This is a well-thought-out analysis of the conundrum facing Celo at the moment. It reminds me of employers who demand experience from job seekers who have none. It’s very difficult to acquire experience in that scenario.
As a growing blockchain, it is important to encourage innovation by widening the pool of potential grantees who may just have the next really big idea. Nonetheless, we must admit that many such projects, including ours, may lack the necessary resources to achieve those desired transactions. At the same time, it is important that Celo grants maximize impact and TVL.
My suggestion is that Prezenti looks at its community of grantees and finds out which teams can collaborate on similar projects that maximize economies of scale. At LUSOBE, for example, we found that by working with more established partners like Grassroots Economics (sarafu.network), Pretium and Sargo, and with funding provided through Prezenti, we were able to do much more than we would have been able to do by ourselves. At the same time, we provided our partners with valuable ideas and insights that shaped their product offerings, creating a mutually beneficial partnership.
My proposal is therefore to increase the size of the grants but encourage grantees to collaborate with each other when applying for the grants. For example, the Celo Cosmo-Local Credit Network and Sarafu Wallet projects can be completed by various teams working together for the common vision. In this way, the number of transactions and TVL could increase.