Our industry has forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner. It feels as if core values like inclusivity and empathy aren’t prioritized nowadays, despite being key ingredients for the much-needed real user engagement and retention.

Education —normal education, not just for techies or developers— is mostly on the back burner. SheFi is doing an amazing and proper job with effective results. However, there aren’t many other organizations or initiatives out there doing Web3 education for everyday people across multiple languages.

Most end users are not software developers and don’t have technical expertise and yet that’s what funding primarily goes.

Do you remember who the end user was intended to be? How can we expect any level of adoption if our educational efforts are focused only on creating new developers?

Water, water everywhere…

After 3 years attending different Ethereum events around the world, I always thought, “If I were a beginner, where would I go first?” Are Ethereum community events the best starting points for your journey into web3? The answer is not a straightforward yes or no.

For all the benefits of decentralization and an overwhelming amount of global ETH events to choose from, very few (or even none) cater specifically to newcomers. The truth is that, despite often thousands of attendees pouring into a chosen city, there’s rarely any instance inviting locals to START HERE 📍.

Imagine being a total beginner at a typical large-scale industry event. Finding something that caters to your needs would be like trying to find a sip of fresh water while lost at sea.

I also often wonder, beyond the tourism economy, if we as an industry leave these cities better off than when we found them. We arrive and takeover these areas for days and weeks at a time, and honestly, it would be valuable to know that somehow, our floating Web3 communities can bring long lasting value directly to the people of these cities.

This thought resurfaces every time I return from a big event, like EthCC Brussels. More recently, although I didn’t attend, the CT discourse around Korea Blockchain Week and Token 2049 Singapore made me feel the same way.

How have we not realized that new people are actually looking for novel onboarding experiences?

https://x.com/andyboyan/status/1824599637501849708

https://x.com/0xVEER/status/1812087051128340516

Hear me out…

While reflecting on the experiences lived during ETHCC and previous Ethereum gatherings, something clicked for me.

I know what you’re thinking: “Not another side event!”

Technically, yes, it’s a new event—but it’s not for us, it’s for them. For newcomers, it’s not a side event; it’s their main and first event.

Here’s the thing: new people are attending Ethereum events and we are not providing any or sufficient spaces to make them feel welcome or looked after.

Until now. The word on the ‘street’ was my sign to take action.

https://x.com/OrnellaWeb3/status/1812113343013892389

One giant leap

Born as an honest concern following EthCC [7], this idea and vision of creating a dedicated onboarding space solely for new, curious web3 explorers, is now becoming a reality.

“New to Web3? Start Here” is an onboarding initiative co-created by Ethereum community members who deeply care about people’s first steps in web3.

Together with Corinna Schlicht, Guilherme Maueler (Regens Unite), Caolán Walsh (ETH Ireland) and myself, we’ve been working on a pioneering concept: an onboarding event that quickly connects newcomers with the values of Ethereum and onchain culture through a meaningful, hands-on, actionable approach.

I’ve always believed it would be incredible for newcomers to experience the positive side of our industry right from the start—connecting with its values early on, while leaving the bad reputation, scams, and inevitable challenges as later learning moments, not their first impression.

The team has vast experience working with both tech and non-tech beginners, contributing across diverse public good projects like Bankless Academy, Regens Unite, ETH Ireland, and Crypto Comms Collective.

We share a strong belief in the potential of Ethereum and Web3, along with a deep commitment to building and supporting IRL communities.

What began as a strong intention and a post, resonated with many community BUIDLers on CT. I created a Telegram group to kick things off, and now here we are, sharing the story of this all came to life. If this topic resonates with you too, please reach out and join us - any type of support is greatly appreciated.

Before continuing I’d like to give a huge shoutout to all the contributors from different parts of the world who have shown interest in adding value to this initiative—whether online or onsite. Thank you Luke, Lucia, Didier, Rohit, Nat, Andy, Puncar, Fabio, Samarth, Cat, Russ, Trav, Valentina, Koko, Amelia, Nick, Nico, Manu, and everyone who has shared the initial announcement post on X (RTs appreciated!) 🚀

https://x.com/mariamagenes1/status/1840497292895551608

This event marks a first step in shifting the narrative around end-user education. Our goal is to connect newcomers directly with the BUIDLer spirit, regenerative finance, public goods, and digital art, music, and more—showcasing the positive aspects of our ecosystem as their first touchpoints in Web3. It’s time for the good side of things to get LOUDER, but with kindness and in style 🙂

The first edition of New to Web3? Start Here will take place on Friday, November 8th, from 12:00 to 08:00 pm, just before DevCon SEA 7.

Attendees will be able to: connect with a mentor, get their first Web3 wallet, send and receive transactions, mint digital collectibles, learn about building and contributing to public goods, join a DAO, connect with local Bangkok and global Web3 communities—and much more.

This wouldn’t be possible without the immediate support of Harpie, who were the first to raise their hands when this initiative was proposed publicly. A big thank you to Ash, Brit, and the complete Harpie team for championing end-user education. We need more of this, globally and in many languages 🌍.

Bangkok is the starting point, but I’m deeply looking forward to doing editions in Spanish, Italian and other languages as well. We’ve already received great feedback and requests in the Town Hall!

https://x.com/regenavocado/status/1840680576316997939

https://x.com/me_darealjev/status/1840754414002356466

If this event can serve as a replicable format that can be adapted to local cultures and languages around the world, it would be a huge win for Web3 educators and explorers everywhere! 🏆 Together, we go further.

Knowledge Gives Rise to Friendship

Respecting local values and culture is a priority for us, and we’re extremely happy to have found a venue that reflects this. The chosen location is The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage, a green oasis 🌱 in the heart of Bangkok, less than 2 km from DevCon.

Established in 1904, the Siam Society’s mission is to promote knowledge of the culture, history, arts, and natural sciences of Thailand, as well as those of neighboring countries. Guided by its motto, “Knowledge Gives Rise to Friendship,” the venue also has an on-site museum. What better motto could we ask for?

