<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>Did you know that Gitcoin’s been focused on funding open source since it’s start in 2017?</p>
<p>Here is a fun little visual overview of how we’ve represented that mission.</p>
<p><em>(Many of these can be <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211201000000*/gitcoin.co/mission">independently viewed on archive.org <span>4</span></a> or <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=gitcoin&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiLtpS3ksH2AhUoFzQIHUcjC3UQ_AUoA3oECAEQBQ&amp;biw=1309&amp;bih=602&amp;dpr=2.2">google images</a>.)</em></p>
<h1>
<a name="h-2017-1" href="#h-2017-1"></a>2017</h1>
<p>In 2017, we stated our mission as <strong>Push Open Source Forward</strong>.<br />
</p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/d/dcf0752bef25231adcc79f65d6d51404bbcc6416.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
<p>Checkout our launch video from 2017!</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJartWzDn0E"> <span>5</span></a></p>
<p>And also this launch  article that I somehow got published in Forbes (today we get free press because of our <a href="https://gitcoin.co/results">impact <span>1</span></a> - back then no one was writing about us unless i worked hard to get their attention!):<br />
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtissilver/2017/09/25/gitcoin-launches-today-pushing-open-source-forward-with-cryptocurrency-bounties/?sh=7e51b6449853"></a></p>
<h1>
<a name="h-2018-2" href="#h-2018-2"></a>2018</h1>
<p></p>
<p>In 2018, we evolved it to focus more on Open Source.  This was a recognition that open source didnt need a “push”.  It needed to grown - cultivated, like a garden.  </p>
<p>You start to see more tree/plant based iconography during this era. (<a href="https://store.gitcoin.co/collections/classic-tees">hey btw did you know that classic gitcoin tees are still for sale??!?</a>)</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/9/91d779de3b95b20d85742aa2fd8d18727fdc6d80.webp"><div>
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<h1>
<a name="h-2019-3" href="#h-2019-3"></a>2019</h1>
<p>In 2019, during the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-great-bear-the-great-reset-the-great-revival/9855/2">great bear</a>, we focused on articulating our view of the world + what web3 could do.</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/a/a106a0c24183e3fc52e683f28fe812d76a3870c4.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
<h1>
<a name="h-2020-4" href="#h-2020-4"></a>2020</h1>
<p>A further articulation of our values (or… probably more likely… what I as founder/CEO wanted our values to be - in hindsight, we never did a good job of building consensus around them)</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/0/0ab0d6b524aac56b8f827bcb1a804c805e141ad8.jpeg"><div>
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<h1>
<a name="h-2021-5" href="#h-2021-5"></a>2021</h1>
<p>In 2021, we revamped <a href="http://gitcoin.co/mission">gitcoin.co/mission</a> to look like this:</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/f/fc256b276816916b8ac68128f060c81859249c96.jpeg"><div>
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<div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/5/5f010753e8af8dc22645e0de7d2f94659f25ad5e.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
<p>These values were pulled out of our heads (the Gitcoin Holdings team) by the great minds at <a href="https://otherinter.net/">Other Internet <span>2</span></a> (thanks <a href="/u/toby">@Toby</a> !).  Take a look at how they helped us arrive at this position <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uoEQusN2hUBpfqMtua_DqYkr_VUhtsUjVOIzDioRngs/edit#slide=id.p">here <span>3</span></a>.</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/1/14ad93c58b6bff6285322af1a8ccf9707accfc20.jpeg"><div>
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<h1>
<a name="h-2022-dao-articulation-of-mission-6" href="#h-2022-dao-articulation-of-mission-6"></a>2022 / DAO articulation of mission</h1>
<p>As of late 2021 and 2022, as the DAO has grown legs of it’s own, it has started to build consensus about what it’s mission is.  <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-mission-vision/9421">Checkout this post to see a draft of that mission statement <span>4</span></a></p>
<p>Here is how <a href="https://primer.gitcoindao.com/">https://primer.gitcoindao.com/ <span>2</span></a> (a tool built by the MMM workstream) visualizes those values/mission</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/7/759bbf74988695a6bad420589013bc52cc6d2f1c.jpeg"><div>
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<h1>
<a name="weve-always-been-mission-first-7" href="#weve-always-been-mission-first-7"></a>We’ve always been Mission-first</h1>
<p>I am very proud that Gitcoin through all of the years &amp; all of the changes to tactics, has always been focused on the same north star.  As our momentum has grown, we’ve cartographied the territory more, &amp; our hearts have opened further, it has even expanded from Open Source to other public goods.</p>
<p>This is a progression I see:<br />
From Open Source Funding &gt; Open Source Funding &amp; Public Goods Funding &gt; Funding Public Goods as a means to create Human Thriving</p>
<p>I also see a progression from<br />
Kevin aritculates our mission/values =&gt; Other Internet helps us articulate our mission/values with Gitcoin Holdings =&gt; GitcoinDAO articulates its mission/values through its own means.</p>
<p>I’d be curious how else the community would like to see this mission articulated into the future.a</p>

A visual history of Gitcoin’s mission (2017 - 2022) Hey all, 
 Did you know that Gitcoin’s

A visual history of Gitcoin’s mission (2017 - 2022)

