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QSTN

  • Team Name: QSTN
  • Payment Address: ETH (USDC) - 0x7056A5Da7D269B31Eb2E54E5579e41ef283d7D2C
  • Level: 1

Project Overview 📄​

Overview​

  • QSTN is a Web3 survey marketplace where businesses fund surveys, reward participants, and uphold user privacy through our data wallet-driven profiles.
  • QSTN is a cutting-edge platform that combines AI-driven surveys with a secure data wallet. Our solution empowers users to earn digital rewards from surveys while maintaining privacy. We're revolutionizing data monetization in the digital age.

At QSTN, we aim to revolutionize the data collection landscape by addressing key challenges faced by traditional survey platforms. We understand that user engagement is essential for successful data collection, which is why we offer a gamified experience to incentivize users and boost response rates. Through our platform, businesses can easily fund surveys using digital tokens or NFTs, streamlining payment processes and ensuring faster and more efficient transactions.

One of the most significant concerns in data collection is data privacy and security. We prioritize user trust and confidence by providing our data wallet, Cubby, which allows users to maintain full control over their data. This secure environment ensures that users' personal information remains private, making them more willing to share valuable insights. Additionally, we equip businesses with AI-assisted survey creation and advanced data analytics tools, enabling them to derive meaningful insights from survey responses and make data-driven decisions. Our strategic partnerships with prominent blockchain projects like NEAR and Stellar further enhance our platform's capabilities and foster interoperability within the Web3 ecosystem. Through these solutions, we aim to create a compelling and user-centric data collection platform that empowers businesses and individuals alike.

Demo: NEAR Protocol https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P2NRbIx2VZhfIQ6FHKO5_YOyhFZHjbfW/view?usp=sharing

  • Building on this, we would like Polkadot to be the next blockchain we implement; allowing its users to answer questionnaires, earn DOT rewards and mint NFTs upon completion.

The key to our platform is allowing users to monetize their personal information in a low gas, scalable environment and Polkadot meets both of these requirements. By supporting this initiative, the Web3 Foundation is investing in data infrastructure for the entire DOT ecosystem as well as creating a new “Play-to-Earn” model for data aggregation.

For scope, QSTN can be broken down into two different user experiences:

  1. User experience - users create an account and then have the ability to complete 3 daily surveys in return for DOT tokens and NFTs
  2. Business experience - businesses create an account and build their own survey, rewarding users for their participation in DOT tokens and NFTs

We want to bring both experiences to the DOT ecosystem and allow businesses to fund, track and engage users via their own surveys with the assistance of AI.

Project Details​

Ecosystem Fit​

  • QSTN is an innovative Web3 survey platform that combines blockchain, gamification, and AI to revolutionize data collection. Businesses can easily fund surveys using digital tokens or NFTs, offering users enticing rewards for their participation. Our data wallet, Cubby, ensures users maintain full control over their data, ensuring privacy and security.

To ensure this vision becomes a reality, we're harnessing the power of Safe's decentralized custody protocol and collective asset management platform. Users signing up on QSTN have their email addresses utilized to create individualized Safe vaults, powered by Web3 authentication. This integration enables users to complete surveys, earn zero-knowledge proofs, and subsequently claim their rewards directly within their EVM wallet.

SAFE is a non-custodial solution by Consensys (https://safe.global/), it facilitates wallet creation utilizing email addresses. Currently, SAFE lacks support for Polkadot. Given this, we will enable users to interact directly with the pallet, easing the reward redemption process post-survey completion. The wallet we will use is Polkadot JS wallet.

We aim to take advantage of the low gas, scalable environment offered on DOT to allow users to earn DOT, mint NFTs and transfer assets without exorbitant transactional fees.

