Everything you need to start a DAO

Oscar Wehbe -

What is it?

A DAO (Decentralised Autonomus Organisation) is a coordination layer on blockchain platforms, allowing members to make broad decisions about the allocation of resources and direction of the organisation they have bough into. DAO’s decentralise power and ownership. They are designed to fulfil a purpose (collecting art, investing, creating etc.) and the members can vote on actions taken by the organisation they are a part of.

Elements

There are five elements to DAOs for you to consider:

Mission

  • What’s the goal of the DAO?
  • What’s the aligned mission?

Community

  • What’s the ideal size of the DAO?
  • Is it gated or completely open?
  • How do member interact?

Treasury

  • A major element of DAOs is how it deploys its capital
  • What is the loop that expands the capital of the treasury?
  • Fees for usage of the DAO
  • Fees for membership of the DAO
  • Does the DAO have its own revenue stream? If so, how is that revenue distributed?

Governance

  • Two types of governance:
  • On-chain - primarily driven by token votes
  • Off-chain - discussion within the community that usually precede formal proposals
  • When entering into this ecosystem it’s important to consider efficiency in the governance process. How long does it take to execute proposals?

Ownership

  • How does the DAO distribute ownership?
  • Fungible tokens
  • Generally more effective in incentivising participation in the DAO ecosystem with a reward system
  • Non-fungible tokens
  • Generally easier to sell and transfer membership rights

Opportunities

  • Create a DAO
  • Join a DAO - Vote on proposals on Snapshot
  • Work for a DAO
  • If you have legal expertise, advising DAO creators is a new space that you can pioneer in
  • Build the infrastructure for DAOs. Most of these ecosystems occur on multiple platforms. On-chain and off-chain governance occur in different places. There is a need for a more seamless experience to onboard large amounts of people.

First Principles

  • DAOs decentralise power and ownership
  • DAOs reimagine the decision-making process around capital allocation
  • DAOs are the future of work

Further Reading

The next big unlock for DAOs - By Bankless

Introduction to DAOs - By Ethereum

DAO directory

Podcast Episode - Everything you need to know about DAOs

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