without seeing a business plan that addresses how the Dapp will scale. How will we get to 78,000 users"? and "[…] how to go from development to millennial adoption"
Profila answer: We have provided more information about our go to marketing in point 5 "Practical aspects – "getting on the road", the first title "Go-To-Market".
Marketing / website low
"[…] there is not much mentioned about the marketing of the project, and the website could do a bit of work, so the team could possibly turn attention to this eventually"; and "More information regarding the onboarding process of marketing channels and how it could be deployed in social media platforms could strengthen a bit more the angle" (CA comments)
Profila answer: Agree! We have been focusing our 3 years R&D time and funds on the product and are just starting with our marketing messaging/social media presence/website revamp. Stay tuned during the next weeks for substantial progress there! You can already follow us on Linked "Profila – Relationships Redefined" - https://www.linkedin.com/company/profilaprivacy and our Website www.profila.com should be updated before the end of the month April 2021.
BAT/brave comparison "This is interesting solution to a relevant problem, but the proposal is very similar to the Brave/BAT protocol which is well established." (CA comment)
We are definitely BRAVE fans (and have been following them since 2018)! Although there are some similar goals when it comes to the post-cookie advertising market (zero-knowledge), Profila has a different angle in many ways.
Brave doesn't use third party cookie tracking and uses also zero-knowledge proofs to show you "relevant" adds (if you choose to), but this relevance is based on – again – your (web browsing) activity on the brave browser. Just as in normal advertisement via other browsers, there is no context around why / and Brave doesn't really know you + can't do anything outside of its own browser. If I – as a 30-year-old Belgian lawyer – search the internet for "glitter dog toys" because my client wants to know if there are competitors on the market, Brave might think I am a dog owner who wants to buy toys. As we detailed in our proposal: our consumer app focuses on creating meaningful relationships with brands/companies that you as an individual choose, and where you define the parameters of the relationship, namely when can they (directly) contact you, via which channels (e.g. Profila app, e-mail, post, phone), and what content you want to receive from them as well as the frequency thereof. We are merely a facilitator of this new 1-1 relationship but provide tools to empower consumers. The competitive landscape illustration in our slide deck attached shows that our mobile application for consumers is an over the top (OTT) opportunity in people-centric customer communications across four markets (of which some include Brave's market, see Brave logo in column 1 and 3 of the slide "competitive landscape" in the PDF pitch deck attached to this proposal), namely:
(i) individual privacy rights management and education, (ii) personal data and insights marketplace, (iii) advertising and customer content, and (iv) customer communication.
We are working on a plugin for browsers to help enforce each person's preferences and relationship with certain brands as defined in the consumer App.
No Cardano mention on website
"team […] available on the website*. However, ADA / Cardano is not mentioned even once […] I get a feeling that you wanted to do this anyway and now you jumped on the opportunity to finance the developer's work via Project Catalyst" (CA comment)
Profila answer: We have heard Dor on the weekly townhalls talk numerous times about "how to engage entrepreneurs to join Catalyst", and under Fund 5, there is even a challenge "Proposer Outreach", describing "How can we encourage entrepreneurs from outside the Cardano ecosystem to submit proposals to Catalyst in the next two funds?". If we want to get more entrepreneurs to the space, why would you penalize us for joining? (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/campaign-home/25943). We are entrepreneurs that fell in love with IOHK technology and are determined to integrate them into our existing solution and build further on top of it!
Data protection laws and compliance
"The proposal doesn't mention the several Data Protection Legislation frameworks that exist worldwide and how they would navigate this and ensure they operate within the legal framework" (CA comment)
Profila answer: As a privacy lawyer with work experience in Europe, Switzerland, and the United States, I am well aware of international privacy legislation and all of its ins-and-outs. First, our App is privacy compliant with GDPR as a best-practice and high standard privacy law. Second, the data subscription process is merely a way for consumer and brands to interact in a more transparent way, with control by the consumer. It is the brand's responsibility to provide clear and complaint information to the consumer about the processing of personal data in the jurisdiction they find themselves, and its for the consumer to accept his. Profila will not act as a public authority/enforcer/privacy agency to control the privacy terms of their relationship, nor will Profila monitor the brand's privacy obligations under local law. It is the brand's responsibility to collect and use personal data within its legal framework.
If you have any specific privacy questions, I would be more than happy to elaborate.
Budget low for a big project which might require multiple funding rounds
"The budget and timeline seem way too low"; "I do believe however that the plan and budget for the task described is not sufficient" and "The only "risk" would be that the funding is currently dependent on 4 rounds of funding from Project Catalyst, however, the amount asked for is reasonable and the team is looking for other avenues of funding as well" and "only thing to keep in mind is that it's a long-term project which might take multiple rounds of funding. (CA comments)
Profila answer: we agree that our aspirations are big, but we also understand that its necessary to start small and test out what works. It is therefore that we started this phased approach to file parts of our solution in steps. We believe that the current budget will allow us to develop these POCs. If it turns out the need additional funds, we will refile a submission explaining the use of the first funds and why we require more.
- Additional links about Profila and the team
Profila website
Profila LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/profilaprivacy
Proposer LinkedIn – Michiel Van Roey (Privacy lawyer and general counsel)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michielvanroey/
Proposer LinkedIn – Shawn Jensen (CEO)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnj/
Proposer Linkedin - Luke Bragg (head of product)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasbragg/
Proposer Linkedin - Ipek Sahiner (product engineer)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ipeksahinerschlecht/
Proposer LinkedIn - Mikko Kotila (product and tech advisor)