For programming, the event will kick off with a welcome lunch for early arrivals, followed by community member introductions, sharing their stories and experiences in Web3.

We’ll host a guided workshop on setting up a Web3 wallet, leading into an afternoon of hands-on onchain activities in specialized booths, closing with meaningful connections, Ikigai sessions, music, and great vibes.

Come with zero, go home as a hero - but a hero with a path to follow and new friends!

Get Involved

Liked the idea? We’d love and appreciate your support! There’s many ways to get involved, before, during or after the event.

If you’re a web3 native, an onchain or an experienced community builder, we’d love to have you onboard. We’re especially looking for frens that speak Thai 🇹🇭 to help us guide the 100 attendees that will be getting onboarded for the first time.

Apply to participate as a mentor and help us connect local people with the positive aspects of our industry. If you have friends in Bangkok, please consider sharing the event link directly with them. Let’s continue building community in presence, wherever we go.

For more information, head over to the event page here:

https://lu.ma/k5kc8iij

and if you’d like to support this initiative with human resources, content or financially, feel free to reach out on X or Farcaster.

Let’s connect and help us push end-user experiences and education forward in positive and meaningful way.

Thanks for reading and see you in Bangkok!

🫡

If I were to define my experience during Europe’s biggest Ethereum Conference, ETHCC, in one word, it would be focus.

Why?

Being my second time attending ETHCC, I was able to be much more intentional about my time there. Working remotely non-stop for five years has made me realize the importance of IRL gatherings and human connection. So, in second place, the priority was to have fun. Yes, fun. Laugh, hang out, connect, and bond with my peers and friends that I’ve been working with for the past three years of this crazy but immensely fulfilling web3 life. I also made sure to leave time and energy for free flow so that the universe could connect me with surprising humans and deep moments too.

This article’s goal is to inspire you for your next Ethereum conference, hoping that you can also focus on the beauty of the time that we’re living in, and how lucky we are to be able to be builders of the new internet and travel the world while doing so. For each section, I’ll share a tip that you can take and consider for your next experience.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

💡 Tip #1: Focus.

Graduation Day at SheFi 🎓

My first stop in Brussels was a very special event and community that I’m very proud to be part of and keep close to my heart: SheFi. Maggie Love and her team produced a powerful, uplifting, and vibing event full of professional, kind, and kick-ass women. I had the honor to speak and share my story, wins, and challenges as part of the ‘From 0 to Web3 Mastery’ panel with Victoria from Mento Labs, Brichis from Ethereum Mexico and Optimism, and Gemma.

This special moment surely felt like a graduation, since at last year’s ETHCC I was a first-time attendee, and later during 2023, I became part of the Season 9 Cohort.

https://x.com/CorinnaSchlicht/status/1809950153010213296

When I joined SheFi, I had learned many things about web3 through decentralized community work, but it always seemed like bits and pieces without a clear structure. As I mentioned in the talk, joining SheFi felt like an oasis in a desert because the guidance, education, and mentorship that Maggie provided helped me organize everything I had in mind—all the concepts that I had learned—in a clear way, plus it increased my level of web3 knowledge tenfold in just three months.

https://x.com/thefranceway/status/1809927200654651602

I felt very confident speaking on stage and feel very proud of that. The process of public speaking in a language that isn’t your first one is never easy, but as Maggie says, every time you ‘do it scared,’ the feeling on the other side is immensely fulfilling and peaceful. I totally recommend doing everything scared if you have to.

With this special initial moment, ETHCC Week was off to an amazing start.

https://x.com/dee_centralized/status/1809949863603298662

During the next days, I attended events focused on education, onboarding, culture, public goods, and regenerative finance. These are my realms and the topics that deeply interest me. I didn’t have this clarity last year for sure. I had feelings of where I wanted to go and who I wanted to connect with, but this year, it was very different. I felt prepared and had clarity in my heart and mind. I was ready for the next phase in life.

💡 Tip #2: Do it scared.

A Week to Remember

This year, before flying over to Brussels, I remembered and acknowledged the overwhelming amount of information that ETHCC week involves. That’s why I took some time two days before traveling to plan ahead and have everything handy on my phone while I was on the move. This included:

• Hand-picking the events that I wanted to attend related to my core tracks: education, onboarding, culture, public goods, and regenerative finance.

• Adding each event to my Google Calendar and attaching the respective ticket or QR code if needed.

• Making a Google Maps list called ‘ETHCC Brussels’ and adding all the venues of the events I wanted to attend, and calculating distances to ensure everything was a maximum 10-15 minute walk from my hotel.

This exercise took me around three hours—a lot of time—but the peace of mind it gave me onsite was priceless.

Here’s the list of events and venues I attended during the following days:

• Farcaster and POAP meetup

• SheFi Community Brunch

• Gitcoin & Tally: Blank Canvas

• ENS: The New Internet

• Go Bankless Meetup

• Mantle Mixer (a surprise event with beautiful views and vibes)

• ETHCC Main Event

• Boys Club & Optimism L’ Apero

• Gitcoin Passport Sybil Soirée

• Blockchain For Good Unconference

• Zero Snacks

• OttoDAO & Web3 Familia Mixer

• rAAVE

• Bankless Academy Onboarding Booth @ Regen Village

• Grants F*ck Up Night

• PizzaDAO Brussels

• Refraction: Towns

• Regen Village

These are the events that I would have loved to attend but missed due to clashes (it felt like everything happened between Monday and Tuesday of ETHCC Week):

• Optimistic Gathering

• Serotonin Chalet

• afk Brussels

💡 Tip #3: Plan ahead.

Highlights of the Week

Having attended the amazing events listed above, here are a few important moments that I will cherish for years to come:

• Finally getting my first official ENS card!

https://x.com/OrnellaWeb3/status/1810562764395430360

• Meeting new Bankless family members at the Go Bankless event.

• Using Farcaster to add frens IRL and recognizing several of them while collecting POAP memories.

