AIP-209: Ape Accelerator powered by ApeCoin

[Forj]

Proposal Name: Ape Accelerator powered by ApeCoin
Category: Core - Ecosystem Fund Allocation
Author: Forj - Animoca

Original Proposal / Reason For Return / Resubmission Updates

Original Proposal: AIP-141: Ape Accelerator By ApeCoin

Reason For Return(Expand to see details)

The proposal involved the Ape Foundation to participate in the multi-sig wallet control management to oversee the activities to ensure transparency and consistency. However the Ape Foundation only provides grants and are not expected to participate in these activities.

Resubmission Updates(Expand to see details)

1. Remove Ape Foundation’s engagement in overseeing the multi-sig wallet.
   Instead, we would like to propose selecting 5 members in the BAYC community, along with 2 members from Forj. and 4 out of 7 to sign to approve.

Multi-sign wallet signers selection criteria:

• Active Ape Community, Ape Forum contributors who has deep understanding on Ape ecosystem, well connected to many projects
• Understand the industry and how ape ape launchpad/accelerator operates.
• Technical background is preferred.
• Pass KYC
• No conflict of interest with Ape Accelerator.

2. Key Stakeholders’ Role

a)Ape Foundation: Provide Grants to Forj Team in the use of “Ape Accelerator” product development and first 6 months operation

b) Ape Community

• Engage in the decision making process of the ape launchpad’s project selection as specified in “Motivation”
• Oversee Ape Launchpad’s operating activities

c)Forj Team
[Financial Related]

• Collect submission fees from projects (Initiators).
• Calculate and distribute commission from sales on Ape Launchpad that goes to the projects (Initiators), voters and multi-sig wallet.
• Share a monthly financial disclosure on any operating cashflow to the Ape Community.
  [Operation Related]
• Platform development as specified in “Steps to Implement”.
• Business Development to ensure 2 projects submitted every month for Ape community’s approval to launch on Ape Launchpad

d) Multi-sig wallet management member (5 from Ape community, 2 from Forj):
Sign the multi-sig wallet transaction depending on the community’s approval on Forj’s monthly financial disclosure stated above.

Abstract

The Ape Accelerator (Ape Launchpad) is designed to help strengthen the ApeCoin and BAYC ecosystem by incubating and facilitating projects that contribute to, and utilize, ApeCoin and BAYC IP ecosystem growth. Projects looking to launch through the Ape Accelerator will require $APE token to submit a proposal, and holders of $APE and BAYC Ecosystem NFTs will be able to access the launchpad to invest in these projects.

Deck: DocSend Twitter Thread 11

Draft UI/UX Design for Ape Launchpad(4th revision)
The product images and information shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product, which is subject for further change.

Forj, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, has been a BAYC holder since May 2022. Our mission is to empower BAYC IP Growth, from being clubhouse advocate to building the first BAYC experience in The Sandbox that attracted 165k plays and 46k unique players, to driving mass awareness with monthly Yuga IP ecosystem map. We created the Yuga IP Ecosystem map, showcased regularly since August 2022 gaining over 2M impressions up to date. The amount of projects joining the BAYC IP ecosystem grow from 70+in August 2022 to 247 in Feb 2023, nearly 250% increase.

Yuga IP Ecosystem Map (Feb 2023)

Through 1 on 1 calls with founders, we see projects encounter the challenges of 1) Lack of Web2 audience, 2) Lack of ongoing utility for their projects, 3) Low frequency of interaction. With the Ape Accelerator, we want to accelerate the BAYC IP ecosystem growth by building the launchpad for NFT sales and distribution, providing incubation and advisory projects on Strategic Partnerships, Storytelling, Tokenomics design, Capital Support and Distribution. We would like to form the strategic incubation vertical to maximize cohort synergy for Yuga’s ecosystem growth

As a Animoca Brand subsidiary, Forj has

• Animoca ecosystem projects exposure to participate in the sale
• Deal flow from Animoca investment portfolio
• Wide connections to NFT projects and VCs
• Already established launchpad that have successfully launched 20+ projects e.g., Kylin Network, Altava, Phantom Galaxies

Author Description

A subsidiary of Animoca Brands, Forj delivers leading Web3 products and technologies that create unique fan experiences for creators.Forj, the innovation hub of Animoca, provides advisory, tech modules, and interoperability infrastructure to power Animoca’s ecosystem growth. With major partnerships including Grammy-nominated musician Lewis Capaldi, and leading creator platform Spring, Forj has an enviable track-record of success in the sector.

