Academy Sub-DAO - 2024 Q1
Authors: @wolovim, @piablo, @markkos89.eth, @uma
Summary
This proposal extends Academy as a sub-DAO of Developer DAO, based on the current DAO Governance Structure, and is roughly the same as the 2023 Q3/Q4 budget, with small contextual updates.
Academy is an educational platform for builders, seeking to onboard DAO members and the wider public into both the DAO and the broader web3 industry by providing quality content, support, and a great user experience. An MVP is available and being iterated on today, while a redesign (āv2ā) is also in development.
Motivation
The Academy team works to fulfill the main mission of Developer DAO: to educate and onboard web3 contributors. What started as a study group grew into a full effort to build a free and high-quality platform to empower builders to make an impact in this industry. The intention is to provide project-based learning tracks that lift developers out of ātutorial hellā and into mid-level skills and beyond. Additionally, thereās an opportunity to plug learners into other opportunities within the DAO at appropriate points along their journey (e.g., hackathons, mentorship, jobs). Academy is fully aligned with D_Dās mission to āAccelerate the education and impact of a new wave of web3 builders.ā
Scope of Work
Domain of Operations
The Academy team is building a free-to-learn education platform. Prior to this budget, an MVP has been designed, developed, and deployed. Since the MVP, new team members have joined and continue to work towards the next iteration of the platform.
Team
Academy operates as a sub-DAO of Developer DAO, and as such, operates with a flexible and autonomous structure that allows for experimentation and iteration.
Structure
As a team, we task ourselves with delivering and maintaining a robust and meaningful web3 education platform. Together, we have combined decades of professional experience across web development, education & pedagogy, technical writing, product development, and design. Stewards in those core areas:
Product & Design: uma
Development: markkos89
Pedagogy & Content: piablo
PM/Sub-DAO Coordinator: wolovim
The specifics of how each domain performs its functions are being documented along the way as best practices are discovered. Further, there has been and likely will continue to be significant domain crossover between individuals in these roles.
These Stewards, plus two other long-time contributors, Peter and Okhai, form a Core Team and are signers on the Academy treasury multisig. The sub-DAO operates within The Developer DAO Foundation, abiding by relevant requirements.
The Sub-DAO Coordinator role is defined in the D_D Labs team budget and is responsible for ensuring rewards are processed and the sub-DAO is represented and accountable at appropriate Developer DAO internal and external events. Additional rewards for this role have been voluntarily been put on hold until further notice.
Stewards
The Academy Steward role conveys accountability, not total authority. When a decision in a particular domain needs to be made, it is the responsibility of the Steward to make sure that happens by gathering input, facilitating conversations, and gaining consent from affected parties to move forward with a solution that is āsafe enough to try.ā New this quarter is the introduction of Coordinape to open up clearer contributor pathways. Stewards are tasked with administering the Coordinape rounds.
Contributors
Any member of Developer DAO can join weekly meetings or engage in the Academy Discord channels to learn about opportunities to contribute. The Academy documentation is to be kept up to date with more specific and timely context.
OKRs Q1
| LEARN | ||
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Provide learners with high-quality learning opportunities | Owner (Steward) |
| KR | Fine-tune v2 MVP of the learner UX | Product/Design |
| KR | Implement and deploy v2 MVP of the learner UX | Development |
| KR | Research and sketch ways to highlight other content produced in the DAO (e.g., workshops, blog posts, devntells) | Product/Design |
| KR | Publish three beta partner lessons | Pedagogy/Content |
| KR | Publish one homegrown lesson | Pedagogy/Content |
| KR | Fine-tune and document content authoring process | PM |
| KR | Administer project rewards on a monthly basis | PM |
Budget Request (Including value returned to the DAO)
Stewards: 800 CODE/mo * 3 months * 4 Stewards = 9,600 total per quarter
Reward Pool for Contributors: Monthly: 3,200 / Quarterly: 9,600
Total request of CODE per quarter: 19,200
Total USDC per quarter: $0 + any applicable Preferred Partner revenue split
Stewards are entrusted to figure out how best to leverage the Reward Pool to advance the mission of Academy. That process will continue to be documented as best practices as identified, but the thought process behind the number is to enable up to four additional Core Team members, rewarded in amounts equal to the Stewards. Any D_D member, including Stewards, are eligible for reward pool rewards.
We commit to transparency of allocations and will maintain those in a publicly accessible location. Further, any reward pool CODE not used will be returned to the DAO Treasury at the conclusion of the quarter or incorporated into the next budget request. Note: the 2023 reward pool hasnāt been assigned and distributed by stewards yet, so weāll reconcile this within the Q2 budget.
Business Model
To start, Academy is based on a simple content sponsorship model. Content is prioritized for the platform in two ways:
- Internally-driven: the team assesses what it believes to be a well-rounded and high quality user experience, then creates tasks to achieve that end.
- Sponsor-driven: the team assesses opportunities to add partner content to the platform for a one-time and/or ongoing fee, then creates tasks to achieve that end. Developer DAO āPreferred Partnersā initiatives also fall within this bucket.
The process for selecting and delivering each is another iterative process being documented as we learn over time. The team is committed to finding a healthy balance between homegrown and sponsored content, acknowledging that revenue is required to be sustainable, but that over-prioritizing sponsored content may result in a lopsided product.
The Academy team recognizes that Developer DAO will be a primary source of contributors and learners, while leveraging its brand and reach. Seeking to be robustly regenerative, Developer DAO will retain 19%* of revenue generated by Academy. The remainder will be used to pay expenses, reinvest in the platform, and reward contributors. Contributor rewards beyond CODE are to be determined in the same manner as the Reward Pool.
*19 is a āhappy primeā number, with nearby options if we want to adjust up or down in the future, e.g., 13, 23.
Value Proposition
- The team will continue to build an education platform, helping Developer DAO to fulfill one of its core missions: providing free education to web3 builders. Academy is an open source public good, available to learners within and beyond the walls of D_D.
- As Academy grows, the platform can plug into other areas of the DAO. When users finish a learning objective, they may be encouraged to join a D_D hackathon, become a mentor, write for the blog, apply for a D_D job, and so on. This may be a primary differentiator as a learning platform.
- Academy can tastefully promote D_Dās preferred partners (e.g., a preferred wallet or data provider) where it makes sense within the content.
- Finally, Academy will allocate 19% of revenue back to the Developer DAO treasury, recognizing the importance of the DAO as the primary source of contributors and learners, and as a message amplifier via the power of its brand and following.
Drawbacks
The Academy team would receive 19,200 CODE tokens and any relevant share of Preferred Partner revenue over the course of the quarter.
General feeling itās time to get academy V2 shipped to the benefit of the world/members, some points I like to see discussed and addressed to support this: