The Dojo provides trusted, scalable, templated paths for launching different types of tokens.
At Upside, we are launching the Dojo because it is the right thing to do for the market and for our customers. At a market level, the Dojo model helps resolve existing coordination challenges between organizations in the space working on different pieces of tokenization. Additionally, the Dojo model also amplifies stronger signals within the broader Web3 ecosystem for good actors in the space.
Then, for individual customers, the Dojo provides lots of benefits compared to working on these issues alone or in a more bespoke manner.
At Upside, we hear questions like these all the time. How do I safely launch a token? How do I build a token that avoids regulatory uncertainty? How do I get help with my tokenomics, capital flow diagrams, and whitepaper? Do you know any investors for our token? How do we get listed on exchanges? Yet, all of these questions are missing at least part of the point.
At the most elemental level, launching any token is guided by an underlying understanding of the type of digital asset that is best suited to your project. Digital assets come in all shapes and sizes. Some digital assets are securities, others are not. Some digital assets are managed like a company, through different types of voting procedures. Other digital assets are managed entirely through code. Each of these different considerations results in different business, legal, technical, and cultural structuring. Based on our Taxonomy of Tokens eBook, we developed a series of guided paths for various digital assets.
Understanding what you know is one thing, but understanding what you do not know is another. This is why we created the Dojo, an interactive education platform for launching a token.
As a startup focused on building a comprehensive operating system for tokenization products, we have seen firsthand the wide variety of challenges facing those who want to launch a token. The process can be time consuming, expensive, and even frustrating to reach out to all the different professionals from different backgrounds only to hear conflicting advice. On top of that, it is difficult to verify who is or is not an expert. The difference between having a trusted network of partners and not having one tends to be the difference between having a successful launch and a launch with problems (or worse, no launch at all).
Looking at the landscape for Web3 broadly, the difficulties facing a first-time founder represent a larger problem in the market that has existed since its inception. As evidenced by Bitcoin and Ethereum in the early days of crypto, the promise of blockchain is one that:
Yet, the adoption rate for the majority of crypto products remains relatively small and largely untapped. Smaller still is the number of people launching crypto projects. For a technology premised on access and configurability, blockchain has been fundamentally limited by the difficulty of launching projects. That stops now.
At Upside, we are developing a Web3 operating system that is available for and usable by everyone. What does this mean? This means we are announcing a new program – the Dojo – to help improve the accessibility of blockchain products and allow users to verify the fidelity of their projects.
The Dojo is a program designed to connect all the dots between the different disciplines required to take a token from idea to launch. At the heart of the Dojo is a desire to create verifiable, repeatable, and scalable tokenization templates. We have developed a set of standardized paths to prepare early stage companies for launching a Web3 business.
The Dojo takes you step by step through a series of exercises to prove your readiness at four key junctions – planning, deploying, distributing, and trading. Each of these junctions represents a different belt that Participants in the Dojo may earn. Participants who complete the required tasks for each level of The Dojo successfully will receive a badge commemorating their accomplishment.
Along the way, you will unlock access to different tools, including our tokenomics calculator and the Upside's platform for managing tokens, transfers, and onboarding of token-holders. You will also unlock introductions to our network of partners, including professional services firms (law, tax, advisory, etc.), as well as early stage investors. Yes, you read that correctly. If you make it through the Dojo and verify the fidelity of your tokenization project, you will get introductions to our network of Web3-focused investors.
In the same way that the notion of blockchain sought to verify the fidelity of digital assets, the structure of the Dojo is designed to help you verify the fidelity of your tokenization project. Drawing from martial arts, a dojo is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning, and meditation. In particular, in modern Karate, colored belt ranks are used to represent progress through a curriculum of systematic, prearranged sequences or techniques that must be mastered. Participants are required to complete all sequences and techniques of one belt before moving on to the next belt.
The Dojo program at Upside builds on this structure of using proven mastery at different levels as a mechanism to unlock new challenges and configures it to the unique needs of Web3.
The Dojo was established with the aim of using proven mastery as a means to unlock new challenges, tools, and connections. Participants in the Dojo will gain access to a highly curated set of modules. Each module will include a task that must be completed before moving on to the next belt, as well as introductions to strategic partners. Modules are continually being refined based on feedback to improve the durability of learnings in The Dojo.
All given modules will include both a standardized path (or standardized set of paths) and a custom path. Standardized paths have been developed in conjunction with our partnership network and encapsulate learnings from successful (and unsuccessful) experiences. To complete a module using a standard path, Participants must adapt the standard path to their project and submit it for feedback.
Custom paths allow Participants to upload proof of their completion of a module using a non-standard path OR seek an introduction to one of our partners for a more custom solution. This provides flexibility for people who want to bring more innovative approaches to their tokenization project and, for Participants who have more complex needs than our standard paths support, we are also able to make a qualified introduction to somebody who is able to get your project exactly the help that it needs.
The modules of the Dojo are organized in a way to help Participants master increasingly difficult tokenization tasks. Mastery of all of a belt's challenges results in the unlocking not only the challenges of the next belt, but also the proprietary tools and connections that are associated with each new level in the Dojo. Because different digital asset types require different steps for mastery, our belt system has been designed so that there is a different set of challenges for Security Tokens, Utility Tokens, DAOs, and NFT projects. The basics of Upside's Colored Belt Ranking system are outlined below:
All subscriptions to the Dojo come with support in multiple forms. First, there is direct support from Upside. Participants are able to ask questions while completing modules in the Dojo which will be directed to Upside's customer success team. Secondly, there is expert support. Participants in the Dojo will be able to unlock access to intimate and highly curated events with experts in the space. Finally, there is community support. Participants in the Dojo will have opportunities to attend in-person activations with like minds to share building practices, discuss the availability of new features and connections, and provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the Dojo, itself.
As it is with martial arts, the commitment required by The Dojo is commensurate with the level of effort you are willing to put in. The more you put in the more you will get out. This is especially the case at the time of writing this post. At the time of writing, we are excited to offer a special discount to beta testers of The Dojo. Sign-up using the link below and you will be eligible to receive a more tailored solution for your tokenization project.
To learn more about the required level of commitment, availability, and pricing that is associated with the Dojo, head to our website and check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
Instead of giving you a mere collection of parts that might fit together if you do everything right, our harmonized stack of business, legal, technical, and cultural systems enables us to mindfully deliver tokenization products that will function as a vehicle to drive you into the future.
For more information visit https://www.upside.gg/the-dojo
