Developer DAO

Authors: v1: manny, kempsterrrr, Wikist, luan // v2: wolovim

This is a summarized/truncated version of the complete proposal. See the forum link for comprehensive details.

Summary

This proposal establishes D_D Labs as a Sub-DAO of Developer DAO. Because this proposal encapsulates much of the core experience and business model of the DAO, no new multisig is proposed and the DAO Stewards will retain governance of this Sub-DAO where appropriate.

Motivation

As discussed in Can we build a better game and DAO Governance Structure Upgrade, the Season 1 DAO structures, both from an operational and a governance perspective, do not serve the majority of members effectively.

The member experience in S1 funneled all members towards contributing to the DAO on an operational level, though few members had the time and context and few well-rewarded opportunities existed.

D_D Labs seeks to address this fundamental problem in two ways:

• It presents an updated member experience focused on the overwhelming majority of members who are here to participate casually.
• It provides DAO contributors with more clearly defined responsibilities and rewards.

Scope of Work

On the passing of this proposal, D_D Labs will become an “Operational Layer” of the DAO, bringing together contributors across the DAO who are responsible for the primary business model and the member experience.

Objective

The primary objective of D_D Labs is to provide a member experience optimised for the “players" of our shared game. By that, we mean the vast majority of members who derive value from their membership without directly contributing to the DAO’s operations.

The updated member experience will focus on one persona: the web3 builder, including all types of folks who contribute to building value in web3: devs, designers, product people, marketers, writers, artists, founders, and so on.

This aligns with our mission to “accelerate the education and impact of a new wave of web3 builders” and simplifies the experience for everyone.

This new experience will be anchored to the DAOs updated OKRs for S2:

VIBE	Foster a fun and safe member experience
LEARN	Provide DAO members with high-quality learning opportunities
BUILD	Support DAO members to elevate their impact on the world
GOVERN	Position the DAO structurally and financially for long-term success

Domains of Operations, Team and OKRs

This proposal is broken into constituent teams: Community, Partnerships, D_D Jobs, Agency, and Operations.

See the forum for each team description and their OKRs.

Budget Request

While the following items are labeled fixed costs, payment is not due if the deliverables are not completed. The intention behind labeling them fixed costs is that these tasks are available for completion regardless of the number of Season partners. If, for example, two out of four possible workshops are completed in a given month, then half of the workshop total is due that month.

Given that partnership and other deliverables were undertaken in good faith from the inception of Season 2, proposal-relevant work completed as of Feb 1 (Season 2 start date) may be billed upon this proposal’s passing.

Monthly Fixed Costs		USD	CODE
Fulfilment Coordination	Ongoing monthly	$2,000	600
Blog	Ongoing monthly	$500	150
Twitter Spaces	2 per month	$500	150
Newsletter	4 per month	$1,000	300
Podcasts	2 per month	$1,000	300
Workshops	4 per month	$1,000	300
DevNTell	4 per month	$1,000	300
Jobs	Ongoing monthly	$2,000	600
Community	Ongoing monthly	$6,400	1,920
Agency	Ongoing monthly	$1,000	300
Ops	Ongoing monthly	$5,000	1,500
Total Monthly		$21,400	6,420

The DAO’s partnership model rewards some roles based on the number of partners we’re engaged with, given that their workload increases with each additional partner. A standard partnership agreement (known as the “Fren” package) is $10k USD/mo.

Variable Costs (per Partner per Month)		CODE
Partner Lead (PL)	10%	300
Fulfilment Coordinator (FC)	10%	300
Partner Blog Bounties	5.5%	165

Given these figures, this budget is operating at a profit with three partners. (Break-even point at ~2.87 partners.) Note that this is not D_D’s complete financial picture. Not included here is any additional costs requested via other budgets or other potential revenue streams, including from D_D Jobs.

Legal Status

For Season 2, D_D Labs is expected to operate within The Developer DAO Foundation. Given that the activities in this budget are core to the DAO’s operations, Labs will operate without its own multisig, and the DAO Stewards will maintain final governance authority.

Drawbacks

• Delegating these responsibilities to specific groups may restrict the number of folks who can contribute to help build the DAO’s member experience compared to a bounty or task-based system.
• There is no explicit model or process for introducing new contributors to Labs roles. This will be left to the discretion of each team.
• There are good questions to be asked about which initiatives ultimately belong within D_D Labs, and if this type of grouping is superior to individual budgets or any other paradigm. This concept is experimental and should be rigorously evaluated before it continues into Season 3.