Strategy is the process of making choices, each of which should make Cardano different and unique from competing ecosystems and also align its members to the defined purpose. In a decentralized ecosystem, it does not need to be restrictive, but it can be a powerful tool in prioritizing, enabling, and benefiting from core activities that create value for the ecosystem as a whole.

To that end, we propose to launch a 12 month ecosystem education program that will create and make available materials to the community on how ecosystems succeed or fail, from the basics (the goal of any ecosystem is to capture value and grow) to advanced topics like success metrics, funding allocation methods, and benchmarks from other ecosystems.

In particular, we will touch on twelve key themes over the course of the program: A. Ecosystem purpose, impact, and how that compares to large corporations B. Narratives and Industries, incl. Web3 vs Real World oriented ecosystems C. Ecosystem Missions, project categories, and types of communities D. Enterprise, Corporate, Government, Retail and NGO applications E. Vision statements, futurism, and storytelling F. Big Hairy Audacious Goals and how to prove hype is real G. Community Values that matter, social behavior, and regulations H. Recruiting developers and projects from Web2 and other chains I. Acquiring users, onboarding users to ecosystems, and ecosystem journeys J. Better metrics for growth and impact: beyond TPS and TVL K. Events, marketing, KOLs, and incentives L. Funding allocation methods (including and beyond grants) (we think the above are important, but we’re open to changing the order or adding key points upon community consultation)

Each month, our team will conduct research, produce a webinar and short content around the central theme. We will also present the materials in any of the community groups that are interested in hosting us (budget permitting) or empower others to do so within their communities. The goal will be that, each month, the community will be exposed to different topics, research, and choices that Cardano could make to become more aligned and competitive in different areas of specialization.

By the end of the project, members of the Cardano community should be well equipped to participate in serious discussions about the ecosystem’s strategy and be able to apply critical thought to future budgets, roadmaps, and projects within Cardano.

In one of his recent vision statements, Charles Hoskinson said that by 2030 billions of people will be on Cardano. There are closer to 3.58M holders today. The Cardano Roadmap put forward by IOHK and then validated by the product committee is, by design, a primarily technical document–it addresses improvements to the Cardano sandbox, but not why they are valuable to specific partners or use cases (beyond, for example, making Cardano able to support AI implementations). The Cardano goals issued from the same committee are closer to what would be required to get us from “now” to “then”, but they still remain very vague because they are intended to be a series of questions that will be consulted on and voted on by the community through vision statement sessions. But even a brilliant and inspiring vision is just a hallucination without a clear path to accomplish it–not just technical development, but research and analyses of capabilities, value propositions, markets, and competitors. Bridging the gap between present reality and future hopes is the work of an ecosystem strategy, and since we are well-behind on the schedule set in 2024, we need to make sure the community is aware, educated, and has time to reflect in order to create the collective vision.

Cardano Roadmap: https://committees.docs.intersectmbo.org/intersect-product-committee/committee-outcomes/2025-cardanos-roadmap/2025-proposed-cardano-roadmap

Cardano Goals: https://committees.docs.intersectmbo.org/intersect-product-committee/committee-outcomes/2025-cardanos-roadmap/2025-proposed-cardano-goals

Having knowledge of the different decisions that should be made in order to differentiate and align the Cardano ecosystem to a purpose, one or more markets, specific narratives and missions, and ultimately deliver a certain impact on the community and the world in the form of an accomplished vision will allow the community to make meaningful choices, contribute directly to the growth of the ecosystem, and understand their part in the fulfillment of the collective vision. It will also make the ecosystem more resilient to change, as it will create a flexible but robust framework that can be used to determine pivots, new programs, and when and where to expend resources and win.

Every month, we will deliver:

1. A research report on the theme of the month
2. A webinar or recorded session discussing the theme and case studies of interest
3. Short content on key aspects of the monthly theme
4. Handouts, worksheets, quizzes, and lists of markets, industries, narratives, or other choices that might be pushed forward by the community
5. Presentations and Q&A sessions (30-60 minutes each or as requested by the group) conducted in up to (4) community calls, including Intersect, regional groups, town halls, Cardano events, or events we host and open up to others.

