# DAO Research Notes V1 By [Untitled](https://paragraph.com/@0x0c137af7a47d47fdedaea06fc710dce2ca3fdbb7) · 2021-10-11 --- This is an early artifact of my DAO research. It covers some current trends I’m learning about, and where DAOs could potentially go. DAO Stacks ---------- ### Primitives (Level 1 Tools) * ERC20 tokens * Can double as proportional voting (like shares) * Examples: * Friends with Benefits ($FWB) * SharkDAO ($SHARK) * Can cash out via UniSwap, etc. * ERC721 NFT * Can signal art/creator support * Can be built around a creator or group of creators * Examples * NounsDAO * Typically 1 NFT 1 vote - but holding multiple NFTs * Multisig Wallets * Wallets that are signed with multiple private keys. This allows more than one person access to the wallet. [Prevents key person risk](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/11/10/multisignature-wallets-can-keep-your-coins-safer-if-you-use-them-right/). * They can also be used to require some portion of core group access to wallet: ie 2 of 3 signers needed to open a wallet. * [Gnosis safe](https://gnosis-safe.io/) * Smart contracts * Governs transactions, payouts, etc. for the DAO's treasury. ### Level 2 Toolkits These are tools for creating or using DAOs, wrapping up and coordinating the primitives above to form and/or manage DAOs. [Snapshot](https://snapshot.org) - cheap voting off-chain using oracles [DAOhaus](https://app.daohaus.club/) - Spin up DAO, interact, vote, etc. No-code [Colony](https://colony.io/) - No-code toolkit for DAOs. A general purpose framework with common DAO needs, like ownership, structure, etc.l [Juicebox.money](https://juicebox.money) - funding, programmable spending, creates ERC-20 community tokens. No voting/governance, chiefly fundraising. Can be used in conjunction with a voting tool like Snapshot [Tokenwalk](https://www.tokenwalk.org/learn#learn_1) - Framework for building DAOs, using modules that are compatible with its interface, allowing for extensibility. [Parcel](https://parcel.money/) - Treasury management, multisig, yield farming [Zodiac](https://gnosisguild.mirror.xyz/OuhG5s2X5uSVBx1EK4tKPhnUc91Wh9YM0fwSnC8UNcg) - Composable gnosis multisig wallet management tools **Need:** We need to bridge the Level 2 toolkits - which mostly focus on treasury management - with community management tools. DAOstack could be part one of this. ### Member management tools There needs to be much more built if DAOs are to be able to self-organize successfully, whether in traditional ways or new ones. [rafa0 has some ideas here](https://twitter.com/rafathebuilder/status/1443157780374896648?s=20). Major themes: * Multi-DAO monitoring * Squad (internal) coordination. While this refers to squads within the DAO, these tools will likewise be needed at the whole-DAO level. * Workbench - collaborative tools for thought, as they mature, will be crucial here. * Payments * General admin * Community engagement ### Community Tools My thoughts on [RoamLab](https://roamlab.org/) as a collaborative labspace can be adapted to DAOs: * Workbench - Roam/Notion/etc. * Asynchronous communicator * Synchronous communicator * Scheduler Some common services in use today: * [Discord](https://discord.com) - common complaint is that it's hard to keep up with. Very few DAOs have asynchronous tools * [Guild.xyz](https://twitter.com/guildxyz) - token to gate Discord channels * [Collab.land](https://collab.land) - tools for creating token-focused communities * [Mirror.xyz](https://mirror.xyz) - just opened to the public * Otherwise, can make a simple start page via [Carrd](https://carrd.co), [Webflow](https://Webflow.com), or your favorite one-page service * [PartyBid](https://www.partybid.app/) - collective NFT voting * [MintGate](https://www.mintgate.app/) - token-based gating of content #### Useful tools I haven't seen common in the wild * [Notion](https://notion.so) - workspace * [Circle](https://circle.so) - asynchronous communication, geared towards creators * [Discourse](https://discourse.org) - asynchronous communication #### Problems/Opportunities * These tools are largely centralized. Opportunity for decentralized competitors? Are decentralized versions possible/needed? * Many challenges around compensation: * Work allocation/selection * Resource (compensation) allocation decisions * Fully automated * Done by DAO or squad + 3rd party? * Governance around allocation * See Compensation and Work Allocation section below * HR tooling for digital natives * CRM+ * Taxation? Difficult because it's so murky. Organization Styles ------------------- * Public corporation - using membership tokens like shares, given voting power proportional to the total number of tokens held. Managers or top holders decide on how to raise funds, rest of members go with it. * Syndic - modeled after the syndicates found in The Dispossesed. People come together voluntarily to work on projects toward some goal, with autonomy on teams within the Syndic and the Syndic as a whole - exceptions for "emergencies" that need all hands on deck. Similar to [RoamLab](https://roamlab.org). DAO functions as workspace toward some stated end. * Guildhall - Bounties posted from members and 3rd parties for non-DAO work, and individuals or teams can claim them. The organization itself can draft proposals and vote on which ones to bring up. **Note:** every style will end up needing administrators who are paid for running all the software, keeping track of members, etc. - operations work. ### Purpose * Finding/collecting 3rd party work for members (Guildhall) * [Fundraising](https://medium.com/@bizzer/why-fundraising-daos-will-revolutionize-the-investment-industry-460b20645461) * Community for its own sake * Directing/organizing work in some field * Education * DevRel * Research ### Voting 1 NFT : 1 Vote 1 eth : 1 Vote [Quadratic voting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratic_voting) ### Compensation and Work Allocation Again, [rafa0 outlines methods and intricacies around compensation](https://twitter.com/rafathebuilder/status/1443269178404786186). Along with compensation, a fair way to claim or allocate (whether a bottom-up organization or a top-down organization, respectively) work. ### Fundraising Methods * Sales of DAO tokens * Sell NFTs that confer membership * Paid work as part of the DAO Existing DAOs ------------- * [MolochDAO](https://github.com/MolochVentures/Whitepaper/blob/master/Whitepaper.pdf) * [RaidGuild](https://www.raidguild.org/) * [SharkDAO](https://twitter.com/sharkdao) * [NounsDAO](https://nouns.wtf) Resources --------- [How LionDAO created their DAO](https://blockchain.mirror.xyz/) Other Questions to Explore -------------------------- * In what ways can a DAO promote or enforce participation? --- *Originally published on [Untitled](https://paragraph.com/@0x0c137af7a47d47fdedaea06fc710dce2ca3fdbb7/dao-research-notes-v1)*