NEM Foundation - Funding Proposal 2019

[Inside_NEM]

Thanks Lionheart. You’ve been with us since the beginning and I am thankful for that. The feedback above — specifically the constructive feedback — is being discussed with new Council. We are agile and will pivot accordingly.

[Inside_NEM]

The 2018 Treasurer gave a 2 month notice before he left. The 2018 Council was a bit slow in getting new co-signer as his replacement and didn’t realize the bank process for new one would take so long. I wish we had had 2 banks at least. That was actually proposed by 2018 Council and… denied by other 2018 Council. The financial controller sent MANY messages to a council asking for guidance and proactive steps to be taken. She’s actually what was keeping the Foundation together. IMHO, what hurt the Foundation the most was politics and lack of policies. By the time Kristof took over, his power was limited as Interim President. I think the community would understand if they could see HOW the former 2018 Council had voted. The elections give you a pretty good idea though.

[atcalypso]

DoS attacks on Alex wont clarify underlining problems. Money was sucked out from the (nem) system long ago,but when I mentioned that last year I got only smart ass British style reply “bollocks” with gibberish reply.
Anyway one has to focus on future, cut personnel, work on marketing and restructure core dev
team if necessary, because single man show (aka Vitalik Buterin) is not sustainable on the long run.

[DaveH]

We have options here already through Ventures and are signing agreements right now. Feel free to shout when you get to needing them, same for the nem labs proposal.

[Kimble_Ngo]

Seems like a good working document. Good work from the new team on this.
There are some details and specifics that could be clarified or reviewed, but the direction looks solid and much better then previous.

Some general comments:

1. Treasury management should be much more significant.

   • In traditional businesses where Treasury based on traditional Fiat can make and break a business (and is already quite tough), we need a very strong look into this. Utilizing crypto is extremely complicated and fickle, there should be points/research into areas of Hedging and Investments.

2. Salary / budgets of personnel

   • Some roles have a very high-salary while others significantly less
   • Questionable rate on Legal retainer (seems unnecessarily high, so do re-consider service needs and their appropriate rates. There are plenty of strong corp lawyers in Singapore we can approach)
   • Might be wiser to look at some roles in a more cost-effective locations (example HR manager, lead website dev, etc)

3. Higher focus on Revenue Generations

   • I would suggest more focus on this area (more dedicated staff)
     • R&D Team (or something similar) to develop effective ways to generate more income

4. Im sure more thoughts will come after this stews for a few days

[NEMSecretariatOffice]

I can see a few ways in which NEM can bring in revenue. As mentioned in the proposal, NEM already has a few projects that have agreed to retained NEM as consultants (paid). There are a few more deals in the pipeline. So revenue streams can be:

1. Consulting
2. Business Intelligence (many traditional corporates are keen to get regular advise and news updates from a blockchain insider and I have received a lot of interest from even government players on this)
3. Revenue sharing (referrals to partners etc)

Of course, there could be other streams as well such as paid developer training or technical audits.

At the same time, these revenue generating streams need to be examined. We need to ask how it will contribute to NEM’s ecosystem. For instance, if business intelligence services can bring in more big multinationals and get them to build on NEM. We need to be mindful of the impact of say, a consulting service on the larger goals of NEM Foundation- Catapult, Sustainability, Governance.

Being revenue driven certainly will help Sustainability, but it will be all the better if the activities done by Revenue can also help Catapult (say if corporate partners can give feedback on their business needs for Catapult) or Governance (if a more robust ecosystem of professionals can provide more checks and balances to the system).

This really will be the focus for new structure, more focus on fundamentals like these - thanks @jazzthatway

1. Can we further reduce the number of staff/ verticals to cut costs and increase efficiency?
2. If certain roles are very complementary and have overlap, why not combine them?
3. I think another concern is that having so many verticals will encourage bloat in the future- leading to an expansion in the long term that could bring us back to square one.

Thank you @Pedro_Gutierrez for your answer clarifying the difference between marketing and business development. The thrust behind your answer I believe is subject expertise- we want specialised talent to really focus on their job and not be juggling 3 different things to maximise efficiency.

Personally I think this is a reasonable answer. However, how will we prevent bloat in the long term? Overlap of functions? Perhaps some of the confusion on my part arises from some degree of vagueness in what exactly the difference is between BD and Marketing/ CFO and Revenue.

