Kicking off Season 1 of BAU on DAOs has been an absolute thrill! Few things are more satisfying than bringing in friends and experts from across the DAO space and exploring their personal journeys together.

So instead of letting all the morsels of wisdom wash away, I will be documenting my favorite pieces from each episode and sharing them with you here in this new series: Tokens of Wisdom.

James Young.

In our very first episode, I welcome James Young, Co-founder and CEO of Abridged, makers of Collab.Land. If that’s not enough, James is one of the original summoners of both Moloch DAO & MetaCartel from 2018 and 2019 respectively.

James is brilliant. On DAOs, he offers a holistic yet pragmatic viewpoint on how DAOs are different from traditional modes of human organization.

James shares a story from the early days of MetaCartel when immediately after the DAO was launched, members of the community met IRL to write the “Community First Manifesto” to memorialize the organization's mission, values, and objectives. 

James’s thesis is that DAOs should not start by focusing on solving the technical mechanics of how they organize, but first as James puts it,

“You should focus on the people that you are starting with, ideally you want to start it with people that you really trust.” James eloquently notes that “DAOs move at the speed of trust,” and that for a DAO to overcome its challenges, it needs a foundation of trust to fall back on in difficult times. 

Want to know more? Listen or share it with your friends: Episode 1 of BAU on DAOs w/ James Young!

Elco.

In episode two, I welcome Elco, Founder of TheDAOist and Creator of the DAO Canvas.

Elco offers listeners an array of perspectives and hot takes. While he doesn’t personally like to define DAOs, he offers a solid critique and exposes some of the nuances that will make you think twice before starting a DAO yourself.

In my favorite segment, Elco says “the key indicator of success in DAOs is people who disagree intensely in a way that leads to constructive results.” He goes on to say, “there is an intensity to the fray that sharpens perception, strategy, mindset, and points of view” that lead to progress in how the DAO coordinates itself. 

Want to know more? Listen here Episode 2 of BAU on DAOs w/ Elco!

Ann Willmott.

Episode three features powerhouse Ann Willmott, Founder of Rabbit Hole Network and contributor to Meta Gamma Delta and MolochDAO’s Really Boring Guild.

Ann is incredibly compassionate and it shows! She thoughtfully shares her story of transition into web3 from a career in media that will inspire those waiting to dive in.

In my conversation with Ann, the following moment stands out “One of the things I visualized was…I want to marry what I love and am passionate about with what I get paid to do.” DAOs may be that path that brings us a step closer to the world we want to create. It was for Ann!

Thank you to Ann for driving value to the wider web3 ecosystem through her advocacy and education around web3 technology. To learn more about Ann, see Episode 3 of BAU on DAOs w/ Ann Willmott!

Dekan Brown.

In episode four, I’m joined by Dekan Brown, Summoner of RaidGuild and DAOhaus.

Not to pick favorites, but Dekan is one of my web3 idols and we had a blast. He’s even keeled, insightful, and embodies the spirit of a unicorn - magical and iconic!

Dekan starts our time together strong by explaining the Moloch meme that took hold after the Moloch DAO white paper in 2019 and originates in Scott Alexander’s essay “Meditations on Moloch.”

Then Dekan and I get deep about the “God of Coordination Failure,” and how our lack of awareness continues to perpetuate age-old issues of climate catastrophe, war, famine, hunger, and other anthropogenic societal failures. 

Another highlight is Dekan’s dive into the “ragequit” meme -  its origin, what it is, and why it’s important. So much to learn from Dekan. You won’t want to miss it:  Episode 4 of BAU on DAOs w/ Dekan Brown!

Jordan Lesich. 

In episode five, we meet Jordan Lesich, developer and core contributor at DAOhaus.

Jord offers a hands-on primer to DAOs and chats about many of the tools available. He says that with clear purpose and direction, DAOs can leverage what’s already available and we get to hear more about what he’s putting together at DAOhaus with their SDK and component library. 

If you have a project that you want to turn into a DAO, DAOhaus might just be the place for you to go and build. You can find Jordan in the DAOhaus discord or on Twitter.

This episode was not recorded. 

Abbey Titcomb.

In episode six, we meet Abbey Titcomb, core contributor at Radicle.

Abbey contributes a ton to open source and shares her compelling experience building community in web3 and DAOs at Radicle.

My favorite takeaway is when we are talking about "Anti-Competition" and anti-competitive forces, and Abbey says "the point is that you have anti-competitive forces that are trying to consolidate you, extract from you, and capture you, and the way to remain resilient to that capture AKA ensuring your long term sustainability, is to increase competition, increase diversity, and support emergence, and open source is a perfect example of this. And that's the end goal, to ensure there is more innovation in the System. You have to ensure that you're not being captured by anti-competitive forces."

Abbey is a rockstar, listen back to Episode 6 of BAU on DAOs w/ Abbey Titcomb for the full scoop and be sure to make note of Abbey's book recommendations on building open source!

Thank you so much for reading and listening! If you enjoyed my learnings from guests, please like, retweet, and follow along with "Tokens of Wisdom" the official companion to Collab.Lands’ "BAU on DAOs.”