I had the pleasure of learning from Christian and Mario on two occasions.
They’re incredibly valuable to the ecosystem - filling a crucial gap by equipping builders with the practical skills needed to succeed. Fully support their continued funding!

Polkabiz is one of the few organisations that genuinely and actively works to bring businesses and startups into this ecosystem.

hello,

Can you share documentation that verifies the methodology you use to select promising teams and the evaluation process you use for startups to qualify? Thanks

I believe it's important to support businesses and growth-focused initiatives within the ecosystem and this is definitely one of them. Personally, I really admire the commitment both Mario and Christian have shown to the space. Mario, in particular, brings a sharp business mindset, coming from a non-Web3 background, he's now self-taught and his business instincts are truly unmatched. This blend of dedication and skill makes their initiative especially promising.

PolkaWorld votes Abstain

The retroactive funding is reasonable, and the team delivered a lot of solid work over the past three months, which deserves support.

However, there are shortcomings: the proposal lists a lot of work, but there’s limited information on outcomes. For example, out of the 30 startups involved, which ones achieved clear, tangible results in these three months?

Additionally, PolkaWorld initially supported this proposal when it was first submitted. But as time went on, PW updated its voting rules — rejecting any proposal with an hourly rate above $100.

Based on this, we’ve chosen to abstain from this vote.

See the full feedback here.

JAM DAO voted AYE on this Proposal

The DAO acknowledges concerns regarding the proportionality of the $62K retroactive request and the lack of supporting documentation, such as timesheets, competitive quotes, or detailed proof of outcomes. Our Independent cost analyses suggest the work performed may be valued lower, using the Polkadot Events Bounty program rate.

However, many of our members emphasised PolkaBiz’s unique role in filling a critical gap in the ecosystem, providing mentorship, guidance, and structured support to early-stage teams. Members who had direct exposure to their activities, such as during the Polkadot Blockchain Academy, reported being impressed by their ability to motivate and nurture builders. The initiative also allocates a significant portion of funds toward seeding startups, which is seen as a strong long-term value-add.

While tangible results and transparent reporting remain areas for improvement, JAM DAO chose to support this proposal on the basis of trust in the team’s competence, the strategic importance of early-stage incubation for Polkadot, and the belief that measurable outcomes will follow as the program matures.

Dear Proposer,

Thank you for your proposal. Our first vote on this proposal is AYE.

The Medium Spender track requires 50% quorum (at least 5 aye votes) and simple majority of non-abstain votes according to our voting policy v0.2, and any referendum in which the majority of members vote abstain receives an abstain vote. This proposal has received five aye and one nay votes from ten available members, with two members abstaining. Below is a summary of our members' comments:

The voters recognized that PolkaBiz had played a critical role in filling an ecosystem gap by mentoring startups, organizing pitch events, and launching the Founders Portal. They praised the team’s professional approach in selecting and supporting promising projects, noting that their actions had significantly benefited the development of early-stage Web3 initiatives. Several voters commended PolkaBiz for simplifying complex processes and providing essential post-program assistance, while one participant abstained due to their affiliation with the proposer. Overall, the comments reflected broad agreement on the impactful nature of the work completed and a shared commitment to acknowledging the substantial contribution made during the reviewed period.

The full discussion can be found in our internal voting.

Please feel free to contact us through the links below for further discussion.

DISCLAIMER: Our Decentralized Voices delegation voted to abstain on this referendum in accordance with our conflict of interest policy, announced on the 27th of March, 2025.

Kind regards,
Permanence DAO
Decentralized Voices Cohort IV Delegate

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🗳️ Delegate

Thanks for your reply! Since the first vote, our voting criteria have changed — hope you can understand!

truthDAO voted AYE.

We support incubation-focused organizations that help bring more projects into Polkadot. While the real-world impact of these incubated projects is not yet very clear, I believe it’s reasonable to continue observing the results under the current budget.

Additional suggestion
Establish a quarterly reporting mechanism (e.g., publishing team progress and Portal data).

See more feedback.

📖Truth DAO Governance Statement

💭 Email: open@truthdao.cn, Telegram

🗳️ Delegate

Hello Reeeeeeeeee Dao @1THD...9Eoe

Thank you for your feedback. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

I tried the link “Continue discussion with the DAO” but none of the options worked for me.

Here is a reply to your comments.

This is a recap of everything we delivered from the previous iteration (Jan to April 2025):

• 100+ startup applications screened

• 68 startups mentored with 1:1 coaching on product-market fit, go-to-market strategies, business models, and pitching

• 8 startups secured Web3 Foundation grants in January alone, receiving $240,000 in total funding

• 3 additional startups funded via PBA-X, securing another $60,000 in grants

• Founder portal to track, guide, and support project onboarding within the ecosystem

• G6Networks signed an MOU with a national government, a deal facilitated through PolkaBiz connections

• A 100+ FTE Web2 development company was introduced to the Web3 Deal Desk through our mentorship program.

Currently:
One of the tangible results was the launch of the founders’ portal. Each startup is different and progresses at its own pace. This is why having the founders’ portal is crucial so startups can update their progress, and we can all see how they are advancing on their journey.

Hello @Trustless Core,

We already wrote this message on Polkassembly, but for some reason, it isn't showing up on Subsquare. So we are reposting it here:

We wanted to clarify one point: our original full-year proposal (ref 1504) included a detailed breakdown of costs (totalling ~$247K). However, during discussions with the community, it became clear that there was a strong preference for a retroactive, milestone-based approach rather than pre-approving the full-year budget.

Instead of asking for the total amount at once, we aligned with the community’s feedback and structured it into quarterly retroactive requests of $62K each.

Whenever we deliver work, we measure it against the Return on Investment. Take the previous period as an example ( it’s easier to use since we already know the concrete outcomes from the startups we supported.)

• 8 startups received W3F Fast Grants (~$30k each = $240,000).

• 3 startups received ~$20k each = $60,000.

• Total unlocked: $300,000 in grants.

Against $82,666.66 in costs for the previous ref, that’s 3.63x ROI. For every $1 spent on PolkaBiz, $3.63 was unlocked for startups.

For this current request, we can only determine the exact ROI once we have more details from the Web3 Foundation about how many founders successfully secured grants.

We hope this is enough for Trustless Core to support us and the startups in Polkadot.