<p>Post Updated August 2022.</p>
<p>Other onboarding resources:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://primer.gitcoindao.com/">GitcoinDAO Primer <span>198</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/search?q=digest%20order%3Alatest">Gitcoin Digest</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/future-history-of-the-open-internet-book/10324">Lore book <span>83</span></a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><strong>Hi frens</strong>,</p>
<p>This document is an overview of the Gitcoin ecosystem and what we are coordinating &amp; building towards. It’s jam-packed with information and links to make it easier for contributors, stewards, delgators and community members to get up to speed and learn about our mission. The document is updated on a monthly basis as the DAO evolves and was last updated by <a href="/u/fred">@Fred</a> in August 2022.</p>
<p>For weekly updates make sure to check out the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/search?q=digest%20order%3Alatest">Gitcoin Digest</a>!</p>
<h1>
<a name="tldr-1" href="#tldr-1"></a>TLDR</h1>
<p>The Purpose of Gitcoin is <em><strong>to empower communities to fund their shared needs</strong></em>.</p>
<p>So far we’ve facilitated over $64mm of funding for public goods &amp; are currently facilitating about $6mm/quarter. And we are just getting started!</p>
<h1>
<a name="the-essential-intents-of-gitcoin-2" href="#the-essential-intents-of-gitcoin-2"></a>The Essential Intents of Gitcoin</h1>
<p><strong>1. Protocol Adoption</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Build a widely adopted, modular Grants protocol that creates a flourishing ecosystem of funding mechanisms.</li>
<li>Build a widely adopted, modular Pluralism Passport protocol that creates a flourishing ecosystem of network effects around Decentralized Society.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>2. Financial Sustainability</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Have a comprehensive, diversified strategy for financial stability of the DAO in order to effectively achieve our mission.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>3. DAO Organization</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Create and promote clear and engaging rituals, communication channels, and messaging that build emergent shared context among GitcoinDAO’s contributors, stewards, and supporters.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>4. Grants Program Success</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Enable a successful grants protocol launch by dogfooding it internally and supporting ecosystems in adopting it.</li>
<li>Continue to support the Ethereum ecosystem and public goods in web3 and beyond through Gitcoin-led rounds.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3>
<a name="we-believe-that-3" href="#we-believe-that-3"></a>We believe that;</h3>
<ol>
<li>Open Source Software is a digital public good that creates $400bn/year in value,</li>
<li>but the creators of OSS don’t have great ways to monetize their work on digital infrastructure.</li>
<li>
<strong>Our goal is to correct this asymmetry</strong>.</li>
</ol>
<h3>
<a name="we-are-missionaries-4" href="#we-are-missionaries-4"></a>We are missionaries.</h3>
<p>We believe that<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXPym_m_wA"> it’s all coordination <span>110</span></a>. Public goods failures are coordination failures, and we see an opportunity to solve coordination failures with blockchains - a new supertool for solving<a href="https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/know-thy-enemy-coordination-failures"> coordination failures <span>48</span></a>.</p>
<h3>
<a name="we-know-our-edge-5" href="#we-know-our-edge-5"></a>We know our edge.</h3>
<p>Blockchains are our super power. They give us a novel, immutable, global, programmable, transparent substrate for coordination to build upon.</p>
<p>Our weapon of choice is novel mechanism designs deployed to decentralized blockchains.</p>
<h3>
<a name="we-have-momentum-6" href="#we-have-momentum-6"></a>We have momentum</h3>
<p>We are creating $6mm/quarter in funding for public goods and OSS devs.</p>
<p>Vitalik Buterin<a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/04/30/round5.html"> once said <span>25</span></a> “Gitcoin Grants is establishing itself as a significant pillar of the Ethereum ecosystem that more and more projects are relying on for some or all of their support.”</p>
<h3>
<a name="we-are-still-emerging-7" href="#we-are-still-emerging-7"></a>We are still emerging.</h3>
<p>We are still discovering new &amp; innovative ways to solve coordination problems in a DAO-era world. We systematically discover or invent these mechanisms, and if we’re lucky + good, we scale them.</p>
<p>We are the EVM whispers, the DAO cartographers, the internet citizens, and the chaos magicians of the internet of money. We are the homesteaders of the metaverse.<a href="https://twitter.com/TrustlessState/status/1418156116282904578"> We are the schelling point for the hopeful <span>57</span></a>.</p>
<h3>
<a name="we-build-for-human-thriving-8" href="#we-build-for-human-thriving-8"></a>We build for human thriving.</h3>
<p>Our vision is to establish an empowering, open and collaborative space where individuals and communities can access resources in proportion to their value creation independent of their geographic location, education, background or offline identity.</p>
<p>By creating collaborative, decentralized funding mechanisms, Gitcoin has become the natural choice for seeding and supporting digital public goods. Gitcoin enables building for the public, by the public by helping individuals and communities start, fund, and scale open source projects.</p>
<h2>
<a name="we-convene-the-people-9" href="#we-convene-the-people-9"></a>We convene the people</h2>
<p>We have been hosting virtual &amp; physical events at the heart of Regenerative web3. Checkout our quarterly<a href="https://schellingpoint.gitcoin.co/"> Schelling Point <span>47</span></a> events, or our weekly DAO Vibes (hosted on Discord), or “Public Goods are Good” twitter spaces.</p>
<p>By convening the people, we hope to build an<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/lessons-about-impact-networks/10305"> Impact Network <span>12</span></a> of people focusing on using Web3 for positive impact. We call those projects ImpactDAOS, and by<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-impactdao-poster-book-is-here/10323"> studying ImpactDAOs <span>8</span></a> we can build a<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/a-vision-for-a-pluralistic-civilizational-scale-infrastructure-for-funding-public-goods/9503"> webscale infrastructure for regeneration <span>7</span></a>.</p>
<h2>
<a name="how-we-achieve-our-mission-10" href="#how-we-achieve-our-mission-10"></a>How we achieve our mission.</h2>
<p>Gitcoin is a mission, a community, and a product suite.</p>
<p>If our mission is our focal point, our community is our lifeblood. Our a product - a double sided marketplace that connects digital creatives to the people who want to fund their work. And visa versa.</p>
<p>So far<a href="https://gitcoin.co/results"> we’ve created $64mm worth of funding <span>56</span></a> for public goods and OSS devs. Specifically, the way we do that is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Giving members opportunities to<a href="https://gitcoin.co/earn"> earn <span>184</span></a>.</li>
<li>Giving members opportunities to<a href="https://gitcoin.co/learn"> learn <span>87</span></a>.</li>
<li>Giving members opportunities to<a href="https://gitcoin.co/connect"> connect with one another &amp; prospective career opportunities <span>53</span></a>.</li>
</ol>
<h3>
<a name="how-do-we-do-that-11" href="#how-do-we-do-that-11"></a>How do we do that?</h3>
<p>Product-wise, we are building coordination tools for a DAO based world. We do that with</p>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="https://gitcoin.co/bounties/contributor">Bounties <span>101</span></a> - Gig-based work for web3 projects.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gitcoin.co/hackathons">Hackathons <span>43</span></a> - Build with the coolest web3 projects.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gitcoin.co/grants">Grants <span>74</span></a> - Crowdfunding for Open Source.</li>
</ol>
<p>Community-wise, we do that by being mission-first, producing results, by creating vibes + cultivating a positively-self-referential internal culture.</p>
<p><a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/how-we-achieve-our-mission/8760">More on how we achieve our mission here <span>27</span></a>.</p>
<h2>
<a name="the-dao-that-governs-gitcoin-12" href="#the-dao-that-governs-gitcoin-12"></a>The DAO that governs Gitcoin</h2>
<p>We believe that the consent of the governed is the only legitimate basis for government.</p>
<p>This is why Gitcoin is governed by the community. (In order to make sure that Gitcoin is serving its community + founding mission first &amp; foremost)</p>
<p>In May 2021,<a href="https://gitcoin.co/blog/introducing-gtc-gitcoins-governance-token/"> GTC was released <span>89</span></a>. GTC is a governance token with no economic value that governs Gitcoin.</p>
<h2>
<a name="what-is-gitcoin-13" href="#what-is-gitcoin-13"></a>What is Gitcoin?</h2>
<ol>
<li>Gitcoin is an<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-impactdao-protocoldao-sandwich/8944/2"> ImpactDAO/ProtocolDAO hybrid <span>81</span></a>.</li>
<li>On a human layer, Gitcoin is an<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-gitcoin-gitcoindao-egregore-is-emerging/8200"> egregore <span>89</span></a> - a group of humans who coordinate to achieve our mission.</li>
<li>From a product perspective, we are building a suite of tools for DAO-era coordination of<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoindao-meta-coordination-of-culture-capital/8437"> capital &amp; culture <span>26</span></a>.</li>
