I will be throwing my hat in the ring as well.
On Index V1
I’m proud of what the first council achieved in its three months. The organization was not in the strongest position in Q4. Index Coop lacked direction, financial prudence, a sense of urgency, and checks & balances. The net result was an increasingly bloated, uncoordinated organization burning through limited financial resources while failing to ship products. In addition, our relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., Set, Scalara) were strained.
Index Council I moved to turn the situation around. The Council set in place a vision and a high-level strategy, stood up Nests across the organization to foster coordination, onboarded a lean team of core contributors to more market-based compensation, worked with the Nests to sharpen their Season 1 proposals, and improved channels of communication with third parties, most notably with Set. On a monthly basis, budgeted Season 1 spending is now over 30% lower relative to Q4 budgets, helping to put the Coop on a more financially sustainable path.
An organizational turnaround is underway, we’re increasingly rowing in the same direction, but the work is not over. I would like to serve on Index Council II through the end of May to help continue the forward progress.
On Centralization vs. Decentralization
Neither. I reject the extremes and prefer a balanced approach in which the contributors working on this project every day choose/entrust high-context individuals to - temporarily - represent the group and make cross-functional decisions so that the organization can be more nimble than a maximally decentralized organization but also less dictatorial/capricious than a CEO-led organization.
On Transparency
The Council should communicate when a decision is made, the rationale for the decision, and, if applicable, the rationale behind dissenting votes.
On Conflicts of Interest
I don’t have any conflicts of interest.
On Resource Allocation
I have been a startup CFO multiple times in my career, including for my own startup. Financial sustainability is an indelible part of my thinking. What matters for an early-stage organization like Index Cooperative is to be lean and experimental to conserve cash while taking measured bets to validate a sustainable business model.
That doesn’t mean we have to hold ourselves to a strict timeline for becoming cash-flow positive. Rather, we need to manage our cash so that we have enough runway to execute our plan. If enough of our bets pay off and we subsequently gain traction and TVL, we should expect a higher token price and increased investor interest, both of which would tee up a Treasury diversification in 2023 at more favorable terms than today.
On Delegation of Decision Making
The guiding principle for the first iteration of Index Council was for the group to weigh in on cross-functional issues (e.g., overall vision/strategy, organizational structure, hiring process, third party relationships) but to delegate where a Nest or specific contributors had expertise (e.g, Nest- and pod-level strategy, tokenomics, liquidity, tech stack considerations). The Council should continue to operate by the same guiding principle.
On why I would make a good council member (IMO)
- I am a fully committed, core contributor at the Coop. I have a high degree of context across the organization and am well-versed in the business.
- My bent is simplicity and structure. If the problem is well-defined and prioritized, we’re halfway to solving it. We need to stay focused on the highest priority topics and park new ideas so we are not perpetually sidetracked.
- I have highly relevant expertise in asset management and early-stage startups. I was a vice president at J.P. Morgan Asset Management for six years and then spent a decade in startups, most notably as a founder of a fintech platform.
- I am both strategic- and execution-minded. We are an early-stage startup, and we need leadership that can not only devise a strategy but also deliver. During Index Council I, Institutional Business continued making progress without skipping a beat.
Thank you for your consideration and happy to answer any questions. Note: if I’m elected, Minotaur Ventures LLC would formally fill the seat.