Complete 6,000 podcast downloads for Season 3.
SQUAD BACKGROUND
Humpty Calderon: Longtime crypto enthusiast and community developer. He has contributed to the development of decentralized technologies including multichain validators, web3 wallets, AMMs, and decentralized identity and reputation protocols. He is presently focused on expanding the visibility and adoption of decentralized systems through fun, accessible media and events. Humpty hosts events on Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces and in meatspace. He created Crypto Sapiens soon after joining bDAO as a tool to engage members, add value to bDAO partnerships, and further advance the mission of helping the world go bankless. Crypto Sapiens is a public good that helps everyone learn about web3 via meaningful discussions with leaders in the space.
EurekaJohn: Crypto enthusiast, YouTuber, and overall content creator. Prior to blockchain-involved projects, John has run his own internet and FM based radio station in the Austin, TX.area. During the SXSW festival he was responsible for recording the New Media podcasts. He has also worked with an assortment of audio and visual equipment through his previous band that performed live at many local venues.
Soundman: Soundman has 10 years of professional experience in the A/V industry. He has worked in various roles in live event production, recording, post production and system design and installation. Most recently he has become a freelancer working to become fulltime web 3 through DAO’s. Crypto had been a hobby for a few years prior and it became clear he wanted to join the space in more meaningful ways than reading about it. Most recently before going freelance Soundman was designing and installing Podcasting studio’s for Spotify across the U.S. with a small A/V integration firm from Chicago.​​ ​​​​​​
Flowscience: My approach to digital marketing is driven by a background in data science and guided by experiences working as a university instructor. I’ve been publishing articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals since 2009 and my personal writing can be found around the web. I currently run a cannabis genetics startup while serving as a core contributor and founder of Cannabis Genome DAO. I’ve monetized a variety of physical and digital products into 6-figure ecommerce funnels, raised VC, designed/built/coordinated large art installations at music festivals and meandered my way through academia to earn a doctorate in molecular biology. I have a passion for communicating complex topics in simple ways and firmly believe anyone can learn anything they set their mind to.
Sponge: Alpha hunter, Defi and DAO researcher, crypto native, degen, aspiring shadowy super coder, and comedian. Born and raised in BanklessDAO.
Texas Farmer: As an ambassador, community manager, lead, or whatever you want to call it. I focused on the future of all aspects of Web3 with the goal to get resources to people so they can build amazing communities at scale, as well as ways to improve their communities! I’m responsible for maintaining and supporting developer community operations by managing global community initiatives to scale and support the growing developer community, as well as the Ambassador program.
Tadii: An adaptable and customer-oriented person with a genuine interest in the Celo and Bankless visions that value people and changing lives through crypto.
Jaris James: A DeFi researcher that’s building relationships across the universe of DAOs. My intent is set on building strong relationships for the banklessDAO that can be leveraged for mutual benefit.
InfiniteHomie: Here for background support, research, and community building, because that’s what a true homie does :). Over a decade in TradFi and customer service, I’m here to help change lives where I can.
McGuyverWannabe: Aspiring web3 analyst - love analysing projects/companies and writing reports/briefs in my free time. Always looking for alpha, though my portfolio could do much better. Product owner for an AI/ML platform in the public sector IRL
Ornella
Anita
Blurpleflame
Brandon
mitch
We welcome anyone interested in learning more about Crypto Sapiens to join us on the Bankless DAO Discord in the Crypto Sapiens general chat. Discord