Polkadot Head Ambassador Application: William

Introduction

Hello! My name is William, and I’m applying to be a Head Ambassador (HA) for Polkadot. I would like to serve the ecosystem and work to drive forward a vibrant, effective and inclusive ambassador program.

I’d like to start by describing how I view the larger context from which we operate. I believe we are at the crossroads of a few transitions for Polkadot:

• the transition from 1.0 to the future,
• the decentralization and its aftereffects,
• and the first chapter of how we want to govern Polkadot as a DAO

We need to navigate all of these successfully for the network to flourish, but should acknowledge they inject uncertainty for participants, contributors, builders and end users. I believe the role of ambassadors is to communicate bi-directionally for the organization while bringing forth a strong case to choose Polkadot, and the role of Head Ambassadors is to lead by example and create a resilient and effective organization for ambassadors.

The foundation we establish now, not just on technical matters, but on the organizational, outreach and cultural aspects of Polkadot will lay the groundwork for network success over the next decade. While I have not been a Polkadot ambassador before, I believe that I can offer an outside perspective, seek out and listen to stakeholders, and be committed to building up the ambassador collective as a key part of the next evolution of Polkadot.

Polkadot Experience

I bring into this role the culmination of a number of different experiences in Polkadot. I started as a member of Talisman from May 2022 to May 2024, which gave me the perspective of being an ecosystem team dealing directly with end users and enterprises trying to use Polkadot. I was able to become familiar with working with many of the funding opportunities available in Polkadot, including the Polkadot treasury, the W3F grants program and the DF program, as well as the stress for teams inherent in the application process.

However, I feel my proper introduction to the ecosystem happened at the Polkadot Blockchain Academy HK 2024, where I got to know over 100 builders as well as instructors from W3F, Parity, the Fellowship and the ecosystem. I was able to learn about the design and operation of Polkadot on a deeper level, and this inspired me to volunteer my candidacy to be a Decentralized Voice for the first cohort, to help steward governance. I believe that I served with integrity and care in the position. Following is a summary of my recent experience:

• Selected as Decentralized Voices Cohort 1, and via that monitored and evaluated hundreds of proposals. (See my original application)
• Attended Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) HK 2024 and graduated with distinction, winning the pitch competition
• Authored, applied for and awarded (as part of a company) a DF Grant for Signet
• Authored, applied for and awarded (as part of a company) a W3F Grant for Signet and “Sign-in With Substrate” (SIWS)
• Authored, submitted and was granted (as part of a company) 5 Polkadot Treasury Proposals totaling $1.7M (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• Set up and managed on-chain multisig and proxy/AA structures for organizations in both Polkadot and Ethereum.
• Interviewed by Irina for the “Business Case for Polkadot” podcast
• Gave insights on the decentralization initiative in the Forbes article
• Have attended numerous Polkadot events: Token 2049 SG (Polkadot Booth; 2023), PBA Hong Kong (Jan 2024), Sub0 Bangkok (March 2024), TeamZ Tokyo (Polkadot Booth; March 2024), EthTaipei (Polkadot Booth; March 2024), JAM Lecture SG/PBA Ceremony (planned; June 2024), Decoded Brussels (planned; July 2024).
• Multisig signer to steward various OpenGov spends for the community: Mythical x DOT, InterMiami

I am currently in the planning phase of an initiative in Polkadot to create a web portal that uses ROI-based storytelling to engage and convert enterprise adopters for Polkadot. I hope this will be funded by the ecosystem, as I believe we have so far to go in terms of promoting the awareness and value proposition of Polkadot to enterprise adopters in a way that resonates with them. I believe this ties in well to the role of Head Ambassador, and will describe it more in the next section.

Role

I will approach the role of the Head Ambassador with three areas of focus: 1- Bridging Polkadot to the outside world, 2- Bringing the voices of internal stakeholders to the surface, and 3- Creating a robust organization to set up the collective for success.

1- Bridging Polkadot to the outside world:

I believe the primary role of ambassadors is to shine a light on the ecosystem’s successes and build bridges to partners and potential adopters to enhance the ecosystem. I believe the noise and attention we generate today is too much within our own echo chamber as well as too hidden behind the Polkadot learning curve, and I believe that if we focus on ROI-based storytelling we can make Polkadot’s platform resonate much better with enterprise adopters.

