Mentors Collective - Hello World!

Governance Governance Proposals
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TL;DR

In the last two months, we’ve had inspiring conversations with numerous Celo ecosystem organizations who are keen on having a structured mentorship program. Thanks to a generous grant from Prezenti, we’ve already successfully supported 10 Celo projects through mentoring, and now we’re kindly seeking €292,600 in funding to extend our help to 30-50 more over the next 6 months.

Our proposal includes mentorship packages, events, and a Proof-of-Mentorship metric to measure success. We’re deeply committed to long-term sustainability and warmly invite community participation. While we acknowledge the challenges, we’re eager to ensure the effectiveness and engagement of our program. Our ultimate aim is to nurture and empower Celo founders while fostering the growth of the ecosystem. We invite you to join us, give feedback, and support our mission.

Intro

Over the past two months, we have engaged in conversations with numerous organizations within the Celo ecosystem and have heard a resounding call for a more structured, deeper, and consistent mentorship initiative.

We have identified a significant gap and an urgent need - Celo founders must find new ways for funding and growth, now more than ever. That’s why we previously approached Prezenti for a grant to support Celo projects (Prezenti Grantees) which was successful and allowed us to kick start activities.

In the current market conditions, most funds and investors are focusing on their existing portfolio and demanding to see traction. We firmly believe that new support is vital to ensure that Celo founders possess the right knowledge and tools for success.

Our journey has strengthened our conviction in the power and necessity of this project, and we, the founders of Mentors Collective (MC), are confident in our ability to deliver a comprehensive mentorship program that will empower Celo founders to achieve their goals.

As such, Mentors Collective is created as a group of veteran business and tech professionals from the Celo ecosystem and the tech industry that are coming together to support founders as they work on their Celo based projects.

Testing the Mentorship Water

Over the past 2 months, we have been providing support to ten Celo founders who are Prezenti grantees. Our efforts have been focused on mentoring sessions and facilitating a founder circle. Our main objective was to connect these founders with experienced entrepreneurs and help them refine their pitch decks and fundraising strategies.
Impact so far:

  • Conducted 30 mentoring sessions and received excellent feedback from the founders (with 80 net promoter score).
  • Onboarded 10 startups to MC with the support of the Prezenti team.
  • Onboarded 17 top notch mentors to MC.

“I am looking forward to the sessions and am eager to learn. Coming from Suriname, not a lot of opportunities exist. Even though I started with a different startup first, I have noticed the need for creating opportunities and paths for those that need it.”
Tim Goudzand Founder ReFi Paramaribo

The Team

Stewards

  • Elad Mintzer - Made in Israel, minted in Berlin. Former Celo Foundation Ambassador in Berlin, an established Web3 Growth Consultant, and an experienced entrepreneur. Over 10 years experience in tech business development. Elad brings to the table his vast experience in Web3 and tech from previous roles with Celo Camp, DAOstack, Q Protocol and Glory Ventures. Notably, Elad founded LGBTech, an international community for LGBT professionals working in tech and organized several large-scale hackathons including Eth Barcelona Hackathon and EUvsVirus, the European Commission’s official hackathon combating COVID-19, which rallied a remarkable 25,000 participants and 600 mentors.

  • Sharon Sciammas - 18-year tenure in tech spanning Israel, the US, UK, and the Netherlands, Sharon has lent his expertise to over 70 startups as a product engineer, growth consultant, and mentor. As a co-creator of Europe’s largest in-person Web3 community, W3B Lab, he possesses a wealth of knowledge in growth strategies, go-to-market approaches, and platform design. Lives in Amsterdam nowadays, born in Israel and a father of 3 beautiful kids.

