However, a plane is an already defined concept - we know which elements are needed to make it fly. We are just trying to put the pieces together before it is too late and the plane crashes.

But how I would describe DAOs, is that we are in a dark labyrinth with a box of matches. Why does this phrase fit the concept of DAOs? A labyrinth allows us to explore every aspect of the concept we are going towards. We might know what we are trying to discover in the end but we might also be met with completely different results.

When we do not know where the end is, the best thing we can do is to ask ourselves - where are we now in the labyrinth? What means can we use in this specific moment to reach the destination?

Speaking of DAOs we should ask the following questions:

• What do we want to achieve by creating DAOs?

• How decentralized do we want DAOs to be?

• Should all DAOs be decentralized?

Let this article be a moment of inspiration and self-reflection as we sit lost in that labyrinth called DAOs.

Here are the key aspects covered in the article:

• Why was there a need for decentralization?

• Is it actually good to develop extreme concepts, especially when it comes to DAOs?

• Are DAOs in fact autonomous?

• Are DAOs actually empowering decentralization?

• When are we going to finally succeed in achieving decentralization?

Why was there a need for decentralization and what are its benefits?

When I was writing my thesis about DAOs I found out that up until very recently there was no fair game in the company's organizational structures. In theory, both centralization and decentralization have already existed in the business books. However, the centralized organization kept being applied in management for a long time but there was no working solution for the decentralized organization style.

DAOs simply bring back this balance by creating an applicable solution.

Of course, besides that, there are countless benefits to having a decentralized organization. But this only highlights that we should emphasize improving other organizational systems apart from centralized ones.

With DAOs we contribute to building extremes - and that’s actually good

By bringing DAOs into life, therefore creating the “working” decentralized organization we build a sort of leverage.

One might say that going to extremes is bad, however, it has also plenty of benefits. Thanks to us developing the “extreme” version of decentralized governance, it will be easier to develop the official definition of DAOs and define its explicit borders. We all need it to position ourselves and our preferences better.

Therefore, all organizations do not have to be centralized but they also do not have to be entirely decentralized. Instead, we should adjust these concepts according to the needs.

However, as this could represent the idea of what DAOs are meant to achieve in a long run, there are plenty of obstacles to overcome.

DAOs are still dependent on centralized systems

This is without any doubt the biggest current issue. Why?

Many DAOs are still relying on funds that belong to central organizations. It would be a lie to say that this approach as of now develops decentralized organizations. People who come across DAOs for the first time think that they are truly autonomous, yet the centralized organizations are the ones making it possible for DAOs to survive.

It does not mean that initially, DAOs will forever be dependent on centralized entities. For example, Aragon Network DAO was able to operate for many months thanks to the funds provided by the Aragon Association - the centralized element of Aragon. Only very recently the funds have been officially allocated in the DAO.

DAOs start centralized and then gradually develop into decentralized autonomous organizations.

When does a DAO become a DAO?

So far every DAO started centralized. It is very unlikely (however not impossible) that a big amount of people (let’s say >50) at the same moment

• will have the same vision for a company

• somehow connect at the same time

• with all the resources and

• a mutually equal base to start a business.

It is more realistic to say that most of the DAOs will be started by a single person or a small group of people and step by step, as the idea develops, become truly decentralized.

Again it is good to bring here the example of Aragon that started exactly this way. Although in the past the AN DAO was dependent on a centralized entity, for the past few months I have been watching an exceptional growth of the AN DAO. In fact, the goal of the Aragon Association was to make the AN DAO independent.

In theory, it is a disadvantage, that DAOs for now can only start centralized. However, how the governance later develops is fully based on the initiators and their ethics.

Centralized solutions are still used by DAOs due to the lack of resources.

On the other hand, not only the financial system keeps DAOs partially centralized. There are plenty of applications that are entirely web2 or as my colleague from Aragon would say “web2.5”(partially decentralized) that support DAOs. These most famous ones are the following:

• Twitter

• Coordinape

• Discord

• Medium

• Notion (I tried hyperlinking it, but there was some bug, so here is the link: notion.so)

Besides these, there is plenty of centralized task-specific tools still used in DAOs due to the lack of resources. We need more decentralized solutions, but this obviously takes time.

DAOs are about equality that we do not have yet.

DAOs will not become DAOs if the biggest group of people steering them belongs to one specific social majority.

Without the variety of genders, races, beliefs, and abilities the perspective of DAOs as an organism will remain centralized.

Why? This affects the whole mindset of a DAO. Every single one of us experiences different lives. We are people and as hard as we can try, our perception of truth will always remain subjective. Therefore, there will be no truth and transparency in DAOs if only one type of life experience steers the organization. Only by sharing our various experiences with the DAO community, we will be able to speak about the real decentralized mindset.

Again, without proper morals and values, we will only have decentralized technological solutions and overall these organizations will remain centralized at their core - the people.

We are here for a marathon, not for a sprint.

The last element missing to achieve true decentralization in DAOs is time. My recent observation is one specific quality that many people share in this space. It is full of people who like to live in a fast-paced environment with change and improvements.

