Rug Pull Index in February 2022

OceanDAO Round 14
#1

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Name of Project: Rug Pull Index

Proposal in one sentence:

"Rug Pull Index is an infrastructure provider that helps Ocean Protocol users to invest in data safely. "

Description of the project and what problem is it solving:

Rug Pull Index helps investors to make informed decisions about data trading. Through our market infrastructure, we monitor the entire on-chain data marketplace and provide reliable insights into its health.

Grant Deliverables:

NOTE: Since this round, we’re not retroactively funded anymore. Here’s what we want to do in February 2022:

  • [ ] Keep the website and API online. Fix potential bugs.
  • [ ] Consolidate our product offering such that we optimize for monthly reoccurring revenue.

In case you’re wondering: Yes, we changed our strategy.

We’re now trying to minimize the reliance on OceanDAO income. And, we’re cutting down on product offerings that the community doesn’t deem profitable or useful.

We’ve done so recently by conducting an experiment on our data token listing page. We’ll continue to pursue testing viability to rationalize/consolidate the project fully.

In a few months, we want to self-sustain our operations. Or we want to fail/pivot.

In terms of adding value to Ocean and its ecosystem, we see our strategy as the only long-term viable path.

Thanks for your support!

Which category best describes your project? Pick one.

  • Build / improve applications or integrations to Ocean

Are you applying for an Earmark?

  • [x] General

What is the final product?

Are We Driving Ocean Usage?

  • We found that our website visitors correlate positively by 0.4 with the visitors of the Ocean Marketplace [1].
  • We concluded that data sets prominently displayed on RPI’s website attracted 402,904.72 EUR more in market cap than an imaginary control-variable website we created for benchmarking [2].
  • We’re sending hundreds of users to the Ocean Marketplace on a monthly basis [3].

Are We Succeeding?

  • We’ve been granted the most OceanDAO rounds.
  • We’re trailblazing the “OceanDAO project path” for others to follow.
  • We’ve successfully shipped a functioning product since November 13, 2020 [4].

Is Our Community Active?

Yes, our community is alive and well.

  • We have a Discord with 75 members.
  • We have had many visitors to our website from around the world for 13 months.
  • We have one paying API user (DataWhale).

Are We Adding Value to Ocean?

  • We’ve been creating tons of trust around speculating and consuming data sets on the Ocean Marketplace.
  • We’re actively participating in the Ocean Protocol developer (albeit not always neutrally :D).
  • We’ve helped co-launch the OceanDAO and built it into what it is today.
  • We’re the technological infrastructure layer for prolific OceanDAO projects like DataWhale’s ALGA.
  • We’re constructively riffing on the Ocean Protocol Vision [5].

Are We Aligned with Ocean Mission & Vision

Through being active bloggers and engaged in the Ocean Community, it should be evident that we’re largely aligned with the Ocean Protocol’s Mission and Vision. For affirmation, kindly read our blog or handbook to understand our values.

Check out our podcast interview with Scott from the Oceanmissions to understand how closely aligned we are with the OP mission.

Funding Requested:

Proposal Wallet Address:

0x005241438cAF3eaCb05bB6543151f7AF894C5B58

Have you previously received an OceanDAO Grant?

Team Website:

rugpullindex.com

Discord Handle:

TimDaub#7709

Twitter Handle:

https://twitter.com/timdaub

Project lead full name:

Tim Daubenschütz

Project lead email:

tim@daubenschuetz.de

Country of Residence:

Germany

Core team

1 Like
#2

Hi @TimDaub, I just wanted to respond and let you know that your proposal has been registered and accepted into R14.

All the best.

1 Like
#3

mPowered fully supports the work that RPI have done and continually do. When V4 comes out, RPI will become more important and people will understand how important this project is.

For those who are new to Ocean, RPI reminds me of Ice Cube’s seminal song…Check Yo Self

Good luck this round

mPowered

2 Likes
#4

Hello @TimDaub

Welcome back to the Ocean DAO voting rounds & I also commend you for regularly engaging with Ocean DAO.

Aside from the aforementioned info, I would also like to provide further feedback for the benefit of the community understanding.

  • Usage of Ocean & Viability of the project:

As a leading project addressing the important logistic of keeping crypto safe, it certainly shows that your project aims to add higher level of traction value towards Ocean & thanks again for that. You also have the track record to complete projects successfully.

