I would like to nominate myself for Council, with the primary goal of filling the Council scribe position.
I recognize I am not an obvious choice for council, however I am specifically seeking the role of Scribe to facilitate a positive communication plan and take on a sizable chunk of the administrative burden.
The believe strongly in the mission of Index and therefore feel a sense of pride to help shoulder the responsibility for its success. My driving motivation for involvement with Index Coop is built on the intersection of 2 foundational principles: That index investing is the superior way for the vast majority of people to build wealth, and the power of DAOs to harness the “collaborative power of ‘individuals as equals’.” -Joshua Forman
I want to do whatever I can to further those two principles in the world that web3 + crypto is unlocking.
Position statement on decentralization vs. centralization at the Index Coop
I believe we currently need some limited, delegated, centralization with clear remits and guard rails as we work toward product market fit and profitability; while never abandoning the core principles of decentralization. I want to always keep in mind a clear effort to move towards increasing decentralization.
I agree wholeheartedly with @edwardk that the near-term focus of that centralization should be focused on “strategic vision and aligning the priorities of the DAO as a whole”. I think we need a small group willing and able to simply say ‘No’ to very good ideas; so that we can focus effort and resources towards the 2-3 fantastic opportunities on our roadmap each season that will get us to explosive success.
I think almost everything outside of that remit should be delegated to a nest or small team of capable, competent individuals at the tactical level where work is being accomplished.
Position statement on ICC transparency
I believe that in the DAO landscape that we are trailblazing into, transparency is the currency of trust. As we delegate authority upwards to a central body, that body operates on the ongoing trust of the decentralized ownership and contributor communities. Transparency is the transactional currency of that trust. I believe ICC v1 spent a lot of that trust, making good decisions for the organization and great progress on hard topics, but in a way that seemed ‘like a black box’.
Current conflict of interest
I do not have any current conflicts of interest. Index is the only web3 protocol that I currently contribute to.
What I think Index Coop’s strategy should be
I think we should establish a 3 year vision, 18 month roadmap, and 1 year product-focused plan. Each season should have 2 or 3 clearly defined outcomes every nest is working towards. An example of this for Season 1 based on our recent shift to yield products could be: “In season 1 we will launch, market and sell only yield type products.”
What is their stance on resource allocation
I am in agreement with several others, that we must operate like a start-up in regards to resource allocation. We must have a product-market thesis, a roadmap for reaching profitability, and a planned burn rate that gets us to success in a timeframe within our current runway with defined reserves. We cannot burn funds towards a goal of profitability but continue to stretch our runway to keep a fixed timeline of cash on hand. That serves to continually squeeze the organization of valuable resources to run as fast as we can toward success now. However, I think our current prudence and shift across the DAO towards applying our resources in the most efficient way possible is critically necessary based on an ever growing group of contributors and spend without clearly defined outcomes impacting our roadmap.
What their stance is on delegation of decision making
I think the ICC should focus on overall strategic vision for the DAO as a whole, and facilitating alignment across the Nests such that everyone is working towards the same clearly defined goal every season. Additionally, I think the council should act as a clearing house to source the best practices across IC and be a bridge of communication and facilitator for DAO-wide impacting items, ie Owl levels, pay bands, DSM. To be clear, I think localized experts in the nests should be the ones creating solutions and the Council should help source those solutions that deserve proliferating across the DAO to make us faster, more efficient, and profitable as a decentralized org.
My goal as a Council member
I would like to help shoulder the responsibility of growing this amazing idea of a ‘decentralized, crypto Blackrock’ by focusing on lines of communication in and out of the Index Council. I am no stranger to leadership of large organizations as I have acted as the operations officer of the equivalent of a small/medium sized airline. However, we have amazing and capable leaders at IC who are already nominated and have vastly greater technical/financial expertise. I would like to bring a unique perspective as a financial ‘outsider’ to the council with a laser focus on strategic product alignment AND building positive DAO structures on the bedrock of communication and transparency as our default.
These are the items I believe a Scribe should provide the Index Community:
- Concise, written minutes from every ICC meeting, shared to the contributor community in a timely manner
- Documentation of agenda and decisions made
- Facilitate content that provides context surrounding decisions from the ICC perspective when needed
- Support majority/minority decision communication when needed
- Maintain and update ICC long-term focus roadmap
- Facilitate inbound communication from Nests, Pods, and individual contributors for ICC discussion/consideration
- Organize Leadership Forum slides and read-aheads when applicable
Simply stated, I am wildly excited for the opportunities that lay ahead of us and believe in our success with any combination of the other folks that have stepped up to lead. Thank you all for keeping the torch lit!