<li>From a governance perspective, we are governed by GTC.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/how-might-we-decentralize-gitcoin/8734">We are progressively decentralizing Gitcoin <span>36</span></a> from a company to a DAO.</li>
</ol>
<p>There are 3 important concepts to know to understand how to interact with Gitcoin;</p>
<ol>
<li>Most of the action happens on<a href="https://gitcoin.co/discord"> Discord <span>85</span></a>,<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co"> Discourse <span>54</span></a>, or on<a href="https://twitter.com/gitcoin"> Twitter <span>59</span></a>.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gitcoin.co/blog/introducing-the-community-stewards-program/">Stewards <span>60</span></a> are ultimately responsible for governing Gitcoin.</li>
<li>
<a href="http://gitcoindao.com/">Workstreams <span>47</span></a> are the primary mechanism through which work is organized in the DAO.</li>
</ol>
<h3>
<a name="workstreams-14" href="#workstreams-14"></a>Workstreams</h3>
<p>Workstreams are the way work is organized at Gitcoin. Workstreams have their own budget, leadership structure, tools, and processes on a per-workstream basis. Anyone can propose a workstream by following the<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-dao-governance-process-v2-updated/7860"> proposal process <span>17</span></a>. The current active workstreams are:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Moonshot-Collective-ffa78f44a0de412cb607f9b69d3a376f">Moonshot Collective <span>64</span></a> is the DAO rapid prototyping workstream</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Public-Goods-80a3202a3a244c65b3fda08c0f7c7d60">Public Goods <span>39</span></a> is focused on our mission of funding public goods.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Fraud-Detection-Defense-f1a2969a9f324f57a02ef69a60b25cae">Fraud Detection &amp; Defense <span>13</span></a> is in charge of preventing fraud on Gitcoin Grants.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Merch-Memes-Marketing-c1bd89fac8ab4569bf2a676df28025d8">Memes, Merch, &amp; Marketing <span>32</span></a> is the DAO marketing division.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gitcoin.notion.site/DAO-Ops-84f425e281ae49579a2b4acf0bad5dd5">DAO Operations <span>4</span></a> supports critical operation functions like accounting, hiring, and tooling</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gitcoin.notion.site/Gitcoin-Product-Collective-f2860138cbb24505b5cb2d8576119a78">Gitcoin Product Collective <span>8</span></a> is the home of product development for Grants 2.0</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want to learn more about Gitcoin, read this post<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-gitcoin-gitcoindao-egregore-is-emerging/8200"> here <span>89</span></a>.</p>
<h3>
<a name="gitcoins-quarterly-cadence-15" href="#gitcoins-quarterly-cadence-15"></a>Gitcoin’s Quarterly Cadence</h3>
<p>Gitcoin operates in a quarterly cadence.<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-grants-is-our-metronome/9310"> Quarterly Gitcoin Grants Rounds are our Metronome  <span>6</span></a></p>
<p>Every quarter, the Gitcoin ecosystem revolves around a quarterly stacked event - <em>a combination (1) Gitcoin Grants round, (2) Hackathon, (3) KERNEL block, and (4) Governance activity</em></p>
<p>During each quarter, we achieve our mission by deploying millions of $$$ of funding to the community. Typically a quarter looks like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Plan for quarterly stacked event.</li>
<li>Execute quarterly stacked event.</li>
<li>Learn from the quarterly stacked event.</li>
<li>Repeat</li>
</ol>
<p>Our last quarterly event was GR14 (short for Grants Round 14), it started June 8th and ended June 23th. The next round will be GR15 and it starts <strong>Septemer 7th</strong> and goes until <strong>Septemer 22th.</strong></p>
<h2>
<a name="gitcoin-is-a-vessel-for-humanity-to-get-to-the-quadratic-lands-16" href="#gitcoin-is-a-vessel-for-humanity-to-get-to-the-quadratic-lands-16"></a>Gitcoin is a vessel for humanity to get to the Quadratic Lands!</h2>
<p>Gitcoin is a vessel that we would like to take us to the Quadratic Lands - a place where open source software (and other public goods) are well maintained + healthy.</p>
<p>In the quadratic lands, public goods are funded by quadratic funding + other web3 native funding mechanisms.</p>
<p>The quadratic lands is a north star, we are still discovering where exactly it is and how to get there</p>
<p>Help us find the quadratic lands by telling its story. Members of our community have created<a href="https://twitter.com/songadaymann/status/1397206547420356611"> this song about the Quadratic Lands <span>19</span></a> or<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTU6J4WTPtk"> and this visionary video <span>42</span></a>.</p>
<h2>
<a name="how-to-git-involved-17" href="#how-to-git-involved-17"></a>How to GIT involved.</h2>
<p>As of September 2022, here is the way you can get involved in Gitcoin.</p>
<ol>
<li>Read the weekly <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/search?q=digest%20order%3Alatest">Gitcoin Digest</a> updates (<a href="https://form.typeform.com/to/ttNCMt8w">email sign-up <span>8</span></a>).</li>
<li>Get engaged on<a href="https://gitcoin.co/discord"> Discord <span>85</span></a>,<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co"> Discourse <span>54</span></a> or on<a href="https://twitter.com/gitcoin"> Twitter <span>59</span></a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://form.typeform.com/to/DiMdHaWe">Apply as a Contributor <span>84</span></a> and explore our workstreams</li>
<li>Use <a href="https://gitcoin.co/">Gitcoin <span>11</span></a> to earn, learn, or fund. (use links above)</li>
<li>Follow<a href="https://twitter.com/i/lists/1512065573026697218"> the list <span>8</span></a> of GitcoinDAO contributors on Twitter</li>
<li>Attend our conference series<a href="https://schellingpoint.gitcoin.co/"> Schelling Point <span>47</span></a>
</li>
<li>Explore further through the links below;
<ul>
<li><a href="https://gitcoin.co">Gitcoin.co <span>38</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://gitcoin.co/jobs">Gitcoin Jobs <span>63</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.withtally.com/governance/gitcoin">Gitcoin Tally <span>25</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://gitcoindao.com">Gitcoin Notion <span>6</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/gitcoin">Gitcoin Twitter <span>59</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://gitcoin.co/discord">Gitcoin Discord <span>85</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://gitcoin.co/support">Gitcoin Support <span>13</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://snapshot.org/#/gitcoindao.eth/">Gitcoin Snapshot <span>39</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://store.gitcoin.co">Gitcoin Schwag Store <span>31</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://etherscan.io/token/0xde30da39c46104798bb5aa3fe8b9e0e1f348163f">Gitcoin GTC Governance token <span>66</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<h1>
<a name="testimonials-18" href="#testimonials-18"></a>Testimonials</h1>
<p><em>Gitcoin Grants is establishing itself as a significant pillar of the Ethereum ecosystem that more and more projects are relying on for some or all of their support. ~<a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/04/30/round5.html"><strong>Vitalik Buterin</strong> <span>25</span></a></em></p>
<p><em>I LOVE IT…The community has been outstanding. I have made contact outside of slack w a couple of people. William Schwab was kind enough to ZOOM w me for an hour and tell me his story, letme pick his brain, and as he shared some valuable resources with me. - <strong>John Wilkinson</strong></em></p>
<p><em>KERNEL is the greatest thing to ever happen to my crypto/business/personal life. I have made plenty of new friends, connected with people who believe in me and want to work together on other projects, and of course learned a lot from other seedlings, mentors and speakers. - <strong>Ethan Chiasson</strong></em></p>
<p><em>Gitcoin gave me the first break into Ethereum and the crypto space. It helped me find bounties that I could work on and get paid in crypto. After my first ever bounty I got paid a lot and I felt euphoric. - <strong>Sebastian TF</strong></em></p>
<p><em>I am amazed on a daily basis at the incredible projects and communities in this space. The Gitcoin team and quadratic funding is an invaluable catalyst to bring it all to fruition. Thank you! - <strong>Hishamaru Konkon</strong></em></p>
<p><em>Gitcoin grants quadratic funding is not just for funds allocation, it’s also a great signaling tool! For the last few rounds, going to<a href="https://gitcoin.co/grants/"> Grants | Gitcoin  <span>12</span></a> has led me to discover a lot of really cool Ethereum projects I previously did not know about. - <strong>Vitalik Buterin</strong></em></p>
<p><em>What Gitcoin is doing with public goods funding is absolutely incredible. Nothing but respect to the team and the larger community for the contributions made. - <strong>Frobo</strong></em></p>
<p><em>Thanks to gitcoin it has helped us to discover our earliest talent and supercharged <span>@KodaDot</span> development. - <strong>Matej</strong></em></p>
<p><em>People ask me all the time how I got into Solidity and NFT dev. The answer is gitcoin! Beginning of the year I just started doing bounties for a bunch of different projects (<span>@synthetix_io</span> <span>@akashnet</span>_ <span>@SovrynBTC</span> etc) and found the NFT ones were my fave. Such a good way to learn! - <strong>sarasioux.et</strong></em></p>

