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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.