• Meditating with Lori Ann from On Air Onchain.

• Participating in a workshop session at the Gitcoin & Tally event.

• Catching up with the ETH Milan fam at the Mantle Mixer, enjoying the stunning views of Brussels.

• Discovering all the activities at the main event, including my preferred talks: the Regens Unite workshop, Caolan’s presentation about Public Goods, Account Abstraction by Coinbase, and Web3 Writing by Cory.

https://x.com/BanklessAcademy/status/1810643016970842430

https://x.com/OrnellaWeb3/status/1810641183506370752

• My favorite moment: jumping and playing in the ball pit with Didier, Lefteris and his lovely daughter.

• Meeting new girlfrens like Lixie living in Milan at Boys Club L’Apero

• Dressing up and masked at Gitcoin Passport’s Sybil Soiree, and meeting Humpty from Crypto Sapiens after three years of being a BanklessDAO alumni.

https://x.com/OrnellaWeb3/status/1810763089261826321

• Engaging in fantastic and deep talks at the Blockchain For Good Unconference, learning about Open Source Education, and connecting with new people.

• Catching up with the Zerion fam while relaxing at the park, and learning about privacy from jimjim.eth at the LottoPGF meetup.

https://x.com/nicnode/status/1811183006079422867

• Dancing like there was no tomorrow at my first rAAVE.

• Hosting an onboarding booth with Didier Krux as part of Bankless Academy’s contribution to Regen Village.

https://x.com/BanklessAcademy/status/1811455220943069397

• Receiving my Regen Village NFC Citizen Wallet, claiming $REGEN tokens, and exchanging them for regen swag. I also got a copy of the latest book from Kevin Owocki, Onchain Capital Allocation.

https://x.com/OrnellaWeb3/status/1812471753710395452

• Stopping by PizzaDAO to give a big hug to Snax and being surprised by the Go Kart. Dancing a bit more at the Refraction DAO event.

• Chilling out at Regen Village on Friday while waiting for my turn to go back to the airport.

• Meeting local frens from Brussels that onboard new people through WaffleDAO and eating the 5th waffle of the week. Thank you so much, Regens Unite, for creating such a lovely space!

The Layer 0: The People

Before web3, part of my daily life involved organizing weekly events for 300 to 1,000 people and producing music festivals with up to 12,000 attendees. The amount of work, resilience, patience, and time sacrificed with family and friends that goes into preparing these events is unprecedented. I mention this because I want to highlight the most important part of every conference, gathering, or highlight from last week: the people.

None of these magical moments would be possible without the great humans who have decided to change their careers, take the risk of working in this field, and make things happen.

Before anything else, it’s us. Behind every project, community, protocol, or whatever, there’s a human making huge efforts to do their best work, and I find that nothing less than honorable.

If you attend a conference on behalf of a company, it can be different than attending on your own. That said, if that’s your case, please make sure to take time to rest, enjoy the moment, and most importantly, have fun. Remember that blockchains are trustless, but we are not. Trust is part of our essence, and there’s nothing more motivating—at least to me—than being able to build trust with so many people around the world with different backgrounds, nationalities, experiences, and beliefs.

💡 Tip #4: Cherish relationships

Some Special Thank You’s

Before wrapping up this reflection article, I would like to express special gratitude to a few friends that made my ETHCC Brussels experience one to remember.

Didier Krux for being an amazing fren and colleague, this ETHCC experience wouldn’t have been the same without you. Love learning, exploring and dancing together!

Dayana Aleksandrova for your love, support, and for taking the amazing picture capturing my essence while speaking at SheFi. I am so proud of how you’ve found your place in the space, your thrive to keep going and your amazing content! This is only the beginning.

Cori, Jimi and the Regens Unite family for giving space and importance to onboarding and education, and supporting our work at Bankless Academy.

Conclusion

ETHCC was a powerful reminder of the importance of focus, courage, preparation, and the incredible people that work and are building the new internet. I am incredibly grateful and honored to be part of this movement, and lifestyle. Every event and connection deepened my appreciation for our web3 community and the work we're doing.

The real magic of web3 lies in the people behind it. Thanks to everyone who made my ETHCC unforgettable. I hope the tips shared here can be useful for any new and also OG frens in web3. Here’s to many more conferences filled with learning, growth, and amazing connections. Let’s continue BUIDLing the future together.

See you at the next one!

These new mechanisms allow contributions and growth to happen without the funding bottle neck or a deviated for-profit direction. Better systems are possible for your community and what you’re building.

Funding tied to specific requirements or in a venture capitalist direction that doesn’t resonate with your own mind and soul will always feel disconnected. Thankfully there’s new funding and allocation mechanisms that can help us move forward in a more natural and organic way. To learn more about the ethos of RetroPGF, check out the initial Optimism blog post here.

The goal of this document is to give you a full recap of the course, hoping that you too can feel incentivized and enabled to host your own round for your community. If you feel this content can be useful for a friend, pass it on! Let’s share the gift of knowledge.

For public goods to succeed, we need thousands of RetroPGFers hosting rounds! Let’s not wait any longer and dive in right into it 👇🏻

Module 1: ‘What is RetroPGF?’ with Jonas

Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF) is an innovative funding mechanism designed to support projects that provide public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem.

It operates on the principle that the value of public contributions is clearer in hindsight, allowing for more accurate and impactful funding decisions. By rewarding projects that have already delivered tangible benefits, RetroPGF aims to shift incentives, encouraging more individuals and teams to work on initiatives that have a positive societal impact. This approach not only fosters a culture of contribution and collaboration but also aims to build a more regenerative and equitable economic system.

The goal? We build with the belief that one day we’ll have a funding mechanism system that not only serves the current crypto or Ethereum ecosystem but is adaptable and influential enough to shape broader economic systems for a better world.

Module 2: Scoping your RetroPGF Round with LauNaMu

Before running a retroactive round, it's important to focus on clearly defining goals, values, and processes to ensure effective and fair outcomes.

The initial step in scoping is to define what is considered valuable for the organization or community. This includes outlining what type of contributions or impacts are sought and how they align with the organization's objectives. It’s key to have a North Star metric and stick to it.

Set expectations. This filter helps attract the right projects to apply. If not done properly, this can be a burden especially if self-nomination is allowed. The goal is to attract the right people, those who have effectively provided value and impact to the ecosystem.

Two interesting examples of RetroPGF rounds are the Optimism round and, as contrast, DAODrops. For the Optimism round, guidelines were provided in advance to align participants' contributions with the desired outcomes. It was clear ‘what’ would be measured, but not ‘how’. This left space for creativity but created confusion as to how to measure. Something to improve in the next iteration for sure. In contrast, other rounds like the one led by DAODrops, focused its reward system on past contributions without pre-announcement, impacting how participants engaged. This approach can be used by communities who do not count with funding upfront before starting the round. In some cases, funding can arrive much further down the road.

While goals are clearly stated in the first example, the means to achieve them can vary, allowing participants to use different methods to contribute effectively to the ecosystem or community.

Clear communication about what is valuable and how contributions will be evaluated is crucial. This ensures that participants understand whether their contributions align with the round's objectives and how they will be assessed, affecting the fairness and effectiveness of the process. Identifying and understanding the target audience, whether they are applicants or evaluators, is essential for designing an effective scoping process.

Another important aspect are operational phases and timelines. This can include the onboarding of participants as well as a training program for those who decide the distribution of funds. In general, the process of any RetroPGF round involves four main phases: announcement, project signup, voting, and results distribution. For each one, clear timelines and planning are vital.

The process involves learning from each round, using insights gained to improve future ones. This includes refining objectives, evaluation criteria, and communication strategies based on previous experiences and outcomes. It’s a joint effort. As part of the iteration process, narrow scopes are recommended. This helps focus attention and expertise where it's needed.

Module 3: Badgeholders - Understanding the Guardians with Annika

Badgeholders are pivotal in Optimism's RetroPGFmodel since they are tasked with voting on the allocation of funds to various projects. They form a distinct group within the governance structure, separate from token holders or the Foundation's governance systems, highlighting the badgeholders’ unique role in the funding process.

The selection process to define who should become a badgeholder varies across different rounds. Some are directly contacted by the Optimism Foundation while others are nominated by previous badgeholders. This brings a blend of experience, alignment, and fresh perspective.

Badgeholders commit to the RetroPGF mission diverse periods of time, with one individual reporting around 10 to 12 hours spent fulfilling their responsibilities while some more, and some less. Since there is no one way to do it, this is a fully personal choice.

Discussions have taken place about potentially grouping badgeholders based on their domain expertise to improve efficiency and effectiveness in evaluating projects. This approach could help tackle challenges related to the volume of applications and the associated workload, ensuring that badgeholders can contribute effectively within their own scope and fields.

After each funding round, badgeholders participate in post-mortem discussions, offering feedback on the process and suggesting improvements for future ones.

For a deeper dive on Badgeholders, check out the Badgeholer Hub documentation on Optimism.

Module 4: Application Process and Impact Evaluation Strategies with LauNaMu

The application process is constantly changing and reflects learnings and adaptations from the previous funding round. Optimism took strict measures to ensure the integrity of the application process, highlighting the importance of safeguarding against malicious attempts to game the system. A significant effort was made to filter out spam and fraudulent applications through a rigorous civil analysis, ensuring that only legitimate applications were considered by badgeholders.

In the last Optimism round, a new requirement was set for a project to receive funding. Each one had to receive votes from at least 17 badge holders to reach quorum. This threshold aimed to ensure that projects are evaluated from multiple perspectives, contributing to a more democratic and balanced allocation process. For your own round, you can decide to have or eliminate this requirement, totally up to you. This was more of a test but it was felt as a need to achieve double quorum.

Learning how to measure impact is currently a work-in-progress that we can all contribute to. When defining your own RetroPGF round, make sure to emphasize this aspect of the process. Doing so aims to facilitate evaluation for badgeholders and to set expectations for applicants.

Check out Launamu’s Impact Evaluation Framework to learn more about how to measure effective and impactful contributions in your ecosystem.

Module 5: Project Nominations and Voting Process with Magenta

As a project manager and developer with a background in UI/UX, Magenta Ceiba shared a ton of experience in multi-stakeholder decision-making and financial governance. Thanks to her involvement in Gitcoin rounds and DAOdrops, she provided a practical perspective on managing community-funded projects during this specific session.

One of the key learnings I had was the fact of using the community's objectives to shape the nomination process. Different strategies are considered for nominations, including self-nominations and badge holder nominations. Self-nominations allow a broader discovery of projects, while badgeholder project nominations can introduce a layer of vetting and community endorsement.

The nomination form that one should create for running any RetroPGF round is a crucial tool that guides applicants on how to present their projects, and it should ensure that the information collected is structured and relevant. Make sure to ask for impact metrics that are relevant to the success of your community! If they align with your North Star, even better.

Module 6: Operations, Communication Strategy + KYC and Payouts with Magenta

Having a streamlined and efficient operational process in managing a RetroPGF round is key to the success of the initiative. To optimize your RetroPGF round's operations, it's recommended to document and review each step post-round, allowing continuous improvement.

Effective communication is also a key aspect that must not be left behind. A proper strategy should include regular updates, accessible channels on your communication platforms for inquiries, and a feedback loop with participants.

KYC processes are crucial for maintaining compliance and security in the funding round. To navigate KYC effectively, it's recommended to clearly communicate requirements to participants and consider the global nature of your audience, ensuring the process is inclusive and respects privacy concerns. If you’re able to implement a robust KYC process, remember to communicate its requirements clearly and early on to your participants, to ensure it's designed to accommodate the diverse and global nature of your community.

Transparency and efficiency in payouts is also very important. To make the most out of this process, it's advisable to establish clear timelines, communicate them effectively to recipients, and have contingency plans for any issues that may arise.

