[DAO:1f46cda] A Course on 'Business Opportunities in DecentraLand' at Harvard, Stanford & Hult

Governance
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by 0x9de97e69a174d44686c97727431478bd4480f7e4 (WhaTheWha)

Should the following $15,000 grant in the Documentation category be approved?

Abstract

I teach about 500-700 MBAs and execs/year at Harvard, Stanford and Hult on multi-sided marketplaces. I would like to design a course ENTIRELY about business opportunities in Decentraland. Not just theory or generic advice or promotional fluff, but actual activities (supported by theory) and outcomes (required for course completion) with video from Decentraland. I would add this to my course lists and publish it online at LinkedIn Learning or Coursera.

Grant size

15,000 USD

Project duration

3 months

Beneficiary address

0x9DE97E69a174d44686C97727431478bD4480f7E4

Email address

ted@tedladd.com

Description

In my courses on Next Generation Business Models and Multi-sided Platform Marketplaces, I include a session about Web3. It is not (yet) compelling because metaverses looks too much like a poorly animated childrenā€™s game. Ironically, the only way to have business professionals (outside of experimental brand managers at luxury clothing makers) take virtual worlds seriously is to convince them of the opportunities such that their company engages. ā€œIronicā€ because this is becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If convince them, they join, and then consumers engage. (This is called the indirect network effect of a multi-sided platform.)

My course would discuss (and require students and execs to engage in) avatars, scavenger hunts to diverse, global branded locations, valuation of MANA currency and DecentraLand real estate, business fundamentals of blockchain and smart contracts, potential uses for AI in virtual world (now bots, but soon customer-product fit), B2B opportunities, B2Employee experiences, and the new meanings of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in virtual worlds.

Roadmap and milestones

I am already scheduled to deliver a full course for Hult in late June on ā€œBusiness Opportunities in Web3ā€, and already scheduled to include this topic in one session for my summer course at Harvard on Next Generation Business Models. So it must be completed by then!!!

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

2 Likes
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Your profile is definitely interesting, however, I have not seen you present in the community (could you provide some stuff you have made here?). Iā€™m not sure how much you know about Decentraland but rather have a general idea of web3/metaverse, am I wrong on this?

Regards,
Tobik

2 Likes
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Hey. Thanks for proposal. I would like to see more volunteer activity on this topic before asking for grant. Recently I voted NO but I am opened to reconsider my decision if I will see more detailed expense plan and forward results from your side.

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Hi Ted, like @Tobik I see that the experience you bring to Decentraland is impressive. However, Iā€™m unclear to what the $15,000 will be used for. It appears that we would be paying for you to include Decentraland in your courses?

As a reference point, Iā€™m developing a potential 2024 course for Berklee College of Musicā€™s Master of Arts in Global Entertainment and Music Business. This will include Decentraland and the other leading metaverses. None would be paying for exposure, as their inclusion reflects the innovation in this space.

1 Like
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Hi WhaTheWha,
Itā€™s wonderful to see higher education institutions take an interest in Decentraland! We all know that the future potential here is explosive.

I havenā€™t seen you around the community, so I wonder how you will go about this task. Can you let us know a little more about what youā€™ve done here? How many brands have you onboarded? Have you participated in any brand activations here in Decentraland? Have you worked with clients coming into Decentraland that would give you the experience to share with others?

Personally Iā€™m hesitant, because I was an a random stereoscopic photography conference this summer, and a professor from a university was suddenly presenting on the topic of Decentraland. Turns out she had visited it once, but could access grant money if she proved she did a presentation on emerging technology. So Iā€™m cautious that people who havenā€™t spent time here could be presenting information to the masses that will mislead the public on what is or is not a possibility in Decentraland. If you could fill in some of the gaps that would help us see why you are the best qualified person for this, it would help. Thank you!

4 Likes
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My father in law is a professor for HBS and lectures on the Metaverse in the marketing department. Would love to connect with you to learn more about what your proposing and how this compares with some of the coursework they have developed around the topic.

5 Likes
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My aunt works for HBS in the Executive Education Dept so Iā€™ll be asking her about this and other sessions that pertain to web3 and Metaverse! I would also like to understand more about this future session, and some questions in my mind areā€¦

  • How many attendees of this course?
  • Would insight on course attendees; i.e. companies, background, location, etc. be available to DCL?
  • Would DCL be able to review what would be presented to ensure itā€™s accurate for the audience?
  • If you host on LinkedIn and Coursera as you had mentioned - Will you charge for access? Will you update date the information as Decentraland evolves or create it as evergreen content?
1 Like
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Hi Bay, just copy/pasting what the funds are said to be used for (shows on a drop down when you click Vote on Proposal). I must be in the wrong profession because Iā€™ve never been paid $100 an hour! ~one day I hope lol~

All of the funds of this grant would go to recent graduates from my MBA classes who have experience in Web3 companies. They would help Ted design the course, map an agenda for each session, navigate DecentraLand, solicit guests for interviews (ideally inside DecentraLand), record these sessions, and then edit them into chapters, each around a central topic. Ted will pay them a ā€œliving wageā€ of $100 per hour. If the project requires more funding for completion, Ted will pay himself. If the project does not require all $15k, Ted will give the remainder back.

1 Like
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Hi,
I think a course on business opportunities in DCL is a great idea and I am especially interested in ā€˜new meanings of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in virtual worldsā€™. I agree with Canessa that someone with experience activating brands and engaging with customers specifically in our community are best to present information about business possibilities and building customer/employee experiences in Decentraland. Could you tell us about your experience and contributions in our metaverse? Than you for submitting a proposal and good luck.

1 Like
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A Course on ā€˜Business Opportunities in DecentraLandā€™ at Harvard, Stanford & Hult

This proposal is now in status: REJECTED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes 1% 13,987 VP (43 votes)
  • No 99% 6,359,025 VP (132 votes)
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A HUGE thank you to both the people who voted and especially the people who commented. Before I am a professor, I am an entrepreneur. (I was a part of the start-up that created smartwatch software and hardware until it was acquired by Google to become WearOS.) So I want to know how a DAO votes. The best way for me to see it was to try it. Thank you for helping me understand the process.

Here is my request: could someone with access to the history of request to DecentraLand grants contact me? I would like to understand - and perhaps improve - the way that DAOs make decisions quickly for research and teaching.

Thank you already for your observations. And thank you for any help you can give me.

-Ted Ladd
Professor at Harvard, Stanford and Hult
ted@tedladd.com

P.S. Yes, the wisdom of your help and the search for solutions is MUCH more important than the grant I sought.