TLDR - What is Gitcoin?  [Aug 2022] Post Updated August 2022. 
 Other onboarding resources: 
 
  GitcoinDAO Primer

TLDR - What is Gitcoin?  [Aug 2022]

<p>Things are evolving fast at GitcoinDAO and our <a href="http://gitcoin.co/results">impact is growing <span>7</span></a>. You love to see it.</p>
<p>Gitcoin has a <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/a-brief-history-of-gitcoin-from-2017-2022/9431">long history <span>5</span></a> by crypto standards - having been around since 2017. Gitcoin Grants has been around since Jan 2019 and has run 12 rounds so far. GitcoinDAO has been around since May 2021. As we go through the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-grants-is-our-metronome/9310">Build/Measure/Learn Loop every Quarter <span>8</span></a>, we learn more about our environment, ourselves, and how to accomplish our mission &amp; live by our values. Every Grants Round I learn something new (sometimes the hard way  ).</p>
<p>One thing that I’m continually sensing &amp; internalizing over time is that <strong>my role has evolved</strong> as Gitcoin Holdings (the legal entity that launched the DAO) has evolved &amp; as the DAO has grown.</p>
<p>My role on May 24th 2021 was to be CEO/Founder of Gitcoin. After May 25 2021, as the DAO began to take shape and Gitcoin Holdings “parent”ed the DAO for the first few months, a separation occurred - I remained CEO/Founder of Gitcoin Holdings, but only a participant in the DAO.</p>
<p>In all sincerity, I have always imagined that I’d ultimately be but one stakeholder of the DAO – with no root access. There are contradictions in this,</p>
<ol>
<li>I’ve wanted to do so as soon as possible, but also not until it is responsible to do so.</li>
<li>Gitcoin Grants is still run on the centralized platform I foolishly built centralized in 2017-2020. Whereas the DAO intends to build a completely decentralized Grants experience.</li>
</ol>
<p>Im a big believer that part of the art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings, and so I am trying to embrace this change. In navigating this specific case, I seek to “<a href="https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1459903812135579655">build in public <span>9</span></a>” - which is why you might see my research notes appear on <a href="http://gov.gitcoin.co">gov.gitcoin.co <span>3</span></a> (or <a href="https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1459577744476585992">wacky ideas <span>5</span></a> on twitter) - to share this context.</p>
<p>In this case - As I’ve studied how <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/building-gitcoindaos-legitimacy/9649">GitcoinDAO builds legitimac <span>7</span></a>y and <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/consent-of-the-governed-and-legitimacy-by-process-in-gitcoindao/9778">how that legitimacy is distributed to actors who act on behalf of the DAO <span>5</span></a>, and as the DAO has gone through its own growth, the following thought is starting to crystalize: <strong>GitcoinDAO was created by Gitcoin Holdings, but it is not Gitcoin Holdings – in seeking decentralization of governance, computation, development, and economics - we should seek to separate the two as much as possible.</strong></p>
<p>As soon as I accept this extremely inconvenient truth, it starts to force several other hard downstream implications &amp; questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>DAOs don’t have CEOs. There is <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/consent-of-the-governed-and-legitimacy-by-process-in-gitcoindao/9778/3">no legitimacy in authority <span>21</span></a>, and control (or perception of control) <a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/05/09/control_as_liability.html">is a liability <span>8</span></a> if we are to go <a href="https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1463000229033111557">where I think we are going <span>27</span></a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I of course remain completely committed to GitcoinDAO &amp; it’s mission, but in what ways does tactical retreat from being involved in operations/decision making of the DAO serve the greater strategic direction of the DAO? How can I (and the others at Gitcoin Holdings) begin to separate ourselves from the DAO, such that we create space that allows the next generation of Leaders to emerge within &amp; around GitcoinDAO?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How can we do so in such a way that if they fail, we are there to pick them up &amp; reorient things? I can’t help but have the parent in me when I ask “How can we give them the psychological safety to try &amp; experiment &amp; learn, but also not make them complacent?”</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How can we do these things without entrenching those new leaders over the long term? How do we create a culture where we always seek to decentralize power? Where we always seek to hire someone smarter than us &amp; empower them to be the next generation of leadership in a beautiful decentralized fractal of growth &amp; impact.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How can we do so in such a way that is otherwise responsible to our stakeholders?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What are the biggest areas of centralization debt &amp; how can we pay them down as quickly &amp; responsibly as possible?  Of course there is the centralized platform, but what else?</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>I do not have answers to these questions yet, but I would like to find them. C G Jung once said “To ask the right question is already half of the solution of a problem.”</p>
<p>Two bits of context I might add:</p>
<ol>
<li>Some of these questions are extremely hard not only professionally (there is no playbook for this) but personally. It is not an overstatement to say that Gitcoin’s mission has been my a large part of my waking life since 2017, and I must admit that Gitcoin is a big part of my identity - The last time I left a project I cofounded &amp; scaled to millions of users I got <a href="https://owocki.com/on-identity/">extremely emo <span>35</span></a> about it, and I’m trying not to do the same this time. TLDR - this transition is hard for me!</li>
<li>I’m not going anywhere.  I love this mission &amp; this DAO - and I’ll be here (in the role of Founder, but without wearing any CEO hat) as much as the DAO needs me.</li>
</ol>
<p>Open to thoughts, either reply publicly below or DM me to share privately.</p>

