[GC Membership Application] Klaytn Marketing & PR support By MarketAcross & BlockBuilders

GC Membership Discussion
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Name: BlockBuilders [Powered by MarketAcross]

BlockBuilders as a Klaytn GC member

BlockBuilders aims to bring extra value to Klaytn’s ecosystem as a Governance Council member, reliable and secure Web3 Validator, and Node Operator. As a Klaytn Governance Council member, the BlockBuilders team offers immense experience in PR and marketing after years of working with countless networks and web3 projects since 2017. We will contribute to the Council by harnessing our expertise, our network, and the tools that we’ve gathered over the years at MarketAcross.

What differentiates our proposal is that- we will commit 50% of all the rewards generated by the validator back to Klaytn through MarketAcross - the world’s leading PR & content marketing agency in the Web3 space. This would mean that Klaytn and the Klaytn ecosystem will get access to top tier PR & content marketing services and marketing support that extends as the network grows.

For the sake of decentralization, we have our own infrastructure based in the Netherlands. We’re not dependent on any 3rd party server provider since we run our own infra. Having said that, to maintain our 99.9% uptime performance, we do run backup servers on multiple DCs in different regions (Europe/US/Asia).

Also, as part of the offer, we partner with BlockBuildersVC to provide a broader range of guidance and support.

About MarketAcross

MaketAcross is the Web3 branch of the InboundJunction group, started in the SaaS world a decade ago, proudly representing 200+ startups, including Hubspot, Walkme, Wix, SimilarWeb, Incapsula, Payoneer, Appsflyer, Elementor, BigCommerce, SiSense, Kissmetrics, and more.

We then launched MarketAcross in 2014, and made it into a blockchain-focused agency shortly after the Ethereum ICO. Since then, we have served over 300 blockchain companies, including Binance, Solana, Polygon, Crypto. com, Polkadot, Tezos, Huobi, Kucoin, and eToro - to name a few.

With countless Web2 & Web3 unicorn clients, we have worked with the best product marketers, building long-lasting, sustainable organic growth channels by utilizing the entire earned media toolkit. We also bring this skill set when engaging any new client in the Web3 space.

MarketAcross first met Klaytn at KBW2022, and since then we’ve supported Klaytn and Klaytn’s ecosystem with our marketing services. So, we’re familiar with Klaytn and want to be even more involved in the Klaytn ecosystem.

Our Case studies

Deck/presentation

Our Proposal

We request a delegation of 5M KLAY tokens to become an active validator and a Governance Council member. MarketAcross has been successfully supporting networks and web3 projects since 2017. The model we propose includes the full scope of our services as a worlds leading blockchain PR & Marketing firm. 50% of all block rewards will go towards providing support for the Klaytn Foundation and Klaytn’s ecosystem with top-of-the-line marketing services—funded by the network’s growth.

**The block rewards will be allocated at the discretion of the Klaytn Foundation.

The Challenge

Blockchain networks such as Klaytn must keep a lot of plates spinning: protocol development, community support, project grants, partnerships, and treasury management, to name a few. With so many fires to fight, it’s easy for non-critical tasks to get shoved down the pecking order.

Things like marketing and ecosystem funding sustain a flourishing network. But marketing costs money and competes for precious resources. And thus, networks are faced with a dilemma: to outsource marketing, with the costs this conveys, or handle it in-house and hope their efforts will suffice.

But what if there was a way to master marketing without making compromises? A solution that enables protocols to have their cake and eat it, too?

This is the thinking that inspired us to funnel the block back to Klaytn’s ecosystem, but in marketing services

The best-funded projects aren’t always the best projects. They’re just blessed with the war chest to market their vision. But imagine if it didn’t have to be that way: imagine if new projects could receive the support they need to succeed by tapping into a ready-made marketing budget.

Our concept will help all projects operating on Klaytn to level up. The well-funded ones. The unfunded ones. And everything in between. All are eligible for support, creating a meritocracy in which great ideas amplify greatly.

The Solution

BlockBuilders is a marketing solution that’s funded by genuine and measurable network growth.

By collecting the rewards that accrue from validating Klaytn and redirecting almost half of this revenue back into the ecosystem, BlockBuilders kills two birds with one stone. Klaytn gains a professional validation service that further decentralizes its infrastructure while benefiting from a professional marketing service focused on growing its ecosystem. And the best part? They don’t have to spend a single cent.

Every node operator is committed to supporting Klaytn’s native ecosystem. But no other node operator can match BlockBuilders’ support: we deliver one by assigning 50% of all revenue to marketing.

Team & Experience

We have a well-diversified and experienced team. First, our team members are crypto enthusiasts who have been in this market for 5-10 years. Our CTO, Rafael Yahlomi (PhD. in economics), is a well-experienced node operator who started his crypto journey as a Crypto Quant developer 7 years ago. In 2018, he decided to focus on node operations (when the majority was PoW with Bitcoin and Ethereum mining), and later, he shifted with the market to the PoS mechanism. Under the CTO team, we have 2 developers & 2 blockchain researchers. The tech team is geographically diversified to ensure 24/7 service & maintenance.

In addition, we have our marketing & business development team, which includes Kim Bazak, VP of Business Development, who is well experienced in both marketing and BizDev in the crypto space for 6 years, and Elad Mor, CEO of BlockBuilders with over 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur and business building in the web3 space.

Additional toolkit

We will also utilize Chainwire as our primary wire-distributor partner, whose reach within the crypto market is unrivaled.

Validator performance

Our services are monitored 24 hours a day with emergency alarms, phone calls, and text notifications. Also, we have 24H technical experts ready for everything that could happen. In addition, like our own infra, the monitoring system is a proprietary tool we developed for ourselves and not a 3rd party one. Therefore, we are glad to have and to offer an uptime of 99%.

BlockBuilders Provides to Klaytn

:white_check_mark: Professional team with experience running nodes on multiple networks

:white_check_mark: Dedicated high-end servers

:white_check_mark: Premium data centers distributed globally

:white_check_mark: Maximum uptime and multiple backups

:white_check_mark: High-grade security

:white_check_mark: Extensive bandwidth

:white_check_mark: 24/7 monitoring

:white_check_mark: Alert system

:white_check_mark: Real-time updates

:white_check_mark: 100% uptime with an insurance program

:white_check_mark: Full transparency

:white_check_mark: Community support channel

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@yongyoung.kim_MK @San_Hankyung It would be great if our GC members from the Media Industry could give inputs to the application!

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Thanks for remind @KaiaGovernance. We met and talked with MarketAcross in KBW 2022 last year. We could see that company had a good understanding of the blockchain industry and was very active. It will be of great help to Klaytn for worldwide distribution of press releases. I heard MarketAcross is already collaborating with the Klayton Foundation.

However, the offer to return 50% of GC rewards seems misleading. This offer may be seen as cost-saving rather than supporting the revitalization of the ecosystem. There is still controversy in Korea about foundation staking rewards for some projects. In addition to press releases, it seems more appropriate to explore ways to use rewards to revitalize the Klaytn ecosystem. Thanks for reading.

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@KaiaGovernance Thank you for remind. We have all heard well about Market Across’s reputation in the industry. They have established themselves as one of the best companies in the blockchain marketing industry based on their excellent understanding of the industry. I think it could be a win-win if our marketing cost problem can be resolved through blockbuilders’ GC participation. but it is going to be better if there were some explanation from Klaytn foundation to the community that how much the efficiency of the foundation’s marketing costs can be improved through it. it will be a great reference for our community & voters.

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@San_Hankyung

The primary purpose of onboarding more GCs are:

  • increased decentralization
  • domain-expert governance
  • contribution to Klaytn ecosystem

Given that MarketAcross is based in Europe they have value in terms of increasing Klaytn’s geographical decentralization. Since they will be the first Web3 PR/marketing agency GC, they will also provide valuable domain expertise for relevant governance decisionmaking. Their offer to contribute 50% of the GC rewards to form a marketing fund would fulfill the third requirement. This marketing fund can be tapped on by either Klaytn Foundation or ecosystem partners for any of MarketAcross’ services, including PR, SEO, content marketing, brand reputation, social promotion, influencer marketing, and more, so it’s not just PR. This will be especially valuable for Korean projects looking to gain global exposure. In terms of efficiency, since the fund is coming from half of their GC rewards, any marketing work funded by it can be considered ‘free’ since the GC rewards are going to be minted regardless. It will also be a more agile process compared to KCF, which is a good option to have as a lot of marketing work is often time-sensitive.Paid marketing is a necessary expense for any L1, so even if they don’t join as a GC we’ll still end up using KCF to pay MarketAcross or any other agency for marketing/PR work anyway.Given the above, I think it is an overall net-positive deal for Klaytn Foundation to delegate 5m KLAY and allow MarketAcross to join as a GC.

