As we have now passed the half-year mark of the Powered By ARK Program, we want to take some time to fill you in on our progress, what we have learned and how the program is evolving!

For those of you that are not familiar, the Powered by ARK Program was launched on August 15, 2019. In short, the program is:

An initiative designed to allow all projects building with our blockchain technology to form relationships and build stronger ties to the ecosystem. Once accepted, projects in the PBA Program will be able to directly interface and collaborate with ARK, the community and other member-projects — strengthening the ecosystem and helping to maximize their success. ARK.io/powered-by-ark

Powered by ARK continues to draw interest from projects currently building on ARK and projects looking to migrate their project to become part of our Ecosystem.

Are you currently building a project on ARK or looking to start?

Contact us here.

Over the course of the last few months, we have spoken to several projects and have tested the PBA process with a wide variety of projects. That being said, let us dive into what we have learned thus far.

What Have We Learned From Powered by ARK?

When we started the “Powered by ARK” (PBA) program, our goal was to bring the projects building on ARK together. All of the projects that are building on ARK are a critical component to our success, which is why one of the cornerstones of the program was to provide support for these projects. Building these types of relationships with projects gives them greater access to the ARK team and a greater ability to provide feedback and insight into the Platform. In practice, the goal is to build a strong community around the Ecosystem and not just ARK.

In the past, the process to become accepted into the PBA program was multi-faceted. Applications from interested projects were reviewed. We reviewed their code, whitepaper, website and any other useful information they provided to us. After those steps were completed, PBA applicants would go on a podcast interview and then participate in an AMA with the ARK community.

We saw these steps as a good way to tell a project’s story: How did they find ARK? What are they building? How their project will make a difference? These questions not only helped our community and team familiarize ourselves with PBA applicants but it was also a helpful way to showcase a project that was making strides while building on ARK.

While many aspects of this process were beneficial, there was one aspect that we did not find helpful. After all the steps of the application process were completed, the feeling and expectation were that ARK had the final say for which projects were approved and which were told to reapply in the future. This was not the goal for Powered by ARK. It made the program seem less inclusive and encouraged projects to look to ARK to provide a stamp of approval for their project. After speaking internally we decided it was best to make some adjustments to the program.

Evolving the PBA Program

The decision to evolve the Powered by ARK program was an inclusive and beneficial experience. All projects at different levels within the PBA application process provided feedback, contributed ideas and gave us insight into their goals and why they chose to build on ARK. Together, we mapped out a framework that we believe is in the best interests of all projects involved. In addition, we took into account community feedback and the initial goals of the program to develop key principles that would guide the PBA program in the future.

Key Principles

Inclusivity — No one party should be responsible for membership. Especially not the ARK Team.

— No one party should be responsible for membership. Especially not the ARK Team. Collaboration and Cooperation — All members should have equal standing, equal rights, and equal access. The fundamental goal should be to help one another and work together.

— All members should have equal standing, equal rights, and equal access. The fundamental goal should be to help one another and work together. Free — Projects can join the Ecosystem at all stages of development. No financial barrier to entry should exist.

Taking these key principles into account, we have mapped out a course that we believe is inclusive and allows each Powered by ARK project to work towards a mutually beneficial partnership.

Moving forward, projects building on ARK will be featured on the ARK.io website. We will be revamping the Powered by ARK landing page and revealing it in a follow-up post. In addition, all projects building on ARK will still have the same level of access to the ARK community via podcasts and AMAs. Lastly, all projects will have an internal channel on our team slack in order to facilitate communication and collaboration between developers.

By making PBA more inclusive it allows for projects to build towards a partnership with ARK. Whether its providing feedback on the ARK platform, collaborating on a project together or creating a plugin, we strive to find ways to work together.

In the next post, we will be showing off the new landing page for Powered by ARK along with an update on all the projects currently in the program and their latest work!