Proposal: Decentralized Business Development for Polkadot

Proponent: 13zTcqasJT4DnDgNjmsceACcuSjt4q2geEjtMprnGXCnuuh1

Author: Cim Topal, CEO Missing-Link.io

Date: Feb 16, 2024

Requested: 50,000 DOT, equal to 365,000 USD per 7-Day SubScan EMA

Full proposal in Google Docs

Short description: Business development is essential for the expansion of web3 protocols like Polkadot, focusing on growth opportunities and strategic partnerships. Despite its potential and its BD success stories such as Mythical Games, Deloitte, and Vodafone, Polkadot's business development efforts have faced criticism for lacking effective strategies, which have hampered its adoption and visibility. We’ve witnessed multiple wins by other BD teams in other ecosystems, the kind of actions Polkadot can benefit from1, 2. The Web3 Foundation's Decentralized Futures program aims to attract top talent to bolster Polkadot's ecosystem, yet awareness among high-caliber candidates remains low. This issue underscores a need for broader outreach beyond the current focus on individuals with prior connections to Parity and the Polkadot community. To realize its full potential, Polkadot must engage with a diverse talent pool and establish long-term partnerships and enterprise adoption. Funds from the treasury will cover the service of sourcing, interviewing, strategizing, and placing 5 experienced, world-class web3 business development executives to generate successful partnerships and key cross-ecosystem products to adopt Polkadot.

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Background

Business Development has been key to the success of decentralized web3 protocols post-ethereum. It helps ensure a sustainable protocol by seeking opportunities for growth and partnerships that best fit the advantages of the protocol at hand, and in the case of Polkadot there are numerous advantages that can be leveraged. There is a clear cost-benefit advantage in selecting the right candidates to boost Polkadot’s business development, adoption and growth that will far outweigh the costs not only to the treasury, but the whole community.

However, a common critique by the community is the lack of prioritization and execution of a proper BD strategy that brings attention and adoption to Polkadot and its ecosystem. This is not to downplay its BD success stories such as Mythical Games, Deloitte, and Vodafone, which have helped maintain the notoriety in the wider ecosystem. The Web3 Foundation’s Decentralized Futures program is designed to bring a new wave of initiatives and success to the Polkadot ecosystem, but in order for it to succeed, we need proper outreach and headhunting to introduce and convince top-notch talent of the opportunities that Polkadot and the Web3 Foundation can provide. We at Missing Link have already begun to survey talent in this sector and have discovered that nearly no top-notch talent candidates are aware of this program, despite its obvious benefits and pioneering approach. Discussions with leading ecosystem agents and the Web3 Foundation have prompted this proposal as a crucial need for the ecosystem to take the next step in growth and exposure.

One issue with the Decentralized Futures program is that it has not gotten the attention beyond former employees of Parity and active ecosystem participants in the Polkadot community. The current applications hosted in the Polkadot Forum for the Decentralized Futures program reveals a clear trend that the vast majority of applicants are based in Central Europe and/or are former Parity employees. While this is expected due the decentralization plan set forth by the Web3 Foundation, it is not ideal for all verticals especially when dealing with Business Development and Product Growth.

Proposal

The purpose of this submission is to request funding for Missing Link to source, screen, select, and successfully place 5 Business Development Executives with the Web3 Foundation's Decentralized Futures program.

Below are the steps and work that needs to take place for one such successful placement with the Decentralized Futures program:

• Market Mapping: Here’s where it all begins. We conduct market research on the most successful business development strategies and successes across all major Web3 ecosystems. Based on this intensive research, we prepare a structured mapping of companies, regions and talent pools that enable us to identify an all encompassing catalog of the best talent.

• Sourcing: Missing Link has over 7 years of experience finding the best candidates in and outside of web3. For the purposes of this proposal, we will use our team of over 15 professional recruiters to make contact with the best candidates in the field of business development for web3 protocols, whether or not they are actively seeking new employment. We have a proven track record of getting the eyes and ears of experienced, world-class talent coming from competitive industries and work environments and are prepared to meet the challenge for getting the interest of dozens of candidates for these roles.

• Screening and Selection: It’s likely that we will find dozens of potentially qualifying individuals who appear to meet the requirements of a best-in-class BD professional on paper, but a proper screening process is required to ensure their qualifications hold up. This includes in-depth interviews as well as reference checks and other due diligence such as portfolio reviews and other “proofs-of-work” that allow the candidates to progress to the next level.

• Decentralized Futures Application: Once a candidate has made it through the sourcing and screening process, they will need to develop a clear proposal for the Web3 Foundation Decentralized Futures program that showcases their previous work, proven history of success, and knowledge and dedication to succeeding in the Polkadot ecosystem. The proposal will include its own success metrics, KPIs, and milestones to ensure delivery of a successful outcome in the area of business development in Polkadot. This should include clear strategies for enterprise adoption as well as cross-protocol adoption by entities such as Dapps, Layer-1s, Layer-2s, bridges and other protocols.

• Acceptance by Web3 Foundation or via Treasury Proposal: The BD candidates we have sourced, selected and presented to the community and Web3 Foundation will have their proposals diligently reviewed by the Web3 Foundation board of directors. Only once they have approved a candidate’s application will we accept this as a successful placement of a decentralized business development executive in the Polkadot Ecosystem. Alternatively, the BD candidate will submit a treasury proposal for equivalent BD work for Polkadot that is accepted by token holders and, if successful, will then be counted as a successful placement. 

  In case that less than 5 candidates are placed, we will return the proportional amount of the grant.

