Funding Proposal for CityDAO Podcast

Recurring: $2,000/mth x 12mths to fund the following:

• All checklist items for production (scroll down below for details)
• Weekly episodes on-going x 52 weeks
• Audio editing
• Written show notes and reference url's
• Website updates + hosting + management
• Guest sourcing, relations, organizing and hosting
• Leadership for the show overall

One-time: 5 CitizenDAO NFT’s, for all work completed to date including:

• Website design, development, hosting and launch
• 12 Episodes recording, editing, show notes
• Guest sourcing, organizing and hosting
• Leadership/management

Vision for the CityDAO Podcast & why it’s needed

The CityDAO Podcast is a vehicle to initiate and engage with important conversations with political leaders across the globe in collaborative fashion at the proverbial round table. This is an opportunity to establish positive relationships with todays politicians to demystify DAO’s and help bridge the gap between traditional Politics and the new-age Web3 revolution.

Additionally, someday a physical city -as defined by current geographical boundaries & connected to our present political system- will opt to operate as a DAO & CityDAO should be there when it happens to help everyone involved.

There’s always a 1st for everything. Wyoming was the 1st US state to embrace DAO recognition, the Republic of The Marshal Islands was the first country to embrace DAO’s at the Federal level, El Salvador was the 1st county to embrace bitcoin as a national currency and Miami was the 1st city to launch an official City Coin. When the first City begins to operate as a DAO, CityDAO should be there well in advance of the announcement to assist with the transition.

CityDAO is on the radar with important and powerful people across the globe including some of todays political leaders. The warm and welcomed reception I received when talking with the City of Miami and the Wyoming Senate clarified to me just how unique of a position CityDAO is in.

Background of the CityDAO Podcast

I volunteered to lead the CityDAO Podcast initiative via a Discord post in November 2021 which received unanimous positive feedback at the time. Since then the Podcast has been coming to life and taking shape. I have personally paid for any and all podcast related costs to date 100% and not received nor requested for any back compensation prior to this proposal being sent forth to you, the CityDAO community.

Progress to date:

1. Website design is completed and live
2. Hosting site is completed and live
3. Systems & processes have been established for; audio editing, time stamped show notes, reference URL’s, and pushing live to hosting and website
4. 11 Episodes are currently live right now including;

• 8x Citizens Series
• 1x External Guests
• 1x AMA & perhaps most importantly;
• 1x Notable Political figure from the City of Miami

5. 3 more episodes are finished recording and in for editing right now and will be live within the next 10 days
6. 4 more episodes are currently scheduled to be recorded between now and end of March including Senator Rothfuss from the State of Wyoming, Chairman of the Blockchain Council that passed Bill-38 to recognize DAO’s
7. 495 podcast unique listens have occurred as of todays date 27 different countries have tuned in 91% is a Male audience so far and most listeners ie 41% are ages 28-34

Current Job Description and Responsibilities

As with any project, the CityDAO Podcast has a checklist of tasks and responsibilities that needs to be completed on-going generally as well as for every episode. Here is the checklist as it stands today:

PRE-LAUNCH (completed)

1. Prep, design & maintain the WP website @ podcast.citydao.io 1
2. Prep & setup the podcasting hosting site @ anchor.fm
3. Google drive organization for raw files, edited files, photo’s, notes, episode names & organization
4. Set up basic recording room for audio & visual recordings. Currently using a blue yeti mic, audacity for host audio, zoom for guest audio & zoom video both video. For video background imagery so I’ve chosen two art pieces which I felt reflect the spirit of what we’re doing here at CityDAO. I’ve been looking into having a 3D print made of the CityDAO logo as well which I think would look pretty dank when done
5. Source out and pay for intro music, trial and error to get it to sound good

LAUNCH (also completed)

