You can get one for 15 USD instead of 100+ USD though =)
Hello MetaRyuk,
I appreciate you taking the time to review the proposal and ask your questions. Happy to reply. I have responded to each of your questions below.
I have been in this space for over a year learning more about and using DCL. My capacity has been more behind-the-scenes as I originally wanted to coach and help other brands in this space. Given my time, experience, and passion for DCL, I decided to take a more front-page approach and made my presence more visible. Because of this, you may not see as much from me until this point, however, I have been involved at other capacities prior to what you may see in. I also attend the DAO Strategic Planning sessions, Town Halls, and DAO AMAs (e.g., Technical AMAs).
We are passionate and believe in the potential of this project. We are working to bring a high-quality project to life. In order to do so, we must be willing to invest and allocate the right amount of time and resources. DCL is a big brand with a market cap of $641M. We want to ensure the efforts and results correctly reflect the brand. DAUs in this space has gone down, even compared to this same time last year. We need to attract new users in order to bring in more builders and creators. This is a great way to get increase brand awareness in hopes of onboarding new users who may be or become builders or creators.
We are a registered IRS-registered LLC and have a federal EIN. We are currently in the process of completing the final steps of our LLC registration.
We have worked for web3 projects pro bono prior to creating Ennova. We provided DCL brands strategic oversight ro lend our professional experience and learn about this platform. Outside of these efforts, we work in finance and management consulting and have 20+ years, collectively, of experience and projects under our belts. Given much of that work came to be prior to the creation of Ennova, we are unable to share specific details due to our contractual agreements. We are happy to share highlights and also encourage you to check out our LinkedInâs and other social media accounts for more details about our background and profesional experience.
Yes, we have organized several IRL events. We organized 2 in Miami during Metaverse Miami for a web3 brand. We also have experience organizing IRL events in our web2 jobs. We have been active in international politics, various affinity groups in our web2 careers, and have participated in other non-profit work through organizations such as the Junior League and Child Advocates (to name a few). As Ennova, our experience may not shine as bright, yet collectively our experience in web2 coupled with what weâve done thus far in web3 buffer that dimness and make us shine brighter!
I understand your reservations and respect them. I encourage you to research both MelzBuenaVibes and I as we have provided our first and last names, LinkedIn profiles, and can provide any additional information you may need. I am also happy to schedule time to speak with you, not with the intention to change your mind, rather to provide an avenue for you to get to know us a little better. Let me know as Iâd be happy to schedule time for us to speak.
Thank you for the recommendation! We are dedicated to our mission and are committed to delivering successful results. Starting with a smaller grant is indeed a valid suggestion, yet we believe the scale of this project warrants the requested grant size.
1 Like
Weâre thrilled to hear you support DCL having an increased presence IRL especially IRL events! Cant wait to see you represent DCL at an NFT event with the official tee on!!! Thanks for the support, letâs go!! <3
1 Like
Hello HP,
It appears there may be a misunderstanding. The phygital t-shirt does not have a cost of $100USD/shirt; it actually costs $22USD/shirt.
I encourage you and everyone reading to visit the budget section of the proposal. There you will see the first line item is that of the t-shirt.
Our ultimate goal is to create a high-quality phygital t-shirt while balancing cost-effectiveness to deliver the best product for the community. Blessings!
1 Like
With all of the other variables it puts the cost of each t shirt to be around $100, if a community member wants their own shirt to wear they could easily print one themselves for much less.
Hi PB,
You are free to opine as you please. My ask is that you simply follow the DCL DAO Rules #1: Be Respectful and #2 Be Tolerant. Do not call me names publicly nor defame me using libel especially with 0 proof of your claims just because you do not like or agree with a proposal Iâve presented.
And yes, I did reach out to you to ask for feedback on the proposal. I messaged you directly as we have chatted before, and I thought you would be able to provide good feedback given your role at DCL. Literally no ill-intentions like you are making it out to be. Again, because you were someone I was comfortable with, I turned to you for guidance and feedback. Nothing more, nothing less.
