What Have You Done Lately? An Open Letter to Grow Juno SubDAO

Polkachu Team | 2023-01-20

Grow Juno SubDAO was established 2 months ago with the passing of Prop 49. Since then we have heard little about the progress. Now we have two community funding props (Prop 89 and Prop 93) up for vote. Some community members think that community funding proposals should be curated by Grow Juno SubDAO first before getting on-chain. We agree, with the condition that Grow Juno SubDAO is actually a functioning organization.

Our question to Grow Juno SubDAO is: What have you done lately?

Too often, we are attracted to the glamor of web3 decentralized decision-making but forget that a DAO first needs to be functional. Too often, the elected DAO members pursue the new shiny object of DAO with no intention of doing the hard work. And too often, we create a new web3 political elite class: they enjoy the same power as the web2 elite that they replace, but without the accountability that the old elite had to submit under the rigid corporate structure.

The DAO members need to put in real work and show the community what they are doing. Being part of Grow Juno DAO is more than having a weekly chitchat zoom call, basking in the power of controlling a large pool of community funds, and eventually having the "DAO Manager" position on resume when we inevitably apply for a McDonald's job in the next crypto cycle.

In our view, the "real work" has at least 4 components: process, transparency, accountability, and self-reflection.

1. Process: What is the funding decision process? For this, the DAO can study how various VC firm making funding decisions and articulate a process to the community.
2. Transparency: How many funding proposals the DAO have seen so far and how many are we funding? We should publish transparency reports to articulate the reason why we fund certain proposals and reject others.
3. Accountability: How good are the previous funding decisions and what do we learn? This is actually the hardest part for a DAO, as DAO easily evolves into an anonymous and faceless organization without any accountability. For example, many community members have questions about the Loop funding decision. Was it a good decision? What have we learned? How does it adjust our decision process in the future?
4. Self-Reflection: Does the DAO have the right people for the job? As harsh as it sounds, many initial DAO members might not be suitable for the work as the nature of the job reveals itself over time. Can the DAO self-reflect itself and evolve to have a good member-job fit?

We all want Juno to succeed with decentralized decision-making, but this success only comes with hard work. We really want to let Grow Juno SubDAO to curate the community funding proposals, because we believe that un-curated proposals will quickly devolve into popularity contest and waste everyone's time. That said, Grow Juno SubDAO needs to earn it. It needs to ask itself, "What have I done lately?"