1. Source out/locate & schedule guests. Sometimes is quite easy as with Citizens series, other times takes work such as locating contact info and back and forth emails explaining as with Erick Gavin from Miami and Senator Rothfuss from Wyoming. I created the email template being used thus far and have been handling that correspondence.
2. Pre-recording prep, usually includes things such as; researching guest, preparing questions, citing current CityDAO and global events, little cheat sheet of questions and interview/discussion agenda
3. Interview & Recording. This is my favorite part, this is basically why I do this at all. I love the discussions, the learning & the pressure to do a good show that constantly improves with feedback, trial & error.
4. Audio editing; things like; removing clips, taps, coughs, umms, ahhs, removing irrelevant rants, special requests from guests, long pauses, and generally cleaning up the audio. In an average 1hr recording, often a full 10-20 minutes of these items gets cut out/deleted
5. Show description; show notes & resource url’s; doing a descriptive write up for the show, usually with SEO in mind, as well as doing time-stamped show notes so people can quick flip through episodes to find points of interest. Also doing the required research to find the relevant url’s which were referenced in the interview.
6. Putting the episode live; Google drive updating, website updating, hosting platform updating
7. Marketing; twitter & discord, mentioning guests, gathering reviews on Spotify & Apple Podcasts, spreading the word

Costs I Have Personally Incurred + Help Request

1. I have personally paid approx $600 USD for Website design + build and initial podcast setup
2. I have alos personally paid approx $4,100 USD in episode hard costs; 13 episodes @ $315 each

I have thus far volunteered my time for all the Podcast Leadership work required to date including all items outlined above for the pre-launch & launch checklists above. Additionally, I have been paying out of pocket for all physical costs required for the hands-on editing, writing & website work to get the show where it is at today.

For further clarity; there ARE outsourced physical costs for most of the aspects related to PRE-LAUNCH items 1 & 2 as well as LAUNCH items 4, 5 & 6 and I have so far paid for ALL of them myself personally with no assistance from any source.

Each episode has physical costs over and above my volunteer time of approx. $315 per episode which includes all of the time-consuming aspects of items the LAUNCH checklist items 4, 5 & 6 above.

Also for further clarity; I do NOT run a podcast editing company nor do I intend to, I did NOT have a profit or operating margin in the aforementioned costs and was 100% a community volunteer. This proposal includes a very small budget for my time moving forward.

Challenges

I will not be able to continue carrying these costs on-going. These will need to be covered somehow, community willing; ideally by the treasury via this funding proposal.

Also community willing, I have 2 further support personnel requests;

1. I’d like a short term assistant/helper to help with guest recruitment. I’ll provide the checklists, leadership & coordination for all aspects related to this. The purpose is to help with sourcing out email contact info for relevant potential guests and helping me with an aggressive outreach for political members across the globe to come on the show plus help with pre-show research prep. This would either be on a volunteer basis by a CityDAO community member or a casual/part-time paid/bounty role. A helper is not an urgent need nor is it absolutely necessary, however it would really help take a bit of pressure off my shoulders!
2. I’d like some marketing support. People who can help me tweeting & re-tweeting episodes across their social networks and leaving positive reviews on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. This helps guests feel special, helps us recruit more guests and helps the Podcast gain the visibility it needs to become an authority presence in the DAO ecosystem overall for CityDAO to leverage from.

Roadmap

4th Qtr 2021 (completed)

• Discuss Podcast concept Setup Podcast framework, checklists, website & hosting Begin recording guests for the Podcast Launch

1st Qtr 2022 (completed)

• Launch the Podcast and establish initial traction Prepare this document for community input

NOW

• Obtain ALL answers to community questions outlined in this document & carry out any related actionable items

2nd Qtr 2022

• Book, record & publish several episodes with bigger name thought leaders & politicians

3rd Qtr 2022

• Heavy marketing of the Podcast with intent on establishing CityDAO as an authority presence and bridge between present day politicians & Web3
• Continue booking & publishing bigger name episodes with thought leaders & politicians

4th Qtr 2022

• Continued marketing + episodes launches
• Get CityDAO included in political panels, debates & inner circle strategy meetings with politicians interested in further exploring DAO’s
• Evaluate 2022 progress & develop 2023 Roadmap

My Background

See Forum Document and scroll to bottom for more about me: https://forum.citydao.io/t/cip-38-podcast-funding-request-progress-update/1103

Also:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/memebrains
• Mental Health Podcast: https://rockbottom2rockinit.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-gilbert-williams/
• Discord: @memebrains#0677
• Website: https://ericgilbertwilliams.com/
• Primary Occupation: CEO @ https://meme.market/home