Grant Proposal: Questbook

Community Grant Applications
#1

Grant ID: 85zrxeqnn

Summary:

Questbook is an on chain grants orchestration tool that helps ecosystems run and manage their grants program. It is completely open source and built on top of The Graph.

We propose Graph Advocates DAO launch Graph Advocates DAO grants (GAGP) program with a budget of $200k spread across 2 quarters to fund a wide variety of teams aligned with Graph Advocate’s mission and roadmap using Delegated Domain Capital Allocation Model. Questbook is leading Compound Grants Program (Compound | Proposal Detail #136) through delegated domain capital allocation model(Minimum Grants DAO with Maximum Community Participation | Questbook official blog), a community-run grants program.
We additionally propose that this budget be managed by 4 individuals called Domain Allocators - chosen from the community and by the community. These domain allocators would manage grants for a domain. These domains are strategic areas of focus for which Graph Advocates DAO wants to disburse grants.

  • The performance of each of these domain allocators will be publicly viewable and auditable using rich dashboards. At the end of the quarter, the Advocates DAO community can vote to replace, continue domain allocators or increase budgets for each domain allocator.
  • We, Questbook.xyz (https://questbook.xyz/), will help facilitate setting up these domain allocators and provide the tooling to run the grants program in an efficient and transparent way. We have previously set up or currently setting up the grants process for Compound, Polygon, Solana, Celo, and Aave

The Delegate Domain Allocation model is popularized by the Ethereum Foundation.

“We also believe that more decentralized funding is important for the future of the Ethereum ecosystem. We continuously try to allocate resources to third parties that we believe can make better decisions than us within certain domains.” - Executive Director Ethereum Foundation (https://ethereum.foundation/report-2022-04.pdf)

A detailed version of our proposal containing the domains, specification and implementation of Delegated Domain Capital Allocation Model can be found here : https://www.notion.so/GAGP-Delegated-Domain-Allocation-by-Questbook-20e267936faa415b96b6f8f72d099c63

I have read and agree to the privacy policy:
true

If available, please enter a link to your project below:

Are you applying as a team or individual?:
Team

What type of grant are you pursuing?:
Long-term (continuous)

Please select the category your project best fits into:
Other

Please select who you think will benefit from your project?:
Curators, Indexers, Delegators, Subgraph Developers, Other

How much funding are you looking for? (USD):
10000

Provide a breakdown of your requested funding:
Questbook will invoice the Advocates DAO 5% of the total disbursal only after the grant amount has been successfully disbursed to the proposer. The total proposed budget for 2 quarters is $200k

Have you applied for (or already received) funding from somewhere else?:
Yes

If yes, please describe where you’ve received funding from and how much you have, or will, receive:
We are backed by some of the leading venture capital firms such as Lemniscap, Dragonfly capital etc. We have been awarded grants from well reputed ecosystems such as Solana, Polygon, Compound, and Aave.

What’s your vision for how your project will impact The Graph and/or web3?:
We envision Questbook as the best place for capital allocators to fund builders using Delegated Domain Capital Allocation (DDA) model. Delegated Domain Allocation model will benefit The Graph Advocates DAO in the following ways:

  1. Aligned allocation of funds: By leveraging the Delegated Domain Allocator (DDA) model, the Graph Advocates DAO can ensure that funds are allocated to projects that align with the domain (key areas selected by the Graph Advocates DAO community), promoting efficient and effective use of resources

  2. Increased transparency: The Delegated Domain Allocator approach provides a clear and transparent process for allocating funds, ensuring stakeholders understand the decision-making process. Questbook, a decentralized grant management platform, provides a transparent space for teams to showcase their backgrounds and experience. In addition, Questbook’s reporting features will allow the Graph Advocates DAO to quickly generate monthly reports on the allocation of funds, with the details for each grant proposal.

  3. Increased accountability: With a dedicated group of stakeholders responsible for allocating funds, the Delegated Domain Allocator approach promotes increased accountability, ensuring that the funds are used effectively and efficiently. Domain allocators can be replaced through a community vote if their performance is not up to the standards accepted by the community.

  4. Increased Community Participation: Delegated Domain Capital Allocation approach is aligned with the Graph Advocates DAO’s mission to drive greater participation in building a
    decentralized web3 and grow The Graph ecosystem by supporting community-based initiatives

  5. Turnaround Time (TAT): The Delegated Domain Allocator model will help significantly improve proposals’ turnaround time and overall outcomes for the ecosystem. An example of this is Compound who’s already leveraging the DDA model and has a communication TAT of less than 48 hours.

What does success look like?

  • The prime objective of this model is to have domains that align with Advocates DAO’s priorities. This way, the project’s contribution to the grants program directly adds value to the DAO and the token holders.
  • Increase in the number of contributors, proposals, and funded projects
  • Increase in the homegrown leadership to run grant programs (measured by the number of people running grant programs)
  • Increase in the community members’ participation to keep grant programs accountable (measured by the number of people looking at the dashboard and participating in the program)
  • Diversity in projects being funded across technologies, geographies, and demographics, to name a few. We encourage the community members to review the proposals across different domains during Advocates DAO community calls regularly
  • Increased engagement in builder community’s
    • Discourse
    • Discord, Telegram
    • Social media (Twitter, Reddit)
    • GitHub

Subjective:

  • Improved community involvement in the grants program
  • Strengthened contributors’ sentiment toward Advocates DAO
  • Enhanced Advocates DAO brand recognition in builder circles

What can you share about any past work that is relevant to this grant?:
Questbook is leading Compound grants program through delegated domain capital allocation model, a community-run grants program. We have previously set up or currently setting up the grants process for Compound, Polygon, Solana, Celo, and Aave.

Our Usage Metrics

  • 20K+ MAU.
  • Capital Allocators have reviewed, accepted, and facilitated grants worth $2.1M.
  • 1500+ proposal submissions from high-quality builders

Can you share any information about current/past web3 experience?:
Our team has a rich experience in building in Web 3.0 since 2016. Questbook’s founders are among the first 5 contributors to Plasma (ethereum scaling solution) specifications and are active contributors to open source development. They have previously worked at reputed organisations such as Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Intuit. Questbook’s Github : Questbook · GitHub

Questbook is leading Compound grants program through delegated domain capital allocation model. We have previously set up or currently setting up the grants process for Compound, Polygon, Solana, Celo, and Aave.

Why are you interested in contributing to The Graph and/or web3?:
Questbook is built on top of The Graph and has greatly benefited from its usage. We believe that The Graph is one of the most important infrastructure layer that empowers developers to create decentralized applications (dApps) with efficient data indexing and querying capabilities. Our goal is to enable Graph Advocates DAO fund deserving teams aligned with its mission and roadmap using Delegated Domain Capital Allocation Model. This will help The Graph drive top of the mind awareness and retain the mindshare of key ecosystem contributors.




Primary Community Poll

Do you fundamentally support this grant application, knowing that the final scope and grant amount may differ from the requested proposal?
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters




Grant Committee Vote

Do you recommend this grant to the DAO?
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

#2

Greetings!

In the process of get acquitted with your grants, i have some questions!

1/ If i understand correct, you will charge 5% only from finished grants? Fox example if grant will be rejected, the DAO shouldn’t pay anything?

2/ I have read about the grant allocator and that he can be replaced by the voting from the community.

But then, where is the community participation - you’d ask. The community has only one decision it can impact - but a very powerful one. The community can decide to replace the grant allocator. If you think someone is the right person to run your protocol’s Grant Program in India, but the community in India disagrees - they can start a no confidence motion and replace the allocator.

And i have a question. If the community specially wants to replace a grant allocator, for example on the wave of lies about him, can this happen and is there a way to protect against it?

3/ You have written about the 5%, so for what you need $10000?

4/ Can any of the platform hosts get involved in the grant-making process or anything like that? Or not.

Thank you! And i will good luck!

1 Like
#3

Thank you @doxe01.eth for sharing your comments and thoughtful questions! :raised_hands:

1/ If i understand correct, you will charge 5% only from finished grants? Fox example if grant will be rejected, the DAO shouldn’t pay anything?

Yes, you are correct :pray: 5% will be charged only after the successful acceptance and disbursal of a grant to the proposer. For any other event, product fee will not be applicable.

