As recently discussed on the forum, Aragon needs to get better at funding small community experiments and app developers. It’s much more capital efficient than monolithic Flock proposals and can add lots of value to Aragon as a platform. This is easier said than done. Building prototypes is easy, but shipping production ready applications is not.
This proposal aims to improve the return on investment for the NestDAO. We also aim to improve the contributor experience for Aragon developers. This will help us fund better projects, support those project to help them ship a production ready product, and as a result drive more value to Aragon as a platform. First, we need to identify what “success” means in the context of the NestDAO, then we want to evaluate past projects to understand what’s working and what’s not, then we want to present suggestions for improvement.
- Step 1: Draft a project evaluation framework that correlates success metrics to ANT/Aragon value.
- Step 2: Evaluate past Nest grantee performance and consult with @LouisGrx to better understand what worked, what didn’t, and how we can improve.
- Step 3: Present strategies for the NestDAO to improve returns on investment.
This is not a final analysis by any means. It’s a step towards putting more data on the table for the NestDAO WG and the Aragon community. We plan to post preliminary results to the forum and/or #nest-wg chat for review. Then, after incorporating feedback, we will discuss results and next steps at the upcoming NestDAO WG meeting. From there the NestDAO can choose to iterate or move forward with some of the initiatives presented.
Sketch: NestDAO Analysis and Strategy
This is an outline of some initial ideas. These are mostly aggregated from various discussions on the forum in the last few weeks. As we proceed with the project we will validate, invalidate, or modify these points accordingly.
1. Success Metrics (WIP)
For projects that got funded
- Did they deliver what they set out to deliver? If not, why not?
- Was the product shipped to mainnet?
- What kind of traction did get the product get since Rinkeby deployment? - Mainnet deployment?
- Is the project still being maintained?
- How was the project’s communication with the community? Were they active in the Aragon forum?
- Did they seek help when they needed it? Did they collaborate well with synergistic projects?
- Was there a mismatch between the support promised to them from Aragon vs what they received? If so, what?
- What support functions would have been most valuable to them?
- Have they since applied for additional funding from Aragon? If not, why not?
- How could the Nest application experience have been improved for them?
For projects that didn’t get funded
- Did they end up getting funded by one of the Aragon competitors? Which one?
- Did they end up building the product anyway? (Without any funding)
- How could the Nest application experience have been improved for them?
2. Performance Evaluation and User Interviews (WIP)
Use success metrics to evaluate past Nest grants.
Consult with @LouisGrx to better understand the Nest program, how it’s been working, and how we might improve.
3. Suggestions For Improvement (WIP)
Note:
these are just some initial ideas
not all of these suggestions will be relevant for all projects so NestDAO members will need to adjust accordingly in their evaluations
Requirements for initial funding
- wishlist/RFPs
- require proposals to show how the project will increase ANT/Aragon value
- transparency reports and milestone based funding
Support to increase return on investment
- deployment guide/requirements (local, rinkeby, mainnet)
- community feedback / beta testing
- security audits
- legal council to provide defensible disclaimers
- comprehensive Aragon wide Bug Bounty program
- future fundraising guidance
Requirements for completion bonuses
- local deployment template, APM Rinkeby deployment, APM mainnet deployment
- technical documentation, user guides, installation guides
- timely delivery of production ready project
Request For Funding
We anticipate that this project will take 1-2 weeks of work by @burrrata and @joeycharlesworth. This will allow us to conduct initial research, present our findings to the community (forum and NestDAO WG), and draft next steps for the NestDAO based on community feedback. We feel that 4800 DAI is appropriate for this endeavor.
Funding will be split 50/50 and can be transferred to:
- @joeycharlesworth:
0x6b817156A65615F01949EaE47CC66f2a1f2F2e7D
- @burrrata:
0x75D7E95e3b78Fa3657368885f15F1950dcf77c8C