a lot of ink has been spilled on DAOs and they're very interesting, but they are unquestionably 1) bad work environments 2) bad for product teams

building /juicebox | product marketing & growth | prev. NounsDAO, RAW DAO | learning to code

Says the person who has worked in bad-environment-for-product-team DAOs

Maybe you need to up your mental model of what a DAO could be?  Hint: doesn’t have to be an echo of a VC-backed company

Startup artist seeking inspiration.  Champion of /bcard

1. yes, so I'm actually able to speak to the realities of this, not just pontificating in articles on substack or mirror

2. DAOs don't need to be "echoes of a VC-backed company" but they also don't have basic shit like conflict resolution or HR, so they chaotic messes as workplaces for the most part

not sure why you're throwing the phrase "VC-backed" in my face as a retort, do you even know who I am or what I've contributed to? pretty much the furthest thing from VC-backed.

Sorry if I offended you, was trying to be tongue-in-cheek.  I guess I failed at that 😅 

But the idea that “all DAOs are bad environments and bad for product teams” is telling me you have a narrow view of DAOs.  The fact that no HR = bad work environment tells me the same thing.

Last cycle everyone was assuming DAOs would be the next way to create a unicorn startup, and I think we agree that’s not true.  But there are lots of orgs that are successful without dedicated HR.  We have yet to see the real use case for onchain orgs.

Agree with the fact that contributing in most DAOs is a bad experience right now.  Since contribution is pretty much the reason DAOs can exist, it’s an existential threat.  We have to start by making this experience good (beyond token go up).

In fact I don’t really even like the term “DAO”, I feel like it locks us into a certain mindset.  If we start with something like “community” or “club” (where people are used to contributing for purpose), will it change people’s expectations?

Nouns has shown to be the most resilient mechanism so far, AND I hope there will be other mechanisms too.  Experimenting in this space is so important.

yes, I definitely agree that they shouldn’t be seen as a new model for startups. they largely fail at this, for a number of reasons, which is (in part) why the DAO + Labs model became standard.

so, tldr; we probably need some new mental models. but even beyond that, I still feel that the experience of contributing is very sub-par, with tons of risk and not much reward.

nouns is probably the closest thing to a successful experiment so far, in my eyes.