Lead Name
HuntingHumans (Discord) DieCrypto (Twitter)
Project Name
Wassie Coffee
Elevator Pitch
Coffee is a great way to start the day! But a better way would be with Wassies Coffee. The Wassie Coffee Company will supply Wassie branded coffee that you can stab with a big knife and then crush in a grinder.
Project Description
There are lots of options to link our favorite lil’ shids to daily consumables and I believe that bespoke Wassie branded coffee could be a great option. 64% of Americans drink coffee every day, of which 79% brew it at home (National Coffee Association, 2019) which means lots of places for Wassies to hide. Whether its ground coffee (Crushed Wassie (kept in the fridge)), a dark roast (Outcast) or even the dreaded decaf (Zombie Wassies), ‘Wassie Coffee’ plans to make Wassies the defacto crypto-coffee icon.
How does your project add value to ByWassies?
Wassies are still rarely seen outside of CT. I want people to see Wassies every morning infesting their kitchen. ‘Wassie Coffee’ will establish CC0 Wassie #4150 as a brand icon and other CC0 Wassies as figures for a range of coffee flavors and blends. By linking Wassies to a popular product like coffee, a physical representation of Wassies will spread like a plague beyond CT and out into the world via the medium of coffee.
With initial support from the bywassie grant ‘Wassie Coffee’ aims to become a cost/profit neutral provider of Wassie branded coffee to a global market. Profits made will go back into the grant system or be used to purchase bywassie NFTs for community giveaways.
Funding Request
$16,614
Financials and Task Breakdown
Start-Up Cost: $2114
• Purchase of suitable domain name (wassiecoffee.com): $18
• Purchase wassiecoffee.eth (5 years 0.05ETH): $92
• $30 per month (6) subscription (starter) to dripshipper.io coffee company: $180
• $29 per month (6) subscription (basic) to Shopify: (6 months) $174
• Coffee test samples, printing mockups, and FDA label approval: $200
• Label design purchases: $50
• Basic market research, blind taste testing/ranking, and creative testing: $200
• 20 weekly community prizes (Twitter/Discord) of free coffee ($30 x 20): $600
• Complimentary coffee samples to community contributors: ($30 x 20) $600
Administration Costs: $14,400
• 20 hours per week at $30 per hour (6 Months): $14,400
• Beyond month 6, if sufficient orders are in place to continue with ‘Wassie Coffee’ and there is agreement from ‘bywassies’ that ‘Wassie Coffee’ should continue, then additional administrative expenses and/or use of earnings may be requested/used for future administration at the rate of 10 hours per week.
Items request:
• $16,614 total in cost (breakdown)
- $914 at the start for initial setup (website and coffee producer subscription)
- $1200 for coffee purchases for artists, competition winners, and community contributors.
- $2400 end of month 1 (administration)
- $2400 end of month 2 (administration)
- $2400 end of month 3 (administration)
o Past this point, funding is on the condition that coffee purchasing is active and start-up tasks have commenced.
- $2400 end of month 4 (administration)
- $2400 end of month 5 (administration)
- $2400 end of month 6 (administration)
• Business support and financial oversight.
• 1 Wassie NFT for 1st-year anniversary giveaway (held by ‘bywassie’).
• In-house Wassie artist's support and permission to use existing assets to help create the website.
Estimated Timeline
Short-term goals (first 6 months):
• Setup wassiecoffee.com to supply 10 different Wassie-themed coffee blends online globally.
• Regular posting and engagement on Wassie Coffee Twitter and Instagram accounts.
• Market ‘Wassie Coffee’ by focusing on CT and the NFT community.
• Run coffee giveaways on Twitter for CT engagement and in Discord for Wassie NFT holders.
• Provide complimentary coffee to community members.
Mid-term goals (first year)
• Make connections with smaller regional coffee suppliers to establish the feasibility of creating special edition premium wassie coffee blends on a more local scale.
• Increase ‘Wassie Coffee’ types/blends to 30 types, cold brew, and coffee pods based on community/customer feedback.
• Add Wassie-related coffee products and merch to the site.
• Expand targeted marketing to the wider crypto community.
• Reach running cost-neutrality.
Long-term goals (beyond first year):
• Make Wassies the crypto coffee icon!
• Transition from a global to multiple regional coffee suppliers in order to reduce transport costs and provide global variation in coffee types and Wassie branding.
• Reimburse grant scheme using any profits beyond those required for the running/expansion of Wassie Coffee.
• Collaborate with other community members to expand the utility of the Wassie Coffee brand.
• Supply coffee to crypto-related events.
• Take crypto payments for coffee.
Business Model
Creating a coffee company from scratch capable of supplying a high-quality product to a global market from the ground up would be a difficult and expensive task. However, coffee distribution companies such as dripshipper.io (https://www.dripshipper.io/) exist to provide a centralized location that can distribute personalized coffee products using bespoke branding.
By using such a supplier all orders would be fulfilled by a company independent of ‘Wassie Coffee’, meaning that no financial transactions or sensitive personal information would be passed to ‘Wassie Coffee’ (so purchasers could not be doxxed). The coffee will be roasted on the day it is shipped, ensuring freshness and there are no minimum order requirements, so you can get a Wassie in your kitchen for ~$20 (inc US shipping).
This model would establish ‘Wassie Coffee’ as the crypto coffee and ideally allow for a phased transition after the 1st year to smaller more regional coffee suppliers in order to create special edition wassie coffee blends and provide a more local or niche experience.
This grant is to support a 6-month period to establish the viability of ‘Wassie Coffee’, with the target of becoming a break-even/slight profit venture. After this period, the project's continued feasibility would be evaluated by the ‘bywassies’/grant team. If it is deemed practical then additional resources may be requested to continue supporting or expand on ‘Wassie Coffee’.
Coffee Pricing
Coffee will be priced at 10% above cost rather than the recommended 20%, making it cheaper to buy than other quality coffee brands but providing capital that can be used to pay for costs (website hosting, subscriptions, admin, etc) beyond the initial 6 month grant support period.
Deliverables
Establish a website (wassiecoffee.com) that uses dripshipper.io and Shopify.com to provide high-quality wassie branded coffee products for sale globally.
Project Status
• Purchased wassiecoffee.eth
• Purchased wassiecoffee.com
• ‘Wassie Coffee’ Twitter account created.
• Researched several global coffee suppliers and chosen dripshipper.io as the preferred initial global supplier.
• Started trial period of Shopify subscription and set up test sales page.
• Started trial period of dripshipper.io subscription
• Created an FDA compliant draft ‘Wassie Coffee’ label created using CC0 Wassie 4150 (see mockup attached).
• Created and ordered a test sample from dripshipper.io with draft branding.
Additional Useful Information
If this grant is deemed feasible, an initial quick run of coffee samples using the draft branding image (attached) could be ready and shipped from the supplier to a US address within less than 2 weeks. This means that samples could be available for NFT.NYC.2022 on June 21-23st.