Connect East Asian Entrepreneurs

Challenge: Proposer Outreach

Requested Amount (USD): $20,000

Problem statement #

There are no initiatives to attract and engage East Asian entrepreneurs where they are, in their local language.

Describe your solution to the problem #

Use the Eastern Town Hall & targeted virtual events to establish and support a network of East Asian entrepreneurs.

Relevant experience #

Co-Founders of Catalyst Swarm, Eastern Townhall, Catalyst School. IT & Software Engineering. Educators and accountant in East Asia & Japan.

Detailed plan #

We want to reach the massive untapped potential of East Asian entrepreneurs. Meet them where they are, in their country, their language and their culture. The Eastern Townhall wants to establish a growing network of East Asian entrepreneurs. Where they can build knowledge, share information, connect and support each other. Thinking global, acting local.

Current Problems and Limitation #

Recall a moment when you realised if you poked something, pushed it or moulded it, something new and interesting popped out the other side. We’re here again and this time on a global scale. We, the Cardano Catalyst community are pioneers in a new mindset. A new way of governing and funding. But to make a dent in the universe we need entrepreneurs. People are willing to take a risk, to poke, to push, and to mould new ways of doing.

Reaching Entrepreneurs is difficult when language and cultural barriers exist. Local context may also have undeveloped startup funding programmes too. This can result in unrealized startup funding opportunities. Few East Asian entrepreneurs are aware of the opportunities and the technical, economic benefits of Cardano; Nor is there a full understanding of how to apply Cardano technology within local communities to address local market opportunities. We want to change that.

Proposed Solution: Cardano StartUp Month #

This proposal is about running virtual events in January/February 2022 to develop entrepreneurs in Vietnam and Indonesia. The event aims to upskill entrepreneurs to develop market opportunities based on Cardano.

The purpose of the event is to build startup founders and Distributed Autonomous Organisation (DAO) collaborators. We are not building startups! Our intent is to educate. Focusing on experience-based learning by providing a soft way for the general public to access entrepreneurship and blockchain technology without risk.

The event will happen over four weeks:

Virtual Networking (Week 1 & 2): The first two weeks of the event is about Networking. Getting registered participants to meet each other, discuss their ideas and aspirations. Tutorial sessions will be held to help upskill and familiarise people with business design tools.

Pitch and Team-Up (Start of Week 3): All participants come together for the opening event where individual participants can give a 60-second pitch of a project idea they want to pursue. People vote with their feet by choosing to join a team.

Learn and Work (Week 3 & 4): Over the next two weeks, teams start working together. Mentors are assigned. Special sessions are run with experts. Teams are encouraged to validate their ideas with potential customers. Throughout the two weeks, each team will have four 30min pitch sessions with a panel of mentors that help them refine their pitch and Catalyst Proposal.

Pitch (End of Week 4): All participants come together for the closing event. The pitch! Each team is given five minutes to present their market problem and their solution to a panellist that ask questions. To pitch every team must have submitted their proposal to Catalyst. When all presentations are given the audience will pick the winning teams. Prizes will be awarded. We all celebrate! At the conclusion of Fund 8, Catalyst Voters choose who to fund.

The event will focus on Cardano Blockchain solutions and place emphasis on using Business Model Generation, Customer Development approaches and the use of analytical tools like Lean Startup, the Platform Design Toolkit, and Wardley Mapping.

By the time proposals are submitted in Fund 8, entrepreneurial teams will have formed, worked together, finished customer testing, and developed robust business models.

What Success Looks Like #

The event is planned to finish on conclusion of the second week of Catalyst fund 8, Feburary 2022. Teams will be submitting proposals to Catalyst Fund 8 as part of their work.

At the end of the event, at least 15 teams have managed to complete the process and submitted proposals to Catalyst Fund 8. Individuals complete the event with new skills, connections, and inspiration to continue their Cardano journey.

Key Performance Indicators #

For Entrepreneurs Startup Month, participation:

• Reaches 100 individuals that form into at least 20 teams.
• At least 15 teams submit proposals.
• At least 3 proposals that are funded in Catalyts Fund 8/9

At the end of the event:

• We have increased our social media presense by 1000 followers.
• The event is covered by four major media outlets.

After One Month: #

• Event Team formed, project plans and budgets finalised.
• Event Website and Social Media Accounts established.
• Event Online registration setup.
• Event Promotional content (blogs/video) developed.
• PR and promotion of the event started.

After Two Months: #

• Mentors, Judges and Registrations all confirmed.
• Event underway and is being run.

After Six Months: #

• First event successfully completed and we are planning another improved event.
• Three teams have turned into three funded projects that are activily building on Cardano.

After Twelve Months: #

• The Cardano Start Month/Week is an established event on the Asian Cardano Calendar.

Intellectual Property #

All our source code is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see our LICENSE file for details. Our published content is licensed under the Creative Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) License v4.0.

Budget #

Please see attached proposed plan for a detailed budget breakdown with planned activities.

• Core Team $10,500 USD: Including project management, content production, comunity management, and adminstration.
• Supporting Team $3,500 USD: Mentors, judges, special guests.
• Marketing and Communication $5000 USD: Media Visit, Influencer collaboration, Google/IG ads
• Contingency (%5): $1,000 USD

The Team #

A collaborative effort, the team bring a wealth of cultural and technical experience to Cardano. We are all very active in Catalyst, and community groups across our ecosystem. We are a diverse bunch united by the promise of Cardano:

Yuta Yuta (@yutazz) - Japan: Cardano official ambassador, Community Co-Organiser, Catalyst Fund 2 Recipient, certified public accountant.

Yan Tirta (@yantirta) - Indonesia: Cardano Indonesia community wrangler empowering his local community with education and encouragement.

Mie Tran (@mie.tran.0407) - Vietnam: English and International Business major with experience working with western businesses and translation.

Andy Sibuea (@zicozibu) - Indonesia: Leading blockchain education beyond cryptocurrencies and across Indonesia.

Tim O’Brien (@tobrien) - Vietnam: No-code pioneer. Facilitator in East African Townhall (EATH).

Greg Bell (@grebel) - Australia: IT consultant, writing Catalyst Challenges.

Seomon Blub (@seomon) - Austria: IT consultant focused on the people-ware infrastructure for sustainable communities.

Robert O’Brien (@wolstaeb) - New Zealand: Financial systems Software Engineer, Community Co-Organiser and Entrepreneur.

Stephen Whitenstall (@swhitenstall) - England: Tracks and documents Catalyst. Helping communities like Catalyst Circle and Catalyst Swarm organise.

Felix Weber (@felixweber) - France: Community Manager building bridges between people. Member of the T&M Catalyst Circle/Swarm/School.

We are working with Venture Centre[1], IdeaFest[2], and Catalyst School[3]; as part of the proposal, we aim to work with Enterprenerdy[4], Emurgo[5], local Universities, and IOG’s Catalyst Team.

References #

[1] Venture Centre

[2] IdeaFest

[3] Catalyst School

[4] Enterprenerdy

[5] Emurgo