# Season 2 Launch By [Developer DAO](https://paragraph.com/@devdao) · 2023-02-01 --- gm Season 2 🌞 February 1 kicks off the next iteration of Developer DAO and hopes to bring with it a more streamlined member experience, more frequent community events and more stable teams to deliver them. First though, let’s take a moment to reintroduce D\_D. A Brief History --------------- Developer DAO is about 16 months young. Still, in crypto years, that's old enough to get a Lambo license. The origin story, including Nader's live-streamed genesis NFT deployment, is captured [here](https://devdao.mirror.xyz/3xNVnnuys7o3GM-d3EdRI90AfsmlKeBDU4xzbvrbpi0). Since that launch, a community formed and narrowed in on a shared [mission](https://snapshot.org/#/devdao.eth/proposal/QmdZQD8h28PiWwwsdJo5mD2DBdC7BvYzrktmbsMoP4AcP6) with accompanying values and goals. After a primordial period, Season 0 kicked off with [web3con](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFcDwmPMBkzu1bcmbGVoSs8h9lQ39xn9x) and introduced _Guilds_. Members organized by discipline to socialize and set the first grassroots goals in the DAO. The Writers Guild, for example, set about establishing a [newsletter](https://developerdao.substack.com/) and a [blog](https://blog.developerdao.com/). In Season 1, The Developer DAO [Foundation](https://snapshot.org/#/devdao.eth/proposal/0x0354fad305c13eae8ba78b2395117b45191465433c20f76efcf3eba4c5600436) was formed and the CODE governance [token](https://devdao.mirror.xyz/lGRLUA7wXZP2Rs5TxPRDks7Ho4yjSRUFLGNRfxeAz80) launched. 19 budget [proposals](https://forum.developerdao.com/c/budgets-grants/11) were created, stress testing the first iteration of a new process. Budget stewards stepped in and helped to build the plane as it flew. The Wins -------- Along the way, industry partners got on board to engage the community via workshops, blog content, Twitter Spaces, jobs, IRL events, and more. A special thanks to our Season 1 partners: **Consensys**, **Push Protocol**, **Hedera**, **States DAO**, and **Oasis** for bringing with them top tier education content, career opportunities, and for enabling Developer DAO's mission. A quick highlight reel: * The DAO **Fundraising Team** produced a brilliant [workshop series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFcDwmPMBkzvuRig-CCd_LhUswBdxyqfI) on grant writing and project pitching. The team also hosted regular office hours, helping members apply for and earn significant funding. * The **Mentorship Team** matched 20+ mentors and 30+ mentees. * [**DevNTell**](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFcDwmPMBkztolIUN6BzDk8cE49to9ckS), one of D\_D’s longest running initiatives, has well over 50 episodes published and is booked up with presenters through May. * The **Workshop Team** hosted a weekly stream of 60-90 minute [deep dives](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFcDwmPMBkzu5xMbFh3Vi1COI3bAoBaSI). * The [**D\_D Blog**](https://blog.developerdao.com/) has published over 125 articles from community members and partners. * **D\_D Jobs** kicked off, currently home to 30+ [job listings](https://developerdao.pallet.com/jobs) and a [talent collective](https://developerdao.pallet.com/talent/welcome) of over 160 members. A paid posting tier is now available that includes a hosted Twitter Space to discuss your company and role! * A refreshed [**D\_D Academy**](https://academy.developerdao.com/) team has new content and UX on the way. * [**D\_D Agency**](https://agency.developerdao.com/) took its first steps out of the nest, launching [**Woop Pay**](https://www.wooppay.xyz/) for beta use. * DAO-incubated projects, [**Eden Protocol**](https://www.edenprotocol.xyz/) and [**P3RKS**](https://p3rks.xyz/)**,** continue to discover product-market fit. * Member opportunities: **D\_D Hackers** has an open [travel sponsorship](https://dxql9ua1g5o.typeform.com/to/eLgXtxZp) opportunity to help teams get to ETHDenver. * Continued brand growth: Twitter (83k followers), Substack (2.6k subscribers), YouTube (1.8k subscribers). The Challenges -------------- While this is meant to be a hype piece, _transparency_ is a core value of the DAO. Amongst the successes, we discovered that aligning the incentives of very many people around the globe can be a messy business. (Surprise?) An important paradigm shift was prompted by the realization that Developer DAO has historically funneled everyone towards becoming a core contributor. Core contributors require a ton of time and context to be successful and the all-too-obvious truth is that most members aren’t signing up for that. Your average D\_D member joins the community for a more casual social experience, to find collaborators or get some feedback on their project, to learn and level up alongside peers and mentors, to get exposure to new career opportunities, and to take advantage of the perks of membership without needing to peek behind the curtain. Sounds obvious, but we now recognize those contributors as a separate persona to design for. Members attend workshops, demos, and social events; contributors organize, market, and host those events. In the end, _Guilds_ served to confuse this experience by attempting to offer the lightweight social experience, while mixing in heavy organization topics within the same meetings. Further, gathering around a discipline seemed to generate less excitement and inertia than gathering around a goal or vision. Additionally some tough lessons were learned in the delivery of value to partners. We leaned on heroic, unsustainable efforts from a few members. Important roles were overlooked or under-rewarded in the first iteration of budgets, leading to burn-out and frustration. What’s worked well and, crucially, what hasn’t has informed the next iteration of D\_D. Season 2 -------- So, what can you expect in the next Season 2? ### Heavy-Hitter Partners * We’ve partnered with more industry movers and shakers to bring the next batch of content and opportunity into D\_D. Massive shout to our first two Season 2 partners: [**QuickNode**](https://www.quicknode.com/) and [**Streamr**](https://streamr.network/). More partner announcements Coming Soon™. ### Member Experience Upgrades * The first thing you’re likely to notice as a current member is an **overhaul of the Discord server**. Much of the core contributor areas are pulled out of the default experience and other seldomly used channels or categories have been archived or shuffled around. (The dust is still settling there.) * A new on-chain [**badge system**](https://twitter.com/comm_dd/status/1620892254276816896) is getting rolled out to enable more tailored experiences within Discord. As a part of that effort, new members will be greeted with a more gentle **onboarding experience** which they can graduate from at their own pace. * **Guilds have been sunset.** Instead, some of the server channels are organized by motivation, e.g., _Vibe_, _Learn_, _Build_. Within them you’ll find channels for sharing #accountabuidl updates, forming hackathon teams, asking technical questions, and so on. * In addition to the Twitter Spaces, podcast episodes, and workshops, core social calls are coming back on a more regular cadence, including **Vibes** and **Wellness Sessions**. ### Contributor Experience Upgrades * More clearly defined **reward structures** are in flight. Part of this includes a definition of [_Sub-DAOs_](https://forum.developerdao.com/t/draft-dao-governance-structure-upgrade/2615) and how they interact with D\_D. * The **governance process** has been [simplified](https://snapshot.org/#/devdao.eth/proposal/0x408391614f8d57ee9d8291b70b404506c0f9d0ca7a907e29199d58055e1d7e2c), enabling the DAO to react more quickly while still maintaining some safeguards. Hype ---- _“Iterate, iterate, iterate”_ is the mantra. Ready to go for another spin? Keep up with all the latest on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/developer_dao) and by subscribing to the [newsletter](https://developerdao.substack.com/). ✨ --- *Originally published on [Developer DAO](https://paragraph.com/@devdao/season-2-launch)*