Summary
This post is meant to share our thoughts on moving MVI to a new arrangement that better aligns incentives between the methodologist and Index Coop. It will be formalised into an IIP after a period for feedback. For context on the current Community Methodologist setup and how it was arrived at, please refer to this post.
Abstract
We are proposing that MVI is transitioned to a new structure that sees @verto0912 and I ceasing our FT compensation packages as set out here, and moves MVI to a fee split + bounty model, negotiated with the Coop, in line with all other products.
We would anticipate having to negotiate with a cross-functional team represented by BD, similar to the process for DATA and FLI products recently, to come to an agreement.
The aim, from our side, is to solve for stretched contributions across the entirety of the Coop, and allow for sole focus on the Metaverse Index, where we can double down on making the product a success long term and pursue our vision of other products. From the Coopâs side, we believe this change would better align incentives and make sure our compensation is directly tied to the success of the product, also removing the financial burden of our FT packages from the Coop.
Our initial thinking and expectations are laid out in more detail below, but we are open to discussion based on how the community perceives the change.
Motivation
As community methodologists weâve been contributing to the Coop while managing MVI since its launch in April. This approach made sense at the time as we wanted to continue working on other projects within the wider community, while minimising conflict of interest and maximising return for IC. Since then, the Coop has scaled and faced increasingly complex challenges, which are hard to keep up with and/or lead while also being responsible for a product. We feel the time has come to focus on doing one thing well, and that is the Metaverse Index.
It became clear over recent months that our contributions are stretched too thin. We have been doing many things sub-optimally rather than one thing really well. This has been tough, and at this point is reducing our enthusiasm to tackle the challenges with the kind of commitment that came easily before. We also see others rising through the community and being capable of taking on greater challenges. We want to create space for these community members to step up and lead the next phase of Coop evolution. This kind of offboarding is fairly new to DAOs, but we believe needs to be a part of the culture for the project to grow (A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play).
As was pointed out on the community methodologist post at the time, the original setup perhaps wasnât ideal for incentive alignment. Moving to a fee split model facilitates better alignment as it rewards product growth, and introduces a greater level of reputational risk for methodologists. Carrot and Stick. On a more practical level, the MVI growth budget remains unspent, and LM rewards should be coming to an end, in our opinion, with a move to V3 next month. As such the timing seems right.
We acknowledge that the community methodologist setup shielded us from downside (more on this below), but hope that the community equally recognises our contributions to difficult convos/workstreams around funding council, fee negotiations, liquidity mining strategy, hiring and autonomy among others.
Next Steps
- Feedback on the ideas presented and make any changes (1 week)
- Reach consensus on rough structure and begin negotiation with BD team
- Create IIP with any stipulations from negotiation (mid Sept)
- Create handover plan for DFC to step down from FC and autonomy group
- Cease full time compensation and move to new model (target end of Sept)
Where does this leave the Community Methodologist Role?
We would hope that the role can continue in some form, perhaps answering the calls for some type of âIndex Accelerator/Incubatorâ where ideas from the community are de-risked by having the methodologist be paid a stipend in INDEX for a period of 3 to 6 months. This way the Coop is able to launch products from within the community, and methodologists are able to grow a brand and, hopefully, reach escape velocity without having to pay the bills from the streaming fee.
We see this being positive for the Coop as the most successful products are transitioned to a fee split model, with methodologists able to leverage their knowledge and reach within specific sectors. Tagging @Monportefeuille as someone who might be interested in this line of discussion.
. If I judge by the first feedback received via different channels about the 
explanations to help put more words around what it means: