Services
Why is the Web3 Deal Desk Needed?
Grants have become a crucial tool for Web3 ecosystems to compete and drive growth. To secure high-value, strategically significant deals, Polkadot’s BD teams need a dedicated funding mechanism that goes beyond existing options like the Treasury and Web3 Foundation grants.
This mechanism must be both agile and robust—ensuring transparency while maintaining the confidentiality required for commercially sensitive negotiations. W3DD fills this gap by providing BD teams with access to milestone-based funding for high-impact deals, offering expert guidance on commercial structuring, and ensuring funding decisions are rigorous, data-driven, and strategically aligned.
What is the Web3 Deal Desk?
W3DD gives BD teams access to milestone-based grants to fund important deals and bring high-quality projects to Polkadot. In addition to funding, W3DD offers guidance on deal structuring, negotiation support, and impact reporting—helping teams close deals more successfully and grow the ecosystem.
By simplifying funding processes, applying clear evaluation criteria, and offering expert deal support, W3DD improves funding utilization, strategic return on investment, and the success rate of BD deals. While W3DD facilitates funding, all deal execution and relationship management remain with the business development teams leading the deals.
What does the Deal Desk do?
As an impartial, expert-led steward of grant funding for strategic deals, the W3DD focuses on four key pillars:
- Strategic Fund Allocation: Deploying grant capital efficiently into high-value deals to maximize ecosystem impact in a sustainable, structured manner;
- Strategic Deal Evaluation: Conducting comprehensive assessments of funding applications using both on-chain and off-chain criteria to ensure alignment with ecosystem priorities;
- Expert Deal Advisory: Providing professional guidance on commercial structuring, including milestone-based funding models and negotiations, to optimize ROI while mitigating risk.
- Transparent Impact Reporting: Publishing periodic Deal Impact Reports to track outcomes, promote transparency, and deliver key insights on expected ecosystem growth.