Tools, Apps and Labs

tags: DAOhaus

How might we organize our complex work into more meaningful effort?

We left MCON2 exhausted and inspired. It was the culmination of years of effort and we have been grinding hard for months. The response was amazing and dare I say we stole the show. It was a beta release and there is still a lot of work remaining. Both enthusiasm and funds are dwindling. Meanwhile, we have thousands of new ideas.

This is an attempt to propose a structure for breaking up the monolithic Magesmiths projects and bringing in other DAO contributors. Not much else matters if we cannot get our current projects to the finish line. Through this we can bring closure to previous efforts and figure out how to fund the future.

Problems

• Enormous volume of complicated and complex work
• Limited accountability to anyone but ourselves
• Too much simultaneous work in progress
• Thinking about too many things
• Waste created with context switching
• Each project has different target segments and stakeholders
• Have not pushed projects to the finish line
• The "Why?" has been missing
• New ideas are coming up

Solution

Fly in a new formation for the remainder of 2022.

The core buy-in we are trying to achieve is breaking the current contributors into Tools, Apps and Labs teams for October, November and December. The remaining details can be sorted later.

Benefits

• Allows us to focus on shipping before end of year
• Provides bandwidth to explore funding options
• Formalize a process for taking ideas to market

Formation

• Tools
• Apps
• Labs

Tools

Our primary focus has been on building tools. We built these tools for ourselves first. We have demonstrated how well they work to enable building DAO apps fast. Now we need to focus on making sure they are easy to use and bringing in other developers and projects to put them to work.

• DAO Toolbox

The most important question to answer right now is:

What is required for v1 public release?

Areas of Focus

• Developer experience
• Features
• Testing
• Bugs
• Documentation
• Release
• Communication
• Onboarding

We also need to determine how these tools be supported post release.

Not only will this team need to polish the product offering they also need to foster relationships with developers, DAOs and integration partners.

Clubhouse was really inspired by our community at MCON2. They cannot use the DAO Toolbox out of the box because they are working with a different tech stack. However, they believe in what we are doing and are interested in providing a 40 ETH grant to continue improving the DAO Toolbox. This should be a good indication of the potential of these tools.

The Apps team is already using the DAO Toolbox. The Labs incubator will also build with it. We need to continue providing support to the Apps and Clubhouse teams helps the Tools team to understand what customers need. We need to make it one of best gifts to the DAO community and work through end of year to ensure tools are ready to support Labs teams in 2023.

DAO Toolbox is critical to developer relations and partner integrations. How might we improve the experience of using these tools? This public good and/or product(s) can provide the future of DAO tooling.

Apps

DAOhaus v2 is our flagship product.

The entire ecosystem and our CCO contributors are expecting DAOhaus v3. We have captured much of the v2 functionality in our modular app infrastructure.

• Summon
• Hub
• Admin
• Transaction Builder
• Migrate

The most important question to answer right now is:

What is required for v3 public release?

Areas of Focus

• User experience
• Features
• Testing
• Bugs
• Documentation
• Release
• Communication
• Onboarding

Most of our resources have been dedicated to building a DAO Toolbox. We have been our own customers and used the tools to build out v3. Although the apps look great their intention was to prove the concept. We do not want to mislead the community into thinking these are the final versions of these apps. We want to inspire them to improve them, re-build them or create something entirely new that is customized to their communities needs. We built the DAO Toolbox to allow both ourselves and others to build fast. Now we have to show them how to do that. We want them to build these apps better. We want them to quickly solve problems in a their community using our technology.

But we have to assume these apps will remain the primary way to interact with Moloch DAOs for the foreseeable future. If we are doing less we need to be doing it better. There is still a lot of work remaining to get these apps somewhat polished and move from beta versions to a public release. We need to continue testing, squash the bugs and potentially add features that got de-prioritized. We also need to handle the communication around the release and support the users who are migrating.

Ultimately, we need to figure out how these apps are supported once the smoke clears.

We have the potential to continue adding more apps. We have a bunch of ideas and need a way to bring them into the fold.

The apps also need to be shared with the community. We need to shill this stuff. We need to show the CCO contributors what they paid for. Let's put some closure on this phase and celebrate our hard work!

Labs

We have been in conversation with Prota Ventures and Banyan DAO who spoke as special guest in Warcamp a couple of weeks ago. There are extremely excited about what we are working on and eager to support.

They feel the concept of a DAO tooling incubator and accelerator program is our best way to raise VC capital. We can improve our relationship with them. Use their expertise to guide these teams over the next three months.

• DAOhaus Labs (name TBD)

The most important question to answer right now is:

Can we get DAOhaus Labs funded?

Areas of Focus

• Determine what it is
• Figure out how much it will cost
• Set-up a new company
• Dance with investors
• Make it rain

This is a huge opportunity for the future of DAOs. And is a major change in direction for DAOhaus. We must be thoughtful and intentional on defining the vision, solidifying the offering, polishing the deck and pitching to investors.

Labs may be the key to unlocking the power of decentralized coordination. It can be a fun way to explore ideas, grow the ecosystem, and build using the DAO Toolbox.

Labs can give grants for tooling projects and can incubate apps on our platform. Right now Prota Ventures and Banyan DAO are most excited about a DAO app store. Labs can be how we test building a market and vet new ideas for products.

Marketplace has the potential to re-imagine how value is exchanged in an app store model that makes sense to investors. This is our best opportunity to get funding in the next three months.