Also, Iâm perplexed you keep mentioning I was not involved in DCL prior to this grant. We met you at a DCL event that we organized lol. We even attended 2 of the DCL Foundation lunches in Miami that you also attended and an event at a bar across the street after. Not to mention, Melanie spoke at one of the art galleries hosting an event about education, art, and DCL alongside BioMeta, MT Chris, and other speakers including a web3 attorney and 2 other artists. All of this occurred back in November 2022.
One other thing you keep mentioning that doesnât really make sense is this being a payout for Ennova. When you get a grant, there is a 2-month period (vesting and cliff period) where you are NOT paid. Literally, you work FOR FREE. On top of that, grantees are required to meet with the Grant Support Squad (GSS) monthly to provide them as well as the community progress on the project. Iâm not sure how anyone can run away with any moneyâŚyouâve got to show proof you are working before getting your first payment. If you believe there is a way for people to run off with money without doing any work, then there is a flaw in our system that we should work to fix.
Lastly, the one project I am able to share with the community is the MT one listed in this article. We provided operational and strategic consulting as well as planned the 2 IRL events they hosted. Please refer to the Yahoo article from November 2022 for more information: MetaTrekkers Announces BeatTrekkers, a DJ Battle Series in the Metaverse You will also notice that the event kicked off in August 2022, which means we were involved in DCL even earlier than August 2022.
If you have any questions for me or about the proposal, please feel free to share them respectfully and publicly, and I will continue to address them with respect. I understand there is some hesitation around how long weâve been established as an official company, however, as I mentioned, it is simply because we didnât plan for things to go this route. The knowledge weâve gained, the expertise weâve obtained, and the passion we have made us take this even more seriously than we did when we came into DCL. Only after all this, we decided to officially create our company.
1 Like
What I have said was clearly stated as my opinion, so it is not libel.
The only work that you can reference in the space is work that you got paid for which furthers my beliefs that you are just looking for a payout.
Yes there is a vesting period and you have to make updates, but that does not change the fact that I do not agree with this usage of funds.
There are a lot of grants that get approved and paid out that are a terrible waste of money and add no value or ROI
How often do you see a random person wearing a shirt from something you recognize then you talk to them about it, more so, how often do you see someone wearing a shirt about something you barley know about then you end up talking to them about it?
Wearing T shirts is not going to create any sort of marketing value or bring any users to Decentraland.
Thatâs literally wrong.
There is a one month delay.
You donât get paid BEFORE starting a new job, do you? You get paid at the end of the month. Itâs the same with a grant.
2 Likes
Hi HP,
Thank you for the clarification, yet my point still stands.
There is a waiting period for the funds. However, in order to successfully execute the milestones of this project, we have to start working day 1. Phase 1 even includes us working during the cliff period (without compensation). You can reference the proposal for more details.
Additionally, it seems like thereâs a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of grants vs. traditional employment. In a job, sure, you start working and then receive your paycheck. Itâs a simple exchange of labor for money. A grant is not the same thing. Itâs not a paycheck. Itâs a commitment, an investment in a project and its potential to contribute to a goal or platform in meaningful ways.
We proudly put in the work, time, energy, creativity, and everything in between without the certainty of pay, because we believe in what weâre building and in DCL.
Our commitment goes beyond the money. We believe in the power of this project and its impact to the platform and community. Weâre here to make a difference.
1 Like
Hello PB,
Your statement: âWhat I have said was clearly stated as my opinion, so it is not libelâ is not true. You publicly accused me of being a scammer. This is not only false and disrespectful, itâs libelous.
Stop spreading misinformation. This can do more than just damage my professional reputation by reducing potential collabs and partnerships deterring others from engaging with me or my project, it can also impact me personally. Itâs not a statement to be taken lightly.
Community members Iâve spoken to love this proposal, have offered support, and even want to participate. Again, I encourage people to RESPECTFULLY ask questions about the proposal here or in the forum. I will not stand for name calling or libel.
As for the MetaTrekkers (MT) project youâre referring to - who said we got paid? We came in to help launch the MT project and BeatTrekkers project. We actually are the team that helped them pivot from Life of Musk to MetaTrekkers. When helping with the launch we assisted with items including but not limited to creating the logo, selecting and hiring the team, launching the website, assisted with their proposal, attended GSS meetings, created internal documents for financial and event tracking, hosted 2 IRL parties in Miami (1 of which you attended), onboarded a Latino artist named Yossy and organized his first metaverse concert on August 3rd, 2022, helped with Wearable Wednesdays and Fan Art Fridays, coached his team on communication, attended vendor calls and meetings, etc. We did all this and more PRO BONO (FOR FREE).