I recently did a survey of all the enterprise success stories I could find, and surprisingly there were a lot! As you can see in the image below, Polkadot ALREADY has a lot of enterprise success stories and I will work to collect, create and disseminate these stories so they spread both within and outside of the ecosystem, working hand in hand with both BD teams and ambassador teams.

Beyond these successes, it’s important to communicate all of the resources and support that Polkadot provides for onboarding, and funnel external parties to ecosystem support services, including but not limited to the Technical Support bounty, the BD teams around the ecosystem, the deployment infra like Tanssi/Magnet/Pop and the system integrators like BlockDeep and R0gue. And of course there are the different bounties and treasury that can help to fund integrations. These are incredible benefits that enable adoption of Polkadot, but it’s not clear enough to outsiders that they are available. I will work towards spreading the message about the support Polkadot can provide to adopters.

Given the decentralized nature of our global organization, BD teams are naturally siloed, and we can improve the “glue” that connects representative groups together. I will endeavor to help to align efforts among the different groups so that we can more easily bring wins from one group or geographic area to others.

As an HA, I will also offer 1:1 support and onboarding help for interested enterprises, to understand their needs at a first pass and connect them to the right ecosystem resources to advance to the next stage in their Polkadot journey, as well as enable other ambassadors on the team to do the same. I believe customer relationship management is very important in the pre-sales process for onboarding larger enterprises. As someone who is very familiar with the ecosystem funding opportunities (e.g. DF, W3F, Treasury, bounties/prizes) as well as the BD teams, I believe I can help newcomers in choosing the best path to enter the ecosystem. Furthermore, I will work on building and enabling champions within enterprises to spread Polkadot.

2- Bringing the voice of internal stakeholders to the surface:

One key realization that hit me when I first started my DV role was how many constituencies within the ecosystem did not want to make their voices heard in governance. This happened for various reasons, including not wanting to oppose a powerful force that may retaliate, being restricted based on where they work, not having time to understand proposals in detail, not wanting to vote against friends/allies in a non-anonymized way, cultural or language barriers, personality, or not wanting to get into the politics of the situation. One aspect of what I took on in my role of DV was to seek out these voices, hear their perspective, and represent the unspoken so that their views and concerns could be heard. I believe this is still very important to enable a healthy ecosystem, and I will continue this as HA.

Another internal aspect that I feel is very important after my DV experience is bridging East and West, especially the Chinese community. Polkadot, by heritage, is largely European/Western, but Polkadot as a blockchain ecosystem is global, and should inspire and support builders from all over the world. Frequently it comes down to language/cultural barriers which just require patience and understanding to surmount. As my background is from the US and I now live in East Asia, I believe I can help to promote this region, bring new leaders in the fold and encourage voices that have not spoken as loudly yet are just as motivated to contribute.

3- Creating a robust organization to set up the collective for success:

Finally, I believe the role of HA is not just about public relations, BD or communication, but it requires standing up the organization of ambassadors and ensuring it can support what they need to be successful. This involves mentorship, leadership and organizational skills. I am fully committed to work with the other Head Ambassadors and rise to the challenge of setting up an efficient and effective organization.

I will proactively seek out feedback from existing and past ambassadors, the community, token holders and other stakeholders in order to bring the organization forward. This will necessarily be a team effort that involves multiple stakeholders, and I see the Head Ambassadors as the responsible party for actioning the education, training, planning, satisfaction and effectiveness of the collective.

Compensation

I believe the HA funding should go towards Head Ambassador duties, which include representing Polkadot, engaging external parties such as potential adopters or investors, familiarizing oneself with the ecosystem and ecosystem participants, education and building up the collective from an operational point of view. If I receive funding from Polkadot to bring forth any initiatives I am working on, it will be segmented from HA duties.

Personal Background

I have a strong technical foundation, with a Computer Science degree from a leading institution, and I started my career as an engineer and then product manager. I later moved into the business side, e.g. sales and operations, and earned an MBA, which I feel provided a great foundation in the non-technical areas of management, communications and organizational design. I believe I can effectively bridge the worlds of tech and business and this is important both within the ecosystem and externally with potential partners and enterprise adopters.

Beyond just qualifications, I think success in this role really comes down to being able to focus on and care about the people in and around Polkadot, including the builders creating the ecosystem, the teams coming in to adopt, the potential investors, the token holders, the ambassadors and the myriad other stakeholders who make up the ecosystem. I hope to have your support in this endeavor, and please reach out with any questions.

William
@replghost on TG