A Risk Too Big Not to Take

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A Risk Too Big Not to Take

I am tired right now and not sure how this post will be received by the community (some might say it’s a distraction, but I’m running on @BigSky7 energy right now). Tonight, I received a reminder why I joined crypto and why I decided to join this community.

Tonight I had the pleasure of handholding my dad through his first (hopefully not last) DPI purchase. In all, the process took about two hours. This was painful and enjoyable at the same time and thankfully I won’t have to do it again soon. Why two hours? Well, we went through the steps and I had to teach my dad the mechanics behind what was occurring along the way (from on ramping to installing metamask to making the DPI purchase). Would it have been easier for him to trust me and just execute? Yes. Was I impatient? Yes. Did it speed him up? No. (click…click…click…how do I share my screen Ryan?). Boomer…

Here were some of the pain points. This should serve as a perspective for what we have all learned (when entering crypto), but also what we will face when onboarding an incremental holder.

  • I don’t want to do the coinbase KYC (ie. why are they asking for my ID)
  • What is the puzzle thing in the top right of my browser
  • Why can’t I just purchase this on Coinbase? What do you mean about custody?
  • What is Ethereum? Wait what do you mean that is what we are transacting on?
  • Tell me what I’m buying (aka pitch me DPI)

Yeah, it sucked. But something interesting happened toward the end. At the 1.5 hour mark (following the purchase), he asked me to explain the relationship between the Coop, Set, and DeFi Pulse. For the next 30-minutes, I went HAM. I gave him the full tutorial of what I had been working on at the DAO, the breakdown of our constituents, the forum, and discord. I’m not sure if he incepted me, or if was bigsky’s energy from earlier today, but a wave context (the big picture) hit me.

The Message
What we are working towards is bigger than us. We might fail. However, The risk of not giving/doing our best is too big not to take (or whatever I said above). Let me break down what I think happened.

  • I slowed down. We (the Index Coop) don’t give ourselves enough credit for how fast we move, the quality of work we ship and the passion we all share. What is now intuitive to all of us (purchasing DPI) is not the case for the majority of people in the world.

  • I took a step back. I took time to explain (and understand myself) the mechanics behind purchasing DPI at a fundamental level. Unfortunately, I had to explain this to my boomer dad like he was 5 (or fortunately). When looking at the big picture it is amazing to see what we have accomplished as a community (greater crypto and the Coop alike). We toss around sayings like “money legos”, but never really take the time to reflect on how the saying came into existence. It is important to reflect on the fundamentals and take the time to understand the mechanics of the tech stack (i am no expert) to fully understand the importance of what we are doing at the Coop. What really drove my conviction behind this post (and the message: A Risk Too Big Not to Take) is when I started to explain the economic incentives (Etherum to Uniswap to The Coop) to my dad.

  • I listened. Every member of the Coop has a story to tell and our shared values bring us together as a community (with a sh** ton of hard work). That said, I believe it’s important to keep the perspective of our differences. Listening to each other will strengthen us as a community and will help fortify our competitive moat. We must apply this approach externally as well. DAOs are special (they are changing lives (imo) for the better) and the Index Coop is no different. For perspective, working for the Index Coop (as a top contributor) has the ability to 267x (the math checks) some of our community members’ current monthly gross income. Incredible and life-changing. Our community strength is driven by our ability to listen, challenge the status quo and deliver results.

To quote one of our own. We’re listening.

Encourage a Problem-Solving First Culture

We are changing the world and fundamentally leveling the playing field for millions of people around the world. We might fail, but the risk is too big not to give it our all. Thus, we must develop a problem-solving mentality as a community. What does a problem-solving mentality look like?

  • Lead by example. Anyone that is part of the Coop community should lead by example (but especially our working group leaders). The north star here is our guiding principles.

  • Challenge the status quo. We must not be afraid to share our visions and/or speak of unpopular opinions. While we may not agree (and I hope we don’t) we must treat one another with respect.

  • Intellectually honest and rigorous. It is okay not to know the answer and the pursuit of truth is what matters. We must be rigorous in our pursuit. Can we look in the mirror and be okay with our efforts?

  • Openness and empathy. We should highlight both our wins and losses as a community. If we are not bumping up against failure then we are doing something wrong. We can’t do it alone and must bring our shortcomings to light. Our community should be empathetic and show support when this is done. Falling on the sword or talking about a loss is much more difficult than burying something under the rug.