DAOhaus Labs (name TBD) is a stand-alone legal entity. It is responsible for managing investor funds in a meaningful way. It will have to handle cap tables, payroll, accounting and taxes and be run like an efficient company. Although unfortunate we still have to operate in this way it is a good opportunity to set an example of a better way. If we are transparent about the process and can harness the power of decentralized coordination we can prove the benefits.

Ultimately, Labs will decide what projects it will incubate. But here are a few possibilities for Cohort 0:

• DAOhaus Apps
• Yeeter
• DAOgroni
• Marketplace (Boost/Bolt-on App Store)

The projects in Cohort 0 are yet to be determined. These are just examples. The projects will need to apply for incubation and get selected by whatever decision making process we implement.

Cohort 0 allows us to implement, test and refine our incubation process and get the supporting people and tools in place. A structured process also enables us to take a critical view of each project to determine if it should continue moving forward.

For Cohort 1 we can open applications to the larger ecosystem. This expands our reach outside of the existing community and allow us to foster growth and innovation in the space.

Apps in the incubator get to choose their own adventure. They get the grant to figure out their model. That may be more public goods, venture backed companies or new headstones in the DAO cemetery. Establishing these goals and providing evidence to support the decisions

Labs begins with a strong social connection to the community who built DAOhaus. But that is only where it begins. It can become something more impactful on the ecosystem than anything we can currently imagine. If we can iterate, spark imagination and become central to the DAO conversation we can help improve human coordination.

Need to be intentional about what this is, how much it is going to cost and what the benefits are for the investors and ecosystem.

Organization

Each team will have a lead and members.

Lead

• Should focus on one project

Responsibilities

• Figure out how to organize the team(s)
• Put the budget and bid together for funding the project in Q4
• Participate in the 2-month Prota Labs Startup Ideation Incubator
• Manage the teams meeting schedule, deliverables and communication

Similar to a product owner. Does not have to be a project manager. Could be a designer, engineer or community manager. Simply requires one to take responsibility for the current direction of the project. Does not imply they are the dictator and each organization can decide how and when leadership changes.

What is important is the willingness to to accountability for a project for it's next phase.

Members

• Can play on multiple teams

Responsibilities

• Go hard in the paint

Timeline

Unfortunately, we must come to consensus on this fast as it depends on two approaching dates:

1. RFP funding for October
2. Start of Prota Labs Startup Ideation Incubator on October 4

For the next three months (Q4 2022) we need to focus on what is most important and have our work funded with minimal overhead.

The Tools, Apps and Labs teams will take us into the end of the year and provide opportunities for the first projects to incubate during cohort 0 of Labs in 2023.

In Q1 2023 Labs could give a grant to the Tools and Apps team to go through the incubator program. Potentially, the Apps team could decide to focus on a single app rather than the entire suite. We can also decide on what other projects should be incubated in the first cohort.

In Q1 the Apps team will most likely be focused on updates based on feedback, supporting migration and onboarding new DAOs.

Funding

Potential funding with our existing treasury, and a grant from Clubhouse. The investment in Labs should not be considered a source of funds prior to the end of this year and will be put into a separate legal entity. If we are going to be able to justify using these funds for internal projects there has to be a method to the madness. A program and process.

Not Accounted For

This does not account for the resources required to continue support of v2. We also need a team dedicated to reducing costs, increasing decentralization and handing this version off to the community.

Hell, all teams should probably be focused on reducing costs, increasing decentralization and handing off to the community. It will just be up to them to decide what to focus on and why.

This does not address how resources like design and marketing might be shared across teams. Ideally each team should be self-contained and have all the required roles filled. However, right now we are short on certain skills and may want to consider what support is required across all teams. We also need to figure out who will coordinate the existing treasury or how we may re-organize UberHuas and Warcamp.

This also does not account for an IRL celebration. We have been working hard behind the scenes for a long time. We have learned some tough lessons and built some awesome products. It would be great to celebrate these accomplishments. Together IRL. If possible, we should determine if there is any budget available for an offsite not connected to a conference allowing us to show our appreciation for the relationships we have formed.

Closing

The yolo nature of this community is one of the things that makes it great. We do not want to discourage that rather make it easier to explore ideas.

Let's make sure to focus on putting the finishing touches on our work in progress and identifying a process making dreams real.

• If we do not do DAO Toolbox well and support Clubhouse Labs may not be possible
• If we do not get v3 to a public release we let down our community and lose excitement from investors
• If we cannot obtain funding for Labs the rest may be a moot point

Something kind of beautiful about this set-up is the VC connection is opt-in. We can remain idealogically pure creating public goods while also exploring commercial endeavors.

We have a week to figure this out. Ideally, we enter this new formation starting in October. Or we can continue with the current RFP process until the tokens run out.

The Clubhouse grant is the only additional funding we might count on right now. We need to figure out how to operate for the reamainder of the year with our current contributors and available resources (humans, tokens, tools).

This seems like our best chance for securing funding. It is a great strategy for keeping the protocol idealistically pure while lengthening our runway and giving us the opportunity to do what many of us want to do…build cool shit.

ToDo

• Discord Forum post
• Determine who has the desire to lead these projects
• Determine who would like to work on what project and at what percent allocation
• Warcamp discussion
• Meeting with Prota Ventures and Banyan DAO
• Leads apply to Startup Ideation Incubator