Will take this to account when we meet for council meeting in a few hours. Thanks @okj

These are not the same guys though. I mean, we voted for change last election and now all this dirt is being dug up and @Inside_NEM is being wayyyy more transparent, communicative, and responsive than the previous council ever was. In the space of a month, the amount of times I’ve seen them respond in telegram or the forum is 10 times better than previously, especially @jason.lee

Thanks, we are trying to be more responsive as a team now.

I bought XEM when it was above a dollar…so I’m hurting and angry it’s come to this. But denying the new council a chance to bring the change we voted them in for…I’m willing to give it a go- it’s better than nothing.

I know the pain too… thanks for staying on with the community and getting through this together with all of us, means a lot.

However, before going into this, acknowledge that moving from a regional setup where each had their own autonomy toward a global structure, the new team will have a much bigger portfolio under their purview. Couple the significant reduction of total salaries vs. Increase of workload and accountability for each of the new team set against strict and transparent KPIs, this seems fair.

Thanks, @lmkh, will also take your suggestion to account.

RocketShoes wouldn’t be where we are now without the support of the NEM community… And much support Jason Lee!

I’m still running nem.education - with a new module on IOT being developed this school term!

Looking forward to working with the NEM community in 2019!

Thanks @Kieran_Nolan, always appreciate your support!

given that one of the goals of this propposal is to advance the development of catapult, how does it actually achieve this? from looking at the numbers I don’t see a clear focus on tech development itself

In the development for Catapult, there will need to be localised trainings (likely most will be digital) that can be understood in all levels (enterprise, government, individuals, startups etc), guides and manuals along with partnerships with other parties with the distribution and scale. This all supports to the development of Catapult.

A lot of the work will come also after Catapult is launched, like the commercialization, localisation to various languages, projects to manage etc. We are taking a revenue-driven approach through some sort of consulting, advisory (managed by the Chief Revneue Officer) for NEM Foundation to continue to provide support for version updates and further applications to be build on Catapult.

It would be very helpful if all the parties involved put together a post outlining exactly where catapult stands right now, what’s left to do and who they need to do it.

They should have some clues about the development process and how far it’s from being launched in 2019. For me it sounds like the Catapult can’t be launched in 2019 or maybe not even in 2020

Thanks for the input, I believe this will be the priority what we have gone through the process for this - a roadmap with clear targets and timelines after joint discussions with all contributors to Catapult.

Sorry, for this beginner question, but where can I vote on this proposal?

There will be details on the vote before15 February 12:00PM CST. Thanks @ontopicplease

[jason.lee]

I sincerely hope the core dev, Venture, Community and Foundation have an aligned goal, work together to fulfill all the promises that were made, strive for excellence and productivity to create the best for NEM and development for Catapult.
It’s understandable people will have different opinions and perspective in terms of what is best, especially when we have a very wide spread, global and diversed community, however in this fast pace environment we need to move quickly and make sacrifices in order to generate the most ideal outcome. I trust this new centralized structure will be more efficient and sustainable for the foundation.
It’s never easy in times of improvement, and there will be more challenges along the way. We as believers and members of NEM need to support and trust our leaders decisions. Thank you EXCO and councils for all the hardwork.

Thanks @missflora, appreciate all you do with the community in Taiwan as well!

[Trikar_Blockchain]

Well. Any suggestion to get the price up? Or just coming for trolling with no value proposition or useful feedback?

[Trikar_Blockchain]

After reading some comments here and in telegram I want to clarify some things:

1. Is not true that NF representatives wasted time and money doing Marketing and youtube videos. There was only 2 people doing videos for NF, Alexandra for Inside NEM and Alexis Trujillo for Latinem.
   I have to say the NEM Latam videos (academia) and Inside Nem videos (Alex) are awesome and useful. Super professional, much better that other companies with nothing.

2. We have to separate XEM from NEM. XEM price was down because the Coincheck hack, probably the Petro, and because the whole market was bearish. Period. Without those things, XEM probably wouls stay in the top ten and better price.

3. One of the main problems during last year was that after Lon left, Kristof could not act as the a president. He has no power and the council were blocked with 2 different visions. (Stephen Chia strategy and Kristof (europe) one). Because of that there was no global strategy and no leadership.

4. Another problem was the communication. Internal was a mess and outside I think we could do better with PR and global events. Consensus was not positive. ( I did not assist, I was In South Korea in another conference doing my job). But after having the biggest pavillon the outcome was very little.

5. We failed attending some conferences and not attending another ones.

6. Everybody was working and doing partnerships and MOU but then there was not a product manager, a CTO or a manager to track this projects. There was not enought trainners and devs to help. The technical info was not good. The myth that NEM is super easy and Ethereum/solidity was difficult did not help. Eth dev community is higher than NEM. Period. I talked with many devs and were lost and disappointing with the NEM website and the tech documentation.

