I conceive and build EA-aligned projects.
I’m also a crypto hobbyist and consultant.
I love to hang out at the intersection of EA and Blockchain :)
I believe in the power of DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations)
DAOMaximalist
Karma: 50
Great list Drew. Big Thanks for sharing this.
I have read some books in the list but there are many others I haven’t read so I consider this a goldmine and I have since bookmarked the post.I also do have a few suggestions to add. Highly recommended.
Personal Development
Black Box Thinking: Why Most People Never Learn from Their Mistakes—But Some Do
Operations/Get Shit Done
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (This one is a bit wordy especially if you don’t like stories so much, but lots of useful information lies within)
Bonus for those who like fiction (this one is fiction and not exactly related to business but ranks very high on my “list of books to read before you die” and I believe its a series everyone should try and read):
The Three Body Problem (Trilogy)Reminder that you can listen to LessWrong and EA Forum posts like this on your podcast player using the Nonlinear Library.
Love the podcast, comes in very handy in keeping up with developments on the forum. kudos to the team.
I actually consider every mistake as an opportunity to learn and I value every kind of feedback because it helps me to improve.
Also nobody knows everything or as someone once said “I know a lot of things about a lot of things. But I don’t know as much about a lot of other things that I wish I knew a lot of things about.”
I always take every opportunity to learn from others because I believe it’s the fastest way to improve.
Wish I could have someone with your kind of insights on this team, that would really be useful.
All the same I very much appreciate the time you took to read the article and offer your feedback.
If my attempt at this DAO fails, I’ll probably come crawling to you for some tips on how to do it
differentlybetter.But right now the ball is already rolling, I’m already promoting the NFT auction everywhere and the outcome of the auction will determine my next move.
Fingers crossed...
Hello Lorenzo
(This is a copy paste of my response to your similar comment on the other article)
It is great that this notice is being given but I believe those reports are not proven although I’m not sure of their content.
it would only be fair if I at least am given an opportunity to redeem my self, given that these “reports” are obviously just assumptions and not proven facts.There were a couple of issues raised in the comments which I tried to address and in places where I fell short, especially in the area of my identity, I offered to do KYC if need me to prove my authenticity.
Putting out such a notice without concrete verification already biases opinion against me. So even if the reports are unproven suspicions, some people might lean towards them being correct.
If anybody cares, I would love to prove my authenticity in any way required. Perhaps the mod that posted this could investigate further.
All I’ve wanted to do since I joined this community was to contribute meaningfully but every where I turn I seem to be met with lots of push back and vitriol and its not fair receiving this sort of treatment. The fact that I use a pseudonym doesn’t equate to being a scam. This is very disheartening to say the least.
I still have some updates but I wonder how I can keep posting with this sort of notice hanging over my reputation.
Hello Lorenzo
It is great that this notice is being given but I believe those reports are not proven although I’m not sure of their content.
it would only be fair if I at least am given an opportunity to redeem my self, given that these “reports” are obviously just assumptions and not proven facts.There were a couple of issues raised in the comments which I tried to address and in places where I fell short, especially in the area of my identity, I offered to do KYC if need me to prove my authenticity.
Putting out such a notice without concrete verification already biases opinion against me. So even if the reports are unproven suspicions, some people might lean towards them being correct.
If anybody cares, I would love to prove my authenticity in any way required. Perhaps the mod that posted this could investigate further.
All I’ve wanted to do since I joined this community was to contribute meaningfully but every where I turn I seem to be met with lots of push back and vitriol and its not fair receiving this sort of treatment. The fact that I use a pseudonym doesn’t equate to being a scam. This is very disheartening to say the least.
I still have some updates but I wonder how I can keep posting with this sort of notice hanging over my reputation.
Just searched for “effective altruism” on twitter. Youch! EA is getting pummeled out there. Soooo much negative press. :(
Your points are very valid.
For my identity, I did explain in my other post why I have not used my real name and have actually offered to doxx myself to anybody that cares, just send me a DM.
On the team aspect , I used “my idea” because what I would call a “team” right now wouldn’t really pass as one because the only person with relevant knowledge and experience at this time is me. I have interns working with me but they mostly do low level work and brainstorming.
What I’m actually trying to do with this auction of 172 NFTs is to build a formidable team of collaborators from the EA community who will collab with me in the first stage to set everything up properly.
I expect / hope those who decide to support and collaborate with me would have the nice-to-have characteristics I listed in my post which includes experts and experienced people in almost every relevant area required for such a project.
With this team I intend to work out all the kinks in the first 2 to 3 months and then launch officially.
On the matter of well established systems, even though DAOs are still experimental, there are DAOs that successfully control billions of dollars so it is not impossible, but just like you said, it has to be the right team with relevant experience. I do have experience with DAOs and I hope to onboard members who have the relevant experience to properly manage those large sums.
Many of these things are vastly simplified by using Blockchain.
Thanks again for the time to offer feedback. I really appreciate.
About the Joyce Alvino I’ve seen their comments but I don’t think I know them, but if they are being supportive then that indeed makes me glad.
I agree that the multiple
fake namespseudonyms may seem sketchy. That is why I was upfront about the fact that I use pseudonyms a lot online (mostly because I’m also a digital marketer so using pseudonymous accounts are a common aspect of the trade). But I will understand if funders don’t like that although I believe some won’t mind and I believe that when I get my few collaborators all of that will be sorted out.
Thanks for the advice about the organisational setup. I did opt do do this the “crypto way” where anonymity/pseudonyms is almost normal but I understand that this is not exactly a crypto community so I need to do things the “proper” way. Perhaps if this doesn’t work out as planned I would pivot to a more traditional process.I understand that getting a new org is not going to happen quickly and I’m not really expecting it to. This is why I want to first get a handful of people to work with me for 2 to 3 months to do all those proper things and also to advise and chip in ideas. One of the purposes of the NFT auction I mentioned is to get a handful of collaborators so that we can set things up properly.
I know it may not be quick or easy but I’m just trying to take the first tentative steps towards building the big organization. I’ll rather fail than not try at all.
For one let me separate EffectiveCauses (my organization) from the DAO (which is an idea from my organization).
The DAO is/will be a separate entity not under my control and members are supposed to work together to collectively raise the $1 B using various methods which I listed in the above post. 80% of this is meant to give out as grants for EA projects. 20% covers other things including 4% for EffectiveCauses and 8% for admin costs for the DAO. I’m not actually asking anyone to hand over one billion to me!
Regarding the [economic] importance, for the DAO, the importance is giving out grants to impactful projects selected democratically by DAO members under the guidance of experts.
For my EffectiveCauses organization, the value is as described in the post which is to think up impactful ideas (like this DAO idea) and source for funds to execute and incubate them. Also to serve as a base for setting up EA communities in countries in Africa (most of which there’s little or no EA activity)
Thank you for the recommendation. I always try to improve and I find this input valuable.
I did try my best to explain what the whole thing is about and tried to be as clear as possible but maybe I didn’t communicate it clearly enough.
Nonetheless, everything I’m doing, both in the DAO and for my EffectiveCauses all center around what I believe are my/our greatest strengths which is community building and managing online communities for which I have many years experience.
But I will sure try to make my points clearer in the future. Thank you very much. Would also love to hear any other recommendations you might have.
LOL thanks, that should be sometime tomorrow. Its night time here, will need to go to bed soon.
First of all let me sincerely apologize if this comes accros as poorly organized or scammy. It is definitely not my intention to do anything that would bring any more negative publicity to EA at this time.
I will immediately stop posting here and try other EA communities if I am asked to stop further updates by the mods.
But I am very hesitant to kill the project completely and I probably will not because I don’t really think its success will make EA look bad, but again I’m new so maybe I dont fully understand it all.
I was (and strongly still) under the impression that this would be a good thing for EA and since it deals with a core EA matter then I felt I could / should post it here if only to gather some feedback and get the word out.
Especially since we have been encouraged to post on EA forum, I figured I could post them here.
Maybe the title or the $1B figure seems too sensational but I very much think its doable. Most of the push back on the other post seem to do with a DAO not being necessary for something like this and I tried my best to present my own arguments.
I have put in a lot of work into this—since Nov 2022 to be precise and Istrongly believe in the possibility of success so I don’t want to be discouraged by the negativity so far. I have tried my best to provide as much detail as I can explaining how I expect this to work (especially in this very post). If there is any information I’m leaving out I will gladly provide it.
I have watched people in the community bickering and dillydallying these past months over those EA issues but most seem to be just kicking the tires and nobody seems to be going further to do do anything or even ready to do anything concrete about this stuff.
And its eating me deep inside because I can clearly see how much greater this movement can be.
I agree that I’m new to EA (and maybe a bit overzealous in my thinking) and I would love to receive constructive advice on how to go about doing this properly instead of killing the whole idea.
To the best of my knowledge I have tried to answer every question on the first post and I will continue to try and do so with this one.
If my identity is an issue to contend with then I don’t mind revealing it if I have to, or if anybody cares they could DM me for that.
Regarding your “scammy list”
“Your organization”, EffectiveCauses, doesn’t have a website or any other public-facing information. However, there are a bunch of accounts.
The “EffectiveCauses” Quora account is pushing crypto stuff that is unrelated to your DAO.
1. Effective Causes is new and mostly not set up formally yet. It is literally still just an idea in my head and rough blueprints. One of the reasons I’m fundraising for that is to setup formally. The quora and every effectiveDAO link you find were all created by me so that when the project kicks off I will already have those names instead of some cybersquatter hijacking the name. when the actual project begins they will all be cleaned up and readied for use.
Nothing much else by way of formality is going on, I just meet with a couple of students from a nearby university talking to them about EA and we meet a few times to brainstorm and share ideas. The effectivedao.org domain has been registered by me pending when the website is setup. EffectiveCauses and the DAO and everything are really in a pre-launch state, nothing at all is setup.
The one person commenting in support of you looks a bit like an astroturf account (created recently, fake name/PFP).
2. Not sure which person you are referring to, there were quite a number of comments on the other post and a few of them seemed supportive. But I have only one EA Forum account and I don’t know and haven’t asked any other person to comment in support of me, I have nothing to do with them. None of the people in EA who actually know my identity have commented so far. But I’ve shared the post in some communities where I’m active. I’ve been sharing it.
The Twitter account you linked to is also quite shallow (few posts/no substantive posts, no followers, etc.), as is your EA Forums account.
The twitter is sparse because: The project is new. This post is my first major post about it in the public. The actual Twitter accounts are all rather new. Everything is new because its still literally an idea in my head. Only now do I plan to start tweeting more regularly.
I already created new twitter accounts for Effectivecauses and for the DAO but like I explained in the post, I’ve been having issues completing the registration due to twitter’s phone verification issues so I had to use another twitter account of mine and delete all the previous posts so that I would have a twitter to use, albeit temporarily.
For my EA Forum account. I’m new to EA, joined in September or so and posted and commented a couple of times. That’s the best I could do. I comment on posts that interest me and I am knowledgeable about.
But again,
If my identity is an issue, I dont mind going through KYC right now, but not publicly.
If you care to spare some of your time I dont mind doing anything you like me to do to verify my identity.
And most importantly, I will like your guidance on how to do this properly. But please don’t ask me to kill the idea.
I just posted the update that contains much more details about my plans including the answer to your question. I hope you can find the time to go through the whole thing here.
But I will reproduce below the section of the update that directly answers your question. Bear in mind that I have many ideas but I don’t have all the ideas and I’m very open to suggestions:
Proposed Fundraising StrategiesThe initial funds will be raised through sales of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
These NFTs will also act as membership passes to the DAO’s private communication, collaboration and voting platforms. Ideally one member per NFT.
In addition to NFT sales, some of the other fundraising strategies that shall be employed or experimented with include:
Conventional fundraising events like fundraising dinners/concerts/charity balls etc held once every quarter (preceded by two weeks of dedicated viral fundraising activities)
“Fundraising fortnights” which are two week sprints (done once every month or every two months) dedicated to widespread viral fundraising drives
Members leveraging their personal and professional networks to reach out to prospective donors and pitch the DAO to them
Individual members and small teams organizing micro-fundraising events, activities and activations
“Decentralized crowdfunding” where individual members initiate crowdfunding campaigns on their own to raise funds for the DAO
Developing the project’s Intellectual Property into revenue-generating books, comics, cartoons, movies, merchandise etc
Developing DAO-owned revenue-generating fundraising apps and low-maintenance charity entrepreneurship online platforms, startups, SAAS applications etc
Continuously reaching out and encouraging donors to commit to regular/repeat donations
DAO members brainstorming and exploring various other fundraising ideas.