  • Right now, our target audience can be broken down in the following groups:

A. Agencies

  • Marketing agencies

*Target agencies to use for experiential campaigns + source to relevant clients

B. Brands

  • Airline
  • Beauty brands
  • Food delivery
  • Record labels

*Target customer experience, customer success and marketing team

C. Educational institutions

  • Colleges
  • Universities

*Target professors, teachers and researchers

D. Web3

  • Analytics firms - Addressable, Chainalysis, Dune Analytics, Kaiko, Messari, Nansen, Pantera Capital, QuickNode, Solidus Labs
  • DAOs
  • Foundations
  • NFT communities
  • Exchanges

*Target marketing, community outreach and developer support

Here are some notable milestones we've achieved since inception:

  1. Secured a position in Outlier Venture's NEAR Base Camp, successfully closing our pre-seed round.
  2. Developed a data wallet feature, now generating zero-knowledge proofs upon survey completion.
  3. Integrated AI to assist businesses in crafting surveys and evaluating authenticity of responses through a "credibility" score.
  4. Garnered preliminary interest from notable entities like NYU, Estée Lauder, and L'Oréal for potential test partnerships, in collaboration with the NEAR Foundation.
  5. Were honored with acceptance into the Polkadot Blockchain Academy, although a visit was precluded due to visa constraints.
  • Our platform is able to act as a Web3 on-ramp because our design easily onboards novice, less experienced internet users. This is important because in our initial feedback, we learned a lot of internet users want to get into blockchain but do not have the capital, resources or know where to start.

We were inspired by the Pi app, as well as Sweatcoin which are two “Play-to-Earn” models where users get rewarded for daily, micro tasks based on actions taken in-platform.

QSTN builds on their concept by offering more exciting, engaging rewards, increasing the educational value behind our mission statement as well as creating a cohesive community for participants in our network (e.g. NFTs, metaverse).

  • There are currently no other projects similar to ours in the Substrate ecosystem. However, we do see a potential partnership with Ocean Protocol as we can sell and aggregate our data profiles within their primary market.

    • There are no other Web3 data market research portals but similar Web2 solutions include Google Form, Nielsen and Survey Monkey; the problem is these agencies do not have blockchain infrastructure currently in place.

Our unique offering is the ability for Web2 users to answer questions, earn credits and buy NFTs within a "gas-less" environment but having the option to connect their wallet and mint once familiar with the technology.

We spent the past year participating in over 7 accelerators to help drive the brand awareness within the Web3 space and ensure we become the "go-to" market research portal in blockchain.

  • There has been an increase in the “Play-to-Earn” model and a couple players who are making noise in the space would include Rabbit Hole (educational), NEAR Crowd (micro task), Axie Infinity (gaming), Pi (validation), and Sweat Coin (exercise).

We see a market opportunity to use this model for data aggregation, gamifying marketing research and then selling this information to corporate sponsors who offer digital goods or discounts to our users.

Team 👥​

Team members​

  • Orrin Campbell, CEO: A marketing graduate from NYU, Orrin is an influential figure in the entertainment industry with millions of streams and followers. His media presence has been showcased on platforms like Dr. Phil, and his degree in marketing adds valuable insights to QSTN's growth strategy.

Anibal Suriel, Chief Legal Officer: An NYU alum with a remarkable legal career, Anibal has worked for prestigious firms like KARM and R3. He possesses extensive legal expertise and is admitted to the bar in three states: New York, Florida, and Washington DC.

Brigitte Pinewiski, Chief Partnership Officer & Web3 Physician: An author of "Wealthcare: Demystifying Web3 and the Rise of Personal Data Economies," Brigitte is also a Healthcare Advisor, Nex Cubed member, and TiE Board and Charter Member. Her expertise in Web3 and AI adds a unique perspective to the team, aligning with QSTN's focus on innovation in the healthcare realm.

Carlos Guiamaraes, CTO & Lead Developer: Carlos brings a strong technical acumen to QSTN. As a skilled developer for over 15 years, his contributions are integral to the back-end architecture and tool integration, ensuring a seamless and efficient platform.

Eduardo Gomes, Junior Developer: A promising talent, Eduardo contributes to QSTN's development efforts. With his skills and passion for identity, he adds value to the KYC and verification of users within the QSTN platform.

Melanie Zhang, Creative Director: An NYU graduate with a keen eye for design and user experience, Melanie's artistic vision enriches the platform's aesthetics and fosters engagement with QSTN's users.

