Summary
- We propose the launch of Aptos community grants program of $2.8M USDC spread across 2 quarters to fund a wide variety of teams building apps on top of Aptos in a transparent manner. Questbook is already helping Compound run and manage its grants program through delegated domain capital allocation model.
- We additionally propose that this budget be managed by 5 individuals called Domain Allocators. These domain allocators would manage grants for a domain. These domains are strategic areas of focus for which the foundation wants to disburse grants
- The performance of each of these domain allocators will be publicly viewable and auditable using rich dashboards. At the end of every quarter, the Aptos community can vote to replace, continue domain allocators or increase budgets for each domain allocator.
- We Questbook will help facilitate setting up these domain allocators and provide the tooling to run the grants program in an efficient and transparent way. We have previously set up or currently setting up the grants process for Compound, Polygon, Solana, Celo, and Aave.
Motivation
The use of a delegated domain allocator method in the Aptos grant program provides several key benefits that motivate its adoption. These benefits include more targeted funding, increased transparency, and better alignment with the team’s goals. Overall, the Delegate domain allocators method is the better option for the Aptos team’s grants program and will help the team achieve its goals and maximize the impact of its funding.
Problems
Traditionally, most grant programs have a central committee that disburses grants. They typically run into the following issues:
- Committee blind spots - It is unfair to expect any grant committee member to have expertise across various domains. It becomes impossible or inefficient to judge projects that may lie outside the committee’s expertise and may still be valuable to the Aptos ecosystem.
- Inadequate Tooling - Lack of tools and resources to effectively manage an on-chain governance process. Lack of tools and resources to effectively manage the grant’s workflows on-chain. Most of the grant programs currently use spreadsheets to manage their workflows with hardly any transparency on the fund disbursals and application reviews.
- Delayed responses : With a centralized committee, it can be difficult to respond quickly to the grant applicants. This means that the responses are often delayed, sometimes for long periods of time, which can leave applicants in limbo and feeling like their applications are being ignored.
- Lack of transparency: Often, centralised grants committees lack transparency in their decision-making process. This makes it difficult for applicants to track where applications are in the process and can lead to frustration and a feeling of being ignored.
Solution
Giving domain allocators the capital and decision-making powers can increase the efficiency of the grants program:
- Individual expertise instead of collective blindspots
- Distributed load instead of committee backlogs
- Accountability instead of diffusion of responsibility
More specifically, the proposed structure will lead to the following outcomes:
- Increase in quality proposals - Measured by the number of proposals received per month and % of proposals accepted by the domain allocators. Questbook is a desired destination for 20,000+ builders each month. We also have a dedicated team who is responsible for builder engagement and reviewing draft proposals before they are submitted to ensure high quality.
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Improved transparency: The delegates are held accountable for their allocation decisions, and the process is open to the commmunity. This helps to ensure that the grants are being distributed fairly and transparently.
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More targeted funding**: Delegate domain allocators allow the team to focus funding on specific areas or domains. This allows the team to prioritise the most important and impactful areas, rather than spreading funding thinly across many different projects.
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Better alignment with goals**: The Delegate domain allocators method allows the Aptos team to align its grants program with its specific goals and objectives. This will help ensure that the team is working towards the outcomes it wants to achieve, rather than simply following a general approach.
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Consistent and timely communication** - between the domain allocators, builders and community members is a key part of any successful grants program. This will be measured by impact metrics such as turnaround time to give feedback on the proposal and make a final decision, the number of projects completing all the milestones. The **data and performance across key metrics will be visible to the community.
In conclusion, funding their grants program using the Delegated domain allocator offers Aptos the benefits of decentralization, increased efficiency, lower costs, increased accessibility, and increased transparency.
Program Design
The program structure focuses on having community members as domain allocators. Aptos foundation will be required to set a budget of $2.8M to be disbursed by 5 domain allocators. Each domain allocator will be an expert in their specific domain and will run their domain on-chain for full transparency. The data and performance across key metrics will be visible to the community in order to evaluate the domain allocator’s performance.
The disbursement of the grant will take place on-chain from a multi-sig wallet controlled by the program manager & the domain allocator. The domain allocator will approve or reject proposals based on their evaluation. The program manager will then coordinate with the Aptos community to ensure that the proposal is aligned with Aptos ecosystem growth before signing the disbursal. The sole purpose of the multi-sig is to make sure capital is not being siphoned. However, the allocators are encouraged to make independent decisions regarding the approval of the proposal based on their expertise.
Every quarter, the grants committee and the Aptos community shall evaluate the performance of each domain using publicly available data. The outcomes could be as follows:
- Change the domain
- Change the allocator/program manager
- Change the budget
Active community members can also initiate a no-confidence motion to initiate a review off-cycle. This can be initiated by one of the active delegates on Snapshot. The program manager can coordinate this, if the situation arises, along with the active community members. The unused funds from every domain will be returned to the treasury at the end of 2 quarters.
