This thread is to open discussion about general proposal organization and lifecycle. I believe that some additional structure around the proposal submission and grant distribution process will help to better organize the DAO’s activities.
Cohorts
One way to structure proposals would be similar to a sandbox with multiple seasons or cohorts throughout the year (quarterly?). Potential grantees apply to a specific cohort and selection is made from that current round of proposals. This would not necessarily prohibit a team/app/grantee from applying to multiple cohorts. This provides structure to the DAO along the lines of both proposal submissions (Get your proposals in now to be included in Cohort 3!) and grant funding (the DAO will have fixed dates when monies are distributed). (E.g. if aligned with quarters, we would have four cohorts within in a year with known submission deadlines and distribution dates). At the same time, we could choose to fund 4 projects in one cohort, 10 projects in another or only one. The structure exists but we don’t cap distribution should we receive an influx of great proposals during one cohort.
Categories
Another minor adjustment we could make that might help align projects and also help members to focus where they can provide the most value (are most interested) would be to introduce proposal categories. Examples could be: Games, Emerging Markets, DeFi, PoS, Governance, etc. This may be unnecessary at first (while we are still getting things up and running) but I think it will be increasingly important and beneficial as we expand.
Current process for reference AFAIK
Forum => Review/Discuss/Revise until Soft-Consensus => Submit Proposal => 1 week (Proposal Pass/Fail) => 1 week grace period until processing (fund distribution)
Managing this process without timed intervals will be hard. Adding a cohort structure as you suggest would seem to make this process far more manageable at scale, for both DAO and projects. Would provide well-defined cycles for DAO marketing/events/meetups. Would incentivize projects to hit our timelines and have well-defined expectations around when they request a grant and when they expect a pass/fail and funds distro.
Re: Categories, this would also seem to add significant benefits of DAO member engagement relative to their impact. Maybe something simple for now though, just like tags on project proposals so the individual DAO members can self-select based on their interest. I for example have most interest in applications that have a strong probability of direct real-world impact which would certainly bridge across many domains.
+1 to Cohort based funding, makes coordination easier. Able to then set DAO goals for
Funds in the DAO & memberships
Community development & deal flow
Internal DAO processes
etc.
… And timebox all of it. Take incremental steps forward. Divide and conquer it with DAO members, perhaps even then allow DAO members to earn their way in by helping the DAO achieve these goals.
I like the idea of scheduled funding periods but I actually do not think it will work at scale. The beauty of the Moloch contract is its simplicity but that is also its limitation. There is no contractual obligation to schedule funding periods (or subittting proposals) so that then becomes a social or cultural issue. I think the culture here is super important but in reality to keep the dao solvent we need new members or current members to add more tribute. So yeah, maybe a road map to help define processes at 20 members or 1000 members. Even if just something very loose to keep us on track.
Oh, and I really like the idea of a soft approval process to help inform the culture. Something outside of the basic weighted yes/no votes of the dao. Maybe another contract for all current member with a quadratic voting mechanic.