7. We had so many employees. Some regions has too much people, other too little but in general the outcome was not the best.
   So IMO is not the marketing the issue. NO LEADERSHIP, NO GLOBAL STRATEGY, NO CONTROL, NO COMMUNICATION.

Saying that I have to admit that I made mistakes and things wrong. Everyday trying to learn and be a better person. I wish that some people in Foundation were more humble and has less ego.

Anyway Luckily now we have Alex and new council that are working hard to release this proposal. I’m happy that the community is involve on this, giving feedback and ideas. As I said, NF is the representation of the community. Together we can put NEM in the top.
If NF is no longer exist I have to say that I don’t think NEM Ventures , core devs or even the new nem LAbs can commercialize NEM and Catapult by themselves and therefore help the XEM price.
I will vote YES.
Soon I will share my thoughts about new proposal.

[tresto]

Monthly payroll is too high even in the 2019 plan.

According to the foundation 's Bounty system, the evaluation of Japanese articles I have published was $ 5 per article.

[jason.lee]

Hi @Kimble_Ngo, thanks for your feedback, just responding to some of your comments:

Treasury management should be much more significant.

• In traditional businesses where Treasury based on traditional Fiat can make and break a business (and is already quite tough), we need a very strong look into this. Utilizing crypto is extremely complicated and fickle, there should be points/research into areas of Hedging and Investments.

Yes, we have discussed with the council about all options and treasury management will be key in making sure that should the funding be approved, we managed the XEM transparently and all FIAT amount is used as needed especially during this market conditions. It will be an ongoing process.

Salary / budgets of personnel

• Some roles have a very high-salary while others significantly less
• Questionable rate on Legal retainer (seems unnecessarily high, so do re-consider service needs and their appropriate rates. There are plenty of strong corp lawyers in Singapore we can approach)
• Might be wiser to look at some roles in a more cost-effective locations (example HR manager, lead website dev, etc)

There will be many factors - cost-effectiveness, hiring based on merit, looking at diversity in locations etc.

As for the Singapore legal retainer, that has been look at a few options already and the cost and standards in the industry have been relatively high.

Higher focus on Revenue Generations

• I would suggest more focus on this area (more dedicated staff)
  • R&D Team (or something similar) to develop effective ways to generate more income

Hence, the need to develop specific Chief Revenue Officer role rather than combining roles with BD, marketing etc. there should be a strong focus on revenue generation indeed.

[Shingen_Takeda]

First of all, Thank you for Exco & Councilors, detailed materials.
I can see that a huge amount of time was spent just by looking at the first glance.

Please let me ask you 4 questions.

1. Is it possible to tell us more details? 2018 and 2019.(Proposal deck 43 page “Why Is Our Budget Better?”)
   · Number of people
   · Their position
   · Number of people by position
   · Pay by position
   I do not know about other countries, But NEM Japan seems to be an unusually high salary despite having little success. (2018) This is flaming on Twitter now.

2. Do you have a personnel evaluation system for Exco & Councilors? If not, how do you control motivation to achievement?

3. Does the Exco & Councilors concurrently take on the CXX? I am concerned that the person concurrently serving as a CXX with a Exco & Councilors trying to obtain funds illegally .( I know that you are about to create a new process. )

4. Is it possible for the community to hear the opinion of this proposal from core-devs?

[LauraBKK]

Hi ExCo and Council and the community.

I want to start out with a big thank you as looking at this, and the process that went into it, this really is a phenomenal amount of work in such a short amount of time. Just the video alone took a lot of editing and time (over 20,000 words because I transcribed it).
I feel it may be a bit unfair for me to comment objectively on the proposal as a ‘former’ NF team member, of course the staff are uneasy and concerned for their futures.
Do I think this is the correct way forward? Yes. Focusing on Catapult and putting out the products the market wants, the community wants is the way to go. Even if it means the end of my journey with the Foundation, this is the right decision, and I support this 100%.
For some other critiques from community members about months funding set against milestones I really think that won’t work as top talent is not going to work on a monthly contract basis, that’s not the way to recruit nor retain the people you need to get the products out in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

• I would be interested to know which of the verticals you will get up and running first and which you will be bringing online later, and is there an approximate timeline for that?

• I would also like to know, if a community member came to you with a product already finished, would you accept it, (no payment required).