2/ I have read about the grant allocator and that he can be replaced by the voting from the community.
But then, where is the community participation - you’d ask. The community has only one decision it can impact - but a very powerful one. The community can decide to replace the grant allocator. If you think someone is the right person to run your protocol’s Grant Program in India, but the community in India disagrees - they can start a no-confidence motion and replace the allocator.

Each domain allocator will be chosen from the community and by the community. They will run their domain on-chain for full transparency using Questbook. The data and performance across key metrics will be visible to the community in order to evaluate the domain allocator’s performance using rich dashboard on Questbook.

In case the performance of the domain allocators does not meet the expectations, a no-confidence motion can be initiated by anyone from the community to conduct an off-cycle review (before the end of two quarters). The motion should include comprehensive reasoning for taking this action. Afterwards, the community members will vote on the motion to decide whether to retain or replace the domain allocators based on their performance and the arguments specified in the no-confidence motion. The success of the grants program largely depends on the community’s active involvement in decision-making. The community plays a central role in various aspects, including the initial selection of domain allocators, evaluating their performance, and deciding whether to retain or replace them :handshake:

Each domain allocator in the delegated domain capital allocation model will be required to specify the domain specific evaluation rubrics to ensure alignment with Advocates DAO’s focus areas and funding of high quality proposals.

Rubrics scored entered by a domain allocator - CGP 2.0
Rubrics scored entered by a domain allocator - CGP 2.0858×944 141 KB

And i have a question. If the community specially wants to replace a grant allocator, for example on the wave of lies about him, can this happen and is there a way to protect against it?

Delegated Domain Capital Allocation model ensures that in case the performance of the domain allocators does not meet expectations, a no-confidence motion can be initiated by anyone from the community to conduct an off-cycle review (before the end of two quarters). The motion should include comprehensive reasoning for taking this action. Afterwards, the community members will vote on the motion to decide whether to retain or replace the domain allocators based on their performance, comments, and arguments specified in the no-confidence motion.

3/ You have written about the 5%, so for what you need $10000?

admin:How much funding are you looking for? (USD):10000

$10,000 signifies the total grant request spread over two quarters. When the proposed budget of $200k is distributed among the accepted proposals over two quarters, the total grant request would amount to $10,000.

$200,000 X 5% = $10,000

5% will be charged only after the successful acceptance and disbursal of grants to the proposer. Questbook will invoice the Advocates DAO 5% of the grant amount only after the grant amount has been successfully disbursed to the proposer. The total proposed budget for 2 quarters is $200k.

Our approach of charging a percentage of the grants disbursed is designed to align our incentives with delivering value. Funding a project signifies that the ecosystem has identified a project worth investing in, which further indicates that various steps in the funding process, such as attracting quality builders, establishing evaluation rubrics, and ensuring successful milestone-based payouts, have been executed effectively by the domain allocators. Our intention is to charge based on the successful completion of all these steps in order to align our pricing with the value delivered through the entire grant disbursal cycle.

4/ Can any of the platform hosts get involved in the grant-making process or anything like that? Or not.

Domain allocators chosen from the community will make independent decisions regarding the approval/rejection of the proposal based on their expertise. The platform hosts will have no say over which projects are accepted/rejected and funded by the domain allocators. Each domain allocator in the delegated domain capital allocation model will be required to specify the domain specific evaluation rubrics to ensure alignment with Advocates DAO’s focus areas and funding of high quality proposals similar to as follows:

Score 0 1 2 3 4
Team
Reach No project developer team. No developer attraction. No dev team. Small attraction plan (1 to 5 devs). Yes team dev. Yes team dev. Small attraction plan (1 to 5 more devs). Yes team dev. Big attraction plan (+5 more devs).
Team
Commitment No commitment attraction Mercenary commitment attraction (stays until benefits end) Commitment attraction (1 to 3 months ) Commitment attraction (1 year) Commitment attraction (3 year)
Team
Quality Project does not have a reasonable chance to attract high-quality devs Project has a possibility of attracting high-quality devs Project has a reasonable possibility of attracting high-quality devs and/or has high-quality devs Project is likely to attract high-quality devs Project is highly likely to attract high-quality devs
Likelihood of success Clear flaw in design that cannot be easily remedied Difficult to see the project continuing for more than a year Reasonable chance that the project has intermediate-to-long-term success (+1 Year) Project is likely to generate long-term, sustainable value for the ecosystem Project has substantial likelihood to generate long-term, sustainable value for the ecosystem
Grant size Grant size significantly outweighs projected benefit Grant size is considerably larger than expected benefit Grant size is proportional to expected benefit Expected benefit outweighs grant size Expected benefit meaningfully exceeds grant size
Team assessment Team does not substantiate ability to deliver on plan Team does not show significant ability to deliver on plan Team shows reasonable ability to deliver on plan Team shows significant ability to deliver on plan Team exceeds what is required to deliver on plan
Milestone Assessment Milestones do not significantly hold proposer accountable Milestones are unlikely to hold proposer accountable Milestones are reasonably likely to hold proposer accountable Milestones are significantly likely to hold proposer accountable Milestones are very likely to hold proposer accountable
Demo included (binary yes/no) No demo included Demo included
Score -2 -1 0 1 2
Discretionary Factors (comment required)**

Domain allocators will also be required to submit weekly reports which can be publicly viewed by the community.

1 Like
#4

Hi @ruchil ,

Thank you for submitting your community grant application, it’s very compelling! In addition to @doxe01.eth 's questions, I have a few I’m hoping you can answer:

  • Can the DAO ensure that only DAO members are Delegated Domain Allocators?
  • Can we have more than Delegated Domain Allocators?
  • If we did not end up funding $200k over two quarters would you still only be requesting 5%? I.e., if we funded $100k you would request $5000?
  • Are their partners are the communities you are working with (Compound, Polygon, etc.) that the DAO could contact to get their feedback on this grants tool?

I think that’s it for now. Really looking forward to your responses!

1 Like
#5

Thank you for submitting your community grant application, it’s very compelling! In addition to @doxe01.eth 's questions, I have a few I’m hoping you can answer:

  • Can the DAO ensure that only DAO members are Delegated Domain Allocators?

Thanks @Mr.1776 for your kind words :raised_hands: Any active member from the Advocates DAO community can self-nominate themselves for the position of Program Manager and Domain Allocator. However, the Advocates DAO members have the final say in choosing the Program Manager and Domain Allocators through a vote. They can choose to elect members only from the Advocates DAO based on their relevant experience, specified domain-specific rubrics, time commitment, and specified turnaround time.

Can we have more than Delegated Domain Allocators?

The proposed structure is designed to have a single domain allocator per domain, chosen by the community. This ensures clear accountability, efficient decision-making and low TAT. Having more than one domain allocator per domain will lead to operational overhead, increased cost and increased time-to-action due to the need for consensus building. An example of this is Compound who’s leveraging the Delegated Domain Capital Allocation model and has a communication TAT of less than 48 hours. :pray: The data and performance across key metrics for the proposed domains will be visible to the community in order to evaluate the domain allocator’s performance using rich dashboard on Questbook. At the end of each quarter, the community members will vote to replace/retain domain allocators based on their performance. In case the performance of the domain allocators does not meet the expectations, a no-confidence motion can be initiated by anyone from the community to conduct an off-cycle review (before the end of two quarters).

If we did not end up funding $200k over two quarters would you still only be requesting 5%? I.e., if we funded $100k you would request $5000?

Yes, you are correct :pray: Questbook will charge only 5% of the total disbursed amount spread across two quarters. If only $100k is disbursed as grants to proposers across two quarters, Questbook will request a grant of only $5000. The unused funds from the grants budget across each domain will be returned to the Advocates DAO at the end of 2 quarters.

Are their partners are the communities you are working with (Compound, Polygon, etc.) that the DAO could contact to get their feedback on this grants tool?

Absolutely! I would be happy to connect you with the active domain allocators from the Compound Grants Program to gather their detailed feedback on the Delegated Domain Capital Allocation model and Questbook

1 Like
#6

Hello, thank you for submitting this proposal.

Unfortunately, at the current time, the majority of the Graph AdvocatesDAO grant committee does not see an immediate need to switch from our in-house solution to Questbook. Nevertheless, we recognize the potential value that Questbook could bring to our community grants program in the future. We look forward to maintaining contact and exploring the possibility of integrating Questbook at a later date.

Best Regards,
Graph AdvocatesDAO