Our goal was to create a brand for ourselves without name dropping. The MT project is big and has helped us learn and grow. We love working with them, however we want to grow this space and thought we could do so branching out.
We are not looking for a payout. Whether you want to admit it or not, we need to better promote DCL to onboard builders and content creators. Adding a phygital component to it isnât just cool, it will peak curiosity in people, specifically those not on the platform already, and make them want to learn more about DCL. If there is a better method, why isnât it being done?
I will reiterate. We need to onboard more users. There are MANY business cases of this working to create brand recognition and new customers (in our case, users). Your and anyone elseâs comments on whether this works or not has not yet been shared with facts to back such claims. It appears this may be your own FEELINGS about this approach. We provided several links in our proposal and an even more powerful one here for reference since it doesnât appear that people click links or read full proposals.
There is a digital marketing company called Single Grain that gave away t-shirts (i.e., free t-shirts) and made nearly $1M in revenue. Below are some highlights from the article for reference. You may also read it here [How Giving Away T-Shirts Made Me Over $500K in Revenue â Sujan Patel].
Made the company nearly $1M in revenue
Helped the CEO strike up business conversations
Helped him work with larger companies
Grew his companyâs brand recognition
Advice: donât cheap out. Even if you can do it cheaper, invest in quality products so people actually WEAR the shirt (and can do so REPEATEDLY)
This is just one successful case study. There are SO MANY MORE SUCCESS CASES out there. Weâve done our research and understand that this is a BIG opportunity for the platform. We will happily share more articles containing successful business cases should the community be interested.
Your opinion on fund usage is noted. Itâs up to the community to decide on the best use of these resources. If you feel like the community isnât capable of voting on good initiatives, thatâs your personal opinion. This is not just a t-shirt giveaway. We are hosting a community design contest so that artists, developers, musicians, and other community members can share their creative abilities. We will then create a wearable that will be sold in the DCL marketplace and distribute the funds to the DAO, the designer, and the developer. Then we will also host an IRL event with a prominent web3/tech leader to speak on DCL and onboard new users. Lastly, our project details, the accolades of participants and the Decentraland platform will be showcased in a prominent business, tech, and/or web3 publication.This projectâs intention is to benefit the community while marketing to new users. We have created a visual to illustrate those who stand to benefit from the project.
We are not claiming that t-shirts alone will bring a massive amount of users, but they will contribute to the bigger picture by enhancing community engagement and brand visibility. DCL is a multi-million dollar company and is still working on figuring out the most effective way to onboard new users. Itâs a collective initiative; this is one piece of a bigger pie. We are here for the long run, and every small action counts in creating a successful ecosystem.
1 Like
I said I believed the proposal was a scam for money, which in my opinion is true. I did not say anything about you or your character. My comment is not libel.
Just to summarize, I think spending 120k on a T Shirt campaign is a terrible waste of money.
When spending money on user acquisition generally companies look to pay from 1-3$ per user.
You would need to onboard 40k-120k for this to be an roi in that aspect. this simply is not going to happen, lets be real.
Even if you manage to onboard 100 users the cost would be 1200 per user which is unreasonable.
We should manage DAO funds for better marketing tactics.
Where did you get this number? Itâs outdated in almost any digital environment, but certainly not relevant to metaverse User Acquisition costs.
When apple made keeping data private the default, UA costs went up across the board.
1 Like
PB, now youâre just backpedaling and playing semantics. Referring to my proposal as a scam is ultimately saying Iâm a scammer. You simply didnât use the agentive noun version of the word.
Itâs like saying âI didnât call you a murderer. I just said you unlawfully premeditated the killing of the bus driver.â Effectively, youâre calling that person a murderer. Are honest, hardworking people known to create scam projects?? No, of course not.
If youâre not going to apologize or anything, please do not come to defend yourself. Itâs not right.
All I ask is that you refrain from name calling (of me, my project, my brand, my team, my supporters, etc), and just focus on feedback of the project itself. Weâre simply working for the opportunity to contribute to DCL the best way we can with our skills and talents.