A DAO has no CEO Things are evolving fast at GitcoinDAO and our  impact is

A DAO has no CEO

<p>hey all,</p>
<p>i’ve been giving an oral history of gitcoin to several new members of the DAO, and this post is meant to write it up once + for all - to share context at scale.<br />
here goes:</p>
<h1>
<a name="an-incomplete-subjective-and-high-level-history-of-gitcoin-1" href="#an-incomplete-subjective-and-high-level-history-of-gitcoin-1"></a>an incomplete, subjective, and high level  history of gitcoin</h1>
<h2>
<a name="pre-history-genesis-2008-2017-2" href="#pre-history-genesis-2008-2017-2"></a>pre-history &amp;&amp; genesis (2008 - 2017)</h2>
<p>i went through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VnlcosPZ94">techstars in 2008 <span>24</span></a>.  since then, i had been a cto, vp engineering, or generally a lead engineer at several startups in the <a href="https://www.techstars.com/">techstars <span>5</span></a> portfolio from 2008 - 2017.</p>
<p>during that time, i hired about 40 software engineers, and from that experience i had observed two things</p>
<ol>
<li>everything i (or my colleagues) built was derived from open source software.</li>
<li><a href="https://owocki.com/recruiting/">recruiters add very little value, or are often negative value-add <span>28</span></a></li>
</ol>
<p>during that time, i was an organizer  of <a href="https://boulderdowntown.com/events/boulder-startup-week">Boulder Startup Week <span>4</span></a> - a one week celebration of entrepreneurship &amp; technology every May in Boulder Colorado.  i ran the dev track in 2014, data science track in 2015, and then the “future of tech” track thereafter - mostly a hodgepodge of personal interests in frontier tech AI, virtual reality, machine learning, blockchain.</p>
<p>during that time, i was also experimenting with creating side projects in the "future of tech space.  some of those projects are</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfA0n5BjiUg">a VR meditation app <span>6</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Uk3A8F6EU">a VR hunting app <span>4</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/owocki/pytrader">an AI-driven crypto trading app <span>6</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.meetup.com/Boulder-Blockchain/">the boulder blockchain meetup <span>3</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/12/kevin-owocki-adblock-to-bitcoin/">a tool called adblock-to-bitcoin <span>6</span></a></li>
<li>a tool called <a href="https://github.com/owocki/youvegoteth.github.io">youvegoteth <span>8</span></a>
</li>
<li>a brief stint with a blockchain-hedge fund</li>
<li>a <a href="https://github.com/owocki?tab=repositories">smattering of other projects <span>7</span></a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtissilver/2017/09/25/gitcoin-launches-today-pushing-open-source-forward-with-cryptocurrency-bounties/?sh=782d9e5e9853">the MVP of Gitcoin <span>30</span></a></li>
</ol>
<p>by meticulously trying things (and failing) i stumbled upon the genesis of gitcoin - which would go on to be the most meaningful project of my career.</p>
<h2>
<a name="h-2017-the-gitcoin-mvp-3" href="#h-2017-the-gitcoin-mvp-3"></a>2017 - the Gitcoin MVP</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtissilver/2017/09/25/gitcoin-launches-today-pushing-open-source-forward-with-cryptocurrency-bounties/?sh=782d9e5e9853">the MVP of Gitcoin <span>30</span></a> was a bounties product that i self funded during this time of experimentation.</p>
<p>it was a tool that i (perhaps naively) felt could possibly solve these two problems i’d seen during my time as an engineering leader:</p>
<ol>
<li>removing recruiters as an intermediary</li>
<li>funding Open Source Software.</li>
</ol>
<p>i launched the MVP of gitcoin in the autumn of 2017, and i was able to convince <a href="https://media.consensys.net/gitcoin-joins-consensys-announces-pilot-projects-f5a0955de9d6">consensys to fund the project <span>19</span></a>.</p>
<p>i went to Devcon 3 in cancun, and started at Consensys in Autumn 2017.</p>
<h2>
<a name="h-2018-experimentation-growth-4" href="#h-2018-experimentation-growth-4"></a>2018 - experimentation &amp; growth</h2>
<p>joining Consensys was a point of stepwise growth for Gitcoin.  we went from a project that me &amp; my friends in Colorado barely used to a project that had access to the top projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, and we went from a1 part-time  team member to several full time members.</p>
<p>the acceleration provided to gitcoin by joining consensys was essential in <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/how-we-achieve-our-mission/8760">kickstarting the network effects <span>5</span></a> of our marketplace &amp; our community.  i think, had i not joined consensys, gitcoin would have likely failed.</p>
<p>i’m extremely proud that our mission <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180812014855/https://gitcoin.co/mission">from the start <span>5</span></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/unicorn/status/994972927870357510">[1]</a> has remained consistent through the years to <a href="https://gitcoin.co/mission">today <span>2</span></a>.  our mission is to grow &amp; sustain open source.</p>
<p>in 2017, we realized that bounties were not going to fully accomplish our mission.  bounties resembled gig work, they were too transactional and not recurring so they offered no stability. they didnt match the way that many open source contributors worked.  it was too transactional.   we started experimenting with several different product areas - ethical ads (codefund), gitcoin labs, kudos, and gitcoin grants.</p>
<h2>
<a name="the-beginning-of-the-bear-december-2018-march-2019-5" href="#the-beginning-of-the-bear-december-2018-march-2019-5"></a>the beginning of the bear (december 2018 - march 2019)</h2>
<p>in december 2018, ETH had gone down 95% from $1.4k to $80.</p>
<p>consensys, which is rumoured to be funded by ETH holdings,  began to tighten it’s belt.  it was december 2018 that the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2018/12/06/consensys-confirms-layoffs-projecting-13-of-staff-at-startups-to-be-cut/">reorganizations at consensys started <span>4</span></a>.</p>
<p>through the following 2 years, this introduced several existential questions about focus, business models, &amp; resources at consensys, gitcoin, and the broader ethereum ecosystem.</p>
<p>luckily - we were ahead of a lot of the other projects in the ethereum space.  we had worked really hard looking for product market fit through the previous year, and luckily we were well positioned for the downmarket.</p>
<p>we are also really lucky that everyone in the ecosystem needed developers (even in a down market), and serving developers had been a core focus for Gitcoin for years.</p>
<p>we launched <a href="https://medium.com/gitcoin/the-ethereal-hackathon-4f5dc2eb56d6">gitcoin hackathons <span>9</span></a> which allowed us to show revenue &amp; growth at a time in which both of those things were really important at Consensys.</p>
<p>gitcoin grants, which had hereunto been a <a href="https://gitcoin.co/blog/eip-1337-subscriptions-launches/">subscriptoin service for funding public goods <span>5</span></a> and had seen 0 traction, pivoted to make <a href="https://wtfisqf.com/">Quadratic Funding <span>9</span></a> the centerpiece of gitcoin grants.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/gitcoin/gitcoin-grants-clr-matching-ecbc87b10038">gitcoin grants round 1 launched with a $25k matching pool <span>11</span></a> and was a <a href="https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1252807334570516484">resounding success <span>5</span></a>.</p>
<p>from there, we began focusing on growing gitcoin hackathons + gitcoin grants.</p>
<h2>
<a name="the-long-bear-market-march-2019-january-2021-6" href="#the-long-bear-market-march-2019-january-2021-6"></a>the long bear market - (march 2019 - january 2021)</h2>
<p>the next several years were a tooth &amp; nail fight for growth &amp; budget.  we were like cockroaches, refusing to be exterminated by the long hard bear market.</p>
<p>these years were years of <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/14/the-struggle/">The Struggle <span>15</span></a>.</p>
<p>we made several hard decisions, including saying goodbye to people who didnt have the risk appetite for the bear market.  and shutting down projects that we didnt see a future for (labs, codefund).</p>
<p>we promoted <a href="https://twitter.com/notscottmoore">scott moore <span>14</span></a> to cofounder &amp; partnerships lead.  scott was an absolutely essential part of our success during this time + continues to be an essential part of our success today.</p>
<p>we focused relentlessly on growing gitcoin hackathons + gitcoin grants, and started to see a lot of success in doing so, with 30% growth Quarter over Quarter for much of this period.</p>
<p>during this time, my cofounder vivek singh <a href="https://defirate.com/gitcoin-kernel/">conceived of and launched KERNEL <span>7</span></a> - a web3 native accelerator &amp; university - a very successful new venture that continues to create dividends today.</p>
<p>during this time, we saw massive growth.  and we survived. but we made several short term decisions driven by just wanting to survive.</p>
<p>we exited this period with a lot of technical debt + org debt.  i know that i personally still have PTSD from this period.</p>
<h2>
<a name="the-new-dawn-january-2021-april-2021-7" href="#the-new-dawn-january-2021-april-2021-7"></a>the new dawn (january 2021 - april 2021)</h2>
<p>when the market turned from bearish to bullish, and our growth continued – things really turned around.</p>
<p><a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/04/30/round5.html">people in the know <span>3</span></a> had called us “establishing itself as a significant pillar of the Ethereum ecosystem” for a while, but i had failed to raise money for gitcoin during the long bear.</p>
<p>when janaury 2021 rolled around, all of a sudden, it seemed investors were actually really interested.  we were able to <a href="https://decrypt.co/66541/ethereum-gitcoin-raises-11-million-spins-out-consensys">raise $11m from one of the top funds in the space <span>11</span></a> and spin out of Consensys to become an independent company called gitcoin holdings.  in particular, i felt that <a href="https://www.paradigm.xyz/">paradigm <span>1</span></a> would be the most mission aligned funder that we could possibly work with - and that is why we chose them.</p>
<p>i will forever be thankful to  the Mesh, especially Joe Lubin &amp; Michael Kriak for keeping us alive through the long bear, but it was now time to become independent &amp; pursue a new chapter for gitcoin.</p>
<p>it was now time to start making investments in paying down our debt from the long bear, and building towards realizing gitcoin’s ultimate potential.</p>
<ul>
<li>we <a href="https://avc.com/2013/08/mba-mondays-turning-your-team/">turned the team <span>10</span></a> + exited a few people who were not a fit for this next chapter of our journey.</li>
<li>we hired a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylebweiss/">new leader <span>13</span></a> to run gitcoin’s operations, to enable vivek to focus more on KERNEL.</li>
<li>we brought on several new contributors who could help us transition from a scrappy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_to_One">0 to 1 startup <span>1</span></a>, to one that was growing from 1 to 10</li>
<li>we quietly laid plans to turn Gitcoin into a DAO that was going to be governed by it’s community.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
<a name="just-dao-it-may-25-2021-8" href="#just-dao-it-may-25-2021-8"></a>just DAO it (May 25 2021)</h2>
<p>May 25 2021 was a day that would change Gitcoin forever.  It was the day that <a href="https://gitcoin.co/blog/introducing-gtc-gitcoins-governance-token/">we retroactively airdropped GTC to the community and launched GitcoinDAO <span>10</span></a>.</p>
<p>We believe “a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and lawful when consented to by the people or society over which that political power is exercised.” <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed#:~:text=In%20political%20philosophy%2C%20the%20phrase,that%20political%20power%20is%20exercised.">wikipedia <span>1</span></a></p>
<p>We didnt want to build another web2 startup.  The big idea behind launching the DAO was to make Gitcoin governed by its community.</p>
<p>The dream was to build GitcoinDAO into the vessel that could take us to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTU6J4WTPtk">Quadratic Lands <span>4</span></a>: a better world for public goods and digital democracy.  A world where we’ve rewritten the laws of economic gravity to align value creation &amp; value capture, to solve <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXPym_m_wA">coordination failures <span>3</span></a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-sJSJecBbs">slay Moloch - the god of coordination failure <span>5</span></a>.</p>
<p>More on the Quadratic Lands vision here:</p><div><div><div></div></div><div><div><div><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTU6J4WTPtk">Quadratic Lands | Proof of Knowledge</a></div></div></div></div>