Each month is approximately 10,000 CHF at current market prices.

This covers 10 to 25 hours of research, 4 hours of creating a core slide presentation, 4-12 hours of creating additional materials, such as handouts, quizzes, or fact sheets, and 2 to 5 hours of recording webinars or participating in community sessions.

If ADA price rises, we will provide deeper analyses of competitors, key projects, narratives, use cases, and industries. If the market declines, we will do our best to manage costs and deliver on the core milestone deliverables, regardless of the circumstances.

Team Size: Strategy Director (1) Strategy & Ecosystem Specialists (2) Marketing Director (1) Community & Marketing Managers (2) Corporate Innovation Manager (1) Legal Partner (1)

Duration: 12 Months

STORM Partners is a certified implementation partner of the Cardano Foundation and has been active in the community for years. We actively participated in Catalyst Funds 10 through 13, have onboarded dozens of other projects and users to Cardano, and have also played a role in onboarding both traditional and Web3 Enterprises to the ecosystem. We are currently teaching the Strategy workshop as part of the Cardano Venture Hub (among others), and have worked with several L1 ecosystems over the years on topics of regulation, corporate strategy, and go to market. Additionally, our RFI report from Fund 12 specifically addressed differences and pros/cons of the Catalyst funding mechanism vs. Optimism’s mission based and RPGF funding and Hedera’s more centralized model. Our core corporate mission is to enable L1s to grow and succeed.

We are also highly active in the Cardano ecosystem and have contributed through various initiatives and events to strengthen and shape its community and ecosystem. Some of our Cardano contributions and initiatives include:

+Sheraz Ahmed as Master of Ceremony at the Cardano Summit 2022 in Lausanne. +Host at the Crypto Valley Conference 2022 & 2023, welcoming Frederik Gregaard. +Executive Leadership at Crypto Valley Association coordinating activities with Cardano Foundation to promote the ecosystem in Zug and abroad. +Participated in various Cardano side-events / meetups such as the +London Masterclass and Meetup on 9th May 2023. +Contribution to CIP-1694 workshop in Zug in June 2023. +Early-stage private investors in Cardano projects such as MELD. +Nicola Massella Conducted a Legal Masterclass on Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Staking Mechanisms at the Cardano Summit 2023 +Sheraz Ahmed Judged the hackathon at the Cardano Summit 2023, and also contributed to the prize pool. +Influencer campaigns for Cardano Spot +8 out of 10 managers within the Firm completed the Cardano Blockchain Associate Certification, and the company is a Certified Implementation Partner +D.J. Bodden and Nicola Massella were both backup delegates for the Geneva area constitutional workshops +D.J. Bodden MC'ed the Pitch stage for Cardano Summit 2024 and is one of the instructors in the 2025 Cardano Venture Hub workshops

If we can’t store the materials and resources on the Cardano Academy, we will maintain a repository of the information and host the videos on our youtube channel until a longer term hosting solution can be determined.

Not of this proposal in particular, although we are quite active in the community, and this aligns directly with all the non-technical goals articulated by the Product Committee. https://committees.docs.intersectmbo.org/intersect-product-committee/committee-outcomes/2025-cardanos-roadmap/2025-proposed-cardano-goals

No inherent dependencies. There should be a core educational session each month, and we’d love to break that into modules and include it on the Cardano Academy’s page so there is a long-lasting place where the information can be made available to current and future community members, but we can also host it ourselves. We would also love to work with the various community groups within Cardano–our materials are not intended to push a point of view, but to put information and choices in front of the community so that they can determine the direction of the ecosystem. Finally and most importantly, we hope to coordinate this project with the product committee or other relevant bodies so that key decisions and topics are covered by the materials, and also so that if the community is able to achieve consensus around certain key decisions, those decisions are reflected in draft vision and strategy statements.