Detailed Plan
The Problem:
The demand for developers in the Cardano ecosystem is rapidly increasing and will only become more so. In a decentralized environment with developers and customers spread all over the world, there is so much potential yet on the client side there can be concerns over appropriate content delivery, and on the developer side issues with confidence in payment. Potentially promising projects may fail or not even start due to these lack of trust or communication issues. Moreover, in order to encourage more people to take up work as full-time developers in the Cardano ecosystem, a certain security of income and reliable project specification is necessary.
Additionally, many developers are not well educated on (or interested in the legal aspects of supplier) the finer details of customer relationships. They want to do what they are truly passionate about : develop software!
On the other hand, potential clients may not have experience with software development projects, especially in this new and rapidly developing blockchain environment. They are cautious about taking on ideas and projects to permissionless blockchains like Cardano due to not only a lack of understanding, but also a lack of trust in people and technology.
Today this issue could partly be approached by bringing in an intermediary to act as a middleman. These services can not only be quite expensive for both parties, increasing project costs, but can also be difficult to implement internationally. Furthermore the point of failure is then just shifted to the intermediary and other issues arise if the intermediary does not act fairly or cannot be trusted. High costs for lawyers and consultants can arise, which are not feasible for freelancer or small and medium sized businesses (SMB).
Phase-1:
The system we are developing addresses this issue by providing a platform to fairly and securely work on projects. The goal is to increase the number of successful projects on Cardano and support developers, clients and SMB.
The system is not limited to software development on Cardano, but works as a solution for distributed services in general. At the heart of the solution lies smart contract technology, leveraging the security of the Cardano blockchain, to ensure agreed execution of (software development and other service) projects. The suppliers and clients interact with their specific smart contracts via a web platform.
The platform defines a legal agreement, software specification, project scope, project timeline, milestones and other related tasks. This information is tamper-proof and stored on the Cardano blockchain, so all parties can rely on the agreed specifications and conditions. They can work together without the need of expensive external consultancy.
The system can assure available budget for development teams and clients can be confident that their project goals are achieved according to the defined specification and their satisfaction. All payments are handled in accordance with certain pre-defined conditions and verified by the client. Suppliers can rely on available budget and be sure to get compensated for their work at the agreed time. Clients reduce risk for their investment and avoid opportunity costs. If needed, issues can be claimed by both parties and the system can help them by securing the payment until such a time as a mutually agreeable solution is found.
The payment is intended to happen in ADA. In general the system does not demand crypto currencies, and payments in fiat currencies are also supported. However, in this latter case no automated payment option would be available, as the contract can technically not interact with bank accounts (at least not at this time).
Value-add:
build trust between parties
simplify remote work
legal support for developers
reduce risk for all parties
reduce opportunity costs
provide a verified mechanism to handle software projects on blockchain
tamper-proof project specification and agreements
location independence
wage protection
on-chain payment solution
In a first production implementation the system is intended for software development projects, especially those including Plutus Pioneers and similar. At a future point we wish to develop the platform further to be able to handle all kind of agreements in an automated and verifiable manner.
Vision:
In general the platform has high potential for scaling. With a high-enough number of users it can also be used to find appropriate developers for projects. It can also feasibly expand to handle more-or-less every service which can be delivered via the internet.
Furthermore, the platform will provide information on how to handle projects and will implement free interactive guidelines for project management and legal contracts. These guides could inform users on, for example, on what a model legal contract looks like (for software development), which elements are important for both clients and suppliers to be particularly aware of, recommendations on how to have the best possible experience and increase the chances of a successful project. At the same time the platform offers essential services to handle those projects on the Cardano blockchain : automated, verifiable and tamper-proof.
Additionally, the contracting system can be further developed to be able to automatically negotiate legal contracts between parties, by utilizing an AI. By adding these features we open access to use-cases beyond internet deliveries e.g. for logistics and smart electronic devices.
Phase-2: Find Cardano Developers
In a second Phase of the project we want to integrate a free Cardano developers 'database'. Users will have the possibility to add themselves to this service. Companies looking for a developer would be able to search the database and get directly in touch with a potential partner. Projects can be handled on the SOLID platform.
Upon completion of every successfully completed project on the platform, the developer would get an NFT minted by the client through the platform, with associated appropriate metadata attached for identification and verification. By collecting these NFTs a developer would be able to easily provide evidence of relevant experience. Other potential areas include potentially co-operating with one of the great many Cardano education services being proposed (their are some interesting ideas right here on ideascale), for example using similar NFTs (etc) for proof of qualifications.
We envisage that the developers database would be a free service, with no requirement that projects have to be set up or executed on the SOLID platform, while providing great support for both parties.
Value-add:
fee-free service to help match talent and projects for Cardano development
build trust through NFT references and qualifications
showcase your experience
further education will be rewarded
direct access to a project execution platform
next generation project and talent acquisition platform
Goals:
in 6 - 9 months:
Beta version is in evaluation and close to production release
acquired 10+ partners for evaluation, who will start using the platform on release
in 9 - 12 month:
first production version of the platform available
improvements and scaling the system to 200+ regular users
project execution and legal contracting guides available
finish Phase-1
integrating Atala PRISM for customer / supplier identification
start on Phase-2 to find developers for projects on Cardano
in 12 - 15 month:
release first version of Phase-2
later: :
finish Phase-2
scaled the system to 1000+ regular users
adopted the concept to other use-cases / services
integrating advanced features for claimed issues
the platform is known as a place to find skilled Cardano developers and successful projects
further research and development to handle and automatically negotiate general business contracts
Budget plan:
Funding 80100 $
Salary for 3 developers (Front-end, Back-end, Plutus),
PM, DevOps for the first 4-5 month (~75$/hr) 52500 $
Legal Consulting (creating legal contract
templates for different regions and internationally) 17500 $
Infrastructure
(Technical equipment, server, software, licenses) 5800 $
Marketing 4300 $
Team:
Sascha - Blockchain Development
Jovana - Graphics & Design
Scud - Front-End
Torben - Blockchain Development
(Resubmitted from Fund6)