<h2>
<a name="double-daown-on-the-dao-it-may-25-2021-present-9" href="#double-daown-on-the-dao-it-may-25-2021-present-9"></a>double DAOwn on the DAO it (May 25 2021 - present)</h2>
<p>In the wake of the GTC launch, there were many many things that happened.  A few notable ones:</p>
<p>We launched <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/">https://gov.gitcoin.co/ <span>13</span></a> and began the long path towards decentralizing Gitcoin.</p>
<p>During this time, several workstreams were proposed by the community &amp; subsequently launched.</p>
<p>Workstreams are the way work is organized in the DAO.  Workstreams have their own budget, leadership structure, tools, and processes on a per-workstream basis.  Anyone can propose a workstream by following the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-dao-governance-process-v2-updated/7860">proposal process <span>2</span></a>.  The current active workstreams are:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Moonshot-Collective-ffa78f44a0de412cb607f9b69d3a376f">Moonshot Collective <span>3</span></a> is the DAO rapid prototyping workstream</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Public-Goods-80a3202a3a244c65b3fda08c0f7c7d60">Public Goods <span>3</span></a> is focused on our mission of funding public goods.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Fraud-Detection-Defense-f1a2969a9f324f57a02ef69a60b25cae">Fraud Detection &amp; Defense <span>2</span></a> is in charge of preventing fraud on Gitcoin Grants.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/dGrants-c3197f918bf640bc9809cd26d56c93f3">Decentralize-gitcoin <span>4</span></a>  is the mechanism through which Gitcoin is progressively decentralizing.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.notion.so/Merch-Memes-Marketing-c1bd89fac8ab4569bf2a676df28025d8">Memes, Merch, &amp; Marketing <span>4</span></a> is the DAO marketing division.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/proposal-integrate-dcompass-within-dgitcoin-to-build-dquests-dknowledge/8836">dCompass <span>5</span></a> - building DAO native orientation tool.</li>
</ol>
<p>I wrote a post entitled the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-gitcoin-gitcoindao-egregore-is-emerging/8200">The GitcoinDAO Egregore is emerging <span>7</span></a>, all about the way thing were coming together.</p>
<p>New tools like <a href="https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1469283258617630723">decentralized Grants Alpha <span>4</span></a> and the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/introducing-steward-report-cards/8712">Steward Report Cards <span>3</span></a> launched.</p>
<p>Through this time, the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoins-orbit/8812">orbit <span>4</span></a> of Gitcoin remained <a href="https://gitcoin.co/mission">our mission <span>2</span></a>, but the DAO began to be a primary place for contributors to contribute to the mission.</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/2/27f6a843e97e66aa7ea7badf497615016ec2c5f1.jpeg"><div>
<span>39a0bfed-fa30-4ef9-8b0b-7d2c6c804b33</span><span>1040×442 51 KB</span>
</div></a></div><p></p>
<p>We began to really hit our stride in creating <a href="https://gitcoin.co/results">results</a> towards our mission.</p>
<p>Stats as of 12/15/2021:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Since its <a href="https://media.consensys.net/gitcoin-joins-consensys-announces-pilot-projects-f5a0955de9d6">launch <span>19</span></a> in <strong>November 2017</strong> , Gitcoin has helped <strong>59,956</strong> funders reach an audience of <strong>262,688</strong> earners. Gitcoin has facilitated <strong>1,572,067</strong> complete transactions to <strong>9,700</strong> unique earners.</p>
</blockquote>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/6/6444354e1a3fb58ca6a2ecfc8f5567c868f938c8.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
<h2>
<a name="to-be-continued-2022-10" href="#to-be-continued-2022-10"></a>To be continued (2022+)</h2>
<p>GitcoinDAO is still evolving &amp; emerging.</p>
<p>The future, <a href="https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1470081538981183488">in my opinion <span>4</span></a>, should continue our path towards more scale &amp; more decentralization.</p>
<p>We have gotten from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296">0 to 1 <span>5</span></a>, and are turning the corner to go from 1 to 10 – and are beginning to set our sites on going from 10 to 100.</p>
<p>If you want to follow along with the latest, I invite you to read the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/search?q=gitcoindao%20digest">weekly GitcoinDAO Digests</a> or read the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/tldr-what-is-gitcoin-updated-dec-2021/8694">What is Gitcoin</a> post which I have been updating on a monthly basis.</p>
<h2>
<a name="our-the-north-star-11" href="#our-the-north-star-11"></a>Our the north star.</h2>
<p>while you’re here, you should checkout our latest discussion about the <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-mission-vision/9421">Gitcoin Mission &amp; Vision <span>15</span></a>, especially this excellent proposed north star vision statement by <a href="/u/pop">@Pop</a>  &amp; company.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Gitcoin DAO builds for human thriving.</strong></p>
<p>Gitcoin’s vision is to establish an empowering, open and collaborative space where individuals and communities can access resources in proportion to their value creation independent of their geographic location, education, background or offline identity.</p>
<p>By creating collaborative, decentralized funding mechanisms, Gitcoin has become the natural choice for seeding and supporting digital public goods. The DAO enables building <em>for</em> the public, <em>by</em> the public by helping individuals and communities start, fund, and scale open source projects.</p>
</blockquote>