Website: https://forj.network/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ForjOfficial

Team Description

Experienced team: Team of 50+ employees, led by

• Harry Liu— CEO
  Founder of Forj, leading Launchpad for Animoca portfolio projects such as Phantom Galaxies, Altava. Creator of Yuga IP Ecosystem Map. Led community driven BAYC experience for Sandbox Season 3. Previously Fore Media, Google Partner. https://twitter.com/harry_forj/
• Rob Tran - COO
  25 years experience in scaling Music, SaaS, and AI businesses, with a track record of early-stage projects strategic advisory at leading startup incubators. https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttran/
• Charles Stanton - CMO
  Digital Marketing leader at brands including KPMG, The National Lottery, and BUPA. https://twitter.com/Chas_Stanton
• Terrence Gatsby - CTO
  Vast experience across disruptive technologies including Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, DeFi, Digital Assets, Tokenization, FinTech, WealthTech, Edge Computing, and Internet of Things. https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrencegatsby/

Motivation

Ape communities gathered early NFT adopters with experience and knowledge on the NFT market. To leverage everyone’s experience toward the growth of the Ape ecosystem, a Launchpad that allows ApeCoin holders to participate in the decision-making of early projects’ launch can bring forth positive growth.

The Ape Launchpad aims to maximize the Ape community’s benefit, facilitate the use of ApeCoin and together as a community contribute, fund, and empower the future of decentralization.

The ApeCoin Community can engage in the Ape Launchpad in three ways:

1. Initiator

• Projects that aim to launch on the Ape Launchpad need to spend # $APE to submit a proposal.
  • Encourage NFT collections/projects to purchase $APE coin
• Project should accept a percentage of funds raised in $APE, a percentage of commission will be charged to the initiator on the total amount raised through Ape launchpad.
• Submission fee and commission will be sent to a multi-sig wallet, which can be burned, or routed to other DAO initiatives based on community voting.

2. Voter

• After projects submit proposals, the Ape community can use $APE to vote whether to launch this project on Ape Launchpad.
  • Autonomous project selection from the community
• If a proposal is passed by the community, voters will share a percentage of commission from the launchpad sales revenue.
  • Engage voters to participate and earn

3. Participants

• Approved projects will launch on the Ape Launchpad, accept ApeCoin as payment, as well as other tokens
  • Ape community get valuable, high-experience NFTs every month.
  • Add utility to $APE token.
• Ape Launchpad will embed the staking pool from AIP 21/22, users need to stake to gain access to the launchpad. See More in “​​Specifications”
  • Get the community to stake $APE, reward committed stakers with ongoing benefits

Rationale

To grow the Ape ecosystem, a core strategy is to add more use cases for the ApeCoin. Therefore, having this Ape Accelerator can

• Get the community to stake $APE in order to participate in NFT and token sales, and reward committed stakers with ongoing benefits
• Ape community get valuable, high-experience NFTs every month
• Get community use $APE to access any primary sales on Ape Launchpad
• Encourage NFT collections/projects to purchase $APE in order to launch on Ape launchpad
• Increase $APE utility by allowing community use $APE to vote, and get rewarded for participation
• A percentage of collected $APE will be burned or donated to charity or sent to a multi-sig wallet to be used at a later date.

Specifications

• Ape launchpad will be on the ETH network first unless it is added to another chain.
• ApeCoin and BAYC ecosystem NFT holders will have exclusive access to participate and support projects in NFT sales. Launchpad Participation is based on a tier structure, where tiers are determined by user’s amount of $APE in staking pools and qualifying NFTs users hold (BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, Meebits, Crypto Punks, Otherdeed of otherside).
• Staking pools: users need to stake $APE in a pool for at least 14 days to be eligible for tiers - AIP 21/22
  • Snapshots will be taken 1 day prior to the sale to verify eligibility.
• Detail tier justification:
  • Platinum Tier - 10,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC NFT
  • Gold Tier - 8,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC, MAYC NFT
  • Silver Tier - 6,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC, MAYC, BAKC NFT, Otherdeed of otherside
  • Bronze Tier - 4,000 $APE + 1 of BAYC NFT,MAYC, BAKC NFT, Otherdeed of otherside, Meebits, Cryptopunks NFT
  • Friends Tier - 1,000 $APE + 1 of Forj & Animoca Ecosystem Partners NFTs
  • Public Tier - Any $APE stakers
• Users in a higher tier can enjoy priority sales, higher purchase limits and better allocations of rare NFTs
• The current tiers design is based on the emphasis on $APE and the BAYC NFT ecosystem - with the lower tiers reserved for partner projects or non-ape project NFTs to avoid showing preference for any one collection over another’ or something similar. Tier requirement is subject to change based on a defined ApeCoin DAO voting process.

Steps to Implement

1. Finalization of Economics Model
   We will work with the APE community to determine

• Submission fee from initiator. Range from $1,000 to $5,000 worth of $APE
• % of commission from sales on Ape Launchpad. Range from 10% to 15%.
• % of the commission shared with voters if the proposal gets approved. Range from 0.5% to 1%.
• % of the fund raised in $APE for each project. Range from 30%-100%.

2. Smart Contract deployment & Audit

• Forj Team has successfully launched 16 projects on Forj Launchpad. We will use the same smart contract, adapt it to ApeCoin and send it to the most trusted auditors in the industry, such as Certik.
• We will be fully transparent to the community about the smart contract audit.

3. UI/UX Design+Landing Page

• Have the creative team to design UI/UX with specific Ape elements. Takes 2-3 weeks to draft, amend, and set.
• Will embed the approved AIP21/22 ‘Ape Staking Pool’ into the landing page.

4. Business Development

• The essence of launchpad relies on quality projects and a resilient team.
• Leverage Animoca ecosystem support to screen at least 2 of the best projects as the first kick off of Ape Launchpad
• BD teams need to ensure that there will be at least 2 projects submitting proposals each month.

Timeline

Milestone 1 - Project Approval by Ape community

• Finalize proposals with the community and get approval.
• Securing financing, equipment or resources
• Assembling a project team.
• Define KPI for each department: Business Development, Operation, Tech.

Milestone 2- MVP Launch

• Smart Contract Development and Audit
• Launchpad UI/UX design by product team
• Integrate AIP21/22 ‘Ape Staking Pool’
• Product Approval by Ape Community

Estimated Timeline - 2.5 months

Milestone 3- Project Deal Proposal Submission

• Business development team submit 2 projects proposals
• Proposal submit from project side
• APE community vote for approval

Estimated Timeline - 2 weeks to 1 month

Milestone 4- First Ape Launchpad Sale

• Marketing Activation with major media platforms

Estimated Timeline- 1 month

*Total elapsed time is 3 months

Overall Cost

Total Ecosystem Ask - $480,000 USD in ApeCoin (~126,616 APE)

$300k Development Cost

• UI/UX design - $40k
• Front End - $90k
• Smart Contract Development - $90k
• Contract Deploy & Audit - $80k

$180k Operation Cost - for the first six months ($30k per month)

Team members:

• 1 product manager
• 1 Front End Developer
• 1 designer
• 1 operation associate
• 1 business development
• 1 marketing associate
• website maintenance/snapshot/airdrop

If the Ape Foundation will not be able to provide a subdomain, we will set up its own domain. We secured apeaccelerator.com as a potential domain option. And the cost will be included in the website maintenance.

Commission - 5% on each Ape launchpad sale revenue

Allocation - 25% of total Ape launchpad allocation

[dyorjdr]

That’s a very interesting proposal… just some questions :

1. What about the current mechanics of AIP?

How to differentiate a project that should be submitted via the standard mechanics on Discourse, from a project that should be proposed in the Launchpad?

2. Burning $APE ?

Depending of what is the result of actual AIP-124 : Thank APE (@thrivegiraffe) , wouldn’t it be interesting to imagine that these $APE are given to be then returned in the form of rewards ?

In any case, an AIP that will undoubtedly advance ApeCoin DAO

[Harry]

Resubmission

Thanks for everyone’s support in our last submission!

In this submission, 99% of the content is still the same. Multi-sig responsibility is removed from ApeCoin council.

2022 Recap

We shared our purpose - why we are submitting this AIP

Harry Liu @ Forj

We shared and promoted Yuga IP’s growth for 6 months | 2M+ viewerships

Harry Liu @ Forj

We featured 108 Builders Who Defined 2022 | 500k viewerships

Harry Liu @ Forj

2023 - The Year of IP Commercialization

2023 is the year of IP commercialization. We have seen successful case study of Mutant Hounds, $2.5M in primary sales, and witness the downfall of OG collective shut down on January 3rd without proper funding.

Our goal is to empower Yuga IP to create sustainable income, so we can both accelerate adoption and reward Web3 IP builders.

Over the last 2 weeks we chatted with 20 BAYC communities, from the IP map we created

We have 2 takeaway we want to share with you all
[1] Lore agnostic opens up ecosystem collaboration.
[2] High friction commerce creates emotional connection.

[1] Lore agnostic opens up ecosystem collaboration.

Embed brands, product into part of community building creates win-win for all. In 2022, we have seen the success from 10ktf and Mutant Cartel’s lore collaboration that contributed to Mutant Hounds’s success. Another recent good example is the recent collaboration of Applied Primate, Jenkins The Valet, Goblintown. There is where Web3 culture collide, where cross audience promotion take place - mutual support from each community:

Jenkins The Valet 🍌 Is Exploring Azurbala

[2] High friction commerce creates emotional connection.

Harry Liu @ Forj

The success of The Sandbox, 10ktf and Gucci Vault partnerships gives us a glimpse on this business model

These two lessons shape our Ape Accelerator focus on lore development across the whole BAYC IP space.

On a mission to empower BAYC IP Growth

Been a BAYC holder since May 2021. From being clubhouse advocate to building the first BAYC experience in The Sandbox that drove 46k unique players, to driving mass awareness with monthly Yuga IP ecosystem map, we are on a mission to empower BAYC IP Growth.

Same Mission, Same Goal

We look forward to hearing your feedback in the next 7 days before the resubmission to Special Council for approval!

Best,
Harry

[Harry]

Hi dyorjdr

@dyorjdr

Depending of what is the result of actual AIP-124 : Thank APE (@thrivegiraffe) , wouldn’t it be interesting to imagine that these $APE are given to be then returned in the form of rewards ?

1/ Token and NFT launch project need ecosystem support to achieve network effects gain more benefits from launching in Ape Accelerator and Launchpad. This is a place where we get to advise projects founders and form ecosystem collaboration. What is the last time you get dedicated advice on how to launch properly in Apecoin DAO? The proposal is aimed to fill this gap to empower builders.

Harry Liu @ Forj

@dyorjdr

Depending of what is the result of actual AIP-124 : Thank APE (@thrivegiraffe) , wouldn’t it be interesting to imagine that these $APE are given to be then returned in the form of rewards ?

2/ There are many ways to spent the earned $Apes. Burning is one of them,

• Reinvestment for infrastructure setup to scale this model.

Potential outcome: better workflow to minimize operation cost.

• Hiring new BD members to get web2 IP to partner with these projects.

Potential outcome: ecosystem win for all projects.

• Sponsoring IRL events with projects that would be launching soon.

Potential outcome: Communities get to grow, projects get more awareness.

are all options that would drive awareness of Yuga’s IP and Apecoin ecosystem.

We would listen to the community and provide options and potential outcome for them to make well-informed decisions.

[0xSword]

This is one of my favorite proposal ideas to date. It’s incredibly powerful, because it will encourage projects within the greater BAYC ecosystem to use $APE for things like mints. I also like that it incorporates staked $APE, enabling token holders to participate in Accelerator projects.

@Forj & @Harry your previous Accelerator thread (AIP-141: Ape Accelerator By ApeCoin) had great community feedback & further details. Are there any frequently asked questions that you can address for us here in this thread? What else can you tell us?

[Forj]

Hi dyorjdr,

Thank you for the questions!

1. The current AIP structure sticks around for branding-type projects, and is more generic that covers decisions for ecosystem fund allocation, brand decision, process, information that don’t involve staking $APE or using $APE. While launchpad is aimed to bring the Ape community exclusive access to various web3 native projects before other communities. With the Ape Launchpad, we together as a community can contribute, fund, and empower the growth of the ecosystem.

   The process for submitting projects on AIP and Launchpad will be distinct. AIP submissions are made on the Apecoin forum, while Launchpad requires projects to fill out a form as stated below. Once the initial screening by the Forj Team is complete, project information will be posted on the Launchpad page for the Apecoin community to vote on. The information required by Launchpad is similar to that of AIP, including project details and team information, but also includes additional information about the sale.

2. AIP-124 is very interesting! Regarding the use of $APE collected, we are open to community feedback and may require an AIP to ensure the decisions are fully aligned with the desires of DAO!

Best,
Forj Team

[Harry]

Good one!

There were a few questions asked in last post worth to carry over:

The risk of diluting the quality of launchpad programs is real. We have seen this with the Magic Eden Launchpad, Polkastarter, etc.

Since you as Forj have a financial incentive with every project on Launchpad, how will you prevent this?

Polkastarter, Magic Eden are within Animoca and Forj’s partner network. Polkastarter in bear market has spent more time in education, rather than launching new projects. Forj’s thesis is bear market is quality over quantity.

Summary:
[1] Experienced Team To Vet Projects
[2] Case Study on a Recognized Community Project
[3] Track Record of Commitment on Contributing To BAYC IP Growth
[4] DAO Decision on Projects To Proceed Forward

---

[1] Experienced Team To Vet Projects
Rob, COO of Forj, spent 6 years advising startups at the DMZ, the number 1 ranked University-based incubator in the world. Harry and Rob are mentors at Brinc and responsible for due diligence for Animoca investment team.

Forj conduct DD on the following

• Team: advisable, experienced, resilient, track record of contribution
• Product market fit: product, demo ready to add value to the ecosystem
• Early validation: recognize by community members
• Valuation of the project: fair valuation in bear market
• Value add to apecoin: strong synergy with apecoin, Yuga IP to add strategy value to the ecosystem

Forj’s pass rate is less than 5% for the initial interview stage. Only 3 projects were launched in Forj Launchpad in 2022, but each project was successful.

Launched 20+ projects in the past, with successful launches in the bear market, such as Altava, Phantom Galaxies gave us the experience to filter quality of the projects.

[2] Case Study on a Recognized Community Project
Ape Accelerator is responsible for project coordination. Mutant Cartel ’s 10k Hounds is the example given in the deck. Lior and his team have checked all the boxes above.

Harry Liu @ Forj

This is an example of Brinc Acceleator’s latest cohort where we worked with teams like Smobler Studios to bring Neymar’s BAYC to Open Metaverse. We’ve validated Smobler Studios through collaboration, continued to work with the team.

Harry Liu @ Forj

[3] Track Record of Commitment on Contributing To BAYC IP Growth
Harry and the team have been chatting with project founders in this map weekly. We track consistent updates, provide guidance for the founders, share insights and best practice on Binance Live to inspire builders to utilize Web3 IP to grow their projects.

OG Collective, Mutant Cartel, Kingship, Otherguild, 10ktf, ApeComms are some of the ecosystem projects that can provide reference to Forj team’s dedication to the BAYC ecosystem, the dedication to put BAYC ecosystem growth as #1 priority.

[4] DAO Decision on Projects To Proceed Forward
Finally Forj is NOT the final decision maker, the Apecoin DAO participants are here to vote for which projects they would like to support and participate.

[Harry]

This was another good question:

I think that a criteria should be that launchpad projects MUST integrate APE.

How can we maximize the utility of ApeCoin in Ape Accelerator?

• The participation itself required staked ApeCoin to qualify from platinum to public tiers
• Given the nature of the project it needs fiat to pay for payroll for their team, and we are in the bear market, the concern for project founders is that if $ape drops further, they would not have enough fund to cover run rate.
• This means partial of the received $ape would have to convert into stable coin.
• So let’s take a step back on what increase the usage of ApeCoin in the long term
• We can take a look at The Sandbox token usage here, as they are the current leader in the open metaverse space with over 200k monthly active users in Season 3.

The Sandbox Network Effect

We can see the following token utility

• Governance: the need for ApeCoin to vote on creative decisions in sub community
• In-game assets purchase: to have a better gaming experience
• Access: access exclusive area at a premium
• Service: pay service providers in exchange for services such as land development

What would it look like for ApeCoin?

• More utility attract to more audience to engage
• More audience lead to more token holders
• More token holders lead to higher token demand

There are 2 key factors that would increase token value of ApeCoin

• Driving new adoption of ApeCoin holders
• Creating new scenario to use ApeCoin

So how can this be achieved in a practical scenario?

• Let’s take a look at the scenario shared below for Bored & Hungry
• We use this example because it is widely recognized by Web2 media & Web3 community
• Its extension, Food Universe, is also supported by Snoop Dogg
• This is a post Forj Research team has made earlier this month:

https://twitter.com/harry_forj/status/1588293310338039808

Two paths That Drive ApeCoin Adoption for Bored & Hungry

• B2C: sell burger in $ape
• B2B: spend $ape in ApeCoin ecosystem to grow the business
  
  

What is happening here?

• [1] B2C path: consumer pay $ape to get burgers
• [2] B2B path: Bored & Hungry reinvest earned $ape to grow the business

B2B path breakdown

• Bored & Hungry sells burger and fries in $APE
• They spend $APE on creative guild to build food experiences in Otherside
• This experience is free for exclusively for ApeCoin holders and past burger buyers
• Bored & Hungry has partnered with McCain Foods, Web2 company with 20k+ employees, $6.8B in sales, to create unique Web3 burger experience
• The premium area requires game pass that is paid in $APE
• More users buy $APE to access the VIP experience
• Tens of thousands of McCain Foods fans get to know about Bored & Hungry and BAYC IPs
• $APE gets adoption, demand goes up, value goes up
• Note: above B2B path is an example, it is not realized yet until Ape Accelerator establishment

From Bored & Hungry to IP Driven SMEs

• Bored & Hungry is an iconic example that represent small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
• This model applies to food, beverages, fashion, sports SMEs
• The path where SMEs reinvest their earned $APE to grow is key
• Reinvestment of guilds, tools, platform, artists establish brand equity
• It paves path for new commercial activation in The Otherside
• It attracts more builders to come to the ecosystem to build
• Ultimately it drives mass adoption and usage of ApeCoin

Reinvest in Builders

In Ape Accelerator, we focus more on B2B side, given the nature of treasury holding of $ape from initial sales. Instead of having funded projects to sell $APE to convert into stable coin or ETH, we guide and coordinate ecosystem projects to work together to use $APE for

• Brand building
• Lore development
• Open metaverse development
• Native marketplace development
• Multiverse interoperability

By doing this, we create ApeCoin network effects and project synergy. See slide #11 and #12 from our pitch deck that highlight this relationship.

See our Twitter Thread on the example of Mutant Cartel’s upcoming Mutant Hounds by @lior.eth

https://twitter.com/harry_forj/status/1583269241608089601

As an official publisher and agency at The Sandbox, builder of the first ever official BAYC experience, we recognize content is king. We also recognize investing into diverse builders to build great content lead to audience retention in open metaverse.

In summary,

• Integrate $APE in the Launchpad sale would experience short term fiat conversion.
• Creating a strategic network coordination that use $APE to reinvest in ecosystem service providers is key
• It would lead to long term project growth.
• It would drive long sustainability for ApeCoin.

[Forj]

Hi 0xSword and ApeCoin Community,

In additional to @Harry 's thread above, here are FAQs from the community in the previous proposal:

1. Is there any accounting for longstanding holders who may have been looking for an opportunity like this?

Everyone has a fair opportunity to submit projects on Ape Accelerator. Team experience, product, tokenomics, business model sustainability, and utility are all important criteria for project evaluation. BAYC and MAYC long-standing holders would be considered higher credibility than non-BAYC/MAYC holders. It will be up to the DAO members to conduct due diligence and vote on which project to proceed forward.

2. How to differentiate a project that should be submitted via the standard mechanics on Discourse, from a project that should be proposed in the Launchpad?

The current AIP structure sticks around for branding-type projects, and is more generic that covers decisions for ecosystem fund allocation, brand decision, process, information that don’t involve staking $APE or using $APE. While launchpad is aimed to bring the Ape community exclusive access to various web3 native projects before other communities. With the Ape Launchpad, we together as a community can contribute, fund, and empower the growth of the ecosystem.

3. Why give the initiator the “option” to raise in $Ape or other token,instead of ApeCoin only?

The current plan requires launchpad projects to raise a % of funds both in $APE and stablecoin. This is designed to reduce the selling pressure of $APE after the launchpad sale, and lower market price volatility of $APE. Explanations as follows:

Reducing sale pressure: Projects conduct launchpads to raise funds to support their business operations, and owing to the volatility of $APE many projects will choose to immediately sell the raised $APE in a large volume which will increase further sell pressure. Allowing projects to raise both in stablecoins and $APE (fixed % of both) will allow them to immediately fund their operation through stablecoin and also provide an incentive to hold the % of $APE they received and further integrate into the APE Community. Asking projects to lock tokens/vest $APE is a potential solution but this can detract good quality projects who need liquidity to grow from wanting to participate in the launchpad.

Price volatility: Since the $APE price fluctuates daily, whenever there is a new launchpad sale the amount of $APE required for purchasing each project token/NFT on the sale date (which will have an indicative $ value assigned to it by the project) will vary. This means that if the $APE price drops by 10%, participants suddenly require 10% more $APE to purchase the NFT/Token on the day. Giving users the option of purchasing using $APE or stablecoin on the day will ensure a better user experience, and of course the $APE token entry requirement remains in place either way and it’s this that is the primary driver for healthy tokenomics.

In terms of what percentage of launchpad sales are raised using $APE, it will range from 30%-100% depending on the $APE’s performance which is primarily driven by its utility. As more projects are introduced to the APE ecosystem by Launchpad, $APE will have more use cases, not to mention upcoming launch of Otherside. We are looking to increase the ratio of using $APE to stablecoin, or $APE only for launchpad sales in the future, if $APE becomes the fundamental token with a stable price.

4. Voter Incentive misalignment

Paying voters with revenue share is designed to encourage the community to conduct their own due diligence and select best projects to launch on Ape Accelerator. 100-200 voters will be randomly selected from all voters and share the 0.5% to 1% of commission in $APE token to avoid any complications around currency conversion rates etc. The commission comes from the sale conducted in $APE. This way, we ensure fairness and no voter gets large rewards.

How would the voters be chosen?

We will use snapshot dot org’s function to export a CSV file. A random function on the CSV, plus video would allow us to select these random voters.Voters who receive $APE voting reward can use the token for the next Ape Accelerator sale. In this way, we create a healthy token flywheel to avoid pump-and-dumps. Regarding holding launching projects accountable to avoid rug pulls, we have a due diligence process that scrutinizes projects and makes sure the team is reliable.

5. Usage of $APE profits that goes back to DAO?

Regarding the use of collected $APE, we proposed 3 solutions, including burning, donation to charity, and sending to a separate multi-sig wallet for other use (for example routing into other DAO initiatives). AIP-124 is definitely an interesting option we would to explore. We are open to community feedback and may require an AIP to ensure the decisions are fully aligned with the desires of DAO!

6. Commission Breakdown

Revenue generated from launchpad is commission based on the amount of funds raised by projects through the platform. For reference, the raised amount typically ranges from $100k to $1M. The industry standard commission ranges from 10%-17%.

Ape Accelerator will charge projects a total commission of 15%, with 5% allocate to Forj, ~0.5% goes to voters. The remaining portion after total commission is deducted from operating expenses, operating commissions and voter commissions(excess profit) goes to a multi-sig wallet which can be burned, or routed to other DAO initiatives based on community voting.

7. Projected Income

The sales revenue (total raised amount) per project is $100k-$1M. The BD team is aiming for two projects to be submitted to Ape Accelerator per month, and it is likely we will then have 1-2 projects launched per month. However, much depends on market conditions and community engagement on project votes. Given a commission of 15% charged, we would expect a total commission revenue range of $0k to $300k per month, a net profit of $30k- $160k if self-funded. Please see the revenue projections for different scenarios below. Ape accelerator can breakeven at $47,368 monthly commission revenue.

8. How to cover operating expenses after the initial 6 months?

After the initial 6 months, $30k operating expense is funded by excess profit accumulated in the DAO-controlled wallet instead of Ecosystem Fund or 5% commission. As the financial projection stated below, the DAO excess profit will allow us to cover the Ape Accelerator’s ongoing operation expense. [Public] Ape Accelerator Financials

Under realistic scenario - assume 1 project launch per month, raise $400,000, and Ape Accelerator receive 15% commission($60,000). In the first six months, after paying operation commission and voter commission, $38k profit is sent to the DAO controlled wallet each month, which will be used to fund future operation expenses.

DAO controlled wallet has an ending balance of $228,000 after 6 months that can sustain operation for the next 7 months.

We will continue to update the DAO on progress against this business model, and of course will remain vigilant of any impact from adverse market conditions. After 6 months, depending on the performance and market conditions, in the case of funding shortfalls which is unlikely to happen, we may submit an additional ecosystem funding proposal to the DAO.

Operational expenses are still incurred even when no projects are launched, as the team is constantly looking for high quality projects, incubating these projects through investment of time and resource, and maintaining/ engaging with the Ape Accelerator community. Our team will show monthly progress on project development.

9. What is the “Launchpad Allocation Ask: 25% of total Ape launchpad allocation”, and how it’s part of Overall Cost?

Assuming a project wishes to raise $800,000 in Ape Accelerator, they will need to reserve an additional 25% allocation of the amount raised in Ape Accelerator to be sold via the Forj Launchpad ($200,000). As a primary Launchpad within the Animoca ecosystem, the Forj Launchpad would bring large additional interest and attention to the project. This added investment further fuels the level of funding possible for these projects and in turn increases their likely success rate in strengthening the BAYC ecosystem. Furthermore the additional marketing attention throughout the Animoca ecosystem gained via Forj Launchpad’s own campaigns/audiences will help drive new participants to the Ape Accelerator.

Best,
Forj Team

[Pearson]

Hi @Forj,

Your topic will be automatically closing in less than 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received, or do you wish to extend community discussion for a further 7 days?

If we do not hear from you within 48 hours after your topic closes, your topic will be moved straight to the AIP Draft process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

-Pearson

[ssp1111]

Hey @Harry

Love the YUGA Eco-system map! Well done.

I asked on Grateful’s show over the weekend, why do you need funding from the ApeCoin DAO if you’re integrated in and backed by Animoca Brands?

The second part of my question (which didn’t get asked):

How is the Ape Accelerator any different from what we’re doing here in the DAO – accepting ideas, debating them, helping refine, making sure there’s alignment to our mission (WIP) and the voting and funding?

Seems like this would be a duplication of our efforts in the DAO but it wouldn’t be ApeCoin branded, just ApeCoin sponsored - do I have that wrong?

Also, one of your first steps if funded would be to assemble a team at $30k/month – however one of your selling points is that you already have an:

@Harry

[1] Experienced Team To Vet Projects

Don’t get me wrong, I think having a formal incubator/accelerator within our DAO is needed – it would be great if this was natively integrated into our processes and branding.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Onward
SSP✊🏽

[Harry]

Hi SSP,

@ssp1111

How is the Ape Accelerator any different from what we’re doing here in the DAO – accepting ideas, debating them, helping refine, making sure there’s alignment to our mission (WIP) and the voting and funding?

There are areas Apecoin DAO not covering to support founders yet with

• Equity structure
• Capital fundraising
• Story architecture planning (if it is in public, then it kills the fun)
• Pitch deck
• Strategic partnerships with Gamefi projects
• Exchange listing strategy
• Distribution I.e. Music audience support music project, gaming audience support gaming audience
• Launchpad for self-funded projects support BAYC IP/Otherside who are launching NFT/tokens

Builders encounter predicament like:

• Is this the right time to launch?
• How shall I price my NFTs?
• How could I get target audience onboard?
• What partners shall I be prioritized first?
• The market has shifted, shall I pivot or wait?

These are the repeated questions we have address for projects and company in the past. Being mentors for Brinc https://www.brinc.io/metaverse/, having 1 on 1 conversation with founders at weekly basis, creating network effects for Animoca Brands provide us with relevant advice and expertise to provide lens to solve these puzzles beyond Apecoin DAO.

@ssp1111

Also, one of your first steps if funded would be to assemble a team at $30k/month – however one of your selling points is that you already have an:

• We are volunteering our time to create the IP map for 5 months
• Chatting with founders 1 on 1 over the months, 30 mins per call
• Myself: I spent about 5 meetings per week to chat with Apecoin ecosystem builder
• Last week: ParaSpace, BAYC Japan, BAYC Kada, Ladies of BAYC, Storyverse, BAYC German
• This week: Ape Beverage, Kingship, The Beta Testing Group, Rida, Shilly (Shwaz)
• The goal for these calls is get to know their roadmap and support their goals
• Many said this is their first time BAYC community reach out to support their roadmap
• It took about 5 days to build the IP map monthly
• Instead of spending the time with family, we spent our holidays in Christmas to build top 100 top IP builder. We are grateful to see it got over 500k impression and 100+ builders got recognized.
• I personally have 5 hours of sleep on average to push Apecoin ecosystem while running Forj
• This month’s IP Map is delayed because we got 50% more requests so we spend extra time to curate.
• Given Forj team members have other agenda for Forj and Animoca
• The funding enables us to hire and get dedicated members to support the initiative above
• The funding also enables us to build dedicated launchpad, accelerator to benefit the whole ecosystem

Projects’ Feedback

To name a few, these are the ecosystem projects we have spoken last 3 weeks:

• BAYC DACH
• EliteApesHK
• BAYC Taiwan
• BAYC Korea
• Bored Ape French Club
• Bored Ape Singapore Club
• BAYC DACH
• Chili Group
• Ladies of BAYC
• Mutant Cartel
• Applied Primate
• BendDAO
• IP3
• MachiBigBrother’ / X.xyz
• ParaSpace
• Ladies of BAYC
• LA Apes
• Awsb Club
• Chinese Ape Club
• Yuga Labs team
• BAYC Japan
• BAYC Kada
• Dustland Runner

Each of community group, project face its own unique challenges.

