RFC-000-052: Project proposal to structure RENdao and SUBdao's

This is actually an interesting topic, but I think the premise of this discussion is all wrong. The DAO should not, and likely cannot, have a Marketing Manager or Bus Dev Manager. What you are describing is a company or organization, not a DAO. There is nothing “Decentralized” or “Autonomous” about weekly marketing meetings or sales calls.

Fortunately, you now have a Foundation which can do the work required to promote the wider ecosystem, drive traffic over your network, negotiate with 3rd parties, etc. The Foundation needs to hire people, market the protocol, etc., not the DAO. I once thought these functions could work through a DAO structure with sub-DAOs, etc., but now I’m fairly convinced it’s not going to happen. You can’t just recreate a company and pretend its a DAO. You get the worst of both words: complex and inefficient coordination combined with zero legal protections.

The DAO should be focused on autonomously managing the network. This is more a technical issue, how consensus and execution is built into the Ren 2.0 protocol. This by itself gives darknode operators tremendous power over what goes over the network. Ultimate control over the solution. Your Foundation should manage business activities.

But if your Foundation will be hiring and firing people, signing agreements, mapping out partner strategies, etc., how to ensure the Foundation is aligned with the DAO? That Foundation leaders don’t “go rogue.” There needs to be accountability. For example:

  • How do you become a Director?
  • How many Directors will form the Foundation, and how are they selected/removed?
  • Who controls the treasury, and what are the guidelines for its use? How are budgets approved?
  • What are the reporting requirements? Will the Foundation release monthly reports and answer questions on progress in a systematic way? Or will you go back to begging for info in Discord?

Accountability can come by having the DAO select directors for the Foundation, or at the very least remove directors. The DAO should not dictate work to be done, but it must be able to select who will do that work. Directors need to act based on a legal document or constitution, so work under a framework, a legal structure. They should be legally liable for their actions. To give one example, if a Director controls the treasury and in some way misallocates the treasury, he must be held legally liable for his actions.

For this challenging work and responsibility, Directors should be paid. It’s a difficult job requiring a lot of time and effort. Money should be controlled by the Foundation, but again, with strict limits and controls.

Currently you have this high level structure - Foundation plus DAO - but I don’t see any legal or organizational structure on how it’s all being managed. Trying to empower the DAO through organizational structure - hiring a Marketing Manager, for example - is not the way. You are simply recreating another business entity, not building a properly decentralized, autonomous organization…

If you believe there will be a Ren 2.0 at some point, if you believe you can solve the serious challenges of having almost no treasury and no clear rights to IP, no developers, no functioning website, limited access to your Twitter account, and a tarnished brand, then you should start to map out how you plan to manage all this in the future, asap. And that high level structure must ensure the DAO functions as a DAO, not as a de facto company. And the Foundation functions as a legal entity, with proper oversight.

If you think this is putting the cart before the horse, that the challenges and uncertainty are just too great now to map out your future org structure, then at the very least agree on how the Foundation will systematically update the community on progress. The Foundation should issue a monthly report, and also hold a monthly community call (soon after issuing the report) to answer questions. This should include specific goals, key deliverables and timing, how success is measured, financial overview, etc. The Foundation is a proper company, so it needs to act like one.

I would also suggest paying Directors for their work at the Foundation asap. You have almost no treasury, but I’ve suggested at least one way you can double your treasury short term. Use the money for what really matters, hiring Directors and building Ren 2.0.

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