The Kongcubator Season 1: Tip-off
Supporting the Rumble Kong League ecosystem through the power of community-funding
Web3 takes the Spotlight
As web3 technology continues to propagate through various industries and media outlets, it’s key to remember what is at the heart of all of it. The community. Ever since we began work on the RKL vision, we’ve been looking for the ideal way to support and spotlight our incredibly talented community, a group of Kong Strong individuals who help us to build better each and every day. So, let’s talk Kongcubator!
In partnership with Penny Jar Capital, a few months ago we unveiled our plans for a first-of-its-kind initiative, The Kongcubator. At its core, The Kongcubator is an investment fund that will act as an accelerator for projects within and around the RKL ecosystem. Think of it as Shark Tank meets Y Combinator meets a hackathon with a web3 ethos!
For those of you who don’t know, Penny Jar Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm anchored by Stephen Curry, investing in founders who challenge the status quo and turn ideas into category-leading businesses.
The Penny Jar team has been deeply connected to RKL and the community since our mint last summer, holding over 20 Kongs, planning and managing our first merch drop, building a club, and a whole lot more behind the scenes.
What’s the Goal?
We want to help the community to build with us, not just on our foundations, but create their own products, businesses, and native projects that can thrive in the web3 space with proper resource power. Projects that win the support of The Kongcubator will receive funding, advisory support, and an expansive network to leverage as they grow.
In the early days of the Kongcubator’s existence, we believe that it is crucial to showcase a prime example of what success can look like when building for the RKL ecosystem and beyond. Our goal is to support those who are building alongside us, assist in the development of their ideas, allow talented community members to get more deeply involved, and provide additional backing where needed.
With that being said, we are excited to formally tip-off SEASON 1 of The Kongcubator!
The Kongcubator: Season 1
Below are all the details you need to know.
TLDR;
There are two methods of funding. The first is milestone-based funding during the build phase. The second is the grand “overall winner” prize at the end of Season 1.
The initial Season 1 prize has doubled from $15k to $30k given the slight delay
~4.5 Month-long Season time to allow meaningful projects to be built and brought to life
Applications open November 1st, 2022, and close November 30th, 2022. The RKL and Penny Jar teams will review and accept participants into the program initially.
Build Phase: December 7th, 2022 —> February 28th, 2023
Updates from each selected project every 2 weeks throughout the build period
4 Major milestones within each project are to be met to unlock each funding tranche
Kongcubator Live Show with community voting: March 1st —> March 8th
Special guest appearance
Exact show date within said week TBA
Overview
We spent a ton of time with the Penny Jar team exploring the best possible framework for The Kongcubator in order to directly benefit the community, maximize participation, and bring the entire ecosystem net value.
Together we came up with a blend of community idea applications, an RKL team-created public “bounty board” for pre-selected ideas, and an engaging show portion for an overall winner and project bonuses. We think this blends the best of all worlds into one supportive accelerator. It is broken down as follows optimizing for 5-10 (potentially more based on demand and budget) initial compelling projects to be accepted:
1) 📋 Project Board
A public project board will be kept with project/product ideas defined by the RKL team to help stir your creativity and apply. Please consider these to be rough ideas/topics/or areas that we find interesting to explore and kick-start your fully fleshed-out project around.
These are not meant to be fully drawn-out concepts, but rather initial starting points for something you are able to run with and create off of! We will also add and update new or exciting concepts we come across based on community feedback.
Consider these ideas to be projects that could benefit the RKL ecosystem that our internal team may have on our further roadmap, but not immediate bandwidth to build. This will allow talented individuals to get involved easier with a clear-cut project selected. IE: Kongstats tool is a great example of this.
2) 📄 Applications
Builders can choose either to apply to build a project on the board or apply to build a self-defined project. After they apply, we will greenlight them to build (further outlined later on).
This opens up any and all possibilities for the community. Have an interesting product you want to bring to market? Maybe a software tool? Maybe a piece of content? Maybe an idea to leverage your IP in a unique way?
Shoot for the moon, create a compelling overview, budget needed, and submit for review by the judges to gain immediate resources to build it!
3)💰 Fees
All projects will have 3 major deliverables. Upon the “green lighting” of an idea not on a bounty board, the RKL team will work to define and approve a grant budget needed.
We will give 1/4 of the base grant up-front and 1/4 upon completion of each deliverable/milestone.
4)➕ The Live Show and Bonuses
Upon the completion of the projects, the RKL will host an engaging shark tank style “show” where the projects selected for Season 1 will pitch the special guests and community!
Together we will decide which teams to give additional bonus compensation to and vote on the overall winner of Season 1!
Project Application Process
Below is the process explained above, laid out visually.
Who is judging?
Initial Applications
1 - Penny Jar Capital Team (1 seat)
2 - RKL Team (2 seats)
3 - Community (2 rotating seats consisting of community members, celeb/athlete guests, other founders we know in the space from notable large brands, companies, & web3 projects)
Kongcubator Live Show Portion
1 - Live Community Voting will determine overall winners
2- Penny Jar Capital Team (1 seat)
3 - RKL Team (2 seats)
4 - Community (2 rotating seats consisting of community members, celeb/athlete guests, other founders we know in the space from notable large brands, companies, & web3 projects)
What are the prizes?
We’ve pledged $100k USD to The Kongcubator initiative broken into seasons over the next year, which can easily scale up depending on the quality of applications, Season 1 learnings/adjustments, and demand.
Given the slight delay as we finalized the process, we are doubling down on Season 1 rewards and upping our initially planned $15k prize pool to $30k! We will also provide additional bonus funding for the show portion.
As mentioned above, each submitted project may request different budget ranges. We will work with the said project to define the budget needed and approve it on a per-case basis. IE: Someone may submit a low-lift awesome concept that needs $3k, and someone else may submit a full product build-out that needs $10k.
Again, our Season 1 approach is to plan for 5-10 compelling projects to maximize quality and engagement. This may be adjusted based on applications, and even modified as Seasons progress.
Important Dates
Applications Open: November 1st, 2022
Applications Close: November 30th, 2022
Judges will review all submissions and “green light” ideas as well as select the best pitched for bounty-board ideas by: December 7th, 2022
Build Period for Projects: December 7th, 2022 —> February 28th, 2023
Live-Show: March 1st —> March 8th
Special guest appearance
Exact show date within said week TBA
How do I apply?
Applications will OFFICIALLY open November 1st, 2022 and close on November 30th, 2022. That makes for 1 month to create the best idea, pitch, or select an idea you think you can handle from the bounty board.
When ready, fill out the application! Make sure to include a fully drawn-out pitch in your application, think of it like pitching on shark-tank. Please also be sure to include:
Details about yourself
Detailed overview, spec, and reasoning of your project
Why it will help the RKL ecosystem and why it should be funded
Requested exact grant or rough range budget, broken down in detail
Make sure to include images, videos, links, and/or other supporting documentation to best illustrate what you’re building and the progress you’ve made thus far.
Head over to https://www.rumblekongleague.com/kongcubator and apply for the Kongcubator on Tuesday, November 1st!
We look forward to reviewing your submissions!
#WEAREKONG
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