Advisors

  • Prezenti - A pillar of support and knowledge, we’re delighted to introduce Prezenti as our supporter and consultant for MC, following an initial grant MC had received. Prezenti’s reputation within the Celo community is sterling, and their expertise in grants allows us to navigate this journey with an added layer of knowledge and perspective.
  • Credit Collective - The Credit Collective is a group of builders and investors dedicated to advancing blockchain-based real-world credit solutions. Following Credit Collective’s success in building a thriving community and its successful $2m budget allocation from the Celo community fund to support credit-related Celo projects, we are excited to collaborate with them to further enhance the Celo ecosystem

Mentors

  1. Sam Mirson - Investor, Advisor and Serial Entrepreneur.
  2. Tomer Warschauer Nuni - Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer ar Pink Moon Studios.
  3. Patrick Baron - Founder at Moola Market.
  4. Tolga Dizmen - COO at Talent Protocols.
  5. Elena Poughia - CEO & Founder at Dataconomy.
  6. Alex Puig - Founder and CEO at Context Protocol.
  7. Amir Sciammas - Director Engineering at Adidas.
  8. David Justin - Founder at Blocktivity.
  9. Luis Carbajo - CEO at Vottun.
  10. Reuven Palatnik - Founder at Credit Collective.
  11. Imran Khan - CEO & Founder at Chosen Family.
  12. Jeff Pulver - Founder at Pulver.com.
  13. Nadiem Sissouno - Head of Economics at Mento Labs.
  14. Roni Gur - BD & Marketing Consultant.

Proposal Details

€292,600 for supporting 30-50 projects in the next 6 months.

We will make a final funding request in CELO tokens through this forum discussion, with the precise amount to be determined at that time based on CELO value of the last 3 months before the final proposal publish date).

We are proposing the rollout of specialized mentorship packages that include multifaceted support and bespoke activities. This will foster a dynamic and encompassing mentorship ecosystem, addressing existing gaps, elevating founder capabilities, and enhancing the support structure within the Celo ecosystem. The aim is to provide meaningful and measurable impact to the community.

Objectives

  • Support and amplify the growth of 30-50 projects within the Celo ecosystem over the next 6 months through structured and robust mentorship.
  • Position Celo as a supportive ecosystem for founders and projects.
  • Create a collective of experienced professional mentors that can support founders as they grow their companies, accelerate their projects and expand Celo’s ecosystem as a whole.

1-on-1 Mentorship Packages

To effectively support founders, we are proposing mentorship packages valued at $2,500 each, which include 10 hours of one-on-one mentorship. Our aim is to create a supportive environment that encourages peer feedback, network building, and cross-pollination of ideas and strategies among founders in the Celo ecosystem.

Packages themes include: Fundraising, Public Relations, Early User Traction, B2B Sales and Go-To-Market.

Why 50 packages? We envision collaborating with fellow Celo ecosystem organizations as distribution channels while extending our mentorship packages to support their founders. In ongoing discussions with Prezenti, Credit Collective, Climate Collective, and regional DAOs, we aim to provide an average of 1.5 packages per project, recognizing that different ventures may require varying levels of support. This strategic approach leads us to work closely with approximately 33 projects, mirroring the size of each Celo Camp batch, which typically consisted of 30-35 projects.

Speed Mentorship Events

Hosting 6 fast-mentorship events, connecting founders with our experienced mentors in a safe and trusted space. The aim is to ignite the cohesiveness of our community and offer fast, and meaningful advice to our founders.

Founders Circle Events

6 Founder’s Circle events (10-20 founders per event) to foster meaningful connections between Celo founders while providing/getting feedback from fellow founders.

Online Demo Day / Roadshows

Dedicating 8 hours per week over the next 6 months to facilitate demo days and fundraising roadshows for selected startups to support their fundraising goals. We aim to provide founders with the environment to pitch their projects and strategies in front of investors.

Take Off Delegations

Take Off is a scholarship program initiated by Talent Protocol, designed to offer high-potential individuals a transformative opportunity for growth, learning, and networking within the Web3 community. This program selects a group of 10-15 talented individuals and provides them with access to prominent blockchain conferences, fostering deeper connections within the Web3 space and enabling them to contribute to the growth of their respective projects.

Together with the Take Off program, we aim to create two delegations in the next 6 months aiming to boost the progress of a select group of 10-15 founders in each by providing them with opportunities to attend major tech conferences, organize meetings, and accelerate the growth of their projects.

Why Multifaceted Approach Is Crucial

Simultaneously implementing all of our proposed initiatives and activities is essential to enhance and strengthen the main 1-on-1 mentorship package. While 1-on-1 mentorship sessions form the core of our support, these complementary initiatives play a crucial role in augmenting and enriching the overall mentorship experience for Celo founders.

