Ciao, I’m off to join a DAO
A beginner’s guide to joining a DAO
The first time I heard someone use the term ‘DAO,’ I thought they made a verbal typo. I was still a newbie in the Web3 world at the time, but I should have known better. After all, I was already using terms like DeFi, DEX, HODL, and WAGMI. DAO fit right in.
Yet, for some reason, amongst all of the other odd words and degen slang I came across early in my Web3 journey, ‘DAO’ stood out to me not only because of how strange the word sounded but also because ‘Decentralized Autonomous Organization’ didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
So, I decided to join a DAO and see for myself what it was all about and share the experience with you!
This is what my journey was like when I said ciao to my comfort zone and went off to join a DAO.
THE FUNDAOMENTALS:
Before we jump in, let’s start with the basics.
What is a DAO?
“A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is an internet community that jointly controls a cryptocurrency wallet to pursue common goals — such as running a business or charity — without having to ask anyone for permission.”
Source: A DAO Defined: A Bigger Picture
“… it represents a new model for the way companies are organised and operate. DAOs give their members more control over the company’s direction as well as a fair opportunity to gain ownership…they are open, fully global, transparent organisations with a loose grassroots approach to structuring themselves.”
Source: DAO 101
To break it down more simply, DAOs provide a new framework for organizing an online community with a shared mission and financial account. When I began to think of it like that, I saw DAOs as an evolution of the LLCs we know and are accustomed to today. That really helps to bring things back down to earth a bit.
What you need to get your DAO journey started
While I was a total newb to DAOs when I got my journey started, I was not a total newb to crypto. I came into my DAO journey with some of the essential tools needed to get started.
If you’re just getting your journey started in both crypto and DAOs, the first thing you’ll want to do is get set up with you’ll need:
- A wallet. MetaMask is the most popular option.
- Crypto, ideally ETH. You can get some by purchasing on a centralized exchange like Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken, a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange like Local Cryptos, or you can get someone to send some to you.
- Discord and Telegram
- A Twitter account is a huge plus, but not a necessity
Once you have these set up, it’s time to officially start your DAO journey.
PART 1: THE DAO DEEP DIVE
Contrary to popular belief, the process of joining a DAO is relatively straightforward. Theoretically speaking, all you have to do to join a DAO is select one you think looks interesting, buy the DAO’s token, and gain access — boom, you’re part of a DAO!
It can be tempting to take this route because of how quick and easy it is to get started, but practically speaking, if you decide to go down this route as a beginner, you’ll be fumbling around in the dark. Your decision on which DAO you join will be based on a vague one-line mission statement and a logo, and you’ll likely end up feeling lost and confused (plus, you’ll be out of some of your ETH!).
When I decided I wanted to join a DAO, I knew I wanted to do a deep dive first so I could be better equipped to assess and choose which DAO or DAOs I wanted to be a part of. Taking the time to learn about the bigger picture felt synonymous to how important it was to understand the technology behind crypto when I first got started. Without that background, I would have lacked important context that helped me make smarter financial investments. Similarly, without having insight into the bigger picture and the evolution that DAOs are driving, you lack insight into how to best invest your time and energy to positively contribute to this movement and find a DAO that accurately suits your beliefs, interests, and needs.
PART 2: CHOOSE WHAT YOU’RE DAOn FOR
One of the reasons that finding and joining a DAO can feel overwhelming is due to the sheer number of DAOs that exist. What you’ll find when you’re looking for a DAO is that there are multiple categories of DAOs and then a number of them that fall within each category.
What I found to be a really helpful approach was to start by reading about each DAO category and choosing the ones that stood out to me the most.
Some of the the top categories of DAOs you’ll come across include, but are not limited to:
- Investment
- Service
- Media
- Social
- NFTs
- Gaming
- Grants
- Protocol
Logos, Daolicious, and Odyssey do a good job of breaking down what each of these categories are as well as introducing you to a few more.
I’m going to focus on the 3 categories that stood to me the most and where I decided to focus my search: Investment, Service, and Media.
Investment: An investment DAO pools together capital from its community members who then vote on protocols or other assets they want to invest in.
Service: Service DAOs are like a consultancy. Individuals with specialized skills (lawyers, marketers, designers) come together and offer their services.
Media: Community members of media DAOs collaborate to research, analyze, and publish content.
As a marketer and crypto-enthusiast who was once pursuing a career in journalism, you can probably understand why these three stood out to me.
Now that I had the categories of DAOs that I was interested in learning more about, it was time to explore which DAOs existed within each of them.
PART 3: DO YOUR OWN DAO SEARCH
At this point in your journey, you’ll want to use a DAO directory. The ones I found to be the most useful were Daolicious and Logos. You can also use DAOList and DeepDAO.
I started my search on these directories by looking at DAOs within the categories I was interested in. You’ll find that all you have to go off in this initial stage of your search is the one-line mission statement or description that is provided about the DAO and its logo. If you’re anything like me, you’ll end up with a bunch of tabs open on your browser because you want to learn more about each one that even remotely piques your interest.
