The Nouns Fair 2024 (updated)
TL;DR
We will bring the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize to the next five ETHGlobal hackathons in 2024. We will create a fun and weird first Nouns experience for thousands of hackers worldwide and help them to build for the first time with Nouns. We request $222,010 USDC + 90 ETH to make this a reality.
Note: Due to feedback received from the community we are focusing only on the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize.
2023 Recap
In 2023, we embarked on a mission to bring Nouns to hackers worldwide. We took the Nouns Fair to 6 ETHGlobal hackatons and exposed Nouns to 6,800 hackers in 6 countries.
We introduced the Nouns Prize at those hackathons, and received 291 projects, representing 17% of the total submissions amongst 87 DAOs, protocols, and companies like the Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap Foundation, MakerDAO, ENS, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Scroll, EAS, Aragon, The Graph, Lens, Safe, MetaMask, Wallet Connect, and many more.
Of the 291 projects, 30 won the Nouns Prize. On average, 2 out of 10 hackathon winner projects were built with Nouns. Since then, we have seen interest in keeping building with Nouns resulting in a successful onchain proposal 459 ↗︎ and a Gardener Round winner ↗︎.
This is what The Nouns Fair looks like in numbers.
- 6 Nouns Fair events in 6 countries
- 6,800 hackers exposed to Nouns
- 291 project submissions to the Nouns Prize
- 30 Nouns Prize winner projects
- 2/10 hackathon finalists built with Nouns
- 17% of total projects in six hackathons built with Nouns
Learnings After several events, we've had learnings that helped us envision what future Nouns Fair/Prize editions might look like. Some of them are:
- People have seen/heard about Nouns at some point but don't know if they can build with them or get funding.
- People immediately connect with Nouns by looking at the characters or the booth's design or by listening to or seeing the wide range of projects Nouns has funded.
- People react positively and are willing to keep learning when a person is in front of them willing to help.
- People want to keep learning and building with Nouns after every event.
- People love Nouns and the Nouns Fair! It's a vibe.
For more details check our propdate ↗︎.
What's the plan for 2024?
We want to keep onboarding international hackers and help others create on top of Nouns. To do so, we plan to go to the remaining five IRL ETHGlobal hackathons in 2024.
- 🇬🇧 ETHGlobal London (March 15-17) ✅
- 🇦🇺 ETHGlobal Sydney (May 3-5)
- 🇧🇪 ETHGlobal Brussels (EthCC7 week, July 12-14)
- 🇸🇬 ETHGlobal Singapore (TOKEN20249 week, Sept 20-22)
- 🇺🇸 ETHGlobal San Francisco (Oct 18-20)
- 🇹🇭 ETHGlobal Bangkok (Devcon SEA week, Nov 15-17)
We know that making people's first experience with Nouns fun and meaningful makes the perfect environment to be receptive about wtf is Nouns, how the DAO works, and how people can collaborate.
Nouns Fair
The Nouns Fair is a fun experience focused on hackers, where they can engage, learn, and build with Nouns. These activations are localized nounish experiences with photo opportunities, games, swag, and learning material about all things Nouns in every hackathon. The Nouns fair is the weirdest onboarding mechanism showing a small bit of the thousand shapes Nouns can take.
The Nouns fair makes people immediately connect with Nouns by looking at the characters or the booth's design or by simply listening to or seeing the wide range of projects Nouns has funded. The next five editions of the Nouns Fair will have the same dedication and vibe that makes it a fun and memorable experience while keeping Nouns weird.
Nouns Prize
The 5,000 USDC Nouns Prize will be available in each hackathon along with the Nouns Fair and is aimed to reward hackers building on Nouns during an entire weekend. By doing this at every hackathon, we create a dedicated building window for hundreds of skilled hackers, familiarize them with the Nouns' culture, and incentivize and reward their efforts.
People feel encouraged to work on Nouns when they realize the endless possibilities. The Nouns Prize has given rise to some great projects, including a Prop House winner and a successful on-chain proposal that went entirely Nouns.
Since 2017, ETHGlobal has been a significant contributor to the Ethereum ecosystem by providing a platform for thousands of hackers to showcase their skills and foster interest. To further support ongoing innovation and development within Ethereum –including Nouns through the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize at ETHGlobal hackathons– we aim to officially partner with ETHGlobal for the next five hackathons in 2024.
Team
Mono ↗︎. Co-founder Nouns Amigos, Nouns Fair | Nouns Gardener, szn 1
Lex ↗︎ - Co-founder Nouns Amigos, Nouns Fair
Budget
We are requesting $222,010 USDC to cover the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize production costs + 90 ETH compensation for 9 months of work.
Note: Nouns Prize and ETHGlobal partnership funds go directly to ETHGlobal. Note 2: we are adding a 10% buffer to the costs (except Nouns Prize section).
Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize production costs - $222,010 USDC
- (5) Editions of the Nouns Fair:
- Nouns Fair Sydney
- Nouns Fair Brussels
- Nouns Fair Singapore
- Nouns Fair San Francisco
- Nouns Fair Bangkok
- Photo set and games for (5) events
- Culture á la nounish for (5) events: noggles, stickers, Nouns NFC chips, t-shirts or special item, Nouns zine
- Video and photography edition for (5) events
- Traveling and accomodation for (5) events for (2) people
- Prizes for (5) editions of the Nouns Prize*
- ETHGlobal Partnership for (5) events including:*
- Nouns Fair booth in (5) hackathons
- Issue prizes to hackers in (5) hackathons
- Pre-recorded workshops in (5) hackathons
- Dedicated Discord channel for hackers' support in (5) hackathons
- Nouns logo feature on website + event assets in (5) hackathons
- Interactive learning guide on the ETHGlobal website
- Feature in ETHGlobal's email blasts
Compensation - 90 ETH
We are adjusting compensation because after last year's experience, we can honestly say we underestimated just how much work this project would involve month after month. We have now a better understanding of our project's complexity, vision, and impact to the DAO.
We ask for compensation for 9 months of work including booth design, swag and printed materials' design, working alongside international vendors, hosting the fair, fair and prize management and planning, IRL support to hackers, coaching, judging nouns prize submissions, prize documentation and website, social media management and design, media (video and photography) follow-up with hackers after the events, and coverage for any additional assistance required. We will create a Nouns Fair template releasing all booth and swag designs in the public domain with instructions so anybody can use them.
The first month of compensation is a direct transaction (we are already working to make it to Sydney), and the rest will be a stream of funds.
Regarding the increase of funds over time. 2022 budget was tight and considered for a single event:
- We didn't consider travel insurance (canceled flights, rescheduling, etc.), and the destinations were close to Mexico. Since we will plan ahead of time for the next events, we need the insurance in case any date changes and to be safe with connections + this year's destinations are further away.
- We didn't have the Nouns Prize and all that it entails
- We didn't have a buffer for price fluctuations
- We didn't consider per diems
- Low compensation
The 2024 budget compared to 2023's main differences are:
- We will make an official partnership with ETHGlobal
- We increased buffer from 5% to 10% (last year, USD/MXN was devaluated ~12%; we have another currency layer on top of USD)
- We adjusted compensation
2023 Recap - Reprise
Nouns Fair
🇵🇹 Nouns Fair Lisbon 2023
- 650 hackers from 51 countries, 29% new to web3
- 184 projects, 34 applied to the Nouns Prize, 2 winners
🇨🇦 Nouns Fair Waterloo 2023
- 650 hackers from 29 countries, 47% new to web3
- 169 projects, 39 applied to the Nouns Prize, 2 winners
🇫🇷 Nouns Fair Paris 2023
- 1,400 hackers from 67 countries, 22% new to web3
- 321 projects, 53 applied to the Nouns Prize, 10 winners
🇺🇸 Nouns Fair NYC 2023
- 1,400 hackers from 49 countries, 33% new to web3
- 303 projects, 50 applied to the Nouns Prize, 10 winners
🇹🇷 Nouns Fair Istanbul 2023
- 2,000 hackers from 90 countries, 24% new to web3
- 428 projects, 65 applied to the Nouns Prize, 3 winners
🇬🇧 Nouns Fair London 2024
- 700 hackers from 61 countries, 30% new to web3
- 241 projects, 50 applied to the Nouns Prize, 3 winners
Nouns Prize
A brief selection from the 30 Nouns Prize winner projects in 6 hackathons.
- DynOS ↗︎ - London winner and Hackathon Finalist 🏆 Improved onboarding experience to web3 with account abstaction and connection to dApps with email and social accounts.
- Stake Garden ↗︎ - Paris winner and Hackathon Finalist 🏆 Self-managed liquid staking tokens portfolio.
- Framed! ↗︎ - NY winner and Hackathon Finalist 🏆 A fully onchain & trustless hidden information game (Mafia).
- Onchain Game ↗︎ - NY winner turned into a succesful onchain proposal 🗳️ Nouns governance onchain game.
- Bunny AI ↗︎ - NY winner Mobile app to explore fun rabbit holes powered by AI/LLMs and crypto micropayments.
- Prepago ↗︎ - Lisbon winner Scratch-off, disposable prepaid crypto cards for bankless onboarding.
- V-lance ↗︎ - Waterloo winner Professional Identity Passport to Build Social Capital.
- Blobnouns ↗︎ - Istanbul winner Random Noun generator to send it onchain in a blob transaction.
