This is the second update (Week #2) as part of our quest to design and build a funding readiness framework. See initial proposal and week #1 update here.
What we planned to do in Week 2
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Enumerate list of projects that have received more than $15,000 in grant funding
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Identify key characteristics of those projects
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Develop interview questions
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Enumerate interview target list and reach out
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Collect responses
What we did
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To maximize the number of responses, we produced a single, targeted question tailored for each of the cohorts we identified:
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ReFi grant round operators
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ReFi power users
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Impact investors
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Impact investment marketplaces
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DeSci grant round operators
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At time of writing, we have received 13 responses, with more expected
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Trawled our fundraising database to find out which projects have received at least $5,000 in multiple grant rounds:
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Kokonut Network
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Astral Protocol
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Treegens
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$EARTH
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Helios
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Atlantis
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Silvi
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The Solar Foundation
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Sunflower EcoTech
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Endangered Tokens DAO
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GainForest
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WEB3BEACH
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Analyzed each project to identify what made them capable of being accepted into multiple grant rounds and getting broad community support
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Good impact vibes
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Active social media presence
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Strong founder reputation and track record
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Engaged community
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Impact prioritized over revenue/future sustainability
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Perceived real-world value
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What we learned
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The ReFi community is eager to talk about the issue of funding
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Impact has very clearly been the priority of ReFi grant rounds
Challenges encountered
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Impact investors will be the most difficult to collect responses from
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The number of projects that met our fundraising criteria is relatively small
Next steps
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Conduct further analysis by comparing responses with our own analysis
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Identify the core criteria for determining funding readiness
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Produce the first iteration of the funding readiness framework