A brief history of Gitcoin from 2017 - 2022 hey all, 
 i’ve been giving an oral

A brief history of Gitcoin from 2017 - 2022

<p>I keep getting pulled onto calls with DAOs who want to partner with Gitcoin.   I want to lay out how I think about these things + solicit feedback from the DAO.</p>
<p>IMO there are 3 layers to a DAO to DAO partnership.  They go in order from more casual to more serious (from less commitment to more commitment).</p>
<ol>
<li>Social interoperability</li>
<li>Product/Technology interoperability</li>
<li>Governance Rights interoperability</li>
</ol>
<p>More about these layers:</p>
<h1>
<a name="h-1-social-interoperability-1" href="#h-1-social-interoperability-1"></a>1. Social interoperability</h1>
<p>In this stage, there are strong relationships being built between members of each DAO across-DAO.  DAO members might be invited to speak at Gitcoin events like <a href="https://schellingpoint.gitcoin.co/">Schelling Point <span>4</span></a> or our Public Goods are Good twitter spaces, or DAO Vibes.  This is the relationship/rapport/trust building stage of of a DAO to DAO partnership.</p>
<h1>
<a name="h-2-producttechnology-interoperability-2" href="#h-2-producttechnology-interoperability-2"></a>2. Product/Technology interoperability</h1>
<p>The product/technology interop stage is when the DAOs start to invest resources into seriously building <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/practical-pluralism-essay-draft-req-for-feedback/10462/2">Practical Pluralism <span>19</span></a> between the products of each system.</p>
<p>Examples of this I’ve seen at GitcoinDAO.</p>
<ol>
<li>Gitcoin leverages <a href="https://www.proofofhumanity.id/">Proof of Humanity <span>2</span></a> or <a href="https://www.brightid.org/">BrightID <span>2</span></a> or <a href="https://www.idena.io/">Idena <span>4</span></a> for Gitcoin Grants</li>
<li>Gitcoin launches <a href="http://greenpill.party/">a podcast on the bankless network <span>4</span></a>.</li>
<li>I’m sure there are many others.</li>
</ol>
<h1>
<a name="h-3-governance-rights-interoperability-3" href="#h-3-governance-rights-interoperability-3"></a>3. Governance Rights interoperability</h1>
<p>The Governance Rights interoperability stage is when the governance rights of each DAO is extended to the other DAO, likely via a <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/constructing-a-mutual-grants-committee/10347/7">Mutual Grant <span>10</span></a>.</p>
<p>Past examples of this</p>
<ol>
<li>Gitcoins incubation of <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/kernel-evolves-a-new-leaf-for-gitcoin-dao/9912">KERNEL <span>2</span></a>.</li>
<li>Gitcoins mutual grant with <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/proposal-partnership-mutual-grant-with-developer-dao/9217">DeveloperDAO <span>5</span></a>.</li>
<li>Gitcoins incubation of <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/proposal-dcompass-season-13-budget-request/9794">dComipass <span>3</span></a>.</li>
</ol>
<h1>
<a name="summary-4" href="#summary-4"></a>Summary</h1>
<p>One thing I think is really important about web3 is <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/practical-pluralism-essay-draft-req-for-feedback/10462/2">Practical Pluralism <span>19</span></a>.  Instead of web2 companies elbowing out each other for market share, web3 networks of DAOs are fundamentally modular + interoperable.  I fantasize about a world in which the Ethereum ecosystem becomes a DAO of DAOs that all rises and falls together, building a beautiful world of immense utility from a diverse fauna of protocols that serve our shared mission.</p>
<p>Feedback welcome.</p>

3 layers to a DAO to DAO partnership I keep getting pulled onto calls with

3 layers to a DAO to DAO partnership

<p>I’m a big fan of intersubjective consensus.</p>
<ol>
<li>intersubjectivity is the relation or intersection between people’s cognitive perspectives.</li>
<li>consensus is a a general agreement.</li>
</ol>
<p>Intersubjective consensus is consensus at the intersection of peoples perspectives.</p>
<p>By sharing multiple viewpoints, a group of humans are able to figure out where they are aligned and they are not. (or perhaps they are partially aligned)</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/a/a78b8d8efd5b8f3f88ef4c224460307cb582aa34.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
<p>As S14 budgeting is upon us, I would like to facilitate more information sharing + intersubjective consensus creation among stewards by allowing them to clearly articulate what way they are voting + why.  More informed stewards + constituents creates <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/consent-of-the-governed-and-legitimacy-by-process-in-gitcoindao/9778">more legitimacy</a> IMO.</p>
<p>To achieve that, I’m copying Kris and Kyle.  Kris and Kyle created voter guides ( <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/summary-s13-budget-proposal-recap-kyles-voter-guide/9856">1 <span>2</span></a> <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/summary-s13-budget-proposal-recap-kris-s-voter-guide/9895">2 <span>4</span></a> ) which explain which way they are voting and why in S13.  I’ve found that voter guides was an effective way for them to communicate a synthesis of their perspectives on the various budgets + also create accountability by summarizing which way they were voting.</p>
<p>To facilitate more discussion of digested budget information among stewards, I am creating a template for a voter guide for S14.   I encourage you to <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q98BFzv24vMRygeLAqnGjUdJZj9MK-cWxpNF2_ub7SU/edit">fork it <span>38</span></a> and distribute your own voter guide!</p>
<p>Here is what the template looks like:</p>
<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q98BFzv24vMRygeLAqnGjUdJZj9MK-cWxpNF2_ub7SU/edit"> <span>38</span></a></p>
<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q98BFzv24vMRygeLAqnGjUdJZj9MK-cWxpNF2_ub7SU/edit">I encourage you to fork this resource + make + distribute your own copy <span>38</span></a>.</p>

S14 Voter Guide Template I’m a big fan of intersubjective consensus. 
 
 intersubjectivity is the relation

S14 Voter Guide Template

<p>I want to highlight a trend in the comments I’ve seen from stewards over the last week of budgeting season.  The main trend I see is a complaint about a lack of lean-ness and a lack of effectiveness.</p>
<p>Here are some comments:</p>
<h2>
<a name="kyle-weiss-1" href="#kyle-weiss-1"></a>Kyle Weiss</h2>
<aside>
<div>
<div><span></span></div>
<a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/treasury-diversification-working-group-updates-thread/10231/9">Treasury Diversification Working Group Updates Thread</a>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p>The bear is here and it’s only going to get worse over the next 6-12mos. Crypto markets are tied closer to the US stock market than they have ever been (and global markets), and the US Fed doesn’t give a shit if they tank the stock market trying to get inflation under control. The general sentiment is that Investors across Web3 are slowing investment and feel like they can wait ~8mos to scoop up a lot of “good deals” as token prices, valuations and shitty projects are going to die out over the next 6-12mos.</p>
<p>This news is not all doomsday for Gitcoin though! Gitcoin has an incredible brand and deep reason for existing that is of interest to many of the folks I have had a chance to chat with. there are headwinds though as money is tightening, and scrutiny is finally being applied to most funding decisions (ie, folks are asking about longevity of projects and roadmaps again!). It’s through these conversations and conversations with other DAOs, and protocols that I have learned and deeply believe Gitcoin is not in a position to fuck around - we need to really focus on the core thesis that we are a protocol DAO with great impact (funding for public goods).</p>
<p><em>gets on soap box for impact</em><br />
Season after season we have failed to really make progress on our Protocol development, but continue to grow budgets. To top it off GR13 shrank quite dramatically, likely due to market sentiment. This trend will continue and we will continue to see funding dry up where it was once bountiful. Our community needs us to survive and to thrive, web3 needs us to survive. Gitcoin is the light that fuels the ecosystem through bear markets and we can only do that with funding ourselves, and an eye towards the most important thing (advancing our protocol to make grants permissionless and pervasive).</p>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<h2>
<a name="anonymous-steward-2" href="#anonymous-steward-2"></a>Anonymous Steward</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>I was going to bring up in the call today but transparently I am concerned about dao long term funding sustainability given many $500k-$1m requests for 1 season which ends up around $5m total for the season and each season only seems to be getting larger with requests</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have not gotten permission from this Steward to quote them by name, but they are in the top 15.</p>
<h2>
<a name="austin-griffith-3" href="#austin-griffith-3"></a>Austin Griffith</h2>
<p>Austin told me at ETHAmsterdam 2022 that he felt like we were not meeting our moment (“youre fucking it up”).  Software projects at Gitcoin that he’s seen typically take too long to ship, have too much overhead, and when they come out, come out buggy or otherwise miss the market.</p>
<p>Gitcoin is routinely beaten to market (or otherwise out-executed) by projects with massively less resources (money, clout, people) than us.</p>
<h2>
<a name="lefteris-4" href="#lefteris-4"></a>Lefteris</h2>
<aside>
  <header>

