Progress Report H1 2024
This thread provides an update on the Celo Europe H1 program progress during the H1 timeframe (February 1st - June 31st, 2024) and insights into the proposed direction for H2.
Written by Niko da Costa Gomez @NikoG, Luuk Weber @LuukDAO and Joan de Ramón @Joan_DeRB .
Celo Gather 2024
TLDR
In H1 2024, Celo Europe focused on 3 Focus Areas. For the Events and Community vertical, we organized Celo Gather during Berlin Blockchain Week. This featured keynotes, workshops, and gamified experiences. This event resulted in 500+ sign-ups, 175+ attendees, 18+ talks, and 750+ on-chain transactions. We hosted over eight local meetups across five countries, attracting 400+ visitors and collecting 1000+ emails. Despite challenges, we hosted 150+ people at Casa Celo Madrid, attended six major events, and participated in over 20 side events.
In Business Development and Investor Relationships, we established a database of over 40 investors and published key articles on VC trends and RWA potential. We partnered with key financial institutions and co-organized the IDAF event in Brussels. We developed the Builders Story as part of the Content Production vertical, focusing on Talent Protocol and Mento Labs. We produced eight reels at major events and created 26 content pieces, including keynotes and mini-documentaries.
For H2, we anticipate focusing on cross-regional DAO collaboration, supporting Celo Africa DAO and KohCelo around ETH Safari and DevCon, producing recordings around MiniPay and CEL2, organizing a virtual year-end gather, additional BD and governance support, and strategic partnerships.
S1 Progress Report
Budget and Spending
The requested budget for H1 was $168,250. We successfully delivered on almost all our KPIs while managing our budget effectively. Some items exceeded our initial estimates, while we managed to save in other areas. One of our line items that exceeded the budget was Celo Gather Organization, partially because of its scale and success. We overspent on the Web 3.0 Conference Budget and slightly on Travel. However, we managed to underspend on the CeloEU Report, Video Production Budget, and Talent House Brussels. The remaining funds are minimal at ~65cUSD, which will be returned to the Celo Community Treasury. Below, you can see the budget estimated per focus area and the actual spend:
| Budget Line | Estimated Budget | Actual Spend |
|---|---|---|
| Celo House Madrid Event & Comms | $6.000,00 | $6.000,00 |
| Local Celo Meetup Program Budget | $10.000,00 | $8.075,00 |
| Celo Gather Organization Costs | $60.000,00 | $66.100,00 |
| Web 3.0 Conference Budget | $10.000,00 | $13.200,00 |
| Business Development Team | $22.500,00 | $22.250,00 |
| Social and Web Design | $2.500,00 | $2.500,00 |
| Manage Celo Europe DAO Comms | $5.000,00 | $5.000,00 |
| Video Production Budget | $12.000,00 | $8.755,00 |
| DAO Ops and Admin | $12.250,00 | $12.000,00 |
| Talent House Brussels | $10.000,00 | $8.000,00 |
| Celo Europe Report H1 2024 | $6.000,00 | $3.750,00 |
| Software, Travel and other Misc | $12.000,00 | $12.554,00 |
| Total | $168.250,00 | $168.184,00 |
Focus Area 1: Events and Community Development
Among all focus areas, Events and Community Development has surpassed expectations. We managed to organize a Celo Stakeholder Conference and support local community developments. We also had a strong presence during ETHGlobal London (March), EthDam Amsterdam (April), Berlin Blockchain Week (May), and EthCC Brussels (July). Here are our KPIs and how we delivered on them:
A. Organize Celo Gather
Celo Gather was one of our key deliverables for this season. This was held during Berlin Blockchain Week at Spielfeld Digital Hub, and the event featured a main stage for keynotes, a workshop room for in-depth discussions, and various activities such as a thought wall, photo studio, and limited edition merch. We partnered with Citizen Wallet to provide a gamified on-chain event economy experience powered by Celo. This innovative approach increased participant involvement. Overall, this event brought together the community and sharpened our shared vision at this important crossroads.
Outcome:
- 500+ sign-ups
- 175+ Celorians
- 18+ talks
- +750 on-chain transactions through activators
- 17+ Content pieces
- Strengthened community connections
B. Organize at least 5 local meetups in 3+ countries
Building on our previous success, we hosted a variety of local meetups, including a RWA Breakfast & Happy Hour. We’ve tried decentralizing local event organization by empowering other groups to create Celo-powered local meetups/events. This led to us supporting different community-led events such as Regens Village, Superchain Space, Refi Meetup Lisboa, and Casa Celo. These initiatives laid a strong foundation for building connections within the Celo community, providing opportunities for new members to explore Celo and for existing members to reconnect.
Outcome:
- 8+ local meetups
- Events in 5+ different countries
- 400+ visitors
- 1000+ emails collected
C. Organize a Hackathon track focused on Celo Public Goods.
Initially, we aimed to organize a stand-alone Hackathon focused on Celo Public Goods. After some iterations, we limited ourselves to supporting Take-Off Brussels to attract more talent to build on Celo during ETHGlobal Brussels.