  • Community activeness & Contribution to the ecosystem:

As a recurring project and an active member in the community, you have shown sufficient activeness as part of the Ocean DAO ecosystem. We also notice that you have provided valuable feedback to other projects in the ecosystem as well.

On behalf of PG-WG, we wish you the best for the upcoming DAO voting round and looking forward to hear feedback on our Discord channel.

Cheers

Prakash | Project Guiding WG | Discord

prk-sig-3
^ Want a cool Sigil like this for yourself? Join the PG-WG Discord

#5

Hi @drprk, I appreciate your feedback, and I’m grateful that RPI is still seen as a component of the data economy’s stack.

Independent of your feedback, I’d like to mention that I don’t take it for granted to receive funding and positive feedback this round, as, within the last few months, we’ve shifted strategies significantly.

  • Our proposals are shorter and less detailed
  • Our main product is now pay-walled
  • We’re less active in the community
  • We’re asking for smaller amounts of funding
  • We’re seeking a new direction for the entire project

What has been particularly interesting about not taking OceanDAO funding for granted is that we’re noticing how many of our product offerings are not valuable enough such people call us out for “shutting up and taking their money.”

Actually, only one product offering has been like that: It’s the historical price and liquidity API that’s being used by the @realdatawhale ALGA team. We’ve had 900 USDC income this month.

For me, January has been an eye-opening and humbling month as I had believed RPI’s other products would fare similarly well. But so far, with the data economy’s age still in its infancy, other offerings like the inequality ranking don’t share this dynamic (yet?).

It’s also good because testing for these assumptions means further information and can help progress.

With the $5000 requested in this round, I want to spend them on further commercializing RPI through pursuing mostly what people are willing to pay for today. And actually, I’m clueless about what else that might be.

So in case, a reader has a serious business inquiry about infrastructure services they and others may want, I’d be more than pleased to hear and help build those.

Best,
Tim

2 Likes
#6

I agree that for a project that is very technical and a lot difficult for people to come to terms with but do understand the macros, you have been very precise your proposals and pleas with a high level of clarity and transparency.

This is something motivating to hear as well, that would be useful for a lot of similar working projects & squads to think of and we would certainly like to hear more on the upcoming roadmap plans.

I agree, that you have been very responsive with regards to your project despite the popular opinion that you feel that is bestowed. Would certainly recommend people to visit RPI Discord to have more candid interactions with you!

Cheers,

Cheers

Prakash | Project Guiding WG | Discord

prk-sig-3

1 Like
#7

Strong work Tim really look forward to utilizing this

2 Likes
#8

Hi Tim,

It’s unfortunate that other RPI projects have not received traction, but it’s great to hear that the liquidty API is being utilized and generating revenue. I really value your approach to focusing on projects that are leading to traction, and doubling down on them.

I also wanted to comment and share that I love, and look up to all the technical work the RPI community is generating, and am very excited to see what commercial leads are identified as a result of your new approach. As an example, I commend your reduced engagement with OceanDAO as a means to increase focus and traction.

I’m very confident in the long-term trajectory of RPI and am very happy to support it during R14.

3 Likes
#9

OceanDAO Project Standing R14

@idiom-bytes, please mark the project standing’s deliverables as complete.

Following is a text of what I’ve done:

  • [x] Keep the website and API online. Fix potential bugs.
  • [x] Consolidate our product offering such that we optimize for monthly reoccurring revenue.

Details:

  • Experimented with user retention and willingness to pay for the RPI service. Summarized my findings in a blog post.
  • Kept the website online and fixed all bugs; specifically relevant as at the end of February, @DataWhale launched ALGA with RPI’s API being used in the backend to generate the price charts.
  • Wrote and published a feature blog post with DATALATTE.
  • Added some “delighters” to improve the “lovability” of the product.
  • Continued to involve myself in the Radical Exchange community to further research Harberger taxes and quadratic voting. Published many blog posts to improve my brand (see https://timdaub.github.io).
  • With gained knowledge from research, continued to improve libharberger Solidity library.
  • Wrote a conclusive blog post on how to better seek monetization with RPI through implementing Harberger taxation.
1 Like
#10

Done, everything is in order. Thank you @TimDaub!