Specs ⌐◪-◪

[punk7642]

Description

Hi, I'm Valko, the author/founder of Specs ⌐◪-◪ - a daily crypto newsletter for crypto natives.

We have a strong following of 1,000 daily readers via email and 8,000 readers on Twitter, including notable NFT collectors, VC investors, startup founders, and more. We might not be the biggest newsletter, but our community is highly engaged and is the very people shaping Web3.

In an effort to double down on our crypto-native audience, I am committed to moving Specs ⌐◪-◪ on-chain.

This starts with transitioning to an on-chain subscription model — so that we are not reliant on emails and start building an on-chain social graph. This unlocks a whole new world for us, to build on top of our strong community.

After researching other options, I'm convinced Unlock Protocol is the right option for our community and platform.

So, I'd like to partner with Unlock Protocol to get:

• Grant funds for the migration
• Technical support to design our dream solution
• General marketing support

Website URL

https://www.specs.news/subscribe

Twitter

@valko

Github

n/a

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtvalcourt/

Discord handle

valko

Completion time

3 weeks

Team

I am a one-man team and have created 230 newsletters on my own.

Every issue takes me 2-3 hours and has its unique insights + a custom thumbnail (made by me).

I am looking for technical support to help me integrate my newsletter with Unlock. This would mainly include a new website I am building in my free time (add wallet connect and token gating) as well as our community Telegram chat — which is our cozy place and campfire.

Milestones

• 100 premium subscribers in 1 month
• 1,000 premium subscribers in 6 months
• 0.1 referral rate/k-factor on-chain (not sure if attributable)

These are mutually beneficial goals for Specs and Unlock, focusing on increasing awareness of the #1 newsletter for crypto natives - powered by Unlock protocol.

Requested grant amount

TBD, need technical support estimating.

Anything else you think we should know, including why you've requested a particular grant amount

I believe Specs could become the #1 news platform for crypto natives, all powered by Unlock.

While we aren't the biggest news platform, we have a lot of respect from the best builders, investors, and founders — and are committed to doing things the "web3" way, not only because we want to die on that hill, but because it's better.

The most valuable thing Unlock Protocol can provide to us is:

1. Technical support
2. Marketing & promotion

I want battle-tested thought partners to help us move our precious newsletter on-chain.

To do it right, it would be nice to have funds to hire developers to help build our new web3-website, where users can connect wallets instead of subscribing with email, subscribe via Unlock, and access premium content.

To help raise awareness for Unlock, for every $1,500 Unlock grants us, Specs will make Unlock the primary sponsor for 1 month (30,000 impressions/mo).

I will fund whatever remaining portion of the development is required, but I need your help defining that scope of work and finding people to help me build it.

Is your work Open Source

No, my project does not use an Open Source license.

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[ccarfi]

This looks really interesting, @punk7642 ! Do you know what platform you're going to use for the new website?

[Calla-Ji]

Yes I am also generally in favor of this!
@punk7642 please join our Discord and we will open a discussion chat to see who might be interested and equipped to help you with your task. I feel @0xTxbi could be a great fit since he worked on the ALANAmagazine website, which is also a web3 native publication. And then we can figure out what is needed to help you get this up and running on-chain :)

[PostArchitekt]

I know how hard it is as a one-man band! And I'm inclined to be in favor of this as well. As it provides a nice and compact value format for Web3 and Unlock.

I got a few questions ;) I think will be beneficial before it goes to a snapshot vote:

1. what is your pricing model for subscribers going to be? premium?
2. What does that subscription include?

Technical Support:
Although the grant amount is TBD, I do see mention of monthly sponsorship in USD. I believe the treasury only has UDT and ARB. So I'd like to possibly see a budget geared towards UDT and bounties for specific tasks. Understanding that the scope isn't completely defined and it's not set in stone, it will help you and the DAO come to better alignment in how we can help each other to make this happen.

Marketing:

1. How do you see the marketing initiatives aligning between Unlock and Specs? A simple or novel plan outside of Unlock promoting on socials.
2. Could you provide some interesting or experimental ways your subscription model could use Unlock?
3. Considering your current subscribers, what feedback are you getting from them and how?
4. What chain will you be using for subscriptions?
5. Are you using any other socials besides LinkedIn, X, or Telegram? If not, why?