Outcome:
- 8 builders from around the world sponsored for ETH Global Brussels.
- Produced 1 x Top-10 Finalist
- Mention in content by 10 scholars
D. Host at least 200 people in the Celo Hubs in Madrid and Berlin for events, meetings, or co-working.
We faced some difficulties with this KPI due to factors beyond our control. A few weeks into Season 1, we were notified that the Celo Hub in Berlin was closing down. Back in Spain, Casa Celo Madrid has managed to host approximately 150+ people over the pasts months. Despite its many successes, Celo EU has decided to transition away from being Casa Celo’s leading partner. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated team behind Casa Celo and wish them the best in their future and upcoming proposals.
Outcome:
- Number of events hosted: 3
- Number of visitors: 150+
E. Represent Celo at 4 top conferences in Europe in H1
This year, we successfully represented Celo Europe at several top conferences, including EthGlobal, DAS2024, EthDam, Berlin Blockchain Week, NFCSummit, and EthCC. Our presence was noted in our home countries of Portugal, Spain, and Amsterdam, as well as at major Ethereum events in England, Germany, and Belgium. These efforts allowed us to participate in 20+ side events, deepening our engagement with the broader blockchain community.
Outcome:
- Attended 6+ top conferences
- Participated in 20+ side events
- Represented in 6+ countries
Focus Area 2: Business Development and Ecosystem
This has been integral to expanding Celo’s network’s reach and fostering strategic partnerships. This focus area involved attending key European events to engage with VCs and speaking to aligned funds such as UNDP. We also sponsored and supported the Institutional Digital Asset Forum (IDAF) during EthCC in Brussels. These relationships have been promising in attracting new liquidity to Celo, but it remains to be seen.
A. Establish an EU Investor Network with at least 50 investors
So far, we’ve established connections with over 30 investors and initiated the creation of a comprehensive database. This database is segmented based on regional activity, investing verticals, and status. These efforts are part of our strategy to engage with institutional investors and foster growth within the CELO EU network. The database is accessible upon request.
Outcome:
- Database of 40+ investors established, ongoing efforts to reach 50 investors.
B.Create at least 3 key Celo Ecosystem, ReFi, and Public Goods resources to share with Investors and publish on the CeloEU DAO website.
In the initial weeks, we researched and interviewed stakeholders to understand trends and needs better. These insights produced critical resources shared openly to discuss the latest developments, opportunities, and challenges within the Celo ecosystem. The goal was to provide valuable information to potential partners and investors, fostering a deeper understanding and greater engagement with Celo’s mission. The developed content has been focused on:
Outcome:
- VC Trends: The Rise of SDG: This article highlights the importance of impact and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) alignment for upcoming VCs and identifies it as a significant market trend.
- How RWAs Can Realize the DeFi Promise: This article identifies the potential of Real World Asset (RWA) Lending as a game-changer for capital inflow into emerging markets.
- Regulation Podcast: An interview with Enrique Aznar and Enrique Palacios, experienced regulatory professionals actively working with CNMV and tokenized markets, providing insights on Spanish regulation and MiCA (EU).
C. Partner with at least 4 traditional financial institutions
We have made significant strides in engaging with traditional financial institutions to foster collaboration. We are sponsoring and co-organizing the IDAF event with EUCI, European Crypto Initiative, BPI France, XLV, Ethereum France, and Impact Plus. This four-day institutional event, organized in Brussels during EthCC, allowed us to engage deeply with TradFi leaders. We have collaborated with Onyze and Real Fund for a podcast about regulation, enhancing our collaborative efforts in this area.
Outcome:
-
Active participation in the IDAF event in Brussels, featuring over 40 speakers and reaching potentially over 300 attendees, resulting in deep engagement with key stakeholders and industry leaders.
-
Spanish Regulation Applied to RWA and Tokenization: This podcast explores the implications of Spanish regulation on Real World Assets (RWA) and the tokenization process, featuring insights from Onyze and Reald Fund.
D. Explore the Potential of the Celo Community Treasury to Fund Builders and Attract Liquidity and Capital to Celo
During this season, we explored assisting and advising Outlier Ventures and Red Beard Ventures in bringing their programs to Celo. This collaboration has led to continued support for Red Beard Ventures by providing guidance, consultancy, and up-to-date ecosystem mapping reports to aid their exploration. These initiatives have shown initial benefits by attracting talent. However, the long-term effect of bringing accelerators on-chain is still to be seen.
Outcomes:
- Supported the launch of 2 new ecosystem accelerators on Celo
- Engaged 15+ startups in the ecosystem to participate in Accelerators with at least 8 completing their application process.
- Created & Maintained Celo Ecosystem database.
Focus Area 3: Content Production and Storytelling
Celo is one of the few networks and communities with many real-life applications. We strongly believe that making this conceptual content more visible through visuals and storytelling will make the vision more accessible and clear. We aimed to help newcomers quickly grasp these complex ideas, highlight projects, and intrigue others to explore Celo further.
