How Can DAOs Achieve Their Mission? Be A Platform.
You DAOn’t Say
What’s the best use case for a DAO? What will the best DAOs accomplish? Is there anything a DAO can’t do?
I don’t know. Nobody really knows, not yet at least.
What even is a DAO aka Decentralized Autonomous Organization?
Also unclear. Maybe somewhat Decentralized. Probably not very Autonomous. Often appears to be more Disorganization than Organization.
One way to think about it, in its simplest terms, is a community chat with a digital wallet.
What DAOs are actually DAOs?
Not as many as claim to be.
Questions > Answers
We still have more questions than answers, but the DAO picture is starting to take shape.
We’ve seen lots of definitions and categorizations of DAOs, such as this helpful post from BanklessDAO which includes this infographic:
That’s a lot of DAOs, and it’s a tiny fraction of the DAO universe.
DAOs are popping up everywhere!
Are they more likely to achieve their mission than the current organizational and legal structures? Probably, in some cases. Is it more fun to work for a DAO than have a normal job? Probably, in some cases.
One reason that both answers are relatively affirmative is that a DAO can empower and be a platform for its members in ways that few current organizations can.
LexDAO is a Platform
Let’s use LexDAO as an example.
LexDAO is an association of lawyers and legal engineers who are “building the next generation of contracts.”
The infographic above lists LexDAO as a Service DAO. You can understand why. It’s a DAO that sounds like it’s for lawyers, and lawyers often provide legal services. But LexDAO is not a Service DAO.
Raid Guild is a prototypical Service DAO. Raid Guild is a “design and dev agency of the Web3 ecosystem”. They provide a clear service.
LexDAO doesn’t provide legal services. One job LexDAO may do for you is help you find a lawyer. A member of LexDAO (but not LexDAO itself) may even be your lawyer. But those are one of many jobs LexDAO and its members can do for you. And those activities are small pieces of what will help LexDAO achieve its mission.
LexDAO isn’t working on one project, so it’s not a Project DAO.
LexDAO isn’t a Community DAO. LexDAO has a community, and we think that if we give smart, interesting, like-minded people a way to connect, then something good will happen. But our main purpose isn’t to build a community and isn’t to be social.
LexDAO produces content, but it’s definitely not a Media DAO.
LexDAO is part Project DAO, part Services DAO, part Community DAO, part Education DAO, part Social Impact DAO, part Media DAO, part Grants DAO, part none of those. Like many DAOs, we can fit in many categories.
The most accurate way to describe LexDAO is that it’s a Platform DAO that will implement its vision primarily by being a platform for its members.
In some sense, most DAOs fit that definition. Most DAOs are a platform for their members to stand on to achieve some kind of goal: earn money, meet people, feel connection, learn, participate in a project, and so on.
But some DAOs will primarily be a platform for their members because that’s the best way to achieve the DAO’s vision.
LexDAO envisions a world that “secures rules and promises with code rather than trust.”
We’ll achieve that vision by being a Platform.
What does that mean in practice?
We’ll achieve our vision by being lawyers for web3 projects. If you want to perform legal work or are looking for a lawyer, we can be your Platform.
We’ll achieve our vision by running a DAO based on a high-functioning, evolving Operating System. If you want to learn how a DAO runs, we can be your Platform.
We’ll achieve our vision by teaching ourselves how to write smart contracts. If you want to learn how to write smart contracts, we can be your Platform.
We’ll achieve our vision by teaching each other how to be better web3 lawyers. If you want to be a better web3 lawyer, we can be your Platform.
We’ll achieve our vision by building software to make the vision a reality. If you want to build software like that, we can be your Platform.
We’ll achieve our vision by working for it, advocating for it, building a community for it, researching for it, writing for it, teaching for it, learning for it, coding for it. If you want to do any of those things, we can be your Platform.
If you want your DAO to achieve its vision, consider how you can be a platform for your members.
And if you want to help LexDAO achieve our mission, come stand on us.