Speed Mentorship events provide rapid, targeted guidance and a unique opportunity for founders to interact with a diverse group of mentors. This fosters a collaborative atmosphere where founders can not only receive advice from their primary mentor but also compare it with insights from other experienced mentors, enabling them to make well-informed decisions.

Founders Circle operates on a similar principle, encouraging community collaboration within a structured environment. It functions akin to an accelerator batch, where founders actively network and support one another. This collaborative approach enhances the learning experience and empowers founders to navigate the complex challenges they face more effectively.

Demo Days and Roadshows, on the other hand, are instrumental in providing ongoing fundraising opportunities, enabling founders to showcase their projects and strategies in front of potential investors. Simultaneously, Take Off Delegations accelerate the growth of select individuals within the ecosystem by providing them with valuable networking and learning opportunities.

By running these activities concurrently, we ensure that the 1-on-1 mentorship package is fortified with timely advice, peer collaboration, fundraising avenues, and growth acceleration opportunities. This comprehensive approach creates a holistic and robust support system for our founders, increasing their chances of success in the Celo ecosystem.

Financial Requirement

Allocation of Funds

Link to the budget sheet

Item Amount
50 mentorship packages €125,000
6 founders circle events €9,000
6 speed mentorship events €9,000
Speed mentorship’s mentors compensation €9,000
Online demo days and roadshow (5 hours/week for organization and facilitation) €12,000
2 Take Off delegations (10-15 participants each) €40,000
Online IT tools €2,500
Comms (PR, social media and other original content) €12,000
2 stewardships (8 hours/week) €54,029
Misc (~7% for unexpected, legal and other) €20,000
Total €292,600

Focus Areas & Evaluation Criteria

With a wide spectrum of potential projects, our evaluation criteria will encompass:

  • Comprehensive understanding of the problem space by the team.
  • Team’s capability to deliver and implement the project.
  • Alignment of the project with Celo’s values.
  • Clarity and feasibility of the overall project proposal. Specificity, measurability, achievability, relevance, and time-bound milestones.

Proof-Of-Mentorship: How we measure success

At Mentors Collective, we are committed to ensuring the effectiveness and value of our mentorship program. To measure the success of our mentorship sessions, we employ a systematic approach known as Proof-of-Mentorship (POM). This quantitative metric is designed to assess the impact of mentorship on Celo founders (mentees), providing valuable insights into the growth and development achieved through our program.

POM evaluates four key components:

  1. Actionable Insights (AI): This component reflects the actionable advice or insights provided by the mentor that the mentee can directly apply to their project. It is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating the highest level of actionable insights.

  2. Confidence Level (CL): This component gauges the change in the mentee’s confidence level in tackling their specific challenges after the mentorship session. It is also measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing a significant boost in confidence.

  3. Mentor Match (MM): This component assesses the relevance and effectiveness of the mentor for the mentee’s specific needs. It measures how well-matched the mentor’s expertise and experience were to the mentee’s project stage and challenges. It is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating an excellent mentor-mentee match.

  4. Mentor Feedback (MF): This component gathers feedback from mentors, which contributes to the overall assessment of mentorship impact. It is also measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating positive mentor feedback.

Each of these components is given a weight of 25% in the calculation of the POM score:

POM = (0.25∗AI)+(0.25∗CL)+(0.25∗MM)+(0.25∗MF)

We recognize that the importance of these components may evolve over time as we learn and grow, and we remain open to adjusting the weights to continuously improve the accuracy of our mentorship impact measurement. We are dedicated to transparency and pledge to openly share these numbers and their evolution over time with the entire Celo community, fostering trust and accountability in our mentorship initiatives.

Ensuring Long-Term Sustainability for Mentors Collective

As we embark on this journey to provide valuable mentorship and support to Celo founders, we are committed to building a self-sustaining collective that can continue to empower the Celo ecosystem beyond the initial six months. While we deeply appreciate the support from the Celo community, we recognize the importance of diversifying our funding sources. In the future, we plan to explore various avenues for sustainability. These include exploring membership fees, equity or revenue-sharing models with startups, establishing corporate partnerships, offering premium consulting services, and participating in delegation activities like the “Take Off” program.