- Check out all the winners ↗︎
The Nouns Fair 2024 (updated)
TL;DR
We will bring the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize to the next five ETHGlobal hackathons in 2024. We will create a fun and weird first Nouns experience for thousands of hackers worldwide and help them to build for the first time with Nouns. We request $222,010 USDC + 90 ETH to make this a reality.
Note: Due to feedback received from the community we are focusing only on the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize.
2023 Recap
In 2023, we embarked on a mission to bring Nouns to hackers worldwide. We took the Nouns Fair to 6 ETHGlobal hackatons and exposed Nouns to 6,800 hackers in 6 countries.
We introduced the Nouns Prize at those hackathons, and received 291 projects, representing 17% of the total submissions amongst 87 DAOs, protocols, and companies like the Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap Foundation, MakerDAO, ENS, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Scroll, EAS, Aragon, The Graph, Lens, Safe, MetaMask, Wallet Connect, and many more.
Of the 291 projects, 30 won the Nouns Prize. On average, 2 out of 10 hackathon winner projects were built with Nouns. Since then, we have seen interest in keeping building with Nouns resulting in a successful onchain proposal 459 ↗︎ and a Gardener Round winner ↗︎.
This is what The Nouns Fair looks like in numbers.
- 6 Nouns Fair events in 6 countries
- 6,800 hackers exposed to Nouns
- 291 project submissions to the Nouns Prize
- 30 Nouns Prize winner projects
- 2/10 hackathon finalists built with Nouns
- 17% of total projects in six hackathons built with Nouns
Learnings After several events, we've had learnings that helped us envision what future Nouns Fair/Prize editions might look like. Some of them are:
- People have seen/heard about Nouns at some point but don't know if they can build with them or get funding.
- People immediately connect with Nouns by looking at the characters or the booth's design or by listening to or seeing the wide range of projects Nouns has funded.
- People react positively and are willing to keep learning when a person is in front of them willing to help.
- People want to keep learning and building with Nouns after every event.
- People love Nouns and the Nouns Fair! It's a vibe.
For more details check our propdate ↗︎.
What's the plan for 2024?
We want to keep onboarding international hackers and help others create on top of Nouns. To do so, we plan to go to the remaining five IRL ETHGlobal hackathons in 2024.
- 🇬🇧 ETHGlobal London (March 15-17) ✅
- 🇦🇺 ETHGlobal Sydney (May 3-5)
- 🇧🇪 ETHGlobal Brussels (EthCC7 week, July 12-14)
- 🇸🇬 ETHGlobal Singapore (TOKEN20249 week, Sept 20-22)
- 🇺🇸 ETHGlobal San Francisco (Oct 18-20)
- 🇹🇭 ETHGlobal Bangkok (Devcon SEA week, Nov 15-17)
We know that making people's first experience with Nouns fun and meaningful makes the perfect environment to be receptive about wtf is Nouns, how the DAO works, and how people can collaborate.
Nouns Fair
The Nouns Fair is a fun experience focused on hackers, where they can engage, learn, and build with Nouns. These activations are localized nounish experiences with photo opportunities, games, swag, and learning material about all things Nouns in every hackathon. The Nouns fair is the weirdest onboarding mechanism showing a small bit of the thousand shapes Nouns can take.
The Nouns fair makes people immediately connect with Nouns by looking at the characters or the booth's design or by simply listening to or seeing the wide range of projects Nouns has funded. The next five editions of the Nouns Fair will have the same dedication and vibe that makes it a fun and memorable experience while keeping Nouns weird.
Nouns Prize
The 5,000 USDC Nouns Prize will be available in each hackathon along with the Nouns Fair and is aimed to reward hackers building on Nouns during an entire weekend. By doing this at every hackathon, we create a dedicated building window for hundreds of skilled hackers, familiarize them with the Nouns' culture, and incentivize and reward their efforts.
People feel encouraged to work on Nouns when they realize the endless possibilities. The Nouns Prize has given rise to some great projects, including a Prop House winner and a successful on-chain proposal that went entirely Nouns.
Since 2017, ETHGlobal has been a significant contributor to the Ethereum ecosystem by providing a platform for thousands of hackers to showcase their skills and foster interest. To further support ongoing innovation and development within Ethereum –including Nouns through the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize at ETHGlobal hackathons– we aim to officially partner with ETHGlobal for the next five hackathons in 2024.
Team
Mono ↗︎. Co-founder Nouns Amigos, Nouns Fair | Nouns Gardener, szn 1
Lex ↗︎ - Co-founder Nouns Amigos, Nouns Fair
Budget
We are requesting $222,010 USDC to cover the Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize production costs + 90 ETH compensation for 9 months of work.
Note: Nouns Prize and ETHGlobal partnership funds go directly to ETHGlobal. Note 2: we are adding a 10% buffer to the costs (except Nouns Prize section).
