Title: DAO Stickers and Merch Proposal

Author: Thrift#9587

Date: 5/9//21

SUMMARY

This proposal is for Bankless to create an online store where members can purchase ‘swag’ such as stickers, clothing, etc. Pricing will be very affordable, and all the proceeds that are made will be put into the treasury. Shopify will be used to create the website as they have great plug-in extensions for the POD software(s) we would use as well as significant shipping discounts. Merchandise may also be made available for sale to the general public if the DAO decides this is a viable option to increase funding for the treasury. The majority of the merchandise will be printed on demand (POD), therefore not requiring a large upfront capital investment as well as requiring minimal storage for the products. I am proposing to invest up to 4 ETH worth of BANK tokens to pay for all of the hosting, storage, design, and time the developers would spend getting the website up to speed/maintaining it. A small portion of these funds may also be used for promotional opportunities should the DAO decide to sell merch to the general public (in an effort to increase visibility and ultimately share price of BANK).

BACKGROUND

I am proposing this because I have been running my own vintage clothing resale company for the last 2.5 years where I have sourced, photographed, listed, and shipped over 1,000 items during that period. Additionally, I have been creating websites as a source of income for the past 5 years. I am well versed in the entire supply chain process from procurement to fulfillment and have great relationships with graphic designers to have cool custom merch made.

MOTIVATION

By having merch for the DAO, it will create more general awareness for the DAO, which in turn should translate to more DAO members. By increasing the number of DAO members, not only will there be more brilliant minds in the room to help run all of the DAO functions, but also the price of the token should increase as people want to buy the token, but not as many people want to sell the token. Every great brand out there has cool clothing for it, and BANK should be no exception.

SPECIFICATION

Phase 1: Foundation (2-4 weeks)

This phase would include purchasing the domain name and other relevant IP, sourcing graphic designers for the merchandise designs, and creating all relevant accounts needed for logins. I will be able to perform these tasks by myself to keep everything centralized and efficient. I would invite anyone to recommend any graphic designers they have used in the past (bonus if they accept crypto as a payment).

Phase 2: Design (2-4 weeks)

This phase would include designing the website, designing the merchandise, and then polling DAO members on the finalized designs before printing. I will be able to complete the website design phase myself, however I will reach out to the BANK network to assist should there be any features we desire that are outside of the Shopify base features.

Phase 3: Launch (1-2 weeks)

This phase includes opening up the website for purchasing, shipping the purchased goods, and performing quality control. I will be able to complete this phase myself, however I will depend on the DAO members to report any issues with the goods so we can figure out where in the supply chain the fault is happening. By utilizing the Print on Demand software, orders will be processed as automatically as possible, reducing the amount of labor time (and cost) needed.

Phase 4: Management (ongoing)

This phase is on-going and includes website maintenance, updating products, sourcing new designs for merchandise. I will be able to handle this on my own, as new merchandise will all drop at the same time (season 1, season 2, etc). I will also manage all of the contacts with the graphic designers via a database.

NEXT STEPS

Immediately following the approval of this Proposal, I will begin with Phase 1 (above) and follow the plan mapped out. The website will be up and running within 4-8 weeks depending on how quickly we can source high quality graphic designs for the merch.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I am proposing Bankless launches its own merchandise in order to increase brand awareness, and subsequently increase the token value by encouraging new BANK entrants. In order to do this, I will be designing a website that centralizes all of the merchandise, as well as working with graphic designers to get high quality designs. Additionally, I will also be managing the on-going requirements for the website such as new product drops, outdated copy, etc.. The total cost to get this up and running as well as maintained will be less than 4 ETH.

POLL

For:

By voting ‘FOR’, you are voting for the DAO to approve the proposal and begin the process to selling merch.

Against:

By voting ‘AGAINST’, you are voting for the DAO to NOT approve the proposal and not to sell merch.

AUTHOR BACKGROUND

Hello, I’m Alex Comfortes, a 28-year-old living in Seattle, WA. I have been an entrepreneur my entire life and have started/sold a few small digital businesses. Currently, I am a co-founder at Peeka, where children’s books come to life in VR. I have been running a vintage clothing resale business (My Thrift Deal) for the past 2.5 years where I do everything from sourcing to selling to shipping products. I have been featured by Snapchat for my cooking channel (The Spec Chef), and all of these ventures have given me a strong foundation to perform the required tasks for this proposal. I’ve gathered a combined 50,000+ followers across my various ventures and it has always been one-man teams until Peeka. This has forced me to wear many hats from Design to Budgeting to Marketing to Fulfillment, which uniquely qualifies me to be able to handle this proposal.