Our goal is to create a robust and self-sustaining Mentors Collective that can thrive independently while continuing to provide exceptional value to the Celo community. We are excited about the possibilities ahead and remain committed to the long-term success of both our collective and the projects we support.

Risks & Considerations

  • Effectiveness - Ensuring mentorship translates to measurable impact and success for founders.
  • Engagement - Maintaining high engagement levels among mentors and founders throughout the mentorship cycles.
  • Sustainability - Beyond the initial funding, the long-term sustainability of the mentorship program may depend on diversifying revenue sources. Explore potential challenges in securing ongoing support or funding.

Legal & Compliance

Mentors Collective is dedicated to adhering to all legal and compliance norms and will engage in legitimate agreements with all parties involved, ensuring the security and legality of all transactions and interactions.

Multisig owners

Verification
All the transactions that the stewards will make will be visible on-chain using our multisig address - 0x2AD7D4cf13eBAD2D4e43c680D556E587311dc953.

Signers Wallet Address
Sharon Sciammas 0x4a91D74f9c4B78E3b57FE7c1C8783bD9c68C95b0
Elad Mintzer 0x7106F230767AC5a4E41a69f8D4E2B1d1399747f9
Reuven Palatnik (Advisor, Founder at Credit Collective) 0x4A52c2bb39AD3Fbc6F9202f30A916f7dABDDcd3C

Join the Collective Wisdom

We extend a warm invitation to the entire Celo community to step into this space, share your insights, wisdom, and feedback to refine and elevate this proposal. Together, let’s weave a tapestry of empowered leadership, catalyzing the robust and sustainable growth of the Celo ecosystem.

Your support, insights, and collective wisdom will not just enrich this proposal but amplify the impact we aspire to create across the Celo community. Together, let’s sculpt a future where every founder is supported, every project is empowered, and every initiative is a beacon of light and growth.

Final Thoughts

We envisage a future where founders are empowered, mentors are enriched by the experience, and the Celo ecosystem thrives with success stories and robust projects.

With an acute understanding of the prevailing gaps and opportunities within the Celo ecosystem, MC is poised to drive tangible, transformative impact through a structured, impactful mentorship program. We seek the support and partnership of the Celo Community Fund to bring this vision to fruition, amplifying the success, sustainability, and impact of Celo founders globally.

Our Website: https://mentorscollective.org/

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I believe the Take Off program would benefit tons from being deeply integrated into Mentors Collective so fully support this proposal as our new builders need structured mentorship. Let’s do this!

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A collaborative supportive community is one of the pillars of a successful startup eco system. Experienced founders and professionals giving their time to mentor startups is probably the best help young founders can get.
I also like the idea of demo days and delegations. Young startups need exposure and to get opportunities to practice their pitch as many times as they can.

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Thanks @eladmin & Sharon for a clear and well presented proposal.

Speaking as a director of Prezenti, we issued a small grant of $18,500 cUSD to Mentor’s Collective recently to bootstrap the setup of the initiative, and were very pleased with the rigor and quality of the legal documents, plans, and administrative practice they were able to build in that time.

Part of the conversation around this project was kick-started when Elad and I met at the Celo office in Berlin a few months ago. One common piece of feedback we both shared was that many technical projects in the web3 space are missing critical soft skills and don’t have the experience to successfully plan, communicate, and manage their ideas. In Prezenti, we actually spent a lot of time partially mentoring teams to help them clearly communicate the intention and scope of their project. Elad had encountered the same issue with his work experience interfacing with web3 technologists, and we both wanted to make sure there was a clear entrypoint for projects to get the skills they need. I gave some advice to Elad and suggested he apply to Prezenti to get Mentor’s Collective off the ground (for this reason I was also recused from the decision making process for this grant).

Anyone can throw up a GitHub and launch a demo page, collect some funding and call it a day, but I can’t stress enough the need for more “complete” project delivery in this space. This need becoming more pointed as as Celo enters a new phase and competes with massive players for developer bandwidth and attention in the L2 arena. Unfortunately Prezenti had come to the end of our funding for 2023, so we suggested Mentor’s Collective to go directly to the community to continue this important supportive work.

