Meeting Minutes 09/16/2025

Attendees:

Name	Attendance	Role	Voting Seat (Y/N)	Election Cycle
Wes Parkinson	Yes	Chair	Y	October 2025
Terence ‘Tex’ McCutcheon	Yes	Secretary	N	N/A
Tim Harrison	Yes	Vice Chair	Y	April 2026
Laura Mattiucci	No	Member	Y	April 2026
Nathan Acton	No	Member	Y	October 2025
Mubarak Oladimeji	Yes	Member	Y	October 2025
Anuj Chaudhary	Yes	Member	Y	April 2026
Andy Hung	No	Member	N	April 2026
Hasitha Raymond	Yes	Member	N	April 2026
TBD	No	SME	N	N/A

Community/Other Attendees:

• Fergie Miller

• James Meidinger

• Ken-Erik Ølmheim

• Kriss Baird

• Nadia Mannell

• Sabrina Liu

• Sebastian Pabon

Recording: Growth & Marketing Committee - 2025/09/16 - Recording

Transcript: Growth & Marketing Committee - 2025/09/16 - Transcript

Chat Transcript: Growth & Marketing Committee - Bootstrap - 2025/09/16 - Chat

Intros/COI

Andy: Pacific Meta Anuj: Yoroi Wallet & EMURGO India Lead Hasitha: Elected Member(GMC), Intersect / Cardano Ecosystem Contributor since 2020 Laura: Director Marketing and Comms at CF Mubarak: AKA Kit Willow: Voting member of the GMC, Community member Nate: VP of Global Marketing at EMURGO Tim: EVP Community & Ecosystem, Input | Output Tex: Open Source Program Manager (Intersect), OSC/MCC Secretary, Committee Liaison Wes: Rare Network

Agenda 9.16.25

• Cardano Summit Updates (Moved to next meeting)

• Research WG - IOR Reports

• Intersect Town Hall

• Plans for Token2049

• GMC Survey Results

Decisions/Actions

Decisions

• Marketing Strategy: The committee agreed there's a significant need for more general marketing, as current funding is primarily event-based. The survey results supported this, showing a perception of "inconsistent communication" and a desire for more targeted marketing.

• Survey Data Usage: Terence and Tim will work to pull the raw survey data into a presentable format for a future discussion. The goal is to develop a plan to use the insights gained from the survey.

• X-Post Plan: To improve communication, committee members will post updates on the GMC's X (formerly Twitter) account. They will submit posts to the internal Discord channel for approval before publication.

Actions

• Tim: Prepare posts about the Japanese community and governance events in Osaka and Tokyo. He will also work with Terence to format and share the survey results.

• Chris: Continue with the soft launch of Fund 15 during the Asia tour and prepare for the Catalyst-sponsored side event at Token 2049. He will also explore the idea of a new fund category to support project marketing.

• Terence: Organize and present the survey data. He also requested that committee members submit posts for the GMC's X account to him via the internal Discord channel instead of direct messages.

• James: Mention the proposed product roadmap workshop in Japan during his next meeting with the product committee.

• Anuj: Create two posts for the GMC's X handle about the India Codex event in Hyderabad, covering both the conference and the hacker demo.

• Nadia: Explore the idea of attending and sponsoring industry-specific conferences (e.g., in healthcare or fintech) to target enterprise clients more effectively.

• Fergie: Share the link to the forum post about the research working group's mid-year report in the meeting chat for community feedback. He will also explore the possibility of a "founders/builders day" to engage with dApp developers.

• Wes: Coordinate the submission of X-posts from committee members and prepare a post about the Singapore event at Token 2049. He also announced the upcoming North American Blockchain Summit in Texas.

Topic	Discussion	Notes
Catalyst & Marketing	Tim and James discussed the possibility of selling DeFi t-shirts on Amazon, with James noting he used to sell more band t-shirts than tickets. James mentioned making a Cardano-specific DeFi shirt.	The conversation highlighted a playful yet insightful view of what "success" or "arrival" looks like in the crypto space.
Meeting Structure	Tim noted the meeting was structured in reverse, starting with open discussion instead of committee business, as few committee members were present.	The change in format was a good decision according to Nadia, though she felt it was awkward not to greet everyone at the beginning.
Project Catalyst Update	Chris provided an update on Project Catalyst, mentioning the upcoming Fund 15 soft launch during the Asia tour. He also detailed a networking event at Token 2049, where Catalyst will sponsor a side event and have speaking slots.	Chris mentioned that a new fund, Fund 15, will be announced, and its categories will be different to focus on use cases and enterprise integrations. He also hinted at a potential "Cardano open liquidity catalyst" for stablecoin and liquidity pairs.
Asia Tour Events	Tim announced he was heading to Korea for Korea Blockchain Week, followed by an IO event in Vietnam, Token 2049, and community workshops in Japan.	Chris highlighted specific events including a Catalyst side event at Token 2049 and a special event in Japan on October 8th, blending traditional Japanese culture with new innovation.
Research Mid-Year Review	Fergie provided an update on the research working group's mid-year report, noting that it had been delayed but was now in a draft format and being circulated for community feedback.	Fergie explained the group's evidence-based methodology, which includes research, validation, and implementation, aiming for 100 research outputs over five years.
Research & Community Engagement	James suggested that the research group hold a "founders/builders day" to engage directly with dApp builders. Fergie agreed this was a great idea and a good way to test the waters would be with a low-cost online event like an X Space.	Fergie noted that the research group wants to avoid being an "ivory tower" and aims to be more integral to Cardano's forward direction.
GMC Survey Results	Terence and Tim shared an early sneak peek of the survey results, which showed that respondents primarily identified as founders, enthusiasts, and community advocates. The majority of respondents had been in the ecosystem for over three years.	The survey identified inconsistent communication between founding entities as a key weakness and institutional/enterprise adoption as a primary target.
Marketing & Funding	The discussion centered on the lack of funding for general marketing, with Wes noting that current spending is focused on events. Chris suggested a new Fund 16 category to support marketing for established projects.	Wes and Chris discussed the possibility of having a pre-approved list of agencies that projects can use for marketing, streamlining the funding and execution process.
Enterprise Adoption	Nadia, with her enterprise background, suggested that instead of hosting large general events, Cardano should set up booths and engage with key industry-specific conferences (e.g., healthcare, fintech) to target potential enterprise customers directly.	James and Wes agreed, citing examples like Midnight's selective disclosure for healthcare and the need for more targeted efforts in various sectors.