We are ready to identify and engage world-class talent that will finally give Polkadot the edge in BD it has been looking for. The process involves meticulous screening, in-depth interviews, and rigorous vetting to ensure candidates not only possess the necessary skills on paper but are also genuinely capable of contributing to the growth and success of Polkadot.

Milestones and Budget

Milestone	Funding Tranche	Number of Accepted Decentralized Futures Applications	Running Total
1st and only	$365k USD	5	$365k USD
Total	$365k USD	5	$365k USD

Amount Requested

• One tranche of 50,000 DOT
• Equal to 365,000 USD per 7-Day SubScan EMA

Approximate calculation of cost

To help fulfill the goal of Decentralized Futures by acquiring talent, we offer a full 360° approach to increasing hiring and operational efficiency including a guaranteed placement at the cost of the minimum average placement fee. We understand that hiring is a challenging process. Our approach involves a dedicated research team that performs market mapping based on every project’s unique requirements, including experience, location, and cultural fit. On top of that, we will only approach VP, SVP & C-level candidates from ecosystems, applications, companies, or exchanges comparable in size to Polkadot. If the company is significantly bigger than Polkadot we would also consider director or head of level. While the task at-hand involving a decentralized funding program may appear radically different, the universals of good talent remain therefore we will use our proven process in this way. We leverage our extensive network, attend in-person events, and utilize various online channels such as Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Github, StackOverflow, Reddit, and Discord to identify potential candidates.

On average and referring to our historical numbers, we need to identify and reach out to around 400 candidates in order to find 5 who express interest in the opportunity. After pre-screening and vetting interested candidates in multiple 60-90 minute interviews, we plan on introducing approximately 20 candidates to Web3 Foundation and the community.

A very conservative average salary of manager-to-executive-level BD professional ranges from $300k-$800k/year, typical in the web3 industry, especially for big name protocols willing to prioritize business development. The industry rate for talent headhunting firms is 25-35%. Given the unique nature of this program and the decentralized treasury of Polkadot, we believe a fair cost would calculate rates based on the lowest ends of these spectrums, thereby giving us a cost of approximately 24% of a $300k/year salary, though the top-tier candidates we source likely may be asking for more. Using this very low rate and calculation, five candidates successfully placed would give us a figure of approximately $375,000 USD.

Exchange Rate

Exchange rate of USD:DOT is the 7-day EMA by Subscan taken on the day of on-chain submission, and will be used to convert the amount requested above to DOT.

Payment

The payment of $365k will be disbursed upon approval by the Polkadot community via the treasury.

Beneficiary address:

13zTcqasJT4DnDgNjmsceACcuSjt4q2geEjtMprnGXCnuuh1

Progress updates

We will regularly share our progress in the original Polkassembly post as comments. Polkadot community members are welcome to join these threads and inquire further information and reach out to us. Every successful placement in the scope of this proposal will be announced.

About Us

Cim Topal, the proposer, is the CEO and co-founder of Missing Link and Heads.io, a leading web3 recruiting agency founded in Berlin in 2017. Our team comprises seasoned web3 and recruiting professionals with extensive experience in both web3 and web 2.0 industries.

Our impressive client roster includes renowned Polkadot ecosystem projects such as Web3 Foundation, Parity Technologies, ChainSafe Systems, Phala Network and Centrifuge, as well as other ecosystem projects through the Substrate Builders Program. Our close partnerships have resulted in high-level executive placements, such as CLO Daniel Schoenberger who testified in front of the US Congress last year. In addition, we've successfully placed numerous engineers, CFOs, CMOs, and other talented professionals across the Polkadot ecosystem.

For a comprehensive overview of our recent placements in the Polkadot Ecosystem, please refer to the table below:

Company/Project	Position	Name
Web3 Foundation	CLO	Daniel Schönberger
Web3 Foundation	CFO	Thomas Fecker Boxler
Parity	VP Engineering	Pierre Aubert
Parity	VP People	Sören Winter
Parity	Director Special Projects	Florian Jodl
Parity	Head of Polkadot Blockchain Academy	Pauline Cohen Vorms
Parity	Ecosystem Growth	--
Parity	2 Rust Engineers	--
Bit.Country	Rust Engineer	--
Aria Health	Rust Engineer	--
Ajuna Network	Senior Game Developer	--
Freelance (Polkadot Eco)	Rust Engineer	--
Centrifuge	UX Designer	--
Centrifuge	6 Rust Engineers	--
Centrifuge	CFO	Romina Bungert
Chainsafe	Rust Engineer	--
Chainsafe	Go Engineer	--
Chainsafe	LibP2P Networking Engineer	--
Grid Singularity	R&D Engineer	--
Grid Singularity	DevOps	--
Energy Web Foundation	Rust Engineer (Wasm)	--
Energy Web Foundation	Technical Architect	--
Phala Network	Head of Marketing	--

Note: All individuals listed above have explicitly agreed to their name being shared here for this purpose.

Contact

Cim Topal - CEO and Co-Founder, Missing-Link.io

[email protected]

Who we are

Cim Topal - CEO and Co-Founder

Michael Grohmann - COO and Co-Founder

Fabian Fricke - Managing Director

Website: https://missing-link.io

Proof of Work

Coindesk - Former Libra Director Joins Polkadot Builder, Bertrand Perez is joining the Web3 Foundation

Bloomberg - Ex-Diem Executive Joins Mina Blockchain as Operating Chief

Coin Republic - Creator of Polkadot, Parity Technologies expanding leadership team, adding executives