A. Create at least two timely and relevant mini-documentaries, such as the CEL2 video with Marek.
Building on the success of the CEL2 video with Marek, we developed a mini-documentary series called Builders Story. This series aims to highlight founders building on Celo and provide viewers with a quick introduction to flagship projects. This season, we focused on two projects: Talent Protocol and Mento Labs.
Outcome:
- Talent Protocol: The next era of the internet
- Mento Labs Documentary in production - to be published in the next weeks.
B. Create a reel at leading conferences: London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Brussels.
To capture the energy and insights from leading conferences, we produced reels or after-movies at leading events, including EthGlobal, RWA Meetups, Celo Gather, Builders Brunch, Superchain Spaces, and IDAF. These reels provided valuable recaps of the events and served as shareable content, helping expand our network’s reach, especially among attendees.
- 8+ Reels produced and shared across Celo Europe, Celo Developer accounts and other partners.
- 10k+ views
C. Record at least 15 videos throughout H1 at the leading conferences.
We created 26 content pieces in total, effectively covering the scope of H1. This was achieved within the proposed budget, demonstrating efficient production costs while delivering high value.
Outcome:
- 8 reels
- 2 builder’s story
- 16 Celo Gather keynotes
Key Learnings:
Overall, this season was filled with many exciting highlights and enhanced focus on where we can move the needle. We’re glad to have had this chance. Looking back, here are some key learnings overall
Focus Area 1: Events and Community Development
- Celo Gather is good for uniting the community and brainstorming on Celo’s future.
- Decentralizing event organizations led to a broader reach and better grassroots support.
- “Take-off” has proven good in engaging promising and upcoming builders.
- Gamified event economy at Celo Gather significantly enhanced participant involvement.
Focus Area 2: Business Development and Investor Relationship
- More cohesive and structured coordination through tools such as hatsprotocol can enhance clear communication and well-defined roles.
- Trust-building is a long-term endeavor. We didn’t get the outcomes we desired in 6 months, but we have aligned with top investors such as Theta Capital or Tioga Capital.
- Business Development is an area that should be managed by the Celo Foundation, but we can support, if necessary.
- Business Development for the next season should be rescoped to Ecosystem Support.
Focus Area 3: Content Production & Storytelling
- Visual storytelling proved effective in simplifying concepts, highlighting builders and engaging a wider audience.
- Creating after-movies increased community engagement and provided valuable content for expanding our network.
- Working within the proposed budget highlighted our capability to manage production costs while delivering high-quality content.
Overall Takeaways
Improved DAO Collaboration: This season we’ve made significant strides in enhancing collaboration between regional DAOs. Moving forward, making these efforts more recurring and expanding on this initiative is essential.
Clear Coordination and Delegation: Our experience in Season 1 highlighted the importance of proper coordination and clear delegation of roles, expectations, and deliverables. To ensure KPIs are met effectively, we propose using the hat structure when expanding the team beyond three contributors. We also learned (the hard way) that it’s not easy to scope out non-core contributor roles before the season. We had some friction with a mismatch of expectations between the Core Celo EU team and one of the contributors. This was resolved by minimizing their work scope while remaining within budget and focussing on our KPIs.
Challenges of Operating Without a Legal Entity: Similar to our experiences in Season 0, we recognized the difficulties of running a DAO without a legal entity for invoicing. This complicates operations, especially when closing deals with real businesses. Future DAO operators should consider establishing a legal entity to facilitate smoother interactions and operations in the real world.
Transition from Business Development to Ecosystem Support: Our new focus on Ecosystem Support more accurately represents our contributions to the community rather than a broad-scope Business Development vertical. By emphasizing community building and partnership development, we are better positioned to support the Celo ecosystem effectively.
Outlook: Proposed Direction for H2
We anticipate fewer significant events as we move into the year’s second half (H2). However, there is substantial interest in continuing our efforts with season 2, where we will hyper-focus on the strengths of Celo Europe and eliminate areas that still need to provide clear and quantifiable outcomes. Here are our thoughts on where Celo Europe can have a meaningful impact on the future success of the Celo Ecosystem:
- Strengthen collaboration between regional DAOs: Start building cross-regional initiatives to foster a more unified global community.
- Celo Gather - Virtual Edition: Organize EOY online Celo Gather, aimed to be an accessible gathering to recap 2024 and look forward to 2025.
- Support ETH Safari and DevCon Planning: Assist the regional DAOs with their plans at ETH Safari and DevCon-related event planning.
- Expand Europe Partner Network: Continue building our European partner network and support builders through strategic partnerships and collaborations.
- Content Production: Record and produce two builder’s stories related to MiniPay and CEL2 during ETH Safari and DevCon
Conclusion:
Season 1 has been a substantial progress and learning period for Celo Europe. We have significantly strengthened the Celo ecosystem by organizing key events, fostering community development, and producing impactful content. As we look ahead to H2, we are committed to refining our focus, enhancing collaboration, and building a vibrant, engaged community that drives Celo’s future success.