However, what is key to bringing DAOs into life is time and patience. Living through learnings & mistakes. Observing & gathering inspiration. And allowing ourselves to explore the decentralization.

So many people want to have a ready answer to what decentralization is and how to govern it forgetting that DAOs are just 5 years old. If a single 5-year-old kid barely knows an alphabet, then why do we expect huge decentralized organizations to give a ready answer to how they should be governed?

There were a lot of deep thoughts, so let’s sum up the learnings.

• DAOs will provide leverage between centralized and decentralized governance that can be applied in real life.

• It will allow companies to have more freedom in choosing their own, personalized governing structure.

• DAOs are still dependent on centralized financial systems and applications.

• For now, DAOs can only start centralized.

• The ethics of the founders will determine if DAOs will be in fact decentralized.

• DAOs need a variety of people in the organization to be truly decentralized.

• DAOs should be a long-term goal, not a short-term solution or a hype.

Do you agree or disagree?

Shout out to these amazing people who inspired me and impacted the content of this article: Cris Cantolla, Eric Hansel, Wayne Scali, and Tyler Penning!

If you want to participate in ongoing web3 conversations and want to connect with blockchain and marketing experts, we highly recommend you to join our Discord where all the magic happens.

👉Click here to join!👾

See you next time!

Your UFOstart Marta

We finished the DAO Block Series with the 4th episode in which we learned the key aspects of managing a DAO.

To many DAOs it is still very blurry in which direction they should go or how they should be organized. There is also yet not enough research with clear guidance of what is the best solution for DAOs regarding the organization. However, what we can do best now is to look for inspiration from each other. 

To provide real-life use cases of DAOs organizational solutions, we have talked live with our three amazing guests:

🧑‍🚀 Michael Healy Founder of Unit Network 

🧑‍🚀 Eva Oberholzer Chief Growth Officer at DFINITY 

🧑‍🚀 Samuel Baurle Content Writer at DAOhaus

During the event, our guests shared very insightful ideas such as:

• We need to find a current world problem that DAOs can clearly solve. This will allow DAOs to break through and permanently revolutionalize the work structures.

• There are different organizational styles are for each DAO that applies to their business model. 

• Establishing trust in DAOs should be your number one priority.

If you want to learn more in detail about our guests’ learnings and advice regarding organization in DAOs, you can watch the full episode on our Crowdcast or YouTube channel!

Stay tuned with our upcoming episodes and join our Discord channel 🚀to connect with blockchain and marketing experts from all around the world.

Thank you for reading this article. If you found this helpful, please, share it with your community and let us all benefit from our Crowdcasts!

Stay safe,

Your UFOstart Marta

You should have a close relationship, almost personal, with all your stakeholders. But also it is very easy to burn out if you try to do everything on your own. So here comes a question - how do you regain a healthy balance?

In this article, we will provide a list of aspects you should reflect on regularly in your blockchain business. It will help you develop the right processes and habits needed to successfully achieve your long-term business goals. 

After reading this article you should feel inspired to:

• Improve your process creation skills in the dynamic blockchain industry.

• Automate your decentralized business effectively.

• Run a community of members aware of the mission, vision, and values.

To add the cherry on top, I will be using what I have discussed with our Marketing Manager, Basti. His UFO Flightschool post was an inspiration to create this article. You can check it out here on our Instagram.

👉Process

If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.

W. Edwards Deming

In this post, a process is a series of business actions or steps taken to achieve a particular goal.

Why the power of process creation should be important for your business?

We are in the moment of exploration in blockchain but that does not mean that we should let things be all over the place, without any clear direction. Quite the opposite - on the way so many new opportunities will be popping up that you might end up losing your focus. Knowing your process beforehand will help you remain flexible and achieve your goal according to the current situation. 

Here are the tips that will help you build and readjust the process when necessary to successfully achieve your goals.

Reflect on your work regularly. Pick an idea. Readjust it. Implement it. Learn from it. Knowing where you stand will help you move further. 

Save energy and provide space for the creative part of your work. Building a process means having awareness of how to effectively develop every business activity. A proper process does not obsess over structures but understands key elements needed to achieve the desired outcome. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a space for your team where you can let go of the structures and let the imagination blossom alongside your regular business activities. 

Look for inspiration in other organizations, but keep your flow adequate to your business. Each business is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, searching for inspiration can result in unconventional solutions, that have nothing to do with brainlessly following the mass. This will also help you understand better, what is and what is not needed for your business. 

Try out the scrum method. Especially if you are at the beginning of starting a project, but already settled down with the strategy. This will save you a lot of time from obstacles that block your progress. It will help you teach your team how to work independently. This technique requires a certain level of dedication in the beginning, but in my opinion, is very effective in the long run. 

👉Automation & Data

It is essential to have good tools, but it is also essential that the tools should be used in the right way.

Wallace D. Wattles

In this post, automation is defined as a technique of making a business process operate automatically.

Why does knowing how to implement automation may save your life?

