What is a form factor?
Form factor is a design aspect that defines and prescribes the size, shape, and other specifications of components, particularly in electronics Wikipedia
Physical form factors
Form factors are really fascinating to me.
By changing the way a device is packaged, we change the way the user uses the device.
Digital form factors
As there are more and more devices available and software has gotten more sophisticated, form factor design has gone natively digital. The experience of using a web service via SMS, desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet can vary vastly.
Protocol form factors
As web3 continues to grow, and decentralized applications are modularized, such that their core protocol is logically separated from the application/UI they serve, I think there is going to be an opportunity to explore new form factors for protocols
Quadratic Funding
In this post, I’d like to explore the idea of putting Quadratic Funding (QF) in new form factors.
[Note: from here, I will assume some knowledge of QF and why it’s powerful. If you aren’t up to speed on the QF mechanism, spend some time reading about ithere)]
0. Traditional Form Factor: Grant CrowdFunding Site
The form factor that people know & love is that of a Kickstarter-style crowdfunding site.
This is the Gitcoin Grants flow. This flow looks like this:
1. Novel Form Factor: Cause CrowdFunding Site
One slight tweak to the existing form factor for Gitcoin Grants would be to fund causes instead of individual grants themselves.
Why is this powerful:
- It simplifies the browsing experience. Instead of browsing 1000s of grants, I can now browse 10s of causes.
- It creates the opportunity for decentralized curation. For example, one could create an xp where if someone creates a cause (basically just a list of rants) they can get token rewards when ppl fund that cause.
2. Novel Form Factor: QF Social Network
Another form factor I’ve considered for Quadratic Funding is a QF Social Network.
Instead of a crowdfund style experience of viewing grants => add to cart => checkout, the experience looks like this:
Some of the things I think this form factor brings to the table:
- People spend a lot more time on social networks (1hour/day) than they do on a traditional crowdfunding platform like Gitcoin Grants (1hour/quarter).
- Social Networks are right now sorted by what people
likebut likes just measure what captures attention, and this triggers a race to the bottom of the brain stem. With micro-tips, we can measure what people actually value - thus creating a social media experience that is ranked by what people actually value instead of what captures attention. - People can earn $$$$ by just being active on social media. With QF subsidies a 30c micro-tip can be worth $10 to the recipient. At a time when Web3 social networks are seeking to disrupt web2 social networks, you need to build something that is more than 10% better, you need to build something that is 10x better. Well earning by being on web3 social media is 10x better!
I’d like to build a QF social network on Lense Protocol + Discord this quarter. More on this here.
3. Novel Form Factor: Tinder Style Swiping Flow
One form factor that I think would be interesting for Quadratic Funding is a Tinder-style swiping flow.
It’d look like this:
What I think is really powerful about a tinder style flow
- Its simplicity.
- Quick TTV (time to value). I can fund grants on my mobile device when I’ve got 30 seconds to kill.
- By using collaborative filtering to surface grants relevant to me, it’s fairly easy to create a great experience for browsing grants.
Novel Form Factor: What other form factors are possible?
This is just a basic exploration of the design space for novel QF form factors. I’d love to hear ideas from others about what form factors for QF would be compelling.
And I’m looking for a builder for the tinder-style flow, the cause flow, + any other flows that are great.
While we likely be able to build this. Would love to brainstorm and see what kind of changes would be need to make this possible
that said if ya’ll nail the first form factor and create good documentaiton/dev xp i bet many creative people in the gitcoin ecosystem will build new cool stuff on top of it!