—-

In general the cohort provided key learnings from the Optimism RetroPGF experiment. All participants in the cohort are now invited to create their own RetroPGF rounds in their own communities. If you’re interested in learning more about the process, the cohort team has uploaded a series of mini-videos extracted from the cohort that you can access here.

As for next steps, I’ll be experimenting with the RetroPGF tool built by the Gitcoin team. As this process is work-in-progress, I’ll be sharing more updates on X and Warpcast. Feel free to shoot me a message there if you’d like to sync on the topic.

Before wrapping up, I’d like to give a huge shoutout to Sejal, Lana, to all guest speakers and most importantly to all the web3 community BUIDLers that participated in the cohort.

Learning together is the most valuable part of this journey.

Let’s continue 🌎 🌿 💜

As promised, the first episode of DAOnboarding - Falling Down the Rabbit Hole has now seen the light. Yay! Ceeeeeeelebration times, c’mon! 🎉

You can listen to it here:

https://open.spotify.com/show/2wkghIGAAwDTR6UU1gtVsq

After 24 hours post-launch, 8 people from different parts of the world have listened. Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. What a beauty! 🌎

The feeling of being able to share your own content worldwide is amazing, I’m stoked and curious to see where all of this takes us.

I’m incredibly proud to have been able to launch despite the challenges that arose during the past month. A family loss, focusing on family matters, traveling over to Chile, a 6-hour time zone difference, and work. It hasn’t been easy, but I made it.

We’re here, together, celebrating now this first milestone. THANK YOU SO MUCH for the support and the push through this important first phase. Each message, each collector of these articles, and every word of support can go a long way and in this case, I can confirm it has gone a long way. I feel over the moon with your love and kindness, so again, thank you for that.

Some updates of this final phase:

I decided to launch with only audio on Spotify, Apple, and major podcast platforms, and audio + a video background on YouTube and soon on Lens. No camera action for now. Once I’m back home in Italy in October, I’ll be testing the video waters once again. I would like to prepare my studio, a cozy place to record, and try out some nature locations as well. Here in Chile, it’s still winter so yeah, recording outside wasn’t really a good idea 🤭

I would like to thank my life partner fa3io for being extremely supportive through this process. Thank you for being by my side always and for being such an amazing human.

All credits for the logo animation of the video background and video editing go to him. We’re both discovering our new paths in web3 and being able to work together on projects has been fun and motivates us to continue. I’ll take a minute to do some shameless shill to this wonderful human. If you’re looking for video content work, editing, or consultancy on live immersive experiences and project mapping, check out fa3io’s portfolio here 🎥

I was a bit nervous about how to record myself, even if it was just voice, but in the end, what worked, was just letting my ideas flow.

I pressed record and I let my mind flow. Creativity, ideas, terms, and words, just started to come and pop up into my head, guided by my heart.

I then passed the audio from this recording to the text, edited the script, and wrote some bullet points for the main ideas. I then recorded the episode with Adobe Podcast. I had never tried it before. It’s in Beta but it did wonders. Thanks Adobe!

I practiced a few times, recorded, edited, and boom, it was time to hit the PUBLISH button. What a great feeling!

DAOnboarding is now real, online (soon onchain), and available to listen for anyone with an eagerness to learn and an internet-connected device.

There’s also some action going on Twitter, now X, too! It’s 11 followers and counting.

Thank you so much for supporting this new baby project.

You can follow DAOnboarding on Twitter here. Don’t be shy! Have a listen, RT, and share the love.

During this week I will continue to push DAOnboarding and bring awareness to the podcast. The last phase of my DAOpunks Cohort_3 involved creating partnerships and collaborations for the project, so I’ll be pursuing this in the upcoming days.

If you’re interested in learning more about DAOnboarding, just hit me up on the project’s Twitter or on my personal one, OrnellaWeb3.

This might be the last article within the DAOpunks Cohort, but it’s definitely the first of a longer journey.

I would like to emphasize the importance and the value that the DAOpunks community provides to anyone looking to find themselves and their way of web3. Give them a follow, get involved, and stay tuned for the next version of their Cohort.

The opportunity that they have shared has gotten me shipping this important project, and who knows what the DAOpunks community can help you achieve? It’s only up to you. The opportunities are endless.

Find that strength in you, take time for yourself, identify your Ikigai, and fly my friend.

Just fly high, and enjoy the ride ✨

First things first, we’re SO CLOSE to launch! This upcoming Friday, September 1st, 2023, the first episode of DAOnboarding will see the light.

For some life context, I’m writing this fifth piece from my home country, Chile. To be honest, I’d never thought I’d be doing the launch from this part of the world. Being here gives me even more push to keep working toward my goals and to create content sharing knowledge and information about the possibilities of blockchain technologies.

My partner and I will be based here for a month to spend time with my family after my uncle’s passing. This week has been mostly about getting settled, used to the new time zone (it’s a 6-hour difference from home), and catching up with my loved ones. I’ve been able to share with some local frens about DAOonboarding, but they feel like I’m speaking alien concepts. Very few of them have heard the term blockchain before, definitely never heard of the term DAO, and they can only understand a bit when I go back and ask about Bitcoin. Even with that, only 5% of them would say: '‘Oh yeah that! I get it now”.

Oh boy, we are so early.

There is so much room for growth - so being that said, let’s get right into this week’s updates with two big news:

First, I’ve found a slogan, I’ve found a way to describe what DAOnboarding is about with few words. Here it goes DAOnboarding: Stories of Web3. Simple, direct, and self-explanatory. In my vision for DAOnboarding, this podcast is only the beginning. Slogans can evolve in time too so no pressure here. This choice of words explains exactly what is, calling the attention of frens who have already heard about web3. If the person reading it has never heard about web3 before, then it’s also a good hook to spark their curiosity.

Second, I’ve decided to spice up this week with a surprise! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the official look and feel for DAOnboarding: Stories of Web3.