Product Screens
Invite proposals to your grants program
Anyone from the community can view and comment on the proposals
Invite community members to review proposals based on an evaluation rubric
Make milestone-based payouts directly from the multi-sig
Track the performance of the grants program
Aptos Grants Committee
The program will consist of
- A Program Manager
- 5 Domain Allocators
A Grants Safe, with 4/6 multi-sig, between the program manager and 5 domain allocators will be setup. We will then have 5 Safe’s for each of the domains with a 2/2 between the program manager and the specific domain allocator.
The funds for the grants program will flow from the Aptos foundation treasury into the Grants SAFE. This SAFE will hold the funds related to operational costs, committee compensation, and the grant budget. Funds that will be disbursed to the proposers will reside in the domain-level SAFEs. The program manager will be responsible to update the community about approved proposals and their details through bi-weekly community calls and reports over discord.
We have identified the following domains that are relevant to Aptos and domain allocators who are best suited to evaluate proposals after evaluating them on axes such as community participation on forums, discord and social media.
We propose the following set of individuals to run one domain each. We are open to adding more domains and incorporating changes based on the feedback of the community.
| Domain | Credentials Needed | Individual/Orgs | Why is it relevant? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move and Diem Tooling | Core contributor to the Move & Diem infrastructure and tooling. | TBD | Enhance the development process by creating dedicated tools and software development kits (SDKs) for the integration of Move and Diem blockchain frameworks within Aptos. Given the early stage of these technologies, it is crucial to provide specialized solutions that simplify and streamline the development workflow. |
| Building using Block STM and parallel execution | Protocol level engineer with experience developing using the Diem framework. | TBD | Onboarding web2 apps, DeSoc, or dapps seeking a better user experience will make it easier to expand the Aptos ecosystem. |
| Building Infrastructure around zkp. | Experience with circom and snarkjs | TBD | ZKP is an essential infrastructure for Aptos and Crypto in general. Adding primitives to Aptos to make proof generation more efficient, robust tooling for transpiling circuits like circom will help more developers choose Aptos as their blockchain of choice especially when dealing with ZKPs in their apps. |
| Defi | Strong understanding of DeFi protocols and Knowledge of financial instruments such as stablecoins, synthetic assets, and yield farming. | TBD | The growth of DeFi presents numerous opportunities for the Aptos ecosystem, including increased demand for secure solutions, greater market opportunities, and expansion of the DeFi ecosystem. eg: Derivatives exchanges, Onramp solutions and Options |
| NFT & Gaming | Extensive knowledge of NFT and its applications in gaming. Strong understanding of market trends and the competitive landscape of NFT and gaming. | TBD | The growth of NFTs and gaming can lead to increased adoption of Aptos ecosystem. This can create new opportunities for the Aptos ecosystem to provide support for the creation and exchange of NFTs and NFT-based games. |
| Move education | Experience in designing and delivering developer education programs and curriculum and organising bootcamps and hackathon. | TBD | Drive the growth of the Move language by developing educational resources. As a unique smart contract language, Move offers distinct advantages over others in terms of efficiency, security, and flexibility. Investing in education will support the adoption of Move and position development-teams as experts in this cutting-edge technology. Focus on the Aptos specific variety but also include why it differs from other varieties like Sui Move. |
| Existing and future Move Ecosystem Project Partnerships | Proven expertise in the Move ecosystem and a significant contributor in the Move ecosystem. | TBD | Foster growth and collaboration within the expanding Move and Diem ecosystem by maintaining a credible neutral relationship with a range of upcoming protocols. As a key player in the ecosystem, Aptos has the opportunity to drive innovation and advance the technology by forming strategic partnerships with existing and future Move projects. |
| Community initiatives and ecosystem growth | Demonstrated experience in scaling developer communities | TBD | Advance the vision of a community- driven protocol by enabling the flow of ideas and community growth from the bottom up. Create an option for the external sources, beyond the foundation, to contribute to the ecosystem and drive innovation. |
| Academic research | Must have previously demonstrated research capabilities and contributions on Move | TBD | Advancing the field of academic research within the Aptos and crypto ecosystem. With a focus on the innovative Aptos platform and the Move language, this initiative aims to uncover new and exciting ideas that can push the boundaries of what is possible with blockchain technology. |
| Open Source Projects & Public goods | Experience in contributing to open source projects and public goods. | TBD | Development of open-source public goods on blockchain networks as hyperstructures, in line with the growing demand for platforms like Canto, Gitcoin, an 0L. This is crucial for the growth and success of Aptos ecosystem, as it helps to establish a strong community, foster innovation, and provide a platform for building scalable and sustainable solutions. |
Domain Allocator Roles & Responsibilities:
The following will be the roles and responsibilities of the selected domain allocators.