  • Empowerment. Community members must empower one another to solve problems. It’s okay to channel check or use the community/leadership as a sounding board. Once this is done the next conversation with the community should be around blockers or presenting solutions.

  • Quality control. Before presentation of a solution or blocker, one should ask a community member to QC the work. This should be a best practice internally, but a must when we publish external and promote products. A fresh eye is key.

Walk before you Run Mentality
Unsure of what to do next? Show up. Attend the community calls, read the forums, and discord. This is necessary to add context and value within the community. It is hard to keep up with everything. There is nothing wrong with not being a “core contributor”. The path to greater responsibility should be achieved one step at a time.

Kaizen - “Change for the Better”
Kaizen was established by Toyota post-WW2 and refers to continuous improvement. This is a framework I tend to fall back on when I am feeling lost or need a boost to productivity. I like the simplicity. Read more here.

Final Thought
We are leaders within an ecosystem that is changing the world. And influencing/affecting change is hard work. Let’s celebrate the wins, identify the failures and encourage a problem-solving first culture. So thank you Dad for the motivation for this post and to all members of this great community (those before me, those here now, those that join when I am gone). I am here to serve you.

Off to bed now. :slight_smile:

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Some very big BigSky energy in this post for sure, a lot of depth and a great story too. Working here feels frantic and difficult at times but this was a good read and helps to reframe what its all about.

Thanks for sharing.

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Great thought piece!

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I really enjoyed reading that and agree with all of the major points. Thank you for sharing!

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Love this. I think this piece below is really important to consider but often overlooked.

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I really enjoyed reading this. Hope you don’t mind that I gave my dad your phone number :wink:

There’s some really good advice in here. I had to really humble-up early on and stay locked into that. I think it boiled down mainly to: Over a lifetime of tradfi and consulting I have acquired a specific set of skills, skills that will make The Coop a pile of ETH, skills that will create mind blowing efficiencies; but for a time, maybe longer than feels comfortable, as it relates to this idea of shared goals and values, my best ability is my availability. I think that applies to all of us newbs in a sense. - Turn on total absorb mode, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Then, some small wins pile up and maybe a big one, the trees start to look like a forest, and boom, it clicks in a way that is hard to explain but you capture really well above.

I’d be a fan of starting another forum channel for this type of content. Getting and staying motivated while we’re mostly sitting alone in rooms all over the world is a daily (sometimes hourly) endeavor, and one that’s well worth the lift. I’d suggest we call it “DAO Life”, but I wouldn’t be at all opposed to, “BigSky Energy”.

That’s a really beautiful story about your experience, thanks for sharing @helmass

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This gets me going, serious BSE here!

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I sincerely want to thank everyone for the kind words. The reception is incredible and I am extremely moved. More than you know. It’s funny, I have not met any of you and I feel closer to this community than most people I know in the real world. The responses confirm my view of the Index Coop. Thank you!

That said, I am 100% sure I will post some dumb sh** in the future. Let’s continue to challenge each other and push the status quo.

@mel.eth - Thank you :slight_smile: - We have some brilliant minds in this community and I would love to continue to push out this kind of content. I recently posted Heat Check – Behind the Handle: A Human-Interest Series. I believe everyone has a story to tell and I would like to get to know each and every one of you and help communicate the story of people working in the Coop. I want to communicate to everyone here that, if you allow me to tell your story 1) I will never break your trust and always respect boundaries 2) I will be extensive and treat your story with respect 3) I will do my best to relate why we are all here.

I have dropped in a google sheets link if anyone wants to raise their hand to participate (just include your discord). If you don’t want to put your name in the sheet, but want to talk more just ping me @helmass on discord. Behind the Handle Sign Up - Google Sheets

Sorry, @mel.eth - I would love to pick your brain more on some of your ideas. Also, I would like to put our best foot forward, so it would be nice if we could get someone with design experience to help. Honestly, anyone is welcome. This is very much a fluid thought, but you all are helping realize there could be something beneficial to the coop here.

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Very interesting read, it’s always tough explaining new technology to just about anyone, I hope your dad fully understood the workings of this new financial system and gets as involved as the rest of us.

As a newer member of the coop, this point personally touched me, as understanding the workings of a DAO was initially quite challenging, but i’m here for the process. Love the energy and i’m loving the community.

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That would be a sight. He understands there is something there, but I don’t think he has the ability to make the leap. But honestly, I’m going to send him this, so let’s see… :slight_smile: Just make sure to keep us separated.

Thank you for the kind words and do not hesitate to reach out

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Just showing love and appreciation for this post. Really enjoyed reading it. It is really nice to see the impact of the work we do outside our screens.

Strongly agree with this statement. Our DAO by nature is decentralized so we do rely heavily on the decentralization of leadership in order to move us forward.

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This is a very good post and I deeply empathize with many aspects of the sentiment here.

Last fall I helped my mother transfer a significant amount of her life savings to Ethereum. After 20 years of economic depression in my home town in Montana and a life-time of exploitation at the hands of corrupt and destructive financial institutions like Wells Fargo ( over-draft fees and predatory credit cards have been a constant pain point for in my family for DECADES) - that transfer was the first time that she and I felt that a better financial future was in reach. Not just kicking a shitty can farther down the road.

What my mother felt and your father felt - what everyone’s families across the world are feeling right now. That needs to be the burning fuel for our organization. One day soon our community will be entrusted with the savings, dreams, and hopes of a vast number of families. We need to take that responsibility seriously.

We are not here to build a new Robinhood - robbing from the most vulnerable people in our society to pay the same five centralized institutions that have grown incredibly rich over the past century.

We are not here to build a new Facebook - harvesting and exploiting the data of every person in the world

We are not here for five or ten or twenty people to get rich on the hard work of thousands.

We are here to build a better future for our families, our communities, and the world. Everyday we are getting closer and closer to that reality. Each of us has an important role to play in this revolution. Our community is most powerful when community members take the following actions:

  • Identify problems and take responsibility for solving them: Our DAO is like a city - and cities only grow great when every citizen commits to defending and building that city. Sometimes through small actions like picking up litter, and sometimes through big actions like building bridges or passing laws.

  • Set the standard: We are the leaders of the decentralized revolution. Other DAOs look to our community for inspiration and guidance. Our forum posts and meetings need to set the standard for what the absolute best looks like. If Steve Jobs or Winston Churchill or JFK were to attend our meetings and read our forums - would they be impressed and inspired? That is the standard.

  • Form deep bonds: Our community is built on trust. The only way to build trust is to forge deep connections with other members of the community. This is a global organization and we have people from very different backgrounds. But we all share a common goal and a common vision. It is imperative that we respect each other whether they are the most senior Golden Owl or the newest community member from Twitter. Only through this commitment to each other can we grow into an organization capable of changing the world.

:pray: :rocket:

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This 100%. Thank you @BigSky7 - your energy is infectious and it has brought the best out in me. This post was in part inspired by you.

Much love,
Littlesky

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One interesting thing about trust and openness is that it makes it easy for people to understand each other’s mindset.

There’s a notion that in a relationship ( of especially two people) one Is aways more intelligent, it’s natural.

But I’ve always believed and lived by the principle of seeking perspectives and learning from people’s personal experiences.

Together as a community, we would be/do better when we trust and are open to each other.

Understanding each orders mindset would go a long way in building a better relationship and this could be perfectly achieved.

I’m humbled to be part of the coop :owl::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:.

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I didn’t read the whole thread but consider using argent wallet. For easiness and security and to get access if something happening to the account holder.
Just in short before I forget to make this post :slight_smile:

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Great discussion here guys

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Fantastic post!

Such an awesome read and great reminder why we are all here. Thank you for sharing :slight_smile:

@BigSky7’s leadership is incredibly motivating and Index Coop is building an incredible community.

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Great post! Kept it tidy too, for a post before bed! …that should be next, invest in BED dad!

Seriously though, it is really easy to dismiss the UX after being in the space for some time. But how many must fall by the wayside or think they’re into crypto when really they have not even opened the door yet?!

It’s a tough problem to crack. Clear communication from us when we make posts from the Growth team, good documentation from Engineering, an easy site from Creative and Design, and Engineering, keeping a look-out for good integrations and new partnerships from BD. It’s a full coop commitment. Every action counts, and we will get there. We can help DeFi user numbers go 10x, a 100x, or more.

Thanks for sharing!

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Hahaha - thanks for sharing @mrvls_brkfst! :pray: :pray:

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