A few weeks ago with the help of Looka.com I created the logo and now with the help of Canva for designs, I created the first official banner:

What do you think? I hope you’re vibing it as much as I am!

I fell in love with the logo the moment I saw it. I have to say that Looka is a really easy-to-use and helpful tool. I entered key terms one of them ‘community’ and the results were pretty interesting.

When I look at it I see several things, I see friends having a ritual around a bonfire, I see the sun shining, I see people holding hands helping each other to create a higher momentum and strength circle. All of these things transmit what DAOs are for me, and hopefully, they get to be that for you too.

Now Twitter/X looks great! Consider giving DAOnboarding a follow to stay in the know with the first episode.

This upcoming week will be all about recording, editing, and finding possible partnerships. I’d really love to sync with more people who have done onboarding in DAOs. If you enjoy helping others learn about DAOs, or if you know someone I should connect to who’s really involved in the onboarding process of different DAOs, please let me know! My DMs are open.

I’m excited and already looking forward to what’s yet to come. In web3, once deep in certain areas, we all seem to go even deeper and deeper every time.

DAOnboarding is an invitation to stop digging that rabbit hole (only for a while), come back to the top, and look at how our surroundings have evolved in time.

You’d be surprised what you could find. I’m going through this process myself.

That’s all for this week frens! Thanks for reading and have a beautiful week 😉

If you'd like to gain more context about the DAOpunks Cohort mission, you can read my previous entries here on Mirror. They'll help you understand more about this beautiful and inspiring process.

Before we start, I would also like to thank DiscoDancin for collecting my previous post 😌 I hope you’re enjoying this read as much as I enjoy writing them! 📖

This week has been notably different. It’s one of those weeks in which life appears and it appears big time. Unfortunately, this past Tuesday, my closest uncle passed away 🕊️

It’s the first time a close family member parts ways from the physical space, while I’m so far away from my native country, so it’s been kind of an extra layer of feelings on top.

I would like to dedicate today’s article to my Tio Carlos. I’ll always remember you, Tio, as a life explorer, a voyager, and a lover of animals, music, and nature, especially a man of the sea 🌊

Life is amazing but ephemeral, and moments like these are a gentle but clear message—once again—to go and truly live your life because our time here is precious. Our entire existence in the universe's timeline is even shorter than the blink of an eye. Live every single day with all you’ve got. Love, be loved, spread the love, and be kind 💜

That being said, let’s slowly dive into what’s been in the works, at a very slow pace, during this week and what’s coming up for the new one.

We’re now ending Phase II of the DAOboarding video series roadmap. This past week I’ve been working on the scripts for the first episode, Falling Down the Rabbit Hole. You can read more about the details of the first season of DAOnboarding here.

I’m looking forward to recording this week the first attempts on video. I do love communications, but I have to admit that I do have a camera block which I’m currently working on. This whole process of content creation aims to beat exactly that. Time to get out of my comfort zone and stretch a little bit more.

For my video setup, I’ll be using a Canon M50 and a DJI Pocket 2 with a portable mic. That little camera can do wonders. I’m also thinking of recording all videos in nature. Not sure if this is the best idea, but I’ll try it out regardless. We’ll see how it goes!

I’ve also been working on the design assets with the palette chosen during week 2, you can have a look at the selected colors here.

Also this past week, the great Allyn Bryce aka Liquidiot, another fellow Grantee from the DAOpunks Cohort and BanklessDAO OG member, offered to be a part of DAOnboarding! This has been truly special since I’ve followed Allyn’s growth and personal journey as well. Some of the best BanklessDAO video content I’ve seen - the Weekly Rollup recaps - have been created by him. If you’re curious to know more about his work, check it out here. Thank you Allyn for being so awesome!

We’re around 10 days away from the launch of the first episode. Time flies! Next week I’ll start working on key collaborations, and a small strategy to start seeding the profile and have a proper launch.

Before we wrap up this week, I do have to confess something 😲

DAOnboarding is a project that will soon see the light, but that has been in my heart for a while now.

As a proper marketer, upon the first signs of life of DAOnboarding, I registered its Twitter (now X) profile and ENS name back in May 2022. I guess I just felt the day would come, the vision was there. Now the road, well, that’s a whole other story, and that’s the beauty of it. The best part of all of this is that we get to see how the story unfolds, together.

Now that you know the handle, what are you waiting for? Go, give it a follow, and stay tuned for all DAOnboarding updates on Twitter, and soon on our dear Lens protocol 🌿

That’s all for this week frens, thanks for being here! Remember that you can COLLECT this piece for 0.01 ETH and that all proceeds go to the creation of DAOnboarding 🎥

If you’re interested in supporting, sponsoring, participating, being a guest, or just plain curious to learn more about DAOnboarding, feel free to message me on Twitter. My DMs are open 📩Thanks for reading and have an awesome week! 🌎 💜 🌿

Welcome to week 3 of my DAOpunks Cohort_3. This is the story of a journey to become a content creator along with a conscious realization and discovery of my Ikigai.

If you’re familiar with the term, beautiful! I hope you have discovered yours as well 🙌🏻

If not, here’s what it means:

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that combines the terms iki, meaning “alive” or “life,” and gai, meaning “benefit” or “worth.” It encapsulates the idea of finding a deep sense of purpose and fulfillment in one’s life.

There is an amazing creator inside all of us, and this content creation journey is surely helping me figure a lot of things out.

By discovering our Ikigai, we’re able to find that sweet spot of what is it that feels natural (what we love), what we can do (our skillset or abilities), what can be of value to others (what the world needs), and what we can eventually get paid for doing 😮 (through blockchain technologies thanks to DAOpunks and collectors of these articles - whoop! 🎉).

If you’d like to have more context on how we got here and follow my complete journey so far, you can check out my first two articles Make Your Transition and The Birth of DAOnboarding. Both are available to read and also collect for 0.01 ETH each if you’d like to support my first web3 project. Kudos and thanks to Didier Krux for being the first collector of the past edition 🎉 Yay!

