Crypto Sapiens - How to turn a traditional business into a DAO | Samantha Marin, Communications & Growth - Aragon DAO
Primer: Samantha is an early contributor and prolific writer at BanklessDAO. She is now working full-time at Aragon DAO. In this episode of Crypto Sapiens, she recounts how she got started in the DAO space and the differences between the two DAOs she has contributed to.
Background
Got into crypto at the start of the 2021 bull market
Was working at a small startup at that time
Asked the founder for equity. Was rejected and decided to leave the startup
Found out about BanklessDAO in January
On the first day, she was tipped 4-5 times on BANK tokens
In may, she joined Aragon full time
“At that moment for me coming out of a more traditional startup experience where I couldn't get any equity, and then jumping into BanklessDAO and people are sharing the pie, people are sharing the wealth. They're welcoming me in. I already have a stake in this project and skin in the game.”
- Samantha Marin
Quorum Newsletter
Writing is her primary skill set
Went to college for writing
Joined the Writer’s Guild at BanklessDAO
She tackled the more theoretical topics (e.g. trustlessness) and made it easier for people to understand better
Got into writing opinion pieces and found it more entertaining
Most commentaries on the DAO and NFT spaces are just describing what is there. Her focus is on opinion pieces
Led to the launch of her newsletter
Most of the great ideas in Web3 are in audio format (Twitter Spaces, Podcasts, YouTube videos). Makes it difficult to find them
Her newsletter helps people to better find information
Differences Between Aragon And BanklessDAO
In BanklessDAO, everyone is an independent freelancer. They are paid based on the hours that their role takes per week
For a particular month, she did plenty of administrative work. As a result, she did not get paid much for that month
Unable to make a full-time living at Bankless DAO unless you create tons of articles and content or have other gigs to make up for the shortfall
In Aragon, she is paid a normal salary
Sustainable Initiatives For DAO Contributors
Could approach it in terms of concentric rings:
Internal ring of core members who are paid a full-time salary. Could offer them a token vesting schedule to reward them to stay long-term
When you move outwards into the community, you could do bounties and Coordinape rounds
A layered approach is the way to go
Equity In DAOs
Shared ownership was what brought her into the DAO space
Would not want to be part of a DAO that does not have shared ownership
Decentralizing Aragon
Aragon launched in 2016 via an ICO
Has been a DAO since inception
The treasury was held in a multisig
Transitioning a treasury of ICO money into a permissionless, trustless, smart contract is terrifying
Opens up a can of worms:
How are you going to protect the treasury?
How are you going to set up voting and governance so that the treasury is not easily attackable?
Aragon has many DAO practices such as self-managing, asynchronous, remote, etc.
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