Once you do this initial filtering, it’s time to weed out the DAOs you don’t feel a connection to. This can become very time-consuming especially when you realize that many of the websites are quite unclear in the information they provide about the DAO so you have to do some digging.
Here are a few key insights and tips that I picked up on to make your experience easier:
- Look for the Community section: You’ll notice that many of the links will direct you to a protocol’s website and not directly to the website or portion of the website for the DAO. This really confused me at first. If you end up in this situation, look for the ‘Community’ section of the website and that will usually direct you to the DAO.
- Expect to be confused: Many of the websites you’ll go to will not provide you with a simple and straightforward explanation of what the DAO actually does. The websites and descriptions are typically quite vague, likely because there are so many different things that you can do within a DAO that they wouldn’t want to be overly detailed. That’s my assumption, anyway.
- Use your best judgment: This is your opportunity to judge and nit pick. While you may not have a full understanding of the DAO, do you have the gist of it? Do you vibe with the mission statement? Is it in line with what you’re interested in and want to be working on? Does the branding catch your attention and excite you? Is the messaging and tone of voice relatable? These are the kinds of questions you’re going to want to ask yourself at this point of your decision process. If it doesn’t meet the vibe check, weed it out.
When I initially started this process, my browser was jam-packed with open tabs. By the end, I had a list of 11 DAOs that I felt really excited about and was willing to learn more about:
PART 4: GET THE LOWDAOn
Once I narrowed down the list to the DAOs I was interested in, I did a deep dive into each one of them to get insight into the background, activities, and culture within the DAO.
This is a hugely important part of your journey not only because you want to ensure that the DAO lives up to your expectations, but also because the DAO you join and contribute to will become a part of your Web3 identity. You want to take your time to research and observe so you can make the best decision.
It’s also important to note that in addition to analyzing the mission, culture, and vibe, you’ll need to pay attention to the requirements needed to join each of the DAOs — namely, what is the financial investment?
I found that out of the 11 DAOs that interested me, I was priced out or ineligible for 5 of them.
Here were some of the additional steps I took to further analyze the remaining 6 DAOs I was interested in:
Join the DAO’s Discord or Telegram
Most if not all DAOs will either have a Discord or Telegram community. While some DAOs won’t give access to these communities until you join the DAO, others have open channels that you can join and get a sense of what the vibe is. If you’re able to join, poke around the open channels, introduce yourself, and reach out to someone in the community. Some DAOs will have community calls that you can join where you can interact and hear about some of the things they’re working on.
I joined a community call that MetaGammaDelta hosted and I was able to introduce myself and hear from others, which was really helpful in getting a feel for it.
Check out their Twitter
Similar to what we spoke about in the search section, looking at the DAO’s Twitter account can help get you a sense of their branding and messaging, how they interact with the community, and what kind of content they create. It provides an additional touch point to connect with the DAO.
Research the background of the DAO
This is important. Try to do as much research as you can about the backstory and the founders of the DAO you’re interested in joining. I googled “[insert name of DAO] review” and read through Medium posts and Reddit threads where they were available and searched the names of founders to see what I could find. This may seem like a lot, but it played into the decision to not pursue joining one of the DAOs I was initially interested in.
Once I went through this process, I was left with 3 DAOs:
- Jump
- Protein
- MetaGammaDelta
PART 5: THE TAKE DAO
If you’ve made it this far in your DAO journey, congratulations! You’ve reached the easy part. Now it’s time to join a DAO.
What I learned going through this stage of the process is that there is no standard way to join a DAO. The application process you go through will be unique to the DAO you’re trying to join.
The most popular ways to join include:
- Buying the DAO’s tokens
- Earning the DAO’s tokens
- Commiting a certain amount of ETH/another currency
You’ll also find that many DAOs have an application process that you have to fill out in addition to obtaining tokens or committing crypto.
The 3 DAOs that I was interested in had different processes:
- Both Jump and Protein had an application form to fill out. Once your application is reviewed and accepted, you’re able to move forward in their application process and obtain tokens.
- MetaGammaDelta directs you to join their Discord where they lay out instructions in a public channel of how to apply: you have to fill out an application form, commit a certain amount of DAI, and submit a proposal on DAOhaus.
Once you’ve submitted your application, you just have to hold tight for it to be reviewed and you’ll be contacted about your status in joining the DAO… and voila, that’s it! You’ve joined a DAO.
While certain parts of the process of joining a DAO can be confusing and time-consuming, the process was nowhere as complicated as I thought it would be. It really took going through it to realize that and I think you’ll notice this as well as you go through it yourself.
I hope my experience has helped clear up some of the “deer in the headlights” feelings you may have and has also encouraged you to follow these steps to find and join a DAO that interests you.
Now ciao, I’m off to contribute to a DAO!
