Grant Proposal - SOURC3 // Building the Web3 way

Project Title
SOURC3

Description
SOURC3 is a decentralized software development platform, that’s built the Web3 way: privacy, trust, and ownership are the priorities.

Trustless, on-chain and censorship-resistant; the SOURC3 network helps developers manage their professional reputation and preserve the origin and ownership of their code.

Manifesto/Vision
We endeavor for the SOURC3 platform to become the go to platform for the software development value chain, from developing and deploying simple decentralized applications to collaborating on large ecosystem-type projects and recruiting global cross-cultural teams. The web3 paradigm brings decentralization, community-ownership and empowers users with control over their data and contributions. By leveraging the web3 toolbox, SOURC3 solves the problem of origin/ownership, compensation and reputation.

Problem + Solution

A) Blockchain technologies: Smart contracts and Proof or Origin/Ownership
SOURC3 takes the existing git functionality and - utilizing blockchain and smart contracts - elevates software development for the Web3 world. Replacing trust with truth, and centralization with decentralization, SOURC3 leverages Web3 technologies to provide a single ‘source of truth’; ensuring developers have proof of origin/ownership over their code.

B) User-owned data (non-custodial), Identity management and a new era for open source compensation
Solving for the broken data ownership and compensation models of Web2 platforms, SOURC3’s non-custodial and decentralized approach, allows users to solely own and manage their data and identity: helping to facilitate new compensation models for open source developers (e.g. Tea, Valist, etc).

C) Decentralized storage
Featuring decentralized storage (eg. IPFS and equivalents), SOURC3 is a cross-network platform that mitigates Single Points of Failure (SPOFs) and is resistant to censorship.

D) SOURC3 Keeper Network
To manage the reputation of developers, the SOURC3 Keeper Network validate code origination, ownership and contributions; resulting in a comprehensive professional reputational score based on developer activity.

E) Open Marketplace
Helping the developer community to build is a core ethos of the SOURC3 network, and the Solutions Marketplace a key vehicle to achieve this. The Marketplace will allow developers to offer their solutions, plugins and integrations to others; monetizing their efforts, and accelerating the development and offering on the platform.

Product Features

  • Decentralized git repository
  • On-chain reputation management
  • Identity management
  • Self-serve DAO tooling
  • Integrated project management
  • Fundraising and bounties functionality

Validation
Based on third-party and proprietary research, and developer market sentiment we believe SOURC3 has the opportunity to become the dedicated Web3 ‘and’ software development platform, to the ‘either / or’ of Web2 incumbents.

As a conservative estimate, and based on intel from the [ELECTRIC CAPITAL Developer Report 2021] we believe the early adopter group of SOURC3 users total approximately ~18K Web3 developers or 0.07% of a total global developer community of ~26M. This conservative estimate is given further fuel with the 2022 explosion in interest in Web3 (‘Web3 jobs’ search term surpassing ‘Web2 jobs’ for the first time in April 2022). Even the general exacerbations of the crypto bear market have not dampened the appetite for Web3 infrastructure; Messari estimated Web3 infrastructure revenue declined only 10% Q2’22 Revenue Report. In year 1, we will target the onboarding of 10k active users [10k in 12 [months]]. With this active developer community in place, year 2’s primary goal will be to drive Web2 and Web3 projects to the SOURC3 network; including 3rd party integrators and contributors to the marketplace.

Progress
A) SOURC3 GitHub Authenticate program will launch Aug-22
B) SOURC3 repo can be found at: SOURC3 · GitHub .
C) Alpha launched Aug-22 : SOURC3 Alpha Preview: app.sourc3.xyz - YouTube
D) Beta will launch Q3-22 and will be found at http://app.sourc3.xyz .B

Differentiation (from other projects)
With regards to the Web3 competitive landscape, if you solely look at the development of decentralized git repositories, then Radicle - founded in 2020/1 - is also looking to solve this. However, the commonalities stop here, with Radicle yet to launch or discuss the areas SOURC3 is building in.