Daniel Fadely, Financial Analyst: An NYU alum with a strong finance and investment background, Daniel's involvement in opening and running the investment club at NYU, along with experience in managing various portfolios, enhances the financial planning and analysis for QSTN.

Anibal Suriel - QSTN CLO  Linkedin - https://linkedin.com/in/anibal-suriel-esq

Brigitte Piniewski - QSTN CPO LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigittepiniewski/

Carlos Guiamaraes – QSTN CTO & Lead Developer GitHub - https://github.com/sekmet

Eduardo Gomes - QSTN Junior Developer GitHub - https://github.com/Eduardogbg

Melanie Zhang - Creative Director LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-y-zhang/

Daniel Fadely - Financial Analyst LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-f-436377203/

Contact​

  • Registered Address: 67 Edgehill Drive, Wappingers Falls, New York, 12590, USA
  • Registered Legal Entity: QSTN, LLC

Team's experience​

We incorporated QSTN in December of 2020 and immediately began seeking institutional guidance on how best to bring this product to market. Below is a chronological recount of incubators and hackathons we partook:

  1. QSTN graduates from the 1871 x BLK Tech Verizon incubator (first cohort) [2021] https://1871.com/accelerator-blk-tech/

  2. QSTN places 2nd and 4th in the Encode Club x Filecoin NFT Hackathon https://medium.com/encode-club/nft-hack-finale-prizewinners-and-summary-a68be99f6c66

  3. QSTN graduates from the Filecoin 2022 accelerator program https://medium.com/encode-club/filecoin-accelerator-summary-94e30a571563

  4. QSTN graduates from the Octopus Network x Huobi incubator program https://medium.com/oct-network/spring-2022-octopus-accelerator-star-prize-winners-d884456ce248

  5. QSTN is 1 of 5 teams to receive the official Star Prize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72QqZ6MIxeo

  6. QSTN is featured on XFounders - https://youtu.be/35Mv9rt5KHQ

  7. QSTN wins the Parsiq unicornization contest - https://hub.parsiq.net/unicornization

  8. QSTN participates in the Mintbase Demo Day -
    https://blog.mintbase.xyz/wrapping-up-mintbases-demo-day-f13fd192c8fc

  9. QSTN presents at the Mastercard x NEAR Demo Day - https://youtu.be/TkfHLgsBxiE

Orrin Campbell (Founder bio) -

Orrin is a multi-faceted entrepreneur and entertainer, renowned for his innovative strides in the fintech and entertainment sectors. As the founder of QSTN, Orrin combines his passion for technology and entertainment to revolutionize data monetization through gamification.

A recent graduate of NYU Stern School of Business, Orrin's journey is anything but ordinary. Before delving into fintech, he made waves as an entertainer, amassing millions of streams on Spotify. His charisma and talent led him to a highly publicized appearance on Dr. Phil's national television show, which catapulted him to social media stardom with 250,000 followers on TikTok, 15,000 on Instagram, and 40,000 on YouTube.

Leveraging his newfound audience and background in entertainment, Orrin ventured into fintech with a vision to empower individuals to take control of their data. He founded QSTN, a groundbreaking platform that bridges the gap between data collection and user engagement through gamification and rewards.

In just two years, Orrin’s leadership and innovation at QSTN have been recognized with wins in two blockchain competitions. He has also been an active participant in prestigious accelerators, including Verizon, GitHub, and NYU Future Labs. Orrin’s visionary approach has piqued the interest of giants like L'Oréal and Estée Lauder, with whom discussions are ongoing for potential collaborations. Additionally, NYU, his alma mater, is among the entities showing interest in QSTN. The platform has already garnered the attention of over 3,000 test users, marking a promising start.

Orrin's combination of entertainment flair and technological acumen positions him as a trailblazer in the fintech space. Through QSTN, he is not just transforming data collection but reshaping the very fabric of user engagement and empowerment in the digital age.

Dr. Phil episode - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReRddYVYfHU

Press links - https://vman.com/article/orrin-discusses-indie-rap-persona/ https://lyricallemonade.com/p/meet-orrin-the-cyborg-rapper-sent-from-2050-to-save-us-all

Socials - https://tiktok.com/@realorrin (250,000 followers) https://instagram.com/realorrin (18,000 followers) https://youtube.com/c/realorrin (41,000 followers)

Team Code Repos​

Please also provide the GitHub accounts of all team members. If they contain no activity, references to projects hosted elsewhere or live are also fine.

