Roadmap
SPARKS is a community-born project. No backers. No VCs. No tax. No tricks. It will thrive or fail by its ability to bring utility & value. This uncertainty means we can't map when we can execute. But we can map what we need to execute. Here are our high-level milestones.
Measure Appetite
The first phase's primary goal was to measure the appetite for an open-source, decentralized identity layer for the common good using a crude prototype. SPARKS is a massive undertaking. We're racing against big & well established & resourced organizations. There is much work ahead, but you have all made clear - this is an initiative worth fighting for.
Rally The Troops
The current phase, marked by the site update, is to rally support through community building, forming partnerships, allies, content, etc. For this phase, we've polished the prototype & added enough content to communicate the vision. We'll continue developments here but will limit sharing functionality & adding attestations & instead focus more attention on community formation & culture building.
Foundational Engineering
This phase aims to take our polished prototype & build a world-class, highly scalable architecture ready for plugin-style contributions for connections, available attestations & apps. This phase is predicated on successful community growth. If we can achieve sufficient growth in the community, I will be full-time SPARKS, & I will hire by my side the best engineer possible.
Start The Engines
In this phase, we start bringing value. We'll code the reserve contract & deploy our first revenue-generating apps. We'll also begin using the development fund beyond internal resourcing by issuing bounties. These bounties will serve the purpose of rapid scale, building upon our plugin architecture to ensure you are not limited by how you can use SPARKS or where it can be useful.
Scale
This phase is all about growth. We'll hire marketing, business development & developer relations resources to take the architecture & valuable apps we're built & begin bringing them to the masses within the cryptosphere & beyond.
Research
Once we've grown & are operating profitably, it's time to start succession planning. We'll form a consortium of allies with privacy, identity & the common good at the core of their ethos. We'll use these resources to create a charter & plan governance for the fated time when the SPARKS development fund is exhausted & the ecosystem becomes self-sustaining.
Impact
If we've made it this far, we've created an open-source layer that empowers everyone to interact safely with their identities. You were the SPARK that changed the world. What you do from now on, the impact you have, is up to you.