What is the purpose of the Solana NFT Showdown?
The Solana NFT Showdown is designed to encourage aspiring NFT community creators to focus on product innovation and sound business pitches, ultimately strengthening the quality of new projects in the creator ecosystem.
When do I submit my pitch?
Pitches should be submitted between June 5th and June 9th. The submission window will close at 11:59 pm PST on June 9th.
What should my pitch include to be considered?
Your pitch should include:
- Your target audience.
- Problems to be solved with your utility or product(s).
- Your business model and go-to-market strategy, which will detail your vision for launch and the real-world application of your product(s) and/or utility.
- Your short and long-term community engagement and retention plans.
- A high level mock-up of your collection’s art concept.
- Bonus: How Solana NFT technologies, like state compression, trait swaps, xNFTs and more will be used to supercharge your project.
How do I submit a project idea?
To submit your project pitch, put together a document in PDF format and submit it on the website when the submission window opens on June 5th.
Who can participate in the Solana NFT Showdown?
The competition is open to all business-minded creators who are interested in launching an NFT brand, with a focus on providing real-world products and solutions across various verticals. No existing projects will be accepted at this time.
What are the judging criteria for the competition?
Projects will be evaluated on their business acumen, user-centric product thinking, creative direction and lore, innovative use of Solana tech, and real-world application.
Are there any prizes for the competition winners?
Yes, the winning projects will receive various forms of support to help propel the viability of their business plan forward – including mentorship, office hours with the Solana team and workshops with industry experts and NFT community leaders. They will also be eligible to receive Creator tickets to Solana’s Breakpoint event scheduled from Oct. 30 - Nov. 3, 2023.
What does being selected as a winner mean?
Winners of the NFT Showdown will have the unique opportunity to work with Solana Foundation team and industry mentors on refining their business plans. It is important to note that being selected as a winner means that you have a promising pitch idea and we are giving you an opportunity to work with individuals with industry know-how to take it to the next level. It does not mean the Solana Foundation is endorsing your company or blessing your mint.
What are some resources I can look at as I build my pitch for The NFT Showdown?
Below you will find some resources for you to consider as you think through the utility and functionality of your PFP collection.
Compressed NFTs: A new technology to store data directly on-chain that cuts down on cost by magnitudes of scale. Mint millions of NFTs for just a few hundred dollars.
- https://solana.com/news/state-compression-compressed-nfts-solana
- https://underdogprotocol.com/
- https://github.com/solana-developers/compressed-nfts
Programmable pNFTs: A new NFT standard empowers creators to enable royalty enforcement by specifying which programs can transfer their NFTs.
Executable xNFTs: This is a standard for developing tokenized code representing ownership rights over its execution.
Trait Swapping: Trait swapping enables holders to trade and collect traits on their NFT in a controlled, composable, and fee-gated environment that produces reliable new revenue streams for NFT brands. There are 2 providers for trait swapping, Metaplex Fusion and Raindrop Boots.
Metaplex Creator Studio: This platform makes it easy to create, sell, and manage Solana NFTs without writing a single line of code.
Crossmint: This platform provides a suite of APIs and tools that help you create, distribute, sell and custody NFTs for your users.
Holaplex: This platform gives NFT creators a set of APIs to quickly and easily launch NFT campaigns, mint digital collectibles, run loyalty programs, and more.
Elixir CreatorX: A self-service NFT creation & distribution platform, designed to help NFT founders manage their entire project.
Phase Protocol: An escrow program that distributes funding acquired by NFT teams based on phases and milestones, to provide greater transparency and accountability of NFT projects for buyers, founders, and others.