At What Point will INDEX Stakeholders Demand Accountability?

[LemonadeAlpha]

Hello again,

As I was recently reminiscing on my time and accomplishments the Coop, I began to feel a bit saddened by the current state of the entity. There had been a storied history that has led to this point, filled with many road bumps and mistakes, including hostility towards IC’s creators. But, in spite of that, to me, it never felt like the possibility of success had evaporated.

Let’s just cut through the bull: The state of the Coop is not great.

The product ideas are stale. The Coop is often releasing products that were ideated in early 2022 and sometimes even 2021. Innovation is non-existent. The traction numbers for new launches speak for themselves.

Make no mistake: Index Coop does have talented contributors. They also probably have way too many. They also very likely have the wrong leadership team.

It’s important to remember that only a handful of current contributors and almost none of the leadership team was present or had important roles or influence when Index Coop was relevant, growing, and succeeding.

Is the leadership team, which has now had a full year to “turn things around”–but, from an outsider’s perspective has mostly focused on window dressing activities–going to be given infinite leeway to burn the runway (that none of them raised, btw)?

A sly move to unlock vesting voting power, giving the leadership team and contributors veto ability–and effectively, the ability to secure their position in perpetuity–seemingly went past stakeholders unnoticed.

I have no skin in the game at this point, I’m open to changing that in the future. But–as someone who had a hand in making Index Coop a success and raising the money that is currently, in my view, being squandered–I would ask that INDEX stakeholders appeal to some sense of accountability for this leadership team.

[LemonadeAlpha]

365 day revenue is waning

The majority of revenue comes from products launched in 2020 and 2021

Competing products are being launched within months of each other and not onboarding new holders. Much smaller competitors are seeing better growth on new product launches.

The “pivot to yield” has turned out to be a massive failure as more nimble teams with more experienced financial engineering create superior products.

It has never been more clear that Index Coop needs a shakeup.

[LONGnostradamus]

To be honest, your post is negative and full of complaints. Mistakes and failures are a normal part of any project cycle, as seen with Amazon or AAVE. No project can be successful without making mistakes. Instead of dwelling on the past, focus on the present and the future to make a positive change.

Although you may find it saddened, I disagree with your opinion. IndexCoop is improving. In fact, it has made significant progress and is much better now than it was in 2021-2022. “Wrong the leadership team” it’s worth noting that you launched $GMI while the market was opposing it. I’m still proud of Afromac, Anthony and others. It’s better much. Remember that revenue is a high correction with market. It has nothing to do with indexcoop. It will be lower correction in nearly future. Revenue is still higher than 2020. I don’t see any issues with it.

As an Index shareholder, I don’t think we need to demand accountability. Instead, I am awake of that IndexCoop is working on prioritize partnerships and product development to increase TVL and revenue. Indexcoop is still early and growth phase. Demanding more may actually worsen the situation, I suggest that you should sell all of your Index shares because that your post don’t make any sense. Thank you.

[LemonadeAlpha]

The tone of my post is certainly negative. The management is not performing.

The complaints you refer to are simply facts. Much of the rest of your post is hard to follow.

Many teams experience downturns but what is unique to Index Coop is this leadership team has never been responsible for the success.

At what point would you feel that their performance warrants retention? Some figures would be useful.

I think by any objective metric this leadership team has failed to deliver. I’m not really sure what you mean by it is better than 2021. There is no evidence to support that. This management team oversaw the majority of 2022 and little to no progress has been made against key metrics.

[LONGnostradamus]

“Why is management not performing?” Let’s compare 2020 with 2023. I will not consider 2021-22 because of the bull market. 2020 and 2023 have similar growth rates.

Firstly, let’s consider Total Value Locked (TVL). In Q4 2020, TVL was $25m, whereas it is currently $65m, indicating an increase of $40m.

Secondly, let’s examine Indexcoop address holders. In Q4 2020, there were 11k holders, whereas there are currently 31k holders, indicating an increase of 20k.

Thirdly, let’s analyze revenue. In Q4 2020, revenue was $200, whereas it is currently $2k daily, indicating a 1,000% increase.

In terms of $INDEX liquidity, 2020 was very bad, whereas 2023 has very good liquidity. The inflation schedule is also much better.

I don’t see any downside. Perhaps it’s just you. Why do you think the leadership team has never been responsible for the success? It’s evident that you’re not looking at the real world and stock market. Revenue is highly correlated with markets like S&P 500, BTC, ETH, and the Fed interest rate. I suggest that you should study Ray Dalio’s 5-step process for success, which can be found at Ray Dalio's 5-Step Process for Success - Focus Mode. Also buy his book for economy cycle. Thanks.

[LemonadeAlpha]

This analysis isn’t serious. You’re talking about traction that was garnered before this group took over. Comparing revenue from 3 months at the beginning of the Coop’s lifecycle in 2020 makes little sense.

What figures (e.g. MoM N$F, holders gained, partnerships that actually materialize, successful product launches) would you consider success? How long do they have to try to achieve that?

That is how you hold a team accountable.

[LemonadeAlpha]

Frankly, there’s just so much low-hanging fruit in my line of site to improve IC. Some I’ve been willing to share publicly with the team and others I’ve kept close to the chest.

I understand that there are promises of improvements and big potential catalysts on the way, but that seems like a chorus we’ve heard before, so color me skeptical.

Again, I think its important to point out that the main decision-makers have now had quite a bit of time to show improvement and simultaneously were not key reasons Index Coop garnered initial success (not to say some of them couldn’t be fine contributors otherwise)

I’m just curious if any remaining INDEX stakeholders would be open to having this dialogue about some kind of metric-based accountability in open and in public:

CC: @setoshi @Callen @HeyChristopher @scott_lew_is @Dmitriy_Berenzon @Tradespot @wishful_cynic

[mynegai]

Hey LemonadeAlpha

The world of digital asset management is evolving certainly and the spectrum of new entrants both large and small are changing the dynamics for index coop regardless of the decentralisation thesis. This is my first post but tracked the project for a while now. I’m a big fan of DPI and facilitating access to the world of investment in this way but It does strikes me that some discussion regarding the future direction, how best to use resources etc. makes sense and little to lose in having the discussion.