This also refers to the previous part, where we pointed out that you should save as much time and energy as you can for creative work. Finding out which elements of your work can be automated or documented will allow you to focus on the bigger ideas and achieve your strategic goals.

Here are a few things you should reflect on when automating your business activities.

When asking yourself, what exactly should be done by machines, point out all the things that you can forget about. This could be something simple such as databases or automatic email replies. However, in blockchain, you can take it to the next level. You can build a community with the help of bots, that can stay on track with member activities and keep them under control. 

Run through your Notion & Discord regularly to check for outdated information that may cause misinformation. This may sound obvious but very often we procrastinate with monotonous tasks. However, if you are running a big community, it is on your shoulders to make sure the data is correct and clear. Otherwise, your members will spread misinformation which will backlash your business.

Before introducing a new feature to your community, outline the process and imagine how you would like to have it introduced to you. Which elements do you think need more explanation? What questions are going to be asked by the members? All these things will help you gain the trust and loyalty of your community members. 

Check manually before you automate anything. Let’s say you introduce a new bot on your Discord that asks for verification. Before you make it go live, create a mock Discord server where you can use it as a playground for testing new features. 

👉Human Input

You manage things; you lead people.

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

In this post, human input is an action that is done manually with a conscious intention of an individual to achieve a specific outcome or result. 

Why should you learn how to lead people in decentralized communities?

In decentralized organizations, motivated people who know themselves what needs to be achieved are like a rare diamond. Knowing how to create an independent community will take a lot of pressure off your shoulders and will build a self-running ecosystem of well-informed members.

Here are practical tips that will save you a lot of time keeping your community on track with the workload.

In a perfect world, everything is run by humans. We do not live in such a world but we should aim at providing the minimum necessary supervision of a human when using tools. Technological improvement can never be better than human interaction. 

Learn how to incentivize people. If people believe in your business it will not be any more difficult to motivate them to participate in the project. Prioritize sharing your vision with the community, exciting them about the progress, and celebrating every small success. 

Give people the means to personalize the amount of dedication they want to deliver. Provide them with member roles, list all your bounties, and keep track of their well-being. It is better to have realistic expectations of your community rather than to burn it out.

Keep your community informed. Make sure that everyone, or at least as many people as possible in your organization knows where to go, what the goal is, and what is the vision. This could be done in a form of a manifesto or regular community meetings where you talk about the big vision of the organization and small tasks that will help you achieve it. 

Be careful to whom you grant your permission. It is easy to lose track of it when you want to involve a lot of members in your work. But in such a dynamic space people come and go and it is easy to forget about how many people can access channels or data no longer relevant to them. It will prevent your business additionally from hacker attacks. 

This is all the advice that we came up with during my brainstorming with Basti. But that is not the end.

We had quite a spontaneous realization. Our tool is the perfect solution for keeping your business automatized yet with the human touch. Very often you have to spend tremendous amounts of time with multiple marketing advisors to find the right solution for your business and then still come up with the next solutions. In our tool, you get the best of both worlds. The creative process is done by humans and the structuring is done by a machine. 

Have you found this article useful? If yes, leave a 🚀  in the comments!

If you want to see what is cooking in the UFOstart kitchen, we highly encourage you to join our Discord channel!

Thank you a lot for reading this article. Please, feel free to share it with your community. We are a growing startup business and we want the web3 world to hear about us so any form of interaction is a huge help for us!

Stay tuned and stay safe,

Your UFOstart Marta.

Useful links:

https://www.isa.org/about-isa/what-is-automation

https://www.digite.com/agile/scrum-methodology/

https://globalcoinresearch.com/2021/12/28/managing-a-web3-community/

https://www.request.finance/post/automating-crypto-payments-and-invoicing-for-web3-defi-daos-play-to-earn-and-nft-projects

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We are literally going crazy about them. So much that we decided to connect with other DAO-maniacs and together with them throw a series of DAO Block live-chat series!

Every week of April we invite blockchain and DAO specialists that share with us the secrets of DAOs.

👉 Why do we need DAOs?

👉 How to start a DAO?

👉 How to manage them?

👉 Are DAOs even going to be successful?

So far we managed to answer the first three of these questions and the results are interesting. Here are some of the golden thoughts that our speakers have expressed during our Crowdcasts.

🔥Only Bitcoin is the real DAO as of now.

The link to episode #1 is here.

⭐A company is like a spider and a DAO is like a starfish.

The link to episode #2 is here.

👕DAOs are not a one-size-fits-all solution.

The link to episode #3 is here.

However, that is not the end. Our last episode is taking place tomorrow!

Our speakers will uncover how to become successful in a DAO. So, we will finally learn how to run a decentralized company and be able to maintain it for years.

Here is the link to our Crowdcast featuring DAO specialists and founders: Eva Oberholzer, Michael Healy, and Samuel Baurle.

Looking forward to seeing you there tomorrow and for now… just DAO it and join our Discord channel! 🚀

Stay tuned and stay safe,

Your UFOstart Marta