Being that said, let’s jump right into the details of the decision-making process of week 3.

If we take a look at the roadmap presented in Week 1, we can see that we’ve finished the first week of Phase II, which is Content Production.

This week I’ve been meditating and analyzing what should be the content for the first six episodes of the season. I’ve already determined that the first three would be about the introduction and context around DAOs and that from episode 4 and onwards, I would invite guests.

After organizing my thoughts, this is what you can expect from the first season of DAOnboarding:

Episode 1 - Falling down the Rabbit Hole 🥕

This episode will focus on sharing part of the story on how and why I was captivated by the concept of decentralized work, and decentralized communities.

I feel that sharing the story of how my own DAOnboarding process happened, helps set the foundation as to why I have decided to start this project in the first place.

Episode 2 - The Core Principles of DAOs 🫱🏽‍🫲🏻

In this episode, I’ll cover what DAOs are, why you should care or at least understand what they are, and most importantly, their core principles: decentralization, community governance, transparency, and collective decision-making.

There’s certainly a lot to cover on this one, so focusing and guiding the storyline toward the onboarding process and experience will be interesting.

Episode 3 - gm BanklessDAO 🏴

This is gonna be a special one. In this episode, I’ll introduce and share with you all about the amazing community that has been my web3 home for the past two years.

BanklessDAO holds a cherished place in my heart as my first and most profound DAO experience. I define bDAO (short for BanklessDAO) as a portal into the web3 universe, a loving and kind place where you can contribute, learn, expand, test your abilities, and grow in as many areas as you’d like - spiritually and professionally.

Sounds like a perfect place to work out your Ikagai too, don’t you think? 😉

Episode 4: DAOnboarding’s First Guest

My first guest has already been decided in my heart and mind, but I still have to invite her/him/they and see if she/him/they accept 🤭 I guess I’ll be able to share this in my next article, we’ll see how it goes.

Guests for episodes 5 and 6 have yet to be defined, or what’s even better, maybe I won’t even define them, maybe they will come and appear at the right moment, at the right time. It’s nice to leave some space for free flow.

For now, this week’s mission is complete ✅

Episodes have now been selected and the main concepts defined. My next focus will be to write a simple script with key definitions and bullet points, mostly to not forget what I specifically want to cover.

The moment to hit that RECORD button is just around the corner.

Are you excited? I hope so! I truly am.

If you’re interested in supporting, sponsoring, participating, or just plain curious to learn more about DAOnboarding, feel free to message me on Twitter. My DMs are open! 💜

That’s all for now frens!

Have an amazing week, and remember, soon, very soon, we’ll be able to experience DAOnboarding together 🙂

Before we dive into the details of this week’s work, I would like to say THANK YOU to the amazing collectors of my first article, DiscoDancin, VonHagel, Trewkat, and Coffee Crusher. To have your written work, collected on the blockchain as a signal of support is nothing short of amazing.

Humans uplifting humans is the best feeling in the world 🌎

Week 2 has been all about making decisions.

The transitional phase has concluded, and now it's time to determine the next course of action.

After brainstorming several ideas I had in my backlog, I’ve decided to bring a special one to life. It’s been almost two years of deep dive into the world of DAOs, and I’ve noticed that I tend to naturally onboard new people to web3 online and in-person.

During my first year at BanklessDAO, I contributed as Talent Coordinator for the Translators Guild, and then later for the Marketing Guild (now Department). The role implied having weekly calls to onboard and welcome new members to the DAO. Each session was a deep moment of true connection that unveiled the most interesting stories.

Since we all have very different entry points to web3, each onboarding process is beautiful and unique. As a tribute to this beautiful experience - I’ve decided to create DAOnboarding, a bi-weekly video podcast focused on sharing the stories of DAO contributors around the world.

The first season will include six episodes; the first three will be focused on context, and starting from episode four, I'll be inviting guests and contributors who are open to sharing their stories, insights, and tips for a DAO life.

As part of this week’s progress, I’ve also dived into the branding and design aspects. Due to the positive vibe that these colors transmit, I’ve chosen Color Palette #2694 from colorpalettes.net. I’ve always loved purple since it’s the color that transmutes energy, and light green and blue are colors that represent the Earth.

https://colorpalettes.net/color-palette-2694/

The logo has also been selected, but this treat I’ll save it for the day of the launch.

This week has been particularly meaningful, as I’ve had to make significant decisions. As a marketer, crafting something from the ground up – something uniquely mine to present to the world – has been a truly captivating process.

Sharing this journey publicly adds a whole new dimension to the experience. It feels as if we’re all building this together 💜

Hey there! My name is Ornella, aka OrnellaWeb3. For almost two years, I’ve been contributing and diving deep into decentralized work. This has been part of a life-changing process that started during the times were we were prived of our freedom. I’m a proud grantee of DAOpunks Cohort_3, and in this first series of weekly Mirror posts, I aim to document and share with you the details, feelings, and insights of a new phase in my personal transition to a free self-sovereign life - my own content creation journey. Join me as I navigate through this transformative experience. This is more than just a transition; it's a story of growth and empowerment. Thanks for joining me on this adventure, and I promise to make it worth your while with valuable insights and inspiration.

Loved the TL;DR? Subscribe to not miss the next ones and mint this entry if you’d like to support this journey. Thank you!

What is DAOpunks?

Before we dig into what I’ll be working on during the following weeks. Let’s learn more about DAOpunks by checking out their manifesto:

DAOpunks’ mission is to enable humans to liberate themselves from the soul-sucking drudgery of default world work and lead them to the rewarding, expansive freedom found in meaningful DAO work. DAOpunks blaze new trails, leading others to fertile promised lands, where they find opportunity, meaningful work, community, and untold abundance. We build bridges. We blaze the trails. With openness, we invite others to join us. Together we go further. A better world awaits. DAOpunks lead the way.

Goosebumps. That’s what I felt when I read it, I hope you got them too.

