Introduction
Project Name: SiaPlaybook
Name of the organization or individual submitting the proposal: Dapp Mentors
Describe your project.
SiaPlaybook is a 7-part educational series designed to show developers, startups, businesses, and investors how to architect and launch real, data-intensive applications on the Sia ecosystem — using Renterd and S5 as the storage backbone — with near-zero entry barriers.
Each of the 7 modules follows a consistent, production-ready format structured around the title convention: “How I Would Build [Industry/Business] with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation.”
Every module delivers 5 companion deliverables:
- YouTube Video — A walkthrough of a complete system built on Sia, covering architecture decisions, cost savings vs. centralized providers, and integration patterns using Renterd/S5.
- Blog Article — A written companion piece expanding on the video with technical depth, code snippets, and use-case context.
- Technical Design Document (TDD) — A full system specification covering architecture, data flows, API integration, cost modeling, and business considerations.
- Architectural Blueprint — A production-ready visual diagram optimized for both developers (implementation) and business owners (decision-making).
- User Journey Map — An actor-level flow diagram showing every system participant and their interaction with the Sia-powered backend.
This yields 35 total deliverables across the 2-month production window.
The 7 module topics are:
| # | Module Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | How I Would Build a Decentralized Video Streaming Platform with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
| 2 | How I Would Build a Privacy-First Healthcare Records System with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
| 3 | How I Would Build an AI Training Dataset Storage & Versioning Pipeline with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
| 4 | How I Would Build a Creator Economy & Digital Asset Ownership Platform with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
| 5 | How I Would Build a Decentralized Backup & Disaster Recovery System for SMBs with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
| 6 | How I Would Build a Legal & Financial Document Vault with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
| 7 | How I Would Build a Supply Chain Provenance & Document Tracking System with AI Agents, Sia Blockchain, and Automation |
Each topic was selected because it is (a) inherently data-intensive, (b) privacy-sensitive in ways that make centralized storage a genuine liability, and (c) practical enough that a developer or business owner can begin implementation immediately after consuming the materials.
How does the projected outcome serve the Foundation’s mission of user-owned data?
The Sia Foundation’s mission — user-owned data — is the principle that individuals and organizations should have sovereign, private, censorship-resistant control over their data. This series directly serves that mission across four interconnected pillars:
1. Data Privacy as the Core Narrative
Every module is deliberately anchored in a data-privacy-sensitive vertical: healthcare records, legal and financial vaults, creator asset ownership, and supply chain provenance. This is not incidental — it is the strategic framing. Each module explicitly demonstrates why centralized storage is a structural liability in these industries, and positions Sia’s sovereign, encrypted, decentralized storage model as the technically and ethically superior alternative. Learners leave each module not just knowing how to build on Sia, but understanding why data privacy makes Sia the only responsible architectural choice for sensitive, high-value workloads.
2. Practical Adoption Through Developer Relations & Technical Guidance
Most existing Sia content explains what the network does. This series shows how to build on it — giving developers and businesses a complete implementation path, not just inspiration. This is developer relations in its most durable form: enabling builders through technical guidance they can act on immediately. Lower barriers to entry directly translates to more businesses choosing Sia over AWS S3 or Google Cloud.
3. Business-Layer Onboarding, Ecosystem Introductions & Partner Connections
The series targets a segment underserved by current Sia content: non-technical founders, product managers, and business owners who make infrastructure decisions. By pairing technical blueprints with business-layer user journey maps and cost comparisons, we equip decision-makers — not just engineers — to choose Sia. Each module functions as an ecosystem introduction for a new vertical — healthcare, legal, creator economy, SMB disaster recovery — connecting Sia to the real-world industries and partner ecosystems where it can displace incumbent centralized providers. This expands the Foundation’s partner connections surface by making Sia legible and actionable to sector-specific audiences for the first time.
4. Co-Marketing & Go-to-Market Support
All 35 deliverables are permanent, open-access resources that the Sia Foundation can deploy as co-marketing assets. The videos, blueprints, and TDDs are ready-made go-to-market materials for Foundation outreach — usable in developer onboarding, conference presentations, YouTube Shorts, partnership pitches, and grant reporting — indefinitely. This is a one-time investment with compounding ecosystem value.
Are you a resident of any jurisdiction on that list? No
Will your payment bank account be located in any jurisdiction on that list? No
Grant Specifics
Amount of money requested and justification with a reasonable breakdown of expenses:
Total requested: $8,300 USD
| Line Item | Details | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Content Research & Scripting | 7 modules × ~6 hrs research + scripting per module | $1,400 |
| Video Production & Recording | 7 videos, avg. 15–30 min each, incl. screen recording, narration, and review passes | $2,300 |
| Video Editing & Post-Production | Professional editing, motion graphics, thumbnails × 7 | $1,500 |
| Architectural Blueprint Design | 7 production-ready diagrams, developer + business optimized | $700 |
| User Journey Map Design | 7 actor-level journey maps, developer + business optimized | $700 |
| Technical Design Documents | 7 full TDDs covering architecture, API integration, cost modeling, and business analysis | $700 |
| Blog Articles | 7 written companion pieces, SEO-optimized | $700 |
| Contingency / Tools | Tools, software licenses, incidentals | $300 |
| Grand Total | $8,300 |
All work will be completed by the core team. No subcontractors. Payment preferred monthly: $4,150 at project start (Month 1), $4,150 upon delivery of all 35 deliverables (Month 2).
What is the high-level architecture overview for the grant? What security best practices are you following? Please review our Development Guide for further details.
This is an educational content project, not a software build. However, each module will itself present and document a high-level architecture. The production architecture for the series is as follows:
Content Production Stack:
- Storage — All course assets, source files, and working documents stored on GitHub for public accessibility under common creator license.
- Video — Recorded in 1080p/4K, edited in DaVinci Resolve
- Diagrams — Programmatically designed blueprints and journey maps for high-level interactivity.
- Documents — Technical design documents published as open PDF on GitHub
- Distribution — YouTube (primary), with blog articles on Dev.to/Medium/Dapp Mentors Website
What are the goals of this small grant? Please provide a general timeline for completion.
Primary Goal: Produce 35 high-quality, evergreen educational deliverables that lower the barrier for developers and businesses to build on the Sia ecosystem.
Secondary Goal: Establish a repeatable content format that the Sia Foundation can continue using or commissioning for future ecosystem verticals — building long-term developer relations infrastructure.
| Month | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Month 1 | Finalize all 7 module outlines, research, and scripting. Record, edit, and publish modules 1–3 (video + blog + TDD + blueprint + journey map). Begin production on modules 4–7. |
| Month 2 | Complete and publish modules 4–7. Final review and quality pass on all remaining deliverables. Submit project report with all links and analytics. |
End-of-month progress reports will be submitted to the Sia forum as required.
What are your plans for this project following the grant?
- All 35 deliverables will remain permanently public and open-access
- The Sia Foundation is welcome to repurpose any asset — videos, blueprints, TDDs, journey maps — for internal onboarding, co-marketing campaigns, go-to-market materials, or conference use, without restriction
- The series is designed to be YouTube Shorts-ready: each video contains discrete, clip-worthy segments that can be extracted for short-form promotion
- We intend to pitch a Season 2 covering 7 additional verticals if this grant demonstrates strong engagement, continuing the series as an ongoing developer relations and ecosystem introduction asset
- All architectural blueprints and TDDs will be hosted on a public GitHub repository maintained beyond the grant period
Potential risks that will affect the outcome of the project:
| Risk | Likelihood | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Sia ecosystem breaking changes | Low | Since all deliverables are architectural and conceptual — not code-along tutorials — blueprints, journey maps, and TDDs document “how systems should be designed,” not specific API syntax. This makes content durable across version changes and evergreen by nature. |
| Timeline slippage on video editing | Medium | Editorial buffer built into Week 5 to absorb delays without impacting final delivery. |
| Selected use cases prove technically shallow | Low | All 7 topics pre-validated for data intensity and Sia fit before scripting begins. |
| Low viewership at launch | Low | Supported by a proven track record. Our 2024 SiaLearn grant series produced the most-viewed Sia educational playlist to date: 40,600 total views, 350.9 hours of watch time, and a peak of 16,532 impressions on a single video, with consistent organic growth through early 2025. |
Prior Work & Credibility
Our 2024 SiaLearn grant series produced the most-viewed Sia educational playlist to date — a result the Sia ecosystem had not previously achieved through content:
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total views (lifetime) | 40,600 |
| Total watch time | 350.9 hours |
| Top single video impressions | 16,532 (Web3 Movie Streaming dApp) |
| Series intro video views | 1,406 |
| Active viewership spike | Consistent growth through early 2025 |
The playlist covered renterd integration with a real-world Web3 Movie Streaming dApp using Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS — and continues to draw organic traffic with no additional promotion.
Sample of prior work style:
- Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUDcVqFK2t-CZJZ5ihfrVHtLkDhZlLYO-
- Sample video (new grant style preview): https://youtu.be/JsMDYyab62E
Development Information
Will all of your project’s code be open-source?
Yes. All technical design documents, architectural blueprints, and user journey maps will be published openly on GitHub as reference materials under Creative Commons licensing.
Leave a link where code will be accessible for review.
Do you agree to submit monthly progress reports?
Yes. Monthly progress reports will be submitted to the Sia forum grants category as required, covering deliverable completion status, view/engagement metrics, and any scope adjustments.
Contact Info
Email: [email protected]
Other preferred contact methods:
- Discord: @Daltonic
Previously, searching for “The Sia Blockchain” on platforms like Google or Brave Browser returned no video results. Following our previous grant work, our videos now rank at the top of these searches. We sincerely seek the committee’s approval to continue building on this progress.