Further context: I am also advising on the governance uplift work that @LuukDAO has been leading recently. Some of the proposals from this group will be made public very soon, and part of it might be a suggestion of a social soft consensus to pause passing of new governance proposals while technical changes are delivered over the next few weeks. Speaking personally, I’m not super concerned about new proposals coming in, I think there’s been so much discussion around governance recently that everything will be looked at with more rigor than ever before, even without some of the working group’s proposals being implemented yet.

Either way, if the pause discussion is had and everyone is clear, I think it’s good for the community to get in the habit of launching their ideas like this in the forum and having good faith discussions about the merits, with plenty of time for everyone to understand it and make informed votes.

If Mentor Collective’s proposal here is successful, Prezenti would be please to continue to pass some of our alumni into their funnel for further mentorship. We want to be part of producing well-rounded, successful grantees that wouldn’t look out of place at a L2 pitch night.

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Hi everyone!

Just wanted to drop in and give my 2 cents for the Mentors Collective proposal posted here. As part of the Innovators Buzz team I have been part of the initial cohort.

As Prezenti grantees this program was helpful to fine tune not only our message but also our approach in business development. Being able to speak to different mentors from different backgrounds really brought more clarity. A great example of this was a session dedicated to improve our Pitch Deck.

I believe that it’s projects like this that keep this ecosystem running with energy, innovation and hopefully a higher success rate of projects deployed.

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Apart from net promoter score is there any info how effective these sessions were for projects to be able to fundraise and who they were able to raise from? And what startups did you work with in the Celo ecosystem?

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I had the pleasure of being mentored by the Mentors´ Collective and it was very useful for us to improve our pitch deck and have a clearer view of our strategy.

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I’m truly thrilled to witness the realization of this proposal. The commitment to fostering growth within the Celo ecosystem through structured mentorship initiatives is truly inspiring. The impact achieved during the initial “Testing the Mentorship Water” phase is exceptionally noteworthy.

As someone involved as a mentor, I’ve witnessed firsthand the incredible passion and potential of Celo founders, leaving me eager for more. Being a part of this journey has been an honor, and I’m enthusiastic to continue contributing.

Your “Multifaceted Approach” is exceptional, blending various mentoring formats such as 1-on-1 sessions, rapid mentorship events, founders’ circle gatherings, and more. This approach underscores a profound grasp of the diverse needs of Celo founders and offers tailored support accordingly.

#Lets_Make_This_Happen

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Very great initiative by Sharon and Elad. We at Clixpesa were honored to be part of the initial cohort. The team at Mentors Collective provided very useful insights on our project and helped as shape our strategy on some of our offerings.
We think this is a very good initiative that can help many founders like us achieve our goals and create good foundations for successful projects.

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Hey @nraghuveera tnx, Thanks for your question :+1:

Regarding your first point:
Based on the feedback we received from the mentees, it is clear that the mentorship sessions were effective in helping them. The mentees provided positive feedback, stating that the sessions provided useful insights into their projects, helped shape their strategy, improved their pitch deck, and gave them a clearer view of their strategy.

The best way to understand how effective the mentorship sessions were is to check the feedback of the mentees below:

  • “…very useful insights on our project and helped us shape our strategy on some of our offerings.” @KachDN
  • “…was very useful for us to improve our pitch deck and have a clearer view of our strategy” @edlovecrypto
  • “As Prezenti grantees this program was helpful to fine tune not only our message but also our approach in business development.” @Tim-InnovatorsBuzz

The mentors who supported the program also provided positive feedback, stating that young startups need exposure and practice in pitching as much as possible. They appreciated the tailored support offered by the program, which underscores a profound grasp of the diverse needs of Celo founders.

  • “Young startups need exposure and to get opportunities to practice their pitch as many times as they can.” @ReuvenP
  • "This approach underscores a profound grasp of the diverse needs of Celo founders and offers tailored support accordingly " @sunamir

Regarding your second point:
Since the first phase of MC was an MVP version with only three online meetings, we cannot claim credit for their fundraising success.
We aimed to help the founders improve their pitching, story, and strategy in just a few hours. Based on the feedback received, I believe we accomplished this goal.

