NMDP 6: Fund, Launch the Nexus Mutual Grants & Accelerator Program

BraveNewDeFi and Dopeee co-authored this proposal

Voting Options

Members can select one of the following choices:

• For
• Against
• Abstain

Overview

Currently, the Foundation and DAO teams are focused on increasing cover sales by 20x in 2024. To achieve this goal, we need more builders, risk experts, brokers, and underwriters to contribute to the Nexus Mutual ecosystem.

BraveNewDeFi and Dopeee propose that members vote to fund and launch a combined Grants & Accelerator Program with $3m (49,571 NXM at time of publication), which would run for an 18-month period. The program would have clear calls to action to fund one-off projects and emerging risk businesses with the capital they need to build on top of Nexus Mutual. With more teams building within our ecosystem, the Mutual can expand distribution, develop new products, enter new markets, and improve our existing products and interfaces.

Rationale

The Nexus Mutual DAO Treasury is well funded, with more than $20.5m available to fund DAO team operations and other community related activities that support the Mutual’s growth, adoption, and awareness. In the past, the Mutual ran a grants program that was reactive in nature, where members waited for people to suggest ideas, submit proposals, and go through the governance process. Because the previous program didn’t provide potential grantees with any potential scope, guidelines, areas where we need others to build, etc., it didn’t result in long-term success.

With the Nexus Mutual V2 protocol, it’s easier to build on top of the Mutual, launch risk management businesses (i.e., syndicates), develop new products, distribute cover, etc. Now is the right time to launch a Grants & Accelerator Program, where we can provide funding to people who can help us improve discoverability and distribution; expand into new markets and reach new users; and upgrade our existing products and interfaces.

The program BraveNewDeFi and Dopeee are proposing is proactive, with clear calls to action and RFPs for projects and risk businesses the Mutual needs to expand, grow cover sales/fees, and onboard more experts into our ecosystem. The goal is to provide funding to teams and people who want to build on top of the Mutual and expand our ecosystem in ways we cannot do by ourselves. BraveNewDeFi and Dopeee want the Grants & Accelerator Program to attract talented people with great ideas/expertise who can benefit by building on top of Nexus Mutual and underwrite cover with our Capital Pool.

With the Mutual's aggressive growth targets for cover sales, the proposed committee would want to move fast, fund great teams, and establish go-to-market strategies that allow the Mutual to start supercharging our cover sales, while ensuring members manage risk exposure. As part of this proposal and in an effort to keep the process agile, BraveNewDeFi and Dopeee want to establish a committee with the power to provide funding for grants and to teams in our accelerator program on a discretionary basis.

This committee’s core purpose will be to review responses to RFPs, select the best teams, and distribute grant funding effectively and quickly to individuals and teams working to expand distribution, sell cover, and develop new products within our ecosystem.

Specification

BraveNewDeFi and Dopeee have proposed forming a committee-run grants and accelerator program for an initial 18-month period. They are requesting a maximum budget of $3m in NXM to fund the program, with $1m allocated to funding grants and $2m allocated to funding teams accepted to the Nexus Mutual Accelerator Program.

At this time, they are not requesting an operating budget, as all proposed committee members are existing contributors to either the Foundation or DAO teams.

The committee will have the discretion to approve:

• Individual grants of up to $100k
  • RFPs will be posted with suggested budgets outlined, with no single RFP representing more than the $100k maximum amount. Most grants will be significantly smaller than the maximum amount.
  • Teams can also submit grant requests for ideas outside of the suggested RFP board posted on the Nexus Mutual DAO website (WIP).
  • After a grant request is submitted the committee will review and respond within 14 days. The goal is to move quickly, while ensuring the process is competitive, so the committee provides funding to the team that can provide the most value to the Mutual.
• Commitments of up to $500k per team upon being accepted to the Accelerator Program.
  • Teams accepted to the Accelerator Program will make a commitment to work closely with the Foundation and DAO teams for a set amount of time to build their business, develop any new product(s), and establish a go-to-market strategy. Funding will be contingent on these agreements, which will be available on the Nexus Mutual DAO website (WIP).

This program will have an open submission window, but only 4-6 spots are available. Because the Foundation and DAO teams will be committing time, resources, and funding to those accepted, this will be a more exclusive process, where only the best applicants will be accepted.

If this proposal is approved, the grants and accelerator committee would provide quarterly updates to members to highlight the teams building within our ecosystem, the granted funded and outstanding RFPs, and gauge impact of the program over time. This program will also have a dedicated section on the Nexus Mutual DAO website, where anyone can read about the program, the grants funded, teams accepted into our accelerator program, outstanding RFPs, areas of interest, etc.

Committee Members

They've proposed a committee of five (5) members: one (1) lead and four (4) reviewers. The committee lead will dedicate a significant amount of time to organise the program, conduct outreach to potential builders/risk experts/teams that may be a good fit for the grants/accelerator program, market and create awareness around the program, coordinate with the rest of the committee to review submissions in a timely fashion, etc.

The proposed reviewers will be as follows:

• Dopeee | Member of the Business Development team. Proposed Committee Lead.
• BraveNewDeFi | Head of DAO Community team/Contributor to the Product & Risk team.
• Roxana Danila | Head of Engineering team.
• Rei | Head of DAO R&D team
• Hugh Karp | Founder

Priorities

The priority for 2024 is 20x cover growth, and the following grants and accelerator program guidelines will create the foundation for and directly facilitate this level of cover growth.

The Grants Program will focus on the following priorities for grants:

• Legal and Regulatory
• Technical Product Improvements
• Improving the User Experience
• Distribution and Marketing
• Integrations and Composability

The Accelerator Program will prioritise submissions for teams who are:

• Building new risk businesses into areas outside of the Mutual’s existing product offerings
• Developing new cover products with risk frameworks and technical expertise outside of the existing Foundation and DAO teams
• Bringing an existing distribution network with the business they can build on top of the Mutual

What will success look like?

This program will be measured primarily based on growth in cover sales ($ volume and # sold), cover fees, and membership numbers. Other metrics aren’t as easily quantifiable, such as improving existing products, risk controls, and user interfaces, but the end result of such improvements should be growth in these core metrics.

Once Q4 2024 concludes, the grant and accelerator program can be measured by the Mutual’s overall growth in cover sales and cover fees.

Technical Specification

Send the 49,571 NXM to the Nexus Mutual Community Staking Pool multisig.