Arbitrum Hackathon Builder Continuation Program

Non-Constitutional

1. Introduction
2. Opportunity to continue the momentum created
3. Proposed Support Program

• Program Structure (Two Phases)
• RnDAO Program’s Value

1. Implementation Plan - Budget
2. Funds Management
3. Reporting
4. Investment Agreement and Arbitrum benefits
5. Long-Term Vision
6. Conclusion
7. FAQs

1. Introduction

A few months ago, Arbitrum funded the Arbitrum CollabTech Hackathon through Questbook. This month-long event has just come to an end, having gathered great talent and energy.

We’ve got

• 164 applications and 144 participants
• 20 projects submitted
• 15 finalist projects that are solving real problems with tech for governance, identity, reputation, and more. All are built on Arbitrum.
• 3 winners having built a narrowly focused PoC
• Contribo: matching talent to tasks is a foundational need in any collaboration. Contribo is tackling the right parts of this well, focusing on smooth UX and simplicity yet strong onchain components.
• Signals: A much-needed tool for DAOs to easily define priorities and transform chat-group noise into meaningful proposals. It also provides additional utility for native tokens.
• Separated Powers: A more flexible approach to role definition, well architected. Could advance automation in onchain organisations significantly and provide a system for reducing the overhead of checks and balances.

We’ve created a funnel for builders on Arbitrum and we want to sustain this momentum. However, without support, the teams will soon seek opportunities elsewhere. Questbook new protocols track is out of funding but, even if it had funding, the projects need not only capital but also network access and expertise.

RnDAO proposes to co-fund (roughly 50-50) a program in partnership with Arbitrum to invest in and support these teams.

This program is designed to take projects from a hackathon PoC to engage in systematic customer validation, iterate and develop an MVP, and get their first 100 users. As such, we’re leveraging the raw talent and expecting the projects to evolve significantly as they engage and validate with customers, achieving traction at the end of the program.

2. The Solution: Turn Hackathon Wins into Long-Term Success"

Early-stage projects often stall or fail within a few months because they lack a deep understanding of their target audience and its needs. Systematic customer validation can significantly increase the likelihood of projects thriving beyond this initial stage.

This initiative, co-funded by RnDAO and Arbitrum, aims to build an ecosystem of unique Arbitrum-based projects that will continue to grow and attract new projects.

We’ve designed a 6-month, two-phase program to capture the best of the hackathon talent and energy.

• Phase 1 focuses on validating ideas (customer development, lean startup, and design thinking methods) and understanding the competitive landscape.
• Phase 2 supports projects to move from PoC to the development of a market-viable MVP and securing the first 100 users.

Here’s how:

• We will select the 4 most promising hackathon teams to join the program (through due diligence by the RnDAO investment committee and signing of an investment contract).
• Each project will receive an initial stipend ($12k over 3 months) in Phase 1.
• Upon successful completion of user research, validation of interest, and presentation of a viable business case (solid pitch deck), the top 2 projects can move to Phase 2.
• Phase 2 projects are awarded an additional $38k and receive hands-on support (sales strategy, biz dev, marketing amplification, intros to funders, team formation, setting up ops processes and legal, setting up agile product development processes, etc.).

Goals:

• short-term (6 months): projects validate their concepts with customers (first 100 users) and generate traction to fundraise from investors or otherwise receive follow-on funding or generate revenue.
• long-term: create a group of unique ventures that collaborate and integrate (business cluster), drawing in new projects like a magnet with less direct involvement from our team.

3. Proposed Support Program

Program Structure (Two Phases)

By breaking funding and mentorship into two distinct phases, we derisk capital allocation. Only projects that successfully validate customer demand and can showcase a market gap in the first phase will advance to the second phase, ensuring that resources are focused on ventures with proven potential.

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Phase 1: Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiR) - Customer Validation (3 Months)

• Funding: Each project receives $2,000 per month per cofounder (max 2 cofounders receiving funding per project), totalling $12,000 per project for Phase 1.
• Goal: Support validation with real users to confirm demand and solidify the project’s foundation.
• Process: Most hackathon projects lack any customer validation and have a shallow understanding of the problem. As such, they fail to gain traction and die. In Phase 1 we focus on addressing these issues head-on by guiding projects through a structured customer validation process, with
• weekly strategy and customer development mentoring sessions
• shadowing user research calls and providing feedback
• multiple hours of hands-on support per week (up to 8 hours per week directly with each project and extra cohort work) to refine their outreach campaigns (tactical support on copy, messaging, refining target user groups, introductions, implementing automation tools, etc.) and support on making the competitive landscape.

Transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2:

• Assessment by RnDAO investment committee (we’ll invest significant labour in the next phase and so will only approve teams we deem viable).
• Assessment based on market viability (clearly understood customer problem, market gap, proposed solution based on customer insights, viable team).

Phase 2: Development and Scaling (3 Months)

• Funding: Projects that successfully complete Phase 1 will receive an additional grant of $38,000 each, amounting to a total of $50,000 per venture across both phases (enough to build and market test a basic MVP plus 3 months runway for market testing and securing the next bit of funding).
• Goal: This phase supports full product development, go-to-market strategy, and readiness for sustainable operation, whether through fundraising, revenue, or further grants.
• Process: After initial customer validation, the key challenge for founders is being spread too thin, while needing to set up an effective, agile product development process to quickly validate hypotheses and accelerate product-market-fit, ensure financial sustainability (pitch development and fundraising), set up a fully functioning team (talent recruitment), and operate the organisation (admin and ops). We’ll help teams with all of these challenges, operating as a fractional c-suite (down in the trenches with them, up to 10 hours per week with each project and extra cohort work) and fast-track their brand recognition and network with the support of our marketing team.

RnDAO Program’s Value and advantages over regular incubation programs

1. Swarm Collaboration: participants join an alliance of similar projects, encouraging integrations (good for project retention in Arbitrum), sharing best practices, co-marketing, cross-selling, and more. RnDAO facilitates this through a system of guilds, collaborative databases, cross-ownerhsip, and facilitating specific collaborations.
2. Not just advisory, hands-on operators: we get our hands dirty working directly in the projects, fast-tracking their development with world-class expertise, including Drea (led research for Google Suite, Asana, Aragon, etc. 50% time-commitment to the program), Gokhan (venture-building expert and 8x entrepreneur. Full-time commitment to the program), and Daniel (organisation designer, ex-Head of Gov Aragon, 4x founder, etc. full-time commitment to the program.). Additionally, we provide access to industry-leading mentors (e.g. mentors for the Hackathon included Kevin Owoki, Nader Dabit, Dennison Bertram, Reka Medvcz, David Phelps, etc.).
3. Network access:

• Support in establishing customer relationships by leveraging

... please visit link below to view full proposal

https://tally.xyz/gov/arbitrum/proposal/108658450973990931334575713480652794742647878863726354508911679874665321261959