Donations from DAO members
Hi MichaelPlant I just posted the second update with some more detailed explanations. Hope you can find the time to go through (its quite lengthy) and hope it makes things clearer. Here’s the link
Thanks a lot for your kind words and your suggestions. I really appreciate!
I do have it in mind to reach out to various people and see what they have to say but I just wanted to “officially” get the word out first.
I actually read your “Giving circle” comment while researching for the project and made a mental note of how the DAO is kind of similar to a scaled up version of your “Giving circle” idea .
About the ambitious vision, I’m actually not scared of failing, it will only ginger me to try harder. I decided to use such a massive sounding number so that the DAO will be challenged.
Afterall, if only one person (SBF) donated $1B, how difficult can it really be? I’m sure there are people around EA who can actually muster such amount in one go, all they really need is to key into the DAO’s vision, that’s where the branding thing comes into play.
That being said, I agree that it may almost be too ambitious but someone once said (forgotten who) “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
I believe deep down that most of the pushback is mainly because many people don’t fully understand the technology. People who understand NFTs and DAOs will immediately see the merit in this.
Once again I really appreciate your positive comment among a sea of pushbacks and negativity.
Even though the downvotes are a bit discouraging, they were not totally unexpected and it serves to challenge me to do better and I like it.
Plus I do eat downvotes for lunch!
P.S: Even if you don’t join the DAO, I would really love to rub minds with you sometime on these matters, maybe munch some cool ideas from your brain [insert zombie-eating-brain emoji]
Fair enough!
In a DAO, code is law
You are correct in a sense but that is the strict DAO protocol. Mine would be more of a hybrid with some aspects handled on the blockchain.
On the issue of tax deductibility, there are successful DAOs who have scaled this hurdle and I believe we can study what they did and figure out how to implement ours. In fact getting a tax-deductible entity is among the things that need to be figured out during the first 2-3 months stage. Its part of the reason why I want to first work with a handful of knowledgeable experts.
On the issue of DAOs vs Traditional methods, permit me to copy-paste a slightly modified answer to a similar question in another comment:
It is possible to use [traditional means] but Blockchain has some features built in that make some critical aspects easier.
Blockchain here mainly helps with automating membership tracking and portability across apps / ecosystems. They are also important for the transparency and voting aspects. Will also help in funds security, access and control.
But everything will not be built on/around the blockchain. In fact, most of the co-ordination will be on regular websites / platforms like slack (a slack clone, actually), Discord, etc. There would even be a closed forum for DAO members only.
All of these are similar to what you are suggesting. But the NFT/blockchain aspect is like the critical thread that ties everything together.
And on the issue of hacking and manipulation, there are ways to ensure security that minimizes hacks to the barest minimum including using common sense, education and proven technology used by the best known DAOs. For manipulation, it boils down to the kind of structural framework being used.
There are also methods for managing crypto-related risk (one of which is the use of regulated stable coins).
In summary, these concerns of yours are very important to consider but they are not impossible to overcome.
Moreover, one other thing with traditional methods is: Who sets the ball rolling? Who bells that cat?
I think one critical difference is that EA funds is not subject to approval, control or oversight of the “EA Community”, In other words, it is not the EA Community’s funds. Anyway I’m sure things will become clearer with the next update.
Thanks, I’ll be posting that soon, hopefully
That’s one of the ideas we tried raising funds for but its not the only idea.
The core mission of the organization I’m building (my personal organization, not this DAO) is to come up with ideas which we think might be worthwhile. The idea in that post is one of the ideas we came up with. This DAO idea is another. There are a number of others. It is this organization that I am wanting to fundraise for.
Regarding your linked post and whether that idea should be funded or not, I’m of the opinion that there are equally good arguments as to why it should be funded but the debate on that post was unfortunately not robust enough to uncover all nuances of the argument.
Great resource. Would be quite helpful to me.
If you don’t mind I will like to suggest that you could maybe create a post on the site describing what the tool is and how to use it.
Right now, it shows “There’s nothing here!” below the links. If you make a post I think it will show up there on the front page instead of “There’s nothing here!”.
It will also give some context to people who stumble on the site without any previous knowledge of it, and will help in your SEO too (to get organic visitor traffic from Google search).
Well done, nonetheless. Thanks for the effort and time put in and thanks for sharing.