Please describe your proposed solution.
The long-term vision behind OneUpOneDown is to build a decentralized social network to connect users on the basis of mentorship. The value proposition to users is a tool to serve their desire for growth and connection by facilitating relationships with the most relevant people within the global network.
OneUpOneDown’s existing product works by proposing high-quality peer-to-peer matches within a network of mentors and mentees. Matches are proposed on an ongoing basis using OneUpOneDown’s AI matching algorithm when a user's profile is set to available. Through ongoing engagement, users build up a network of trusted relationships with other users as mentors and/or mentees.
In addition to engagement with the Dapp through mentor/mentee relationships, ongoing engagement will be achieved through discovery functionality, allowing users to find and access new areas for growth through mentorship, and to access high-quality community content within self-selected areas of interest.
We have been building OneUpOneDown for two years on Web2 infrastructure to validate our product and understand user needs and behaviour. We believe blockchain infrastructure has now reached a maturity level where it is possible to build a decentralized product without compromising user experience. OneUpOneDown’s model is well suited to decentralized infrastructure because at it’s core, the value comes from the network of users and their relationships between each other. OneUpOneDown’s core function within the network is to programmatically solve the problem of who to connect within the network and when, and to provide the tools and resources to support the development of deep relationships between paired users.
The mechanisms available for a blockchain solution will directly solve a business need for OneUpOneDown, which is to incentivize mentors to participate in the network. Tokenisation will provide a way to measure and assign value to the impact of the relationships formed within the network, to build a digital identity of the users within the network, and to reward users for participation in the network.
A social network for deep connections
Instead of facilitating a high level of “loose connection” as is the case with social network sites such as Twitter and Linkedin, OneUpOneDown focuses on facilitating a smaller number of “deep connections” by proposing the best possible match available within the network at a given time, and through the formation of the relationship which is based on OneUpOneDowns mentoring framework. Loose connections are achieved through the engagement functionality of the app, but are not the core value proposition.
Hubs within the network are formed through OneUpOneDown’s Pool functionality, which groups users based on shared experience and growth objectives, such as industry pools. This supports effective matching and provides a filter for providing relevant engagement and learning opportunities for users.
The nature of the network reflects a Scale-Free network. In the diagram below, the nodes are users and the edge is the connection between the nodes (users). OneUpOneDown’s AI-powered matching model, the structure of the matching protocol and the features of the DApp are designed to strengthen the edges (connections) in the network.
OneUpOneDown’s social network solves the following problems and needs of users which are not being met through current popular social networking sites:
- The formation of deep relationships based on trust and a high level of peer-to-peer interaction and longer-form digital engagement (video meetings).
- Optimisation for the strength of relationships and growth of the individuals within the relationship.
In Fund 8 we received funding to improve the development of our AI mentor matching software and to produce a white paper modeling a Mentorship Incentivization DAO. This proposal is for funding to proceed to the next stage of this project and achieve the following milestones:
- Concept design for decentralized mentoring social network protocol
- Infrastructure architecture
- Development of monetization strategy to support social network
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
Cardano needs a thriving ecosystem of different Dapps, products and integrations for the community to use that increasingly become the better alternatives over current centralized providers. Many decentralised social media alternatives have failed to get traction because, beyond being decentralised, they haven’t had a strong enough unique value proposition to drive enough adoption to make the social network valuable.
OneUpOneDown can succeed as a decentralised social network because it has a unique value proposition servicing a different & specific need - the need for deep connections and mentorship - and it is not dependent on mass adoption to create significant value for users. A successful social network DApp build on Cardano blockchain and protocols will drive increase interaction within the Cardano ecosystem.
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
Risk of not delivering: Reliance on other protocols for core functionality (dependencies). We will mitigate this risk by doing sound due diligence on the protocols we’ll use, which will be part of the white paper process (successful proposal in Fund 8).
Risk of not reaching the desired outcome: User Uptake - a Dapp introduces some additional complexity for users, e.g. connecting a wallet. This may impact the user experience especially for users who have not user blockchain based products previously. We will mitigate this risk through good user interface design and support materials. We’re launching a Web3 Pool within the current user network to encourage users to learn more about Web3 technologies to support this transition.