I'm with @Calla-Ji and definitely invite you to join the Discord. I'd also like to have your answers documented here at some point, so others might be able to find it in the future.

[julien51]

Welcome here @punk7642 ! We're excited to have you. I will personally help guide the migration!

[punk7642]

This looks really interesting, @punk7642 ! Do you know what platform you're going to use for the new website?

Right now I just use Beehiive's for my site, but I want to make something more bespoke/custom.
So open to suggestions on this front if you guys have any best practices.

[punk7642]

Yes I am also generally in favor of this! @punk7642 please join our Discord and we will open a discussion chat to see who might be interested and equipped to help you with your task. I feel @0xTxbi could be a great fit since he worked on the ALANAmagazine website, which is also a web3 native publication. And then we can figure out what is needed to help you get this up and running on-chain :)

Joined the discord! Just got back from a 2x week trip in Thailand, so will be a lot more responsive now :)

[punk7642]

@PostArchitekt being a 1-man team is definitely tough at times, but it certainly has its benefits too! the hardest part is long-haul travels haha. i can only fly on weekends (i publish specs monday-friday) and never want to put it at risk with plane wifi.

👉 my discord handle is @valko — happy to move the conversation over there!

as for your questions - here are some quick responses :)

what is your pricing model for subscribers going to be? premium?

• yes a classic free + premium model where
• core newsletter stays free (as long as reader is subscribed)
• premium subscribers get additional benefits

what does that subscription include?

• our telegram group, which has almost 100 active members
• it's where we discuss/dissect the news, add context, share supporting resources
• over time i plan to add other benefits such as weekly deep dives, curated reading list, and more

How do you see the marketing initiatives aligning between Unlock and Specs? A simple or novel plan outside of Unlock promoting on socials.

• on our side: i want specs to be the ultimate ambassador for unlock. not just endorsing the protocol, but actually helping our community of builders use the protocol for their own projects
• on your side: my dream is for specs to be a premier go-to example of how indie newsletter creators can use unlock protocol. a sort of featured/spotlit use case.
• looking further: i'd love to help evolve unlock protocol with new features for creators like me.

Could you provide some interesting or experimental ways your subscription model could use Unlock?

• daily check-in: see who's actually reading and active
• collect to extend: let readers mint my daily thumbnail art to extend their subscription runway. somewhat reimiscent of buying a newspaper for say 25 cents.
• referral rewards: a trustless way to reward top referrers with premium subscriptions
• other rewards: rewarding other engagement trustlessly (ex. testimonials, being active in chat, providing "value").
• i need to do more thinking here, but at its core what i want to achieve is simple: a tighter alignment between how i monetize specs and what is actually valuable to readers. right now i monetize via sponsors, but what is best for my sponsors isn't always what is best for my readers
  • ex. specs is designed to save readers time, sponsors want the opposite (max attention)

Considering your current subscribers, what feedback are you getting from them and how?

• clicks: i can see what they click on and engage with the most
• chat: general level of activity and topics of conversation in our telegram
• open rates: over 50% right now, signaling strong content/market fit
• surveys: where i ask most engaged readers for general feedback
• unsubscribe survey: understand why people leave (usually bc they hate daily emails)
• 1:1 chats: i talk to my most loyal/active readers daily, and have made some tweaks accordingly
  - biggest change recently was adding telegram channel (for those who hate email) and launching a farcaster channel

What chain will you be using for subscriptions?

• open to suggestions, but i think base makes the most sense
• arbitrum and optimism seem like solid choices too
• with that said, picking an L2 is scary to me, they come and go
• but i don't think mainlayer makes sense here given gas
• fwiw: i reckon my subscription will be ~$50/year

Are you using any other socials besides LinkedIn, X, or Telegram? If not, why?

• yes we are on: twitter, farcaster, telegram, discord, reddit, linkedin, email/blog
• most of our impressions come from twitter and email though
• i am not on instagram, tiktok, or youtube yet - trying to stay focused on crypto-native platforms
• i am bringing on an intern to help launch "stories" for telegram/insta/youtube/tiktok soon

👉 my discord handle is @valko — happy to move the conversation over there!

[Calla-Ji]

Hi Valko,
Thank you for answering. I already pinged you on Discord DMs with stellaachenbach handle.
Next step is to set up a discussion channel and then thinking about adapting your proposal to some of the requests made.