      <a href="https://twitter.com/LefterisJP/status/1521758439348838400" target="_blank">twitter.com</a>
  </header>

  <article>
    
<h4><a href="https://twitter.com/LefterisJP/status/1521758439348838400" target="_blank">Lefteris Karapetsas | Hiring for @rotkiapp <span>8</span></a></h4>
<div><a href="https://twitter.com/LefterisJP/status/1521758439348838400" target="_blank">@LefterisJP</a></div>

<div>
  <span>A DAO without a clear goal is just a fat cow filled with cash to be milked by subgroups each with its own idea of what the goal of the DAO should be.

The more generic the stated goal of the DAO the easier to fall into this trap.</span>
</div>

<div>
  <a href="https://twitter.com/LefterisJP/status/1521758439348838400" target="_blank">12:47 AM - 4 May 2022</a>

    <span>
      
        
      
      232
    </span>

    <span>
      
        
      
      24
    </span>
</div>

  </article>

  <div>
    
    
  </div>

  <div></div>
</aside>

<h1>
<a name="my-view-5" href="#my-view-5"></a>My view</h1>
<p>My view is this:</p>
<ul>
<li>Gitcoin is unfortunately a ProtocolDAO without a Protocol.</li>
<li>The DAO spends millions of dollars in tokens on things that just don’t have ROI.</li>
<li>The DAO has a habit of starting many projects in many different directions.  The DAO workstreams regularly start projects that are “a few weeks away” from shipping, but drag on for months or just never ship.</li>
<li>Because the workstream proposals are so large/dense, and stewards have little context, it is hard for these project owners to be held accountable.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are precarious positions to be in at the start (middle) of a bear market.</p>
<p>I believe in Gitcoin’s mission.  I think that stewarding an open source project is a lot like gardening.  I’ve been pulling a lot of weeds in my home garden.  I consider posts like this to be like weeding our garden.  I believe in Gitcoin, and I believe that by pulling at these weeds, we can have our execution meet our moment.</p>
<p>What would have to be true to have a more lean/effective Gitcoin that is focused on achieving its mission?  What would have to be true to get the protocol shipped + used by the world? What would have to be true for us to be comfortable with the long term sustainability of Gitcoin?  How would we act differently in times of scarcity vs the times of relative abundance that we’ve seen over the last year?</p>

What would a Lean/Effective Gitcoin look like? I want to highlight a trend in the

What would a Lean/Effective Gitcoin look like?

<p>ImpactDAOs any DAO that has a positive impact on the world</p>
<p>Following the success of <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/impactdao-cartographers-wanted/9866">ImpactDAO Cartographers Wanted! 🗺 <span>30</span></a> , we now have a telegram group with 130 people <a href="https://t.me/+ORZ8joj8_AhjM2I5">[link] <span>73</span></a> who are working together to discover the space of ImpactDAOS.</p>
<p>I’ve also started working with <a href="/u/aleborda21">@Aleborda21</a>, who has done a wonderful job putting together a <a href="https://gitcoin.notion.site/ImpactDAO-Cartographers-Map-Room-18c0126b82af40ccb46405427ffb834d">resource library on the subject with information on 100s of DAOs <span>54</span></a>.  We plan to release a small book in PDF/softcover at DevConnect on 4/21.  It would catalogue over 100 ImpactDAOs, and here is what it would look like:</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/3/3eae6c9deaa1b59c20d8fc1bea34758e1654a5e5.jpeg"><div>
<span>Cover</span><span>1920×1175 245 KB</span>
</div></a></div><p></p>
<h1>
<a name="extending-this-momentum-1" href="#extending-this-momentum-1"></a>Extending this momentum</h1>
<p>I would like to challenge the community to extend this momentum.  I would like to see a ImpactDAO RatingsDAO emerge.</p>
<p>The RatingsDAO would maintain an important money lego: <strong>a Proof of Impact</strong>.  Such a DAO would maintain an on-chain registry of which ImpactDAOs have what Impact.  Such a money lego could be used to facilitate trustless smart contract functionality only available to ImpactDAOs, and would also allow ImpactDAOs to display an independently verified “Proof Of Impact”.</p>
<p>This RatingsDAO could solicit &amp; ingest attestations about a DAO’s social impact, independently verify their impact, and then issue a report card on them.    <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/quadratic-funding-x-effective-altruism/10016/7">(here is a write up I did a few weeks ago about what such an attestation framework could look like) <span>38</span></a></p>
<p>The Report cards would perhaps be available via smart contract and then also via a beautiful web interface.</p>
<p>Here are two mocks of what an ImpactDAO rating card could look like (all numbers made up, for demonstration purposes only):</p>
<p></p><div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/c/c0acd422ade61a823dcea665359dd7b2120db09d.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><br />
<div><a href="/uploads/db4391/original/2X/2/2207a73ac9552cbca9be5af3605fa2b47563d750.png"><div>
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</div></a></div><p></p>
<p>I think that the above ratings primitive could be deeply valuable to the space if</p>
<ol>
<li>it has a deep liqudity of ratings.</li>
<li>it is backed by a highly <a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/03/23/legitimacy.html">legitimate <span>8</span></a> governance. The governance should also be uncapture-able and <a href="https://twitter.com/YalorMewn/status/1419723207674777601">hella forkable <span>11</span></a>.  ImpactDAOs should be able to/invited to participate in the conversation about their impact.</li>
<li>it’d be nice if it plugged into other money legos, like say <a href="https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/quadratic-funding-x-effective-altruism/10016/7">Gitcoin Grants 2.0 <span>38</span></a>.  Allowing Gitcoin Grants to display Impact Ratings in it’s UI</li>
</ol>
<p>Such a ratings primitive could be used to create interesting new smart contract modifiers available only to DAOs with high impact scores.  Imagine if the following primitives were available in smart contracts:</p>
<p><code>modifier onlyImpactDAORatingAbove(uint 256 above_score)</code><br />
<code>modifier onlyImpactDAOSocialRatingAbove(uint 256 above_score)</code><br />
<code>modifier onlyImpactDAOMaterialRatingAbove(uint 256 above_score)</code></p>
<p>Is anyone working on something like this or interested in starting to? If so, I would like to talk to you. Please (1) <a href="https://t.me/+ORZ8joj8_AhjM2I5">join this telegram <span>73</span></a> (2) post a proposal below in 500 words or less that articulates how you would attack this problem and what would have to be true for it to happen (hint: please ask for funding, I want to fund good proposals!).</p>
<p>I have budget to fund as many promising proposals as I receive, and will decide how to spend that budget on a case by case basis.</p>

A visual history of Gitcoin’s mission (2017 - 2022)

TLDR - What is Gitcoin? [Aug 2022]

A DAO has no CEO

A brief history of Gitcoin from 2017 - 2022

3 layers to a DAO to DAO partnership

S14 Voter Guide Template

What would a Lean/Effective Gitcoin look like?

Proof Of Impact [Proposals Wanted]

Got something to add?