Please let me know if I managed to answer your questions :innocent:

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As a participant in the first cohort of the Mentors Collective, we at Arttribute experienced firsthand the impact of this initiative. The program provided us with invaluable insights and guidance that significantly enhanced our ability to articulate and refine our project’s vision and strategy. We wholeheartedly support its expansion and highly recommend it to other aspiring projects!

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We met @eladmin at the Celo Berlin office a while ago. When he talked about the project, as someone who loves mentoring, I immediately said, “Count me in.” Then, I learned I was the first mentor to accept to join the project. (I still have the badge Elad gave me, in case I need to prove it.) :smile:

Having a chance to support Celo founders is very cool. I’m eagerly looking forward to the start of the mentoring sessions.

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As a mentor in two sessions with Celo start-ups organised by Sharon and Elad, I was impressed by the quality of the organisation and the set-up that Sharon and Elad had put together. I was also super pleased to see how the discussions we had with the start-up founders really helped them refine their pitch deck (and by consequence their business idea / product).

Also, having lived first hand how Sharon demonstrated his capacity of bringing founders together at W3B Lab, I am confident that this initiative will bring value to the Celo community.

Finally, from my experience advising and mentoring start-ups, I believe the program presented, with its varied interaction structures is well built and will provide incredible value to the Celo founders.

I eagerly look forward to start the mentoring sessions !

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Thanks! This is very helpful and sounds like there’s definitely an opportunity. The reason I’m asking for more info on success metrics is that in my mind it’s easy to have a high NPS for a service that was provided for free to someone (let me know if the projects did pay something for this support earlier). One other thing I might be missing. Here you say you only did 3 online meetings. Above you mentioned:

Could you clarify the discrepancy here?

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Hello @sharonscia and @eladmin,

First of all I’m impressed by the proposal and the vision for the work you’re planning with the founders.

I also really like the mission of the TakeOff Scholarship, I know @pcbo is really good helping with this, and you can do really good things together.

As mentioned previously, I haven’t identified a mentor who is well-versed or deeply engaged in the Latin American space. It would be beneficial to have mentors proficient in native Spanish and Portuguese. Additionally, ensuring the inclusion of Latin American projects in these mentorship opportunities is crucial.

On a personal note, and representing the sentiment of many, having the chance to communicate in one’s own language is invaluable. It facilitates better understanding with mentors and enables smoother explanations of specific situations. Moreover, mentors should be acquainted with local issues, which vary significantly across different countries.

Just for info, for the Spanish native speakers, communicating in English isn’t always comfortable.

Last thing, as @Thylacine said there is like a social soft consensus to pause passing of new governance proposals while Governance technical changes are delivered over the next few weeks… but at technical instance Governance is not on hold, so if you want to move forward with your proposal is up to you and decision about it will be in hand of the voters.

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I would indeed agree that the NPS shouldn’t be the primary metric in this context. As mentioned, we’ve only tested the waters and haven’t yet provided any of the mentorship packages, so we haven’t applied the proof-of-mentorship metric, which we aim to make our main success indicator.

To clarify, we have conducted three online events with a total of 14 participating projects. In each of these events, every participant had two meetings, resulting in a total of 28 mentorship sessions. Additionally, we conducted some one-on-one sessions, bringing the total number to over 30.

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As a Mentee who traveled from Montevideo to Berlin in search of networking opportunities unavailable in my home country, I am grateful to have encountered @eladmin and @sharonscia, professionals who exemplify warmth and support. They are dedicated to creating a transformative and safe environment, defying norms with their grounded experience. Each session with them is an enriching experience, marked by their attentive listening and deeply insightful feedback. Their unique perspectives are significantly contributing to the development of my project (stealth mode) in unmeasurable ways. I extend my best wishes for their continued success in this venture and am optimistic that this is just the beginning of our future.

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This is a great initiative. We need to support founders success for this emerging industry to thrive and achieve mass adoption. Founders need help understanding how to scale sustainable and need experience supporting them to find their path to a healthy business model that leverage revenues and achieve profits. This will lead to independence, value creation and ecosystem growth.

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Adding my voice to this discussion as I collaborated with @eladmin for a handful of months this year.

