WIP-003: GrantsXM – Driving WeatherXM’s Impact Through a Grants & Incubation Program

Title

GrantsXM – Driving WeatherXM’s Impact Through a Grants & Incubation Program

Abstract

GrantsXM funds and incubates external teams to ship near-term (3–6 months), measurable, and reusable deployments that either expand station coverage or increase verifiable consumption of WeatherXM data (e.g., API usage, paid plans, enterprise pilots). Funding is performance-gated via milestones/streams, with strong transparency, reporting, and clawback safeguards. The program is designed as a repeatable framework that can run in seasons.

Motivation

WeatherXM’s growth depends on real usage of its data and healthy deployment of stations. While targeted rollouts (e.g., TROv2) accelerated deployments, builders still face gaps in funding, integrations, and go-to-market support. GrantsXM closes these gaps by pairing funding with structured enablement, public reporting, and partner co-funding so projects can move from prototype to production.

Goals & Non-Goals

Goals

1. Increase verifiable WeatherXM data consumption (API calls, paid plans, enterprise pilots, embedded products).
2. Expand network coverage/density in priority areas aligned with product & BD goals.
3. Produce reusable playbooks (docs, connectors, templates) for future teams.
4. Establish a transparent, repeatable grants engine with standard metrics.

Non-Goals

• Open-ended research without a path to shipping within 6 months.
• Grants that do not measurably use WeatherXM data.
• Overlapping incentives that duplicate existing rollout rewards without added utility.

Program Design (Season 1)

Tracks / Categories

1. Business & Direct Data Purchases – commercial ingestion of WeatherXM data.
2. Integrations & Tooling – connectors (PowerBI/ArcGIS/QGIS/Databricks), cloud marketplace listings, IoT platform plug-ins.
3. Applications & Use Cases – live pilots (alerts, insurance, ag, energy, logistics), dApps, citizen-science activations.
4. AI & Data Layers – models/agents using WeatherXM PRO APIs; quant research with measurable pull-through.

Eligibility & Requirements

• Any team (devs, startups, NGOs, enterprises, researchers) with track record.
• Hard requirement: verifiable WeatherXM data consumption.
• Focus: delivery ≤ 6 months.
• Reusability: publish artifacts (code, docs, playbooks) unless restricted.
• Co-funding strongly preferred; required in Track 1 & 3.
• Exclusions: token launches, pure marketing, unrelated research, or duplicating rollout rewards.

Budget Guardrails

• Total pool: 1,500,000 $WXM
• Per-grant cap: ≤ 10% of pool (higher by separate vote).
• Track caps (soft): 30–40% (Tracks 1 & 3), 10–20% (Track 2), 10–20% (Track 4).
• Ops cap: ≤ 8% for program ops (reporting, dashboards, tooling).
• Unallocated funds return to treasury at season end.

Selection Rubric (Weights)

• Impact on WeatherXM data consumption – 40%
• Feasibility & time-to-ship – 20%
• Network impact / coverage – 15%
• Reusability & ecosystem value – 15%
• Co-funding & leverage – 10%

Process & Timeline

1. Intake (Weeks 0–4): simple application → 1-week fit check → invite full proposal.
2. Review (rolling): committee scores against rubric; due-diligence; public shortlist.
3. Agreement: milestones, KPIs, reporting cadence, IP terms.
4. Execution (≤ 6 months): bi-weekly check-ins; streamed payouts; public updates.
5. Wrap-Up: final report, KPI audit, showcase; Season 2 proposal.

Milestones, Payouts & Safeguards

• Funding pattern: 10% kickoff → 30% Milestone 1 → 30% Milestone 2 → 30% Final.
• Streaming: funds streamed bi-weekly with pause/stop authority.
• Clawback: unused funds reclaimed; fraud/misuse terminates grant.
• Conflicts of Interest: reviewers must disclose and recuse; logged publicly.

Measurement & Reporting

Core KPIs (grantees must commit targets):

• Data Consumption: API calls, paid plans, enterprise pilots.
• Network Impact: stations deployed, uptime, QoD, coverage.
• Productization: integrations shipped, active users, retention.
• Reuse: OSS repos, docs, templates, downstream adoption.