These are the kind of manifestos that we need to capture the attention of amazing humans who are in search of a new way of living life.

I got to know about DAOpunks at the beginning of my BanklessDAO days, back in October 2021. I was fascinated by the idea of decentralized work, and by the ability to contribute with your superpowers to a community that had the same mission or purpose. Missions with real positive world impact. Today, I contribute as Marketing and Community Lead for Bankless Academy, a web3 education ecosystem for the self-sovereign individual. I can’t be more proud than being able to focus my time and energy on projects and things that really matter. Seeing this in others brings me immense joy as well. I am a strong believer that every human can earn a living through purposeful contributions — a core value of the DAOpunks ethos and one of the reasons I'm here today.

Every few months, the DAOpunks community offers an experimental grants program built and fully governed by its members. It is intended to provide individuals with the initial resources that are needed to take the leap and go full-time DAO. After almost two years of following, voting for, and celebrating other grantees, I decided it was time to make the leap myself.

Beating Blockers

My goal for this cohort and beyond is to finally unblock myself from doing content creation. The transformative processes that I’m living are worth being told, and shared, as they can serve as inspiration for others who are just starting their path. I’m eternally thankful for the brave humans who did so first, as I was inspired by them in many ways. Their experiences touched my heart deeply, and I have to say, that their energy plus the commitment and consistency I’ve put in these past 500 days, have led me to where I am today.

My background is within the marketing and communications field. I’m a connector, a people person, a feeler. I try to transmit this through my writing despite English not being my first language. In my native country, Chile, I did copywriting and communications for many different brands. I started with a science TV show and passed through some small startups and local businesses until I got to work with one of my passions, music. For more than 10 years I tried to transmit feelings on behalf of different music-related brands, venues, artists, and more. This same ability has helped me find my way in web3.

Despite being able to write for others, I’ve never really tried to ‘market’ or apply what I know about communications to my own content. This is one of the first steps in trying to beat that blocker. There is no growth if we remain in our comfort zone, so this is an effort to step out of it and move forward. I’m thankful to the DAOpunks community for believing in me.

The Plan

The final outcome and goal of the cohort for me, is to create a project around content creation. The process consists of four mini-phases, with six weeks of preparation prior to launch.

PHASE I: PLANNING

Week of July 24: Phase Planning and Strategy

Week of July 31: Content Calendar Creation / Design & Branding

PHASE II: CONTENT PRODUCTION

Week of August 7: Recording/Selection of Episodes

Week of August 14: Editing/Production Process of Episodes

PHASE III: MARKETING & COLLABS

Week of August 21: Marketing Campaign / Collaborations

Week of August 28: Copywriting / Scheduling Content

PHASE IV: OFFICIAL LAUNCH

Friday, September 1st: Official Public Launch of Content Creation 🚀

Content can be audio or video depending on what I'm able to create in better quality. I aim to do video first, but sometimes I am not very secure on camera (a bit camera-shy), so it might be a good idea to do audio first. I'm unsure at the moment, but this is one of the things I'll discover in my transition process.

Unwinding the Mind

Where to start? How to define the next steps? What do I want to share and why? Week 1 of this process has taken me to meditate a lot and make those hard questions. I’ve taken daily walks in nature to actually put my thoughts in order, and I have to say, nature does do wonders. During these sessions, I’ve brainstormed around the following aspects:

• Name and meaning of the project - good branding, self-explanatory.

• Clarification of my message and objectives - what is the main takeaway?

• My readers/listeners/viewers - who am I speaking to?

• Choosing content formats - which are the most suitable?

• Planning a content calendar - how often should content be published?

• Collabs and partners - how can I get my message to other communities?

Even though it was a lot, I’m happy and relieved that I was able to - through several trains of thought - define and find answers to all previous questions. Through the following posts, I will be disclosing and sharing with you some key aspects of the project but I will also be mindful of leaving some secrecy and emotion to build momentum towards the official launch.

Can’t wait until September? That’s OK, as an honorable reader of this first blog post, here’s some alpha for you 😉

My main focus will be on shedding light on DAO contributors and their stories. I love founder stories, they are very inspiring, but I feel it’s time to go deeper into what we are sharing with the world about web3.

We, humans, connect when we can relate. The more we can spark the curiosity of the new era that we are living in, the more awareness for humanity we can create.

There are so many stories to be told, and this is just the first step ✨

Subscribe and join me on this one, it’s going to be a fun ride.

Last Thoughts

Music is a strong part of my life, and as I wrote this entire piece I couldn’t help thinking about a masterpiece track with some very special lyrics. I guess it is in fact the perfect time to share it.

Listen, enjoy, and make your transition.

Lyrics

There will come a time in your life when you will ask yourself a series of questions…

Am I happy with who I am?

Am I happy with the people around me?

Am I happy with what I'm doing?

Am I happy with the way my life is going?

Do I have a life or am I just living?

Do not let these questions restrain or trouble you.

Just point yourself in the direction of your dreams.

Find your strength in the sound and make your transition.

Do not spend too much time thinking and not enough doing.

Did I try the hardest at any of my dreams?

Did I purposely let others discourage me when I knew I could?

Will I die never knowing what I could have been or could have done? Do not let these doubts restrain or trouble you.

Just point yourself in the direction of your dreams.

Find your strength in the sound and make your transition.

There will be people who say you can't - you will.

There will be people who say you don’t mix this with that and you will say "watch me".

There will be people who will say play it safe, that's too risky - you will take that chance and have no fear.

You won’t let these questions restrain or trouble you.

You will point yourself in the direction of your dreams.

You will find the strength in the sound and make your transition. For those who know it’s time to leave the house and go back to the field.

Find your strength in the sound and make your transition.

If you’ve found value in my writing, and the feelings and thoughts shared, you can support my work by minting this one of the 10 limited editions of this article for 0.01 ETH or subscribe free of cost.

Thanks for the vibes 😉

With love,

Ornella

🌎 🌿 💜