In his work helping to steward and grow our Celo community in Berlin, I found Elad to be resourceful, creative, driven and diligent. He brought creative ideas to growing our community, and was able to bring a lot of energy and follow-through to his initiatives. He worked creatively and diligently within various constraints, meticulously tracked spending, and proactively created tracking systems to demonstrate impact.

In my 10 years of experience as a leadership coach, and through leading people functions including my current role leading the People Circle at the Celo Foundation, I have found that mentorship, support, and accountability are game changers for bringing new ideas and projects to life. I realize there are other places where founders may receive mentorship and other types of support; at the same time, it may be true that “more is more” in this case.

Perhaps this proposal can be phased to consider additional data and feedback as it is rolled out in order to drive the maximum value possible from any funds approved by the community.

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Dear Celo Community :wave:

First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude for the positive feedback and support we’ve received for our Mentors Collective proposal. Your encouragement is truly appreciated, and it reinforces our commitment to fostering growth within the Celo ecosystem.

Addressing The Community Comments

Now, we’d like to address a couple of comments and introduce an enhancement to our proposal based on your valuable input.

Comment #1 by @0xj4an-work:

Thank you, @0xj4an-work, for your kind words and insightful suggestions. We share your enthusiasm for supporting founders in the Latin American space, and we agree that having mentors proficient in native Spanish and Portuguese would be incredibly valuable. While we are just beginning our operations, we are committed to expanding globally and catering to different languages in the future. We acknowledge the importance of effective communication and the need for mentors acquainted with local issues. Rest assured, as we grow, we will work to include Latin American projects and mentors in our mentorship opportunities.

Regarding the pause on new governance proposals, we understand the sentiment. To strengthen our proposal and ensure better accountability, we are introducing a significant update. We will receive funds only based on pre-set agreed milestones, with the funds held in a trust account by Hex Trust. This arrangement will require approval from our advisory board before disbursement, ensuring that we achieve specific milestones before accessing the funds (more details below).

Comment #2 by @juliav:

Thank you, @juliav, for your supportive comments and your valuable perspective on mentorship and support. We appreciate your insights, and we are excited to implement a phased approach to our proposal. As a result, we will add three milestones to the proposal to ensure maximum value and accountability. (more details below).

Now, let us introduce the enhancement to our funding proposal:

Given the ongoing restructuring of Celo governance and our experience in DAO governance, we propose a way to increase trust in our initiative and reduce the risk for the community. Approximately 90% of the funds we receive will be held in a trust account with Hex Trust. These funds will be released to us in two instalments, contingent on the approval of our advisory board once we reach specific milestones.

Hex Trust
Hex Trust is a fully-licensed digital asset custodian with a track record of managing $5 billion in assets. They have a strong partnership with Celo and currently support Mento and the Celo Foundation. This partnership provides us with a secure and transparent means of managing funds, ensuring that neither Mentors Collective’s Stewards nor Advisory Board members can control the funds freely. The service will cost us €8k per year and we believe it is worth the cost in order to provide funding structure. Using Hex Trust will increase our funding budget to €300K.

The Milestones:

  • Initial Funding: €38,000
    • Purpose: To kickstart our operations.
  • Milestone #1: Starting from Feb 1st
    • Objective: Prove POM (Proof-of-Mentorship) >70% from 10 projects.
    • Funds Released: €131,000
  • Milestone #2: Starting from Apr 1st
    • Objective: Prove POM >70% from 25 projects, representing more than 100 1-on-1 mentorship sessions.
      *Funds Released: €131,000

Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board will consist of 5/7 members, with a majority needed to release the funds. We are honored to have the following confirmed advisory board members: Marek Olszewski (Celo), Aaron Boyd (Prezenti), Pedro Oliveira (Talent Protocol), and Reuven Palatnik (Credit Collective). We will provide updates on the final list in the coming days.

We believe these improvements to our proposal will enhance transparency, accountability, and trust in our initiative, while also enabling us to focus on supporting Celo founders and projects effectively.

We remain committed to your feedback and invite further insights and wisdom from the Celo community as we work together to empower founders and drive the growth of the Celo ecosystem.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership. :blush:

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