Cadence:

• Public dashboard with per-grant KPIs and spend.
• Monthly updates; final report with lessons learned.

Stakeholders

• Grantees/Builders: Receive funding, mentorship, and visibility to ship data-consuming solutions.
• WeatherXM Community: Benefits from increased network utility, adoption, and brand presence.
• Data Users & Customers: Gain access to new integrations, applications, and enterprise-grade solutions.
• Partners (co-funders, ecosystems, institutions): Leverage joint pilots, shared marketing, and expanded reach.
• WeatherXM DAO/Treasury: Deploys capital strategically with transparent reporting and measurable ROI.

Program Roles & Governance

• GrantsXM Committee (Season 1): 5–9 members from DAO vote/temp check (Product, BD, Data, Community).
• Multisig: 5/9 signers; funds streamed/payouts require on-chain approvals.
• Operations: committee reviews within budget guardrails; appeals escalated to DAO vote.

Timeline (Season 1)

• T+0–4 weeks: finalize program pack, tools, hub & dashboard; announce intake.
• T+5 weeks: applications open; outreach begins.
• T+12 weeks: first cohort selected (≈ 8–12 teams). Agreements signed; payouts begin.
• T+12–36 weeks: execution, reviews, showcases.
• T+36–40 weeks: publish Season 1 KPI report; propose Season 2.

Rationale

• Direct link to revenue & utility: ties funding to measurable data pull-through.
• Agile & accountable: milestone-gated payouts, pause/stop + clawback.
• Repeatable: standardized metrics and playbooks compound value each season.

Implementation

• Treasury: allocate Season 1 budget to a GrantsXM multisig (5/9).
• Infra: hub (site + forum), public dashboard, intake/review tooling, KPI schema.
• Legal: standard grant agreements with IP, milestones, termination.
• Verification: API key mapping, plan activations, enterprise pilots.

Risks & Mitigations

• Sybil/abuse: due-diligence, telemetry, pause/stop + clawback.
• Overlapping programs: align with rollout incentives; publish scope/calendar.
• Execution risk: staged payouts; weekly/bi-weekly demos; replace underperformers.

References

• WeatherXM Documentation
• GrantsXM program pack (internal)

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Voting

Voting Question

Do you approve WIP-003: GrantsXM – Driving WeatherXM’s Impact Through a Grants & Incubation Program (Season 1) as described?

Voting Options

• For: I approve WIP-003 (GrantsXM – Season 1) as described.
• Against: I do not approve WIP-003 (GrantsXM – Season 1).
• Abstain: I choose not to express approval or disapproval on WIP-003.

Eligible Voters

All WeatherXM ($WXM) token holders in Arbitrum One or Ethereum, including vesting locked tokens of initial supporters; excluding all WeatherXM Association held or controlled tokens.

Voting Method

Voting will be conducted via Snapshot at WeatherXM Snapshot. Voters will connect their wallets and cast votes directly through the Snapshot interface.

Voting Duration

The voting period will last for 7 days from the announcement date. Voting will begin immediately upon announcement. Basic voting is used. No shielded voting.

Result Requirements

A simple majority (50% + 1) of total valid votes will determine the outcome. Abstain votes will be counted towards quorum but will not influence the majority required for approval.

Result Announcement

Final results will be announced within 24 hours after the end of the voting period. The announcement will be made in the #announcements Discord channel and pinned for visibility. It will also be added in GitHub discussions as a finalized vote.

Post-Voting Actions

If approved, the WeatherXM team will proceed to operationalize GrantsXM Season 1 as described, allocate the Season 1 budget to the GrantsXM multisig, and publish the program pack, intake forms, and dashboard within 1 month.

Communication

Clear guidelines, FAQs, and direct support will be provided via Discord and official WeatherXM documentation channels to ensure smooth rollout and application intake.

Audit and Transparency

All votes will be publicly visible and transparent to ensure fairness and accountability. Voting records will be archived for future reference and auditing purposes. Program KPIs and grant-level reporting will be publicly available on the GrantsXM dashboard.