A key differentiator of SOURC3 is that all contributions have on-chain provenance and proof of ownership, whereas Radicle relies on running a GitHub mirror.

Traditional git repository incumbents include GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket - all of whom are Web2-based: centralized, closed-source walled gardens, with broken revenue and reputation models.

Team
SOURC3 comprises 4 co-founders with a wealth of background and experience within the coding, cryptographic, technology, and robotics sectors.

Yaron Schwarcz- Business and Product Lead - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaronsch/:
An entrepreneur since the age of 21, Yaron Schwarcz founded Skyline Robotics and served as its first CEO and Chairman. Skyline Robotics is a robotics and automation company focused on automating window cleaning for skyscrapers. Prior to Skyline Yaron founded Tridom, a robotics and 3d printing company for concrete and housing. Since 2020 Yaron has shifted his focus to web3.

Yaron’s academic background is, a B.S. in Psychology and Government from the IDC Herzliya, a teacher’s diploma in Political Science from the Seminar Hakibutzim Tel Aviv, and a G.S.P. from Singularity University in Exponential Trends and Technologies. Over the years he has completed numerous online courses, such as the MIT Fab Academy. Yaron was chosen as the Bold Innovator for the Future of Housing Roadmap for XPRIZE.org. He was a winner of the Ramon Breakthrough Competition for his work with 3d printing prosthetics for refugees.

Alex Romanov - Technical - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bigromanov/:
With over 20 years of software development experience - AI, machine learning, distributed systems, crypto, Web3, decentralized applications - and over 10 years of senior management roles, Alex has specialized in building complex software solutions with distributed teams.

Founded Beam - confidential cryptocurrency and DeFi platform - in 2018, Alex is the current Beam CTO and co-founder, and Technical lead for the SOURC3 platform.

Amir Aaronson - Operations - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-aaronson:
Amir began working at 13, and started his first business aged only 17. Following his Service in the IDF special engineering unit, Amir co-founded, built (SW & HW), and managed Fitch - the first fully autonomous drone for the marine environment - from the ground up.

In 2017, after discovering the frictions and flaws of manufacturing HW models abroad, Amir focused solely on crypto. As a self-taught individual and with his background in process management, the more exposure Amir had to crypto, the more he identified the issues of public ledgers. Finding solutions to these issues led him to join the early founding team for the confidential chain, Beam. Since 2018, Amir has been managing the operations of Beam and its Foundation.

Tom Dowson - Marketing - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomdowson:
Part of the Newcastle Business School alumni with a B.a. in Marketing Management and former food and wine writer - Tom has specialized in B2B and B2C digital marketing for the last 15 yrs.

With past global roles at bluechip organizations including IBM, Fujitsu Global, Lidl, and Cunard - Tom has launched [award-winning] content platforms for; C-suite executives and high-street consumers alike. Tom followed his investments in the 2017 crypto boom and began copywriting for a number of crypto launchpads; fully transitioned into crypto marketing in 2020 and subsequently worked closely with the Beam team and his fellow co-founders to develop the SOURC3 platform.

Grant Request $
50,000 - 100,0000

What the Funds Are For:
Continued development, community and marketing activation.

Help Requested
Introduction to other Web3 projects.
General guidance on community development

Additional Resources, Links, Portfolio

Investor Deck

Password: SOURC3

CTO Survey

SOURC3 Discord

What are your other sources and amounts of funding? It looks like you are seeking venture capital?

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SOURC3 is seeking both grants and venture, each with separate merits.

Venture capital will be used for growth, people, and bounties for co-development.

SOURC3 is seeking grants to facilitate better roads and connections with existing web3 communities.

At the end of the day (actually also at the beginning), SOURC3 is an essential public good facilitating other public goods and upholding the notion that code is in-fact speech and thus must be protected.

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Did you have any further questions for the team? Is there anything that we can help you with?