Nouns Fair and Nouns Prize production costs - $222,010 USDC
- (5) Editions of the Nouns Fair:
- Nouns Fair Sydney
- Nouns Fair Brussels
- Nouns Fair Singapore
- Nouns Fair San Francisco
- Nouns Fair Bangkok
- Photo set and games for (5) events
- Culture á la nounish for (5) events: noggles, stickers, Nouns NFC chips, t-shirts or special item, Nouns zine
- Video and photography edition for (5) events
- Traveling and accomodation for (5) events for (2) people
- Prizes for (5) editions of the Nouns Prize*
- ETHGlobal Partnership for (5) events including:*
- Nouns Fair booth in (5) hackathons
- Issue prizes to hackers in (5) hackathons
- Pre-recorded workshops in (5) hackathons
- Dedicated Discord channel for hackers' support in (5) hackathons
- Nouns logo feature on website + event assets in (5) hackathons
- Interactive learning guide on the ETHGlobal website
- Feature in ETHGlobal's email blasts
Compensation - 90 ETH
We are adjusting compensation because after last year's experience, we can honestly say we underestimated just how much work this project would involve month after month. We have now a better understanding of our project's complexity, vision, and impact to the DAO.
We ask for compensation for 9 months of work including booth design, swag and printed materials' design, working alongside international vendors, hosting the fair, fair and prize management and planning, IRL support to hackers, coaching, judging nouns prize submissions, prize documentation and website, social media management and design, media (video and photography) follow-up with hackers after the events, and coverage for any additional assistance required. We will create a Nouns Fair template releasing all booth and swag designs in the public domain with instructions so anybody can use them.
The first month of compensation is a direct transaction (we are already working to make it to Sydney), and the rest will be a stream of funds.
Regarding the increase of funds over time. 2022 budget was tight and considered for a single event:
- We didn't consider travel insurance (canceled flights, rescheduling, etc.), and the destinations were close to Mexico. Since we will plan ahead of time for the next events, we need the insurance in case any date changes and to be safe with connections + this year's destinations are further away.
- We didn't have the Nouns Prize and all that it entails
- We didn't have a buffer for price fluctuations
- We didn't consider per diems
- Low compensation
The 2024 budget compared to 2023's main differences are:
- We will make an official partnership with ETHGlobal
- We increased buffer from 5% to 10% (last year, USD/MXN was devaluated ~12%; we have another currency layer on top of USD)
- We adjusted compensation
2023 Recap - Reprise
Nouns Fair
🇵🇹 Nouns Fair Lisbon 2023
- 650 hackers from 51 countries, 29% new to web3
- 184 projects, 34 applied to the Nouns Prize, 2 winners
🇨🇦 Nouns Fair Waterloo 2023
- 650 hackers from 29 countries, 47% new to web3
- 169 projects, 39 applied to the Nouns Prize, 2 winners
🇫🇷 Nouns Fair Paris 2023
- 1,400 hackers from 67 countries, 22% new to web3
- 321 projects, 53 applied to the Nouns Prize, 10 winners
🇺🇸 Nouns Fair NYC 2023
- 1,400 hackers from 49 countries, 33% new to web3
- 303 projects, 50 applied to the Nouns Prize, 10 winners
🇹🇷 Nouns Fair Istanbul 2023
- 2,000 hackers from 90 countries, 24% new to web3
- 428 projects, 65 applied to the Nouns Prize, 3 winners
🇬🇧 Nouns Fair London 2024
- 700 hackers from 61 countries, 30% new to web3
- 241 projects, 50 applied to the Nouns Prize, 3 winners
Nouns Prize
A brief selection from the 30 Nouns Prize winner projects in 6 hackathons.
- DynOS ↗︎ - London winner and Hackathon Finalist 🏆 Improved onboarding experience to web3 with account abstaction and connection to dApps with email and social accounts.
- Stake Garden ↗︎ - Paris winner and Hackathon Finalist 🏆 Self-managed liquid staking tokens portfolio.
- Framed! ↗︎ - NY winner and Hackathon Finalist 🏆 A fully onchain & trustless hidden information game (Mafia).
- Onchain Game ↗︎ - NY winner turned into a succesful onchain proposal 🗳️ Nouns governance onchain game.
- Bunny AI ↗︎ - NY winner Mobile app to explore fun rabbit holes powered by AI/LLMs and crypto micropayments.
- Prepago ↗︎ - Lisbon winner Scratch-off, disposable prepaid crypto cards for bankless onboarding.
- V-lance ↗︎ - Waterloo winner Professional Identity Passport to Build Social Capital.
- Blobnouns ↗︎ - Istanbul winner Random Noun generator to send it onchain in a blob transaction.
- Check out all the winners ↗︎