GM Builders,
You get a feeling when you see a DAO truly scale for the first time. It's the same feeling when a big trade goes right or when your marketing campaign results in significantly more usage of the product or network you represent.
Fulfillment.
Reaching that stage, however, involves crossing many initial hurdles. DAOing ain't easy. DAOing can drain you, just like running a startup can, if you're not careful. Myself and the team at Push DAO, the community-run growth engine for the Push Protocol ecosystem are kicking off these weekly letters to share tips we've learned from our efforts.
These are designed to be tips that anyone building any decentralized community with any degree of decentralized governance can use. Each week's issue will focus on one theme that can help you, as a leader or contributor, at any stage of DAOing.
Today's is a question: is there an ideal contributor that decentralized communities should seek out for leadership roles?
Flex vs. Static Types
In most cases, potential contributors are either "flex" or "static" types.
The former refers to those who can flow through several practical areas of a community and excel in each, as needed. The latter refers to those who do one thing or work within one specialization, exceptionally well.
Imagine someone who does audits for a government agency while moonlighting as an op/ed writer in their spare time. This person then reads up on DAOs, participates in different workstreams, and ends up putting together the governance framework of a leading DAO. Their framework is voted in and it becomes the guidepost and engine for how the community makes decisions. Now, they move on to another DAO, where they're voted in as one of the council members, making decisions and running the DAO in the community's best interest.
This is a flex-type to a T.
A flex type is similar to a floating COO, who can jump between all active subDAOs or workstreams as needed and fix any issues that arise, on a daily basis. It's important to note here as well that this is someone who needs their work to be this way.
A static type is the opposite kind of contributor. Picture a career editor who leads your content workstream or a meme-master who spearheads your social crew.
They're top performers in these areas but not outside of them. They don't leave their spheres of influence.
You need both flex and static types for your DAO to persist and scale.
If you have a council model, where a small group runs the show, all of these people should be flex-types. Static types can and should be workstream leaders and/or project managers.
Still, this is only a starting point.
No individual remains one type or the other.
Static types can become flex types and ascend in a DAO, given the right mix of autonomy and mentorship. Flex types can choose to hyper-specialize in one area if they find it's where the achieve the most success for both themselves and the community.
Push DAO: Flex Individuals Run the Show
I'll use the example of how we restructured Push DAO, when I arrived in March 2024 because it's particularly relevant here.
Imagine a high-potential DAO that's experiencing a significant drop in participation.
Let's say you're brought in as a change manager, to pivot that DAO to new heights.
Because it's a collectively-run community, you can't simply go into, say, the forum, and begin authoring proposals for the changes you believe are needed. You need to understand where it all started, where and why it stalled, and who is still there, still trying to move things forward.
From day-one, that's what I did.
I read through countless forum posts, dating back years. I combed through the history of the Push DAO Snapshot and I came to a singular conclusion. Four members kept coming back again and again, to author proposals, to support others' proposals, and to generally keep the community active.
These four members also came from unique varied backgrounds including: web2 marketing with some DAO and design experience, community management and developer evangelism, financial management and DAO tooling, and legal work with a bit of writing experience.
I brought these individuals into a GMeet and we discussed where they started in the industry, where they wanted to go, and why they stuck around with Push DAO.
From there, I unveiled my ideas for the first, second, and third years of the Push DAO pivot, making clear that the plan was purposefully unfinished, because we needed to finish it together.
In other words, I provided rough paths. From there, we began paving them and lighting them together.
It's a DAO right? Why would anyone buy-in to one person's vision?
This is a question that I get a fair amount when I share the beginnings of Push DAO's pivot. First, it was never my vision. I took the key points from their latest proposals and discussions, packaged them into a vision that I hoped would guide our efforts and asked them: "do you vibe with this? Is this how you would explain what you want Push DAO to become?"
After a few edits, they all agreed that it was.
Why?
To DAO successfully is to deeply understand other people, not just their working styles but the way they want to see the community evolve. If your DAO doesn't reach a consensus on this, then it won't work.
How do I reach a consensus on "vision?"
Assume almost nothing from day one, except the information that's right in front of you on the forum or wherever else the DAO discusses things. Make all determinations in public meetings from the get-go and let everyone be heard.
Finally, keep your vision simple and focused on an end-goal that you know everyone's on the same page on. Make that into a manifesto, or whatever you'd like to call the post where you share what your DAO is, why it matters, and where it's going.
Don't publish the manifesto until, for example, the DAO Council agrees on what is in it and the greater community has had a chance to weigh in on the process.
This isn't easy.
It can take weeks to come to a consensus but it's worth it to wait.
Your DAO won't work without flex individuals at the core and flex individuals are driven by a vision, rather than a department or a specialization.
These issues are meant to be as succinct and as actionable as possible. In my opinion, actionable, in the case of a piece on DAOs, means you read it and it inspires the creation of a new initiative or the taking of a new action. If any of this speaks to you, reach out any time on my X account, Push DAO's X Account, or introduce yourself on our forum and let's build something together!
Next time, we'll dig deeper on vision building, onboarding and practical structuring for DAOs. Until then, let's all keep building communities that are more equitable than ever before!
Ian
DAO Chef @Push_DAO