Team LinkedIn Profiles (if available)​

Development Status 📖​

Development Roadmap 🔩​

Overview​

  • Total Estimated Duration: 15 months
  • Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): 8 employees (4 developers, 3 designers, 1 blockchain architect [Orrin])
  • Total Costs: 10,000 USD

Milestone 1 Example — Implement Substrate Modules​

  • Estimated duration: 15 months
  • FTE: 8 employees
  • Costs: 10,000 USD
NumberDeliverableSpecification
0a.LicenseOpen Source
0b.DocumentationWe will provide both inline documentation of the code and a basic tutorial that explains how a user can generate a Polkadot.JS wallet during on boarding, connect this wallet to our web application, mint and/or transfer NFTs from our marketplace to their specified DOT wallet and save their "survey ID" on a local substrate chain as immutable proof of completion
0c.Testing GuideCore functions will be fully covered by unit tests to ensure functionality and robustness. In the guide, we will describe how to run these tests.
0d.DockerWe will provide a Dockerfile(s) that can be used to test all the functionality delivered with this milestone.
0e.ArticleWe will publish a Medium article that documents our transition to Polkadot and details how users of QSTN can connect their DOT wallet to our application, mint & transfer purchased media onto the DOT blockchain as well as save their survey ID on-chain on a local substrate chain.
1.Survey palletWe will create a Substrate module that will allow users to complete a survey, earn a zero knowledge proof upon completion and then connect their Polkadot JS wallet in order to withdraw the pre-defined reward amount by interacting with the pallet.
2.Survey palletWe will create a Substrate module that will allow business to create a survey and then connect their Polkadot JS wallet in order to fund the pallet for respondents.
3.Survey pallet UIWe will create a new UI for DOT users to be able to connect their Polkadot JS wallet, interact with the pallet to withdraw or fund survey rewards and mint their respective NFT media onto a local substrate chain.
4.Substrate chainThe survey pallet of our custom chain will interact in such a way to allow users to connect their DOT wallet to our application, withdraw DOT and then mint media on a local substrate chain [1.] and these transactions take place within our new UI [3.] with proof recorded by our ZKP [5] after being funded by the business [2] and recorded in the data wallet [6]
5.ZKP Proof GenerationWe will create an API for the Cubby data wallet to generate zero knowledge proofs upon survey completion on the Substrate chain - this ZKP will be the "receipt" to verify users are eligible to connect their wallet and withdraw rewards from a particular survey contract.
6.Data WalletWe will open source our data wallet which is an authorizathion layer within QSTN allowing users to interact and generate zero knowledge proofs upon survey completion on DOT - this wallet interacts with the pallets deployed by our local substrate node through our API.

...

Future Plans​

  • As QSTN, our major product milestones for the next 6 months include:
  1. Developing the Cubby Data Wallet, which will replace user profiles, enabling users to authorize data requests directly from a Chrome extension wallet. This feature enhances user control over their data and streamlines the authorization process.
  2. Creating the Cubby File Storing Platform, a decentralized storage solution powered by Filecoin. Users and businesses can securely store their files, with the owner holding the only decryption key, ensuring privacy and exclusive access.
  3. Collaborating with NYU, L'Oréal, and Estée Lauder to test and refine our platform by incentivizing their respective communities, helping us gather valuable insights and optimize our offerings.
  4. Expanding our clientele beyond web3 startups to include larger legacy brands and marketing agencies. Our goal is to establish QSTN as the "go-to" self-service marketing tool for a diverse range of businesses seeking innovative and effective solutions.

Additional Information ➕​

How did you hear about the Grants Program? Web3 Foundation Website

Here you can also add any additional information that you think is relevant to this application but isn't part of it already, such as:

  • Please request a private invite to our repo (https://github.com/qstn-ansr for our existing prototype on NEAR Protocol
  • If there are any other teams who have already contributed (financially) to the project.
  • NEAR Foundation (grants program)