The Interledger Community 🌱: Diego

moncon - The World's Simplest Paywall - Grant Report #1

Diego — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 10:52:53 +0000

Project Update

Hi everyone! We are excited to share with you our progress!! We really appreciate your feedback, it is very important for us to continue evolving and creating a better solution for the content creators and users.

Let's start!

moncon is a paywall for content creators. After talking with several publishers and creators, we came up with the idea to build the easiest and fastest content paywall. With moncon, content creators can easily "block" their content, and users can acquire content fast and easily.

Right now we are fully committed and working on having the first version of moncon, you can find more information in our Gitlab
https://gitlab.com/infinite-labs/moncon-framework/.

On another side, as an experienced team in product development, we are following the lean startup principles of idea -> validate -> measure and start again. We had defined two types of targets: big and traditional publishers and new native digital content creators. We are doing questionnaires to both groups and here we have the most important concepts:

They are in big trouble with current monetization.
Subscriptions are slow but they know the path is "user must pay".
Most of them are not familiar with micropayments.
Almost no-one understands the new vision of the next-generation internet about privacy (where users choose where they want to share data), SSI (self Sovereign Identity) and so on.
All of them would like to have a pay-as-you-go solution.
Most of them continue wanting to have user emails for marketing campaigns.
It's very important for them to have metrics and statistics about the content sold.
After these interviews, we have designed a product fitting their pains and needs.

Progress on objectives

Our proposal goals were two mainly:

To help content creators monetize their content instead of continuing struggling with ads business model.
To let users get unique and premium, high-quality content just paying fair value.

We separated three content creators categories:

Amateur content creators such as bloggers, vloggers and similar
Native Media companies such as eldiario.es, weblog SL,...(Spanish companies I have as service providers).
Big Media corporations such as Grupo Godò, Unidad Editorial, Grupo Zeta or Prisa (Spanish companies I have as service providers).
As we explain better in Communications and marketing, we have grouped Native and Big Media.

For that two goals, we cannot say we have achieved one of them yet, we have progressed talking with users and content creators, helping us design better moncon, but we have no helped no-one yet with our solution and this is our main goal.

Finally, these are our milestones timeline progress:
(🟢 DONE, 🟠 IN PROGRESS, 🔴 TO DO)

Pre-grant

🟢 Website: https://moncon.co

Month 1

🟢 moncon user wallet MVP
🟠 Content blog and videos
https://moncon.co/blog
https://cinnamon.video/moncon_co
We proposed to start from the first month to create 10 posts and 10 videos during the grant period, this is the progress:
Posts 7/10
Videos 3/10
All links in Communications and marketing

Month 2

🟢 moncon integration
First pilot integrated into https://demo.moncon.co
🟠 Content blog and videos
Same before.

Month 3

🟠 moncon API (now called Publisher JS, the paywall)
API test version in https://api-test.moncon.co
Gitlab: https://gitlab.com/infinite-labs/moncon-framework/-/tree/master/packages/api
🟢 marketing - content creators prospection
We explain in detail the marketing progress here.
The approach started with content creators is good enough, we have early adopters ready to use moncon.

Month 4

🟠 moncon user wallet
Finishing payment method.
🟢 marketing - content creators contacted
More info here.

Month 5

🟠 moncon content creators dashboard
Finishing NFT content.
🟢 marketing - content creators implementation

Month 6

🔴 moncon framwork 1.0
🟢 marketing - PR communications
More info here.

Post-grant

🔴 moncon lean process: continuous learning and promoting

Notice, the most important modules (API, User Wallet and Publisher Dashboard) were planned to start in three different months. It is not completely right, we had to start all of them at the same time, and we continue coding all of them too. When the first version is complete, we could say all three are done. And another important comment: our first approach was to build a browser plugin similar to coil one, but after talking with media publishers, we came up with the idea of not creating a plugin but a webapp wallet. We had conversations withs Coil team, and they helped us for a better technology understanding, so we can create directly a web account without using plugins. This is a very important change for the user's mass-adoption. We, as innovators, are used to installing plugins, and similar things, but most of the common users don't still know what is a plugin! Following our goals, we want to help as many users as possible, and we have to make moncon wallet very easy for them.

Key activities

Mainly, our key activities consist of creating a dashboard for creators to manage their paid content, a wallet for the user to purchase content from creators, and the paywall, which will be the gateway that content creators will put on their websites for users to purchase.

In that report, we will explain by module our progress:

Dashboard for content creators

This is the place where the content creators will have the possibility to create "premium" content. They will be able to create payment content in 4 different ways: Fix price, By time consumption, create NFT content, and subscription.

Content creator publisher mockup: https://www.figma.com/proto/53lKmWMWRVi7LJe4qeDG0W/Moncon?node-id=123%3A0&viewport=384%2C368%2C0.3576352298259735&scaling=min-zoom&hide-ui=1

For a better understanding, watch this video:

Progress:
🟢 Create account with moncon code
🟢 Create premium content
🟢 Get statistics (visits, payments, conversion rate...)
🟢 Set payment point
🟠 Receive real payments
🟠 Create NFT (non-fungible tokens) content

User Payment Wallet

The user has to create a moncon account, user can add crypto or fiat currency. When the user wants to buy content, he just has to click "unlock" on it. Easy and fast.

User payment flow mockup: https://www.figma.com/proto/53lKmWMWRVi7LJe4qeDG0W/Moncon-Flow-Mobile?node-id=596%3A1596&viewport=826%2C601%2C0.7664292454719543&scaling=scale-down

Watch this video to see it in action:

Progress:
🟢 Create moncon wallet
🟢 Access to premium content
🟢 Save content purchased
🟠 Set payment method
🟠 Buy NFT (non-fungible tokens) content

Paywall

Publisher JS
This is the piece of code that the content creator has to introduce into their website, just with a simple copy & paste:

<!-- add this before </head> -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://app.moncon.co/moncon.css">
<script src="https://app.moncon.co/moncon.js?id=lfoKAm5kfcP49Dsyu9wT8k7ub7s1" async></script>

Progress:
🟢 Easy integration into website
🟢 Block premium content
🟢 Embedded user wallet creation
🟠 Set payment method
🟠 Sell NFT (non-fungible tokens) content

Test our Demo

Right now, we have completed a version without a real payment. In the coming weeks, we will have it implemented. If you want to test our version, follow these steps:

1️⃣ Create a Publisher Account here:
https://app-test.moncon.co

2️⃣ Now, add your moncon script into your website:

Remember add your script into all website located just inside 'head' tag. In our case:

<head>
<meta charset="<?php bloginfo( 'charset' ); ?>">
<link rel="profile" href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
<link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo( 'pingback_url' ); ?>">
<?php wp_head(); ?>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn-test.moncon.co/moncon.css">
<script src="https://cdn-test.moncon.co/moncon.js?id=ao1xvAq1qgPtSuqHQGq9AbFQuZb2" async></script>
</head>

3️⃣ Come back to the Publisher dashboard and start creating premium content by URL:

4️⃣ Now, you have premium content blocked for payer users!

👉Remember in that version real-payment is not yet implemented👈

5️⃣ Finally, check your profit and statistics in your dashboard:

Please, if you want to give us your feedback, join our moncon telegram community https://t.me/monconcommunity or send us an email hello@moncon.co

Communications and marketing

We are focused on two types of targets: large content creators (they are clients we have already worked with, national media with high traffic volume) and small and medium content creators (bloggers, artists, etc.). From our first proposal, we had joined native and traditional media, in one group. After talking with them and because of the COVID situation, most of the traditional media are no longer printing newspapers, so COVID has forced their digital business transformation putting all the effort into the Internet. Because of that, there is no important difference between traditional and digital-native media.

For these two targets we follow two very different strategies:

The first one, we do a traditional approach, sales action with customized powerpoints, follow-up meetings, etc. The experience has been difficult because these media are slow in terms of innovative solutions, they are looking for solutions already tested, proven in the market and with a volume of customers, but fortunately, we have confidence with some of them and we are closing an agreement to launch a pilot with the Spanish-speaking media with the highest traffic in the world (https://marca.com).

And with the second group, we follow a content marketing strategy. We are creating press releases, posts and videos, which we move in social networks, in the telegram community. The traction is being positive, leads are arriving naturally through these channels and we already have more than the early adopters we had set ourselves, we had 3 and we have more than 5 interested in starting to use moncon.

Here are some of the contents we have been generating:

📻 Diego Torres, the CEO of the company, had an interview with national economic radio (Intereconomia) in Spain (audio in spanish): https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=535235304072677187

We also did a PR action with these results:
📰 News: https://www.europapress.es/comunicados/empresas-00908/noticia-comunicado-moncon-micropagos-contenidos-cambiara-internet-20210223123105.html
📰 Report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hQ3L7YvpmXR2PBc7mYaShnVzY5F6eGh/view?usp=sharing

📢 We are promoting our site using Social Media:
Telegram community (+200 members) https://t.me/monconcommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/moncon_co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moncon/
Our Blog is increasing the number of posts related to moncon:
https://moncon.co/micropayments-the-ultimate-method-to-monetize-content/
https://moncon.co/why-subscriptions-dont-surpass-the-1-of-the-readers/
https://moncon.co/moncon-wins-grant-for-the-web/
https://moncon.co/7-benefits-of-moncon-for-media/
https://moncon.co/more-and-more-football-players-invest-in-nfts/
https://moncon.co/digital-assets-what-they-are-and-how-they-disrupted-the-internet/
https://moncon.co/5-monetization-problems-for-media/

And from Diego's LinkedIn account (he has +18k followers):
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6775713070430855168/

And promoting moncon with videos:
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=520906893154059537
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=539585876968081392
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=539587316285441024

What’s next?

In the coming weeks, we will continue with the development of moncon, evolving the three modules so that we can make real payments (this is the next functionality) and be able to create and sell NFT items (non-fungible tokens). On the marketing side, we are still aiming to test moncon with early adopters, and we also hope to close the pilot deal with big media.

What community support would benefit your project?

We are looking for a round of funding to continue with the project, it is difficult to find investors who know and understand well this kind of products, but if you know someone, please get us in touch!! email: diego@moncon.co

Maybe, this deck can help:

Additional comments

We are delighted with the Grant For The Web community that has been created, we read the reports of other members, and it helps and inspires us with our product. The truth is that we have high hopes that moncon will become a massively used product, we are having many interviews with content creators which helps us a lot to understand their day to day life and thus understand their reality in order to help them. In innovation, there is always an important distance between disruptive technology like the one we are implementing and the daily use of it, so we try to make a balance between these two parts, we believe that is the biggest challenge we face ... and surely we will solve! 💪

Relevant links/resources

Our website: https://moncon.co
Demo: https://app-test.moncon.co
moncon DECK: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTL5sCJXyqN2nkiQUZDjmxGghVNfVenFCxL-tDJRi_dtsZww1HJK22iS5TH4wCWVVN3Wmt01cX-flCy/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000
Gitlab: https://gitlab.com/infinite-labs/moncon-framework/
Telegram community: https://t.me/monconcommunity
Our videos: https://cinnamon.video/moncon_co
Twitter: https://twitter.com/moncon_co

Micropayments | The Ultimate Method to Monetize Content

Diego — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:21:23 +0000

Intro

The digital panorama has transformed advertisement at all scales. And the way publishers monetize content evolves at the same pace, being micropayments their most reliable ally.

The classic advertising formulas don’t have the same effectiveness as years ago. The personalized material is at the forefront of marketing; everything indicates it will remain there, unbeatable.

According to Forbes, 49% of users disregard content because of bombarding advertisements. On the other hand, 36% of users are more likely to buy thanks to the customized offers.

In other words, the traditional advertising and subscription strategies aren’t enough to satisfy the modern market. But luckily, there’s another path for publishers.

Micropayments | A Cutting-Edge Dynamic

These transactions follow a principle: netizens pay what they want, including articles, videos, or podcasts, instead of choosing monthly or annual subscriptions. This way, they access more affordable pieces while creators can offer more attractive fees without risking investment.

Thanks to the lower costs, the articles can produce more engagement. So if you’re a creator aiming to monetize your content, probabilities are on your side.

According to Finextra, this is the best alternative to traditional pricing models. Such procedure was always played a role in the market, but it has become a global trend in the last years.

Numerous tech giants, such as Youtube, Amazon, and Facebook, offer reduced plans for selected privileges. Also, charities utilize them to collect contributions for their causes.

Although this trend isn’t so new, there was an event that proved the potential of micropayments:

The Arrival of Blockchain

Amidst the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto would create Bitcoin, the most successful cryptocurrency nowadays. Such an event would provoke the rise of the largest shared network for cryptocurrencies: Blockchain.

This matrix provides both consumers and publishers with a decentralized system to make transactions. There, every payment is confirmed by validated users worldwide, eradicating chances of fraud.

Since its arrival, it has become the safest channel to pay creative work, make contributions, and avoid scams, among other benefits. As a result, this network is today the most secure to perform and receive payments globally.

Advantages

Creative marketers at all levels are adopting this financial model due to its effectiveness, reliability, and sustainability. The reason is simple: this method disposes of more benefits for both parties.

Such benefits include, but not limited to:

Convenience. Neither bombarding advertisements nor personal bank accounts. Neither complicated payment methods nor unclear instructions. Consumers only need to pay a small fee to access the publishers’ material.
Quickness. A transaction with a cryptocurrency delays seconds. And everyone can make it directly by phone or computer.
Privacy. Blockchain is confidential, and its users are anonymous. Every movement is encrypted, which means your sensitive data and operations are safe.
Security. Since the system isn’t centralized, a hacker would have to trace and hack every single block in the chain –virtually impossible.

The micropayments through Blockchain are becoming a milestone of the modern marketing environment. This procedure allows publishers to take their work to unimaginable scales, promising to keep this pace for a long time. And if you look to monetize your articles, you should consider using them in your strategy.

At Infinite Labs, we are developing a micropayment solution: moncon. If you want more information, visit our website or send us an email to hello@moncon.co. Thanks for reading!

The world's simplest paywall — moncon

Diego — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 12:52:36 +0000

Project overview

moncon is an open-source framework that lets content creators securely monetize their content. moncon is composed of an API, a dashboard where content creators can manage the site configuration, payments and metrics, and a wallet that will allow users to pay for and store the content they buy. Users can consume content, paying for the time they spend, and storing content in their wallets. Creators can define the number of copies allowed and can set content to expire, making it exclusive and special for users.

Project team

Diego Torres is the CEO and founder of the entity, a telecommunication engineer, with more in business MBA by ENEB and master in cybersecurity with INISEG. He has more than 15 years of experience in digital project development, multidisciplinary and multicultural team management. He has worked for companies in the multimedia content sector and consulting firms. In the banking sector, he has worked for Banco Sabadell, leading Blockchain projects (such as DIGITALIS, event), participating in the working group of the EBA (European Bank Association) to define the European challenges and actions derived from Blockchain and IoT. Diego is also a member of the architecture of Alastria ID Workgroup. From a personal side, Diego is a member of the research group of the "AI & Human Rights Community" of the Open Society Foundations.

Jose Juan is a computer engineer with more than 15 years of experience developing complex software projects. He has helped La Caixa in several solutions, highlighting the high-performance ticketing platform for the sale of tickets in concerts with more traffic in Spain. He has worked together with Diego Torres for the last 8 years, developing IA technology and Big Data, an engine capable of generating questions and answers in real-time from digital content. For the last 5 years, Jose has developed pilots in Blockchain for Banco Sabadell and Peninsula.

Irene Martínez is a business developer and marketing manager, with an entrepreneurial mindset, she has managed several digital projects and events. She has successfully launched a diverse marketing campaign for new products, always using the bulls-eye technique for the last 5 years.

Carlos López is a full-stack developer, with more than 20 years of experience. He is an all-rounder in terms of software construction, both can program in C + +, objective C, Java and use Rust, React, or Solidity. Carlos has been collaborating with the team for more than 6 years, having participated in common projects.

Nuno Figueiredo is a product designer and frontend developer with 10 years of experience. He is Portuguese, and from a very young age came to Barcelona to study industrial engineering. Since then, he has collaborated with startups, advertising agencies, and small businesses.

From Infinite Labs, we collaborate with the UPC research department, specifically with cryptography and mathematics.

What we are doing

Right now we are fully committed and working on having the first version of moncon, you can find more information in our Gitlab
https://gitlab.com/infinite-labs/moncon-framework/ and check our promotional video https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=520906893154059537.

By another side, as experts on product development, we are following the lean startup principles of idea -> validate -> measure and start again. We had defined two types of targets: big and traditional publishers and new native digital content creators. We are doing questionnaires to both types and here we have the most important concepts:

They are in big trouble with current monetization.
Subscriptions are slow but they know the path is "user must pay".
Most of them are not familiar with micropayments.
Almost no-one understands the new vision of the next-generation internet about privacy (where users choose where they want to share data), SSI (self Sovereign Identity)-
All of them would like to have a pay-as-you-go solution.
Most of them continue wanting to have user emails for marketing campaigns.
It's very important for them to have metrics and statistics about the content sold.

After these interviews, we have designed a product fitting their pains and needs.

Here are the mockups

User payment flow: https://www.figma.com/proto/53lKmWMWRVi7LJe4qeDG0W/Moncon-Flow-Mobile?node-id=596%3A1596&viewport=826%2C601%2C0.7664292454719543&scaling=scale-down
Content creator publisher: https://www.figma.com/proto/53lKmWMWRVi7LJe4qeDG0W/Moncon?node-id=123%3A0&viewport=384%2C368%2C0.3576352298259735&scaling=min-zoom&hide-ui=1

📻 Diego Torres, the CEO of the company, had an interview with national economic radio (Intereconomia) in Spain (audio in spanish): https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=535235304072677187

Finally, we did a PR action with that results:
📰 News: https://www.europapress.es/comunicados/empresas-00908/noticia-comunicado-moncon-micropagos-contenidos-cambiara-internet-20210223123105.html
📰 Report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hQ3L7YvpmXR2PBc7mYaShnVzY5F6eGh/view?usp=sharing

What community support would benefit your project?

We are looking for small and medium content creators (<1M Monthly Users) hungry of tasting new monetization ways 😎

Link Round Up!

📢 If you want to follow us or join our community, follow these links:

Website: https://moncon.co
Promotional video: https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=520906893154059537
Telegram community https://t.me/monconcommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/moncon_co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moncon/
Gitlab: https://gitlab.com/infinite-labs/moncon-framework/

Highlight other projects

As a team, we had been working together for the last 10 years, now, we are aware of the privacy and security problems nowadays internet users suffer. At Infinite Labs, we want to put our effort to create new solutions for the next-generation Internet. This is the main reason we are developing moncon and other products like pdata (http://pdata.org) and many more. If you want to know more about us, please, send us a message hello@moncon.co!