1 Like
I think it is totally reasonable that you would like to not have you or your project called a scam or scammer.
However, one of my best friendâs a lawyer, and I was recently threatened by RobL, the owner of DistrictX, with being sued for libel because I wrote two articles and a few thousand words about how he stole it and is a fraud.
My friend assures me that if you honestly believe the words you are writing, then you are protected by the law.
To be committing âLibel,â the person needs to be intentionally saying something dishonest with the intention of hurting you and your business.
This is US law, and it could be different in other places, but I know PB is in the States, so US law is most relevant.
2 Likes
Hey Jarod, certainly there is not enough info available on UA costs for the metaverse so I based it off some studies I found related to free to play games and mobile games as it seemed to me to be the most comparable to me. Comparing to AAA games is also not the same imo, so I went with this. I will share a link from a 2023 report
Lets say UA was much higher than I stated and was $10 per user, they would still need to onboard over 10k+ users which I do not see happening.
Not all users are the same, and I donât think the average cost of a global user on a mobile device is a salient point when discussing the cost of acquiring users for a metaverse platform that doesnât have a mobile offering.
I am not here to defend the idea of spending $100k on a contest and some t-shirts, I just donât think you are making a reasonable comparison in your attempt to explain why they arenât going to be making effective use of the money.
Did you follow any of Decentral Games user acquisition updates from last year and earlier this year? They were focused on just driving users to the Arcade website where you could log in with Google and not even have to setup a wallet and they did not get cost per user below $20 at any point, and most of the time the cost was much higher as they refined the pipeline. (I donât remember the actual lowest price, it wasnât great)
1 Like
Yes and I also do not believe that is enough data to be compared to or a reasonable amount to pay per user.
Just to rewind a moment, what I said was âWhen spending money on user acquisition generally companies look to pay from 1-3$ per user.â. I am referring to companies outside of Decentraland and the metaverse. There is no apples to apples comparison here so we are going apples to oranges. It makes sense to want to achieve more realistic numbers like this when paying for UA .
They would still need to obtain 5k users to get down to $20 per user which is still unrealistic to me from a t shirt campaign.
Okay, I can concede that none of our oranges are great comparisons.
However, I would also point out that live events and design contests are going to have a much better chance of creating users who are more likely to want to champion the project and not just the kind of user who logs into wonderzone and does their daily mining.
If you spend $1000 to get a user who is going to dedicate 2 years of their life to building in the metaverse and telling everyone they know about Decentraland, I think there is an argument to suggest that isnât the worst ROI.
That said, Iâm pretty open to the argument âDCL shouldnât be spending any money on onboarding and instead focus on making it suck lessâ
1 Like
I can agree with this, I donât really think most P2E games where the focus is the reward has longevity, the game needs to be fun for people to want to keep playing.
I can also agree with this. When talking about UA for DCL it is much different than UA for a normal free play, mobile, or AAA game because the users can offer value in many different ways, we are not really just looking for people to âplay a gameâ.
I think we can also agree here.
To not get to off topic, I do not think this grant is a good use of funds. The team had a lot of resistance sharing their experience with me when I asked in discord which I found rather questionable. and In my personal opinion I think this team and its associates do shady things for votes, I am glad to see the community ânoâ vote winning so far.
Maybe they should go to the CBD space and talk about the idea in a more conversational fashion.
I am not sure what you are referring to when you say, âthis team and its associates do shady things for votes,â is there something specific? Whatever shady things they are doing to get votes donât seem to be working, is all Iâm observing.
Iâm not saying they have landed on a budget the DAO should unquestionably support, but I donât think itâs entirely fair to them for you to dismiss their efforts to engage the community and implement the feedback they received.
Itâs perfectly reasonable to still not like the idea, but I donât think it is fostering a healthy discussion or community culture to accuse the team of âshady thingsâ casually when you can just let the merits of your arguments against the facts of the grant make your point.
You choose to make it personal when you finish your âback to the topic at handâ paragraph by calling them shady and then saying, âIâm glad,â itâs not going to pass. That doesnât need to be said, everyone knows you donât like them and the grant, and we can all see itâs not going to pass as it currently stands.
2 Likes