We learned that all of them are aligned that the work we have done in the last 5 months empower the ecosystem growth. And they want to see more of it getting featured, broadcasted and distributed.

Sustainability

The community has seen the impact we have invested our time and effort upfront to grow the ecosystem, which is using our team’s family time and that extra 3-4 hours of sleep. But we know it is not sustainable. Seeing the news about Gordon’s deteriorate heath makes me realize again we need to expand our team so we don’t get burned out.

Every week we got DM that thank us for putting them in the map and share their stories. We wish many more like them who can experience growth through this accelerator. People behind these projects make Apecoin, Yuga Labs ecosystem great. There are fundamental reasons why approved AIP Snap Solutions have lower buying volume than Opensea and Blur. We empower ecosystem projects through education, recognition and distribution.

RichClassDecor is a great example

https://twitter.com/richclasdecor/status/1619320745255124992

Mutant Hound is another great example
https://twitter.com/harry_forj/status/1601479744603951104

It is the recognition like this motivates us to move forward.

From Lior
https://twitter.com/lior_eth/status/1607883284595281921

From Lindsay @ Yuga Labs
https://twitter.com/lindsayezy/status/1607930821289336837

From Xeer
https://twitter.com/Xeer/status/1607935614732881925

Each of us makes contribution will accelerate the space forward.

And our accelerator is built to enable this network effects to happen.

Reference
https://twitter.com/harry_forj/status/1607868959402909699

[mallard]

Hello everyone,

Thank you to @Forj and @Harry for your ideas and the ApeCoin DAO community for the thoughtful discussions. A moderator will be in touch presently to confirm the template of this draft.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. @Forj please see your messages for the next steps.

Best,
-mallard

[Pearson]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Forj has completed editing their AIP Idea to be their AIP Draft.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-Pearson

[Halina.eth]

Thanks for sharing this exciting proposal @Forj and @Harry! I’m curious what milestones and KPI’s you’re expecting upon launch of the Ape Accelerator by ApeCoin-

1. How many projects do you expect to be submitted to the Accelerator per month after launch? You mentioned ensuring a minimum of 2 each month, would the expectation and goal for projects submitted be a higher target, and if so, what do you think is reasonable?
2. How many projects would you aim to launch on Ape Launchpad each month?
3. Do you have any contingencies for if none of the projects are approved through vote? Will there be a minimum of launched projects we can expect to see launched out of the Accelerator in the first 6 months?
4. Going off the Draft UI/UX design, is Forj requesting access/to be featured on the official ApeCoin.com website?
5. The costs outline a $180k Operation cost for the first six months- how do you plan to fund the team after six months? Should we expect any future AIPs from Forj as a follow up to this one?

Thank you and look forward to seeing the results of this proposal!!
-Halina.eth

[Forj]

Hi Halina,

Thank you for the questions!

1. The target submission is 2 projects per month. However, the bear and bull NFT market affects this number. Now we are seeing higher volume of projects looking to launch. i.e. Shilly’s album

2. As you can see in our financial projections, we aimed to launch 1 project per month. The Ape launchpad focuses on high quality projects that can bring return to the community, instead of quantities. Projects who demonstrate strengths, ie. hit PMF (product market fit) will be more likely recognized by the community and sent over for launch. For example, Pixels who has 1M monthly traffic will be a great project to launch. We are advising them to integrate BAYC IP to the game.

3. We are chatting with a lot of projects every week.Our team just chatted with Ape Water and Storyverse who want to launch. Last year Forj launched 3 projects, all of them were successful. Again, Quality > quantity. At the end of the day, participants and builders benefit from a quality launch.

4. Official recognition means a lot. If feasible, we prefer to be featured on the ApeCoin website as it increases credibility and participation rate for ecosystem projects. The other alternative is to set up its own domain. We secured apeacceleator.com as a potential domain option.

5. The goal is to become self-sustaining as outlined on the financial spreadsheet. After the initial 6 months, the DAO excess profit accumulated in the first 6months will allow us to cover the Ape Accelerator’s ongoing operation expense.
   The success of Ape Accelerator is defined by ROI, the success of launched projects, and the traction it brings to the DAO, ApeCoin, BAYC IP. Following these parameters, we may submit AIPs in the future to make adjustments accordingly.

We appreciate your feedback!

Best,
Forj Team

[river]

Hi ApeCoin Community,

@Forj has updated their proposal. You can check these changes by clicking the pencil icon found on the top right of the proposal.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments

Thanks,

river

[xMoody]

This is really interesting. I think this could be a good way to further incentivize the growth of the already growing yuga ecosystem. Wish you the best of luck!