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@KaiaGovernance @Junghyun_Colin_Kim @Colin_Kim
Do you have any comments?

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@KimAcross

Thanks for the application, MarketAcross team. Sorry for the late response and many questions. :joy:

Here are my questions regarding the application.

  1. What about another 50% of the block reward? Do you have plan the rest half of the reward?

  2. I assume that the other half would be used for node operation. What if the KLAY price is not enough to cover node operation?

  3. Similarly, what if KLAY price is high enough, marketing activities will increase? For example, let’s say that 50% of reward is worth of $50K/year for now. What if KLAY price is doubled, will the marketing activities grow twice?

  4. Also, because this is kinds of a loan agreement to exchange reward with marketing service, will you provide a report of marketing activities monthly or quaterly?

  5. Currently, Klaytn Consensus node’s location is limited to Asian region from Singapore to Japan. Are you okay with this limitation? I am asking because you wrote that your main infrastructure is based on Netherlands.

  6. We are also considering to charge some low interest (e.g., 3%) with the delegation. Would it be also okay with you?

  7. Also I think this marketing support also includes some projects in Klaytn ecosystem as you wrote. But also, it is not easy to find which project to support marketing activities because you cannot cover everything. What kinds of criteria that you can make for this?

  8. Also the reward could go to the marketing support by MarketAcross. I don’t think you need to sell all the KLAY received. Do you have plan how to sell or keep the KLAY?

Thanks for the application again, and I hope to see to move forward with MarketAcross.

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Hey Colin, hope these answers will satisfy you and the rest of the GC members:

1. What about another 50% of the block reward? Do you have plan the rest half of the reward?

Yes, the plan allocates that reward to the operational costs of paying for the server, backup, monitoring, salaries, etc.

2. I assume that the other half would be used for node operation. What if the KLAY price is not enough to cover node operation?

From the math we’ve run, it should be enough for node operation. We’re running a lean operation to avoid getting into this situation.

3. Similarly, what if KLAY price is high enough, marketing activities will increase? For example, let’s say that 50% of reward is worth of $50K/year for now. What if KLAY price is doubled, will the marketing activities grow twice?

The answer is - YES! That’s why we haven’t capped it with a budget, rather, with % from the rewards.

4. Also, because this is kinds of a loan agreement to exchange reward with marketing service, will you provide a report of marketing activities monthly or quarterly?

Yes, we will provide a report to whoever oversees our marketing efforts from Klaytn. We can share highlights with the community as well.

5. Currently, Klaytn Consensus node’s location is limited to Asian region from Singapore to Japan. Are you okay with this limitation? I am asking because you wrote that your main infrastructure is based on Netherlands.

Yes, we can operate from Asia - we can practically establish the server anywhere in the world. Our current infrastructure is in the Netherlands, and our backup is in Germany, and we’ve already explored the Asian region as well.

6. We are also considering to charge some low interest (e.g., 3%) with the delegation. Would it be also okay with you?

Honestly, this 3% will hurt our budget / the marketing budget. I If you feel like this is an absolute necessity, we could maybe find a way that would be more economic and pegged to the price appreciation of the token.

7. Also I think this marketing support also includes some projects in Klaytn ecosystem as you wrote. But also, it is not easy to find which project to support marketing activities because you cannot cover everything. What kinds of criteria that you can make for this?

We can decide on specific criteria alongside the foundation; generally, we can support every web3 project with PR & marketing.

8. Also the reward could go to the marketing support by MarketAcross. I don’t think you need to sell all the KLAY received. Do you have plan how to sell or keep the KLAY?

As a node, we must sell our KLAY to pay operational expenses, like every other business. But we don’t have to sell all of it or sell it on the open market; we can devise a plan with the Klaytn Foundation that will include an OTC deal.

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Thank you for the answers. I understood more of the proposal.

Also I want to note that 3% is an example number, not a fixed number, but I just want to get some sense with the specific number. :slight_smile:

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Hey everyone and happy new year! Wanted to quickly follow up here as we want to push this forward, does anyone have any further questions comments or thoughts?