Whitepaper Format: R3 Model
When writing a whitepaper, there is no right way to do it, although there are general guidelines. This is a sample whitepaper format from the R3 Pitch Competition and it has the following sections:
- Vision
- Sector
- Team
- General Description
- Blockchain
- Market Size
- Partners
- Competition
- Revenue Model
- Distribution Channels
- Merits
- Risks
- Next Steps
What is R3?
R3 is an enterprise blockchain software firm working with a broad ecosystem of more than 300 members and partners across multiple industries from both the private and public sectors to develop on open-source blockchain platform Corda. The R3 Pitch Competition is being held to support student’s efforts to identify pertinent enterprise blockchain applications.
Caveat
Corda is a special class of blockchain: private permissioned distributed ledger technology. Since R3 is comprised of financial industry talents, and the consortium is heavily represented by financial institutions, Corda’s strength is in fintech and other financial applications, and this specialization inherently adds bias to this whitepaper format. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but be mindful if you are writing about non-financial and non-fintech topics.
1. Vision
One line about your end state vision
2. Sector
The relevant industry
3. Team
Briefly describe the team’s background (beyond resume snippets). What are the key strengths of the group?
4. General Description
This is the most important part of the application. What is the idea? Why write this application? What do you find interesting? What pain points do the products/services address? How would value be created?
5. Blockchain
Assess Fit. Is blockchain technology essential for the product/solution? How can blockchain technology provide a better solution than an alternative, established technology? What aspects of the technology are particularly useful?
6. Market Size
Assess the landscape for this idea’s products and services. Define its addressable market and explain the size of this market(s).
7. Partners
Who are the major players in the space? What companies can you potentially work with? Are there partners or consortiums to collaborate with? Is the industry receptive to blockchain technology?
8. Competition
Describe the competitive environment. Who are the main competitors? How would they compete with you? What are the issues/opportunities impacting all players in this market?
9. Revenue Model
How can the idea make money? Describe the business model in more depth. What are the components of a potential product offering? What are the economics of these products? How capital intensive is the model? Do these economies change with the scale of the company?
10. Distribution Channels
How could the company acquire new customers or clients? What are the channels through which the company could sell? How effective are these channel partners? How would these relationships be managed? Would they be externally or internally managed? What do the economics of these look like? How can the company represent itself in the marketplace (sales & marketing)?
11. Merits
Make a recommendation; voice your opinion. What is the most compelling reason(s) for exploring this idea further? What excites you about it? What is the upside in terms of impact? Financial inclusion? Scalability? Profitability? Provide the two or three key reasons why your idea should win the competition.
12. Risks
Sanity check the idea. In your opinion, what are the potentials risks the company might face? Competition? Poor revenue model? Are there regulatory considerations? Does the idea require a “big bang” change to existing infrastructures, processes, or market conventions? Did you account for interim or migratory states (i.e. a transition period for your customers)? What are the key barriers from getting this idea into production? This is not meant to be a laundry list of risks, just identify and describe the two to three biggest threats to consider.
13. Next Steps
What are potential next steps to take the idea further? Where could this idea go? Which areas would you like to investigate or build upon more? What further resources would you need?
The International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL) is a multidisciplinary design and building competition. If you are a student in good standing or have graduated within 2 years, IBCOL 2019 invites you to propose solutions to real-world challenges using decentralised applications. For further details and to register, please visit ibcol.org or reach out to our Student Relations Team.