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Time commitment per week: Estimated 25 hours per week for the program manager and 15 hours per week for the domain allocator, which might vary based on the number of applications. The program manager will ensure that the workload is evenly distributed.
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Program Manager:
A. Communication:
1. Coordinate between Aptos team and the community regarding funding requirement
2. Communicate the information regarding approval/rejection of proposals to the Aptos community regularly
3. Attend community calls, actively participate in the community forum, and keep the community updated and take their feedback on the program
4. Regularly update the progress of the grants program to the Aptos community over Discord and community calls
B. Grants Program:
1. Source good-quality proposals from developer communities
2. Sign the transactions for the approved projects
3. Ensure a quick turnaround time for proposers regarding their proposal decision
4. Coordinate between the domain allocators to ensure that the workload is evenly distributed and take their feedback consistently. -
Domain Allocator:
- Review proposals received for their domains based on the rubrics set by the domain allocator.
- Reject/Approve proposals and coordinate consistently with the program manager
- Source applications by reaching out to developer communities in their network
- Discuss program improvements with the other domain allocators and program manager during scheduled meetings.
Compensation:
The grant budget will be $2.5M with $500k for each domain. The committee compensation will be $300k for 5 domain allocators and one program manager for 6 months. Note that this is the proposed budget. All unused funds from every domain and committee compensation will be returned to the treasury.
| Role | Per hour cost (USD) | Number hours per week (Total number of hours: 24) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program Manager | 120 | 25 | 72,000 |
| Domain Allocator | 100 | 15 | 180000 |
| Miscellaneous (including operations cost) | NA | NA | 48000 |
| Total amount required | 300000 |
P.S
- We are inviting applications for the domain allocator role for all the domains mentioned above. All interested community members and delegates can apply in the comments section of this post.
- All payout amounts will be done in USDC.
Conclusion
What does success look like?
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Objective
- The prime objective of this model is to have domains that align with Aptos’s priorities. This way the contribution of the projects as part of the grants program is directly adding value to the community and the token holders.
- Increase in the number of proposals, projects being and projects live on top of Aptos.
- Increase in the homegrown leadership to run grant programs (measured by the number of people running grant programs).
- Increase in the community members’ participation to keep grant programs accountable (measured by the number of people looking at the dashboard and participating in the program)
- Diversity in projects being funded across technologies, geographies, and demographics, to name a few. We encourage the community to regularly review the project domains during Aptos community call
- Increased engagement in builder community’s
- Discourse
- Discord, Telegram
- Social media (Twitter, Reddit)
- GitHub, Radicle
- DAO Tools - M-safe, etc.
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Subjective
- Improved community involvement in the grants program
- Strengthened builders’ sentiment towards Aptos
- Enhanced Aptos’s brand recognition in builder circles.
About Questbook:
Questbook’s role in Aptos’s Grant Program
- Saurabh from Questbook will be the program manager. Thereafter, the program manager will be elected from the community. Saurabh was previously working very closely with the Program manager of Polygon, where he facilitated the disbursement of approximately $1 million in grants. Saurabh has received a grant from IoTeX to establish their grant program, and he works closely with the Program Manager of Compound Grants Program 2.0. Saurabh has spoken to more than 100 builders and teams over the last 6-8 months and understands what it takes to make a grant program successful - from both program manager and builder perspectives.
- Questbook Grants tool will make sure the workflows are systematic and transparent.
Credentials
- Questbook (YC-W21) is a decentralized grant orchestration tool, currently being used by Compound, Polygon, AAVE, Celo & Solana.
- Saurabh from Questbook will be the program manager. Thereafter, the program manager will be elected from the community. Saurabh was previously working very closely with the Program manager of Polygon, where he facilitated the disbursement of approximately $1 million in grants. Saurabh has received a grant from IoTeX to establish their grant program, and he works closely with the Program Manager of Compound Grants Program 2.0. Saurabh has spoken to more than 100 builders and teams over the last 6-8 months and understands what it takes to make a grant program successful - from both program manager and builder perspectives.
Product Compensation
- We are happy to let Aptos Community to use Questbook tool for free
- However, for any specific asks from the grants team in order to run the process more smoothly, we charge for the additional features based on the development overhead. From our previous work experience: We propose a budget of $50K to be kept aside for specific features
Community buy-in and next steps
This is a temp check to gather interest to execute such a grant program during the bear market. We will also be involving more members from the community to identify the right domain allocators and the top 5 domains that are most relevant to Aptos.