• With the BRI partnership, what is the most optimal way to leverage that for future revenue generation or market analysis?

Really, best of luck moving forward, I will be voting yes on the proposal, and I will encourage all of our Thailand community members to read the proposal carefully and vote accordingly.

Thanks again for all the work.
L

[Investor100293]

I love the details and transparency. A big thank you for everyone involved.

I see a focus to deliver catapult and associated technicals which I think is great.

I’m interested to know more details for the business development and marketing areas. As stated, to see more enterprise adoption and more blockchain transactions, what are the plans for accomplishing these two from a business development and marketing mindset.

• What are the barriers here?
• What are the biggest challenges? NEM not being known well enough, missed opportunities, ineffective direction or goals, missing technicals or something else?
• Accomplishments from 2018?
• Expectations for 2019?

For the teams that already exist, when can we see their KPI’s/goals? For the mentioned key objectives under each team, can we get future updates? Quarterly may not make sense but perhaps semiannually? Some of the objectives may not make sense to make public but I’m thinking at least business development and marketing.

The proposal is encouraging. The transparency is huge, continuing this will encourage more interest in NEM.

[jason.lee]

If NF is no longer exist I have to say that I don’t think NEM Ventures , core devs or even the new nem LAbs can commercialize NEM and Catapult by themselves and therefore help the XEM price.
I will vote YES.

Thanks @Trikar_Blockchain for your vote of confidence in the new NF structure, it is a team effort in getting everyone around NEM and Catapult and I do believe that the refreshed structure will help with the XEM price too.

Anyway one has to focus on future, cut personnel, work on marketing and restructure core dev
team if necessary, because single man show (aka Vitalik Buterin) is not sustainable on the long run.

Which is what the council has been doing and will be conscious off, no lone wolf or one man show but working together as team.

• On-Topic: I am glad that Alex & team stepped in, stepped up, and put all the effort to create the draft which is point of discussion. Let’s use this call for comments - and gather constructive input for revising the draft , so the NEM Foundation can achieve a workable version to vote on in a few days from now.

Rene, LuxTag.io

Thanks @r3n3, we need to consistently work with partners to ensure we grow together. Appreciate the constructive input from the community.

To be able to see nem=2$ technology must work avanced technology= up price

And that is why we are product-focus on Catapult and revenue-driven to be sustainable. Thanks @eddy

[lmkh]

Just a gentle reminder that we are given the first 5 days for us to give our feedback in order to have them considered/reflected in the changes. 4 days left…

Just a little concerned as there seems to still be an emphasis on the past and the legacy/problems it came with in the chats - the very same legacy the NEW council had to deal with and the very same problems they are now seeking to address in this new proposal. All in the span of one month while managing the transition from what we know to be messy. It is apparent much lessons were learnt from the past and translated into this new structure and direction moving forward.

Yes, there are questions that should be and could be answered better. There are also many that have already been answered a number of times and articulately - in this very proposal even. Regarding unanswered questions directed towards this proposal, hopefully they can be addressed in timely manner.

Please note that this is not to call anyone out but simply to shift once again the focus toward the fact that the new Exco and council is now bringing a lot more opportunity for involvement and input from the community to the table. So let’s take them up on their offer and start giving constructive feedback to make the proposal even more solid for the benefit of everyone and let’s all look more towards growing together in the future.

Good job in creating more transparency and shift of focus towards Catapult and sustainability from the council.

[GodTanu]

We had so many employees. Some regions has too much people, other too little but in general the outcome was not the best.
So IMO is not the marketing the issue. NO LEADERSHIP, NO GLOBAL STRATEGY, NO CONTROL, NO COMMUNICATION.

How many staff are there in each country?
Please clarify.

I am Japanese, but I do not know how many staff there are in the Japanese team.
I want to know the numbers before and after layoff.

[LauraBKK]

I can only tell you how many there were in my country. Two. Myself and the Thai staff mandated by Thai law.
I’m sorry I cannot answer your other question.
Laura

[DaokaTrade]

I think most of the engineers of the Foundation who contributed to Catapult are NEM EU.
I think that the engineers of NEM EU will transfer to NEM Lab.

Then, I have some questions.

1. Are there any engineers other than NEM EU(NEM Lab)?
2. What kind of relationship will the NEM Foundation build with NEM Lab?

[simakki]

After reading through topic I probably will vote yes for both parties (NEM Foundation and NEM lab). Allthough I would like to hear more about how they will manage to sell XEM’s for needed USD. Will it be done on monthly basis or pay salaries with NEM etc.