How to implement experimentation strategies for DAO growth: case study

Epic Web3 Weekly Newsletter

Hey, Web3 building frens 👋

This is the Epic Web3 Newsletter — a weekly dose of best practices & insights from the top industry experts to help you dive into Web3 and boost Web3 products.

In this week’s deep-dive, we’re gonna to: 

• Learn how to build effective experimentation strategies for DAO growth;

• Explore how to address privacy concerns in Web3;

• Share the juiciest deals and news from the Web3 world.

👀 How to run experiments for DAO growth without breaking things?

Let’s face it: DAOs often try to iterate a new governance model on top of the product or service they’re shipping. 

In many cases that causes organization turnover and churn of contributors.

So how to build governance without breaking things? 

We’ve asked Samantha Marin who got her start in Web3 in the Writers Guild at BanklessDAO and now is on the Communications team at Aragon. She shared two methods to experiment:

1️⃣ Top-down (DAO strategist pitches their experimentation idea):

— Think about a DAO-level decision-making structure you might want to try.

— Pitch it to small teams to see if it’s safe-to-try in small environments.

2️⃣ Bottom-up (teams experiment on their own):

— Give teams the autonomy to set their own governance and decision-making plans.

— Document the results so other guilds within a DAO could read them.

— Amplify the results to the greater ecosystem.

This is a chart on how DAOs iterate on an idea in the bottom-up model:

Personally Samantha supports the second method and finds small-group governance testing a better option. She says that once the DAO approves the idea, the advantages will not keep you waiting:

• The governance experiment was already tested and proven many times, so they can lean on those examples to better design their implementation.
  

• There are trusted members of the community who have the knowledge of doing the thing for real and can help other members through the process.
  

• The DAO will have groups still using the governance model on a smaller scale and pushing the boundaries of what the governance design can do, thus testing new ground.

With many small groups experimenting with new methods of governing, the ecosystem will improve every single day.

These are some of the highlights Samantha put together during the Web3 Growth Summit. For even more useful insights, watch the full presentation with the Epic Web3 subscription.

---

🧑‍💻 Privacy and decentralization are a bit of a dichotomy in Web3. Community Insights on how to address privacy concerns in the space.

Credits: Krishna’s Newsletter

In Web3, data on the chain is open, transparent, and traceable. It seems we’ve discovered the wonderland, however, maintaining privacy in a decentralized space still remains a difficult task.

How to solve the problem of this dichotomy? Krishna Nandakumar, Web3 enthusiast & the author of Krishna’s Newsletter, introduces two exciting developments in Web3: zero-knowledge proofs and Soulbound tokens.

1️⃣ Zero-knowledge (zKProof) proofs

They allow users to prove the accuracy of a piece of information without actually disclosing what it is. In the context of blockchains, their utility has become extremely important.

ZkProofs solve two problems. First, they assist you in sending information privately. Second, they improve scalability by storing less info on a blockchain.

2️⃣ Soulbound tokens (SBTs)

They are NFTs that can't be transferred once received — you’d hold it in a so-called Soul wallet forever. Unlike traditional NFTs, SBTs are non-transferable and cannot be acquired via trade.

P.S. Read more about SBTs in our Telegram channel.

So how can the two solutions address privacy concerns?

Transaction history

With zkProofs, you can build private blockchains. Transaction history and the balance in a wallet are private. They are encrypted and only the owner of the wallet can access the data.

This is because zkProofs enable a wallet to prove something (that they sent X amount or received Y amount) without actually disclosing what that amount was.

Personally identifiable information

According to Krishna, if you combine Soulbound tokens and zkProofs, you can do really interesting things with blockchains. He illustrates it with the following example: Alice wants to order a beer at a bar and needs to prove that she is at least 18 years old.

1. Alice uses her drivers license, which is a Soulbound NFT issued by the motor vehicle authority in her country.

2. This Soulbound NFT is represented as a QR code on Alice’s phone.

3. When the bar scans the QR code, the bar’s application is asking if Alice is at least 18 years old.

4. ZkProofs help establish that Alice is 18 y/o. However, Alice’s birthdate is not shared with the bar.

Now we have technology that allows users to remain in complete control of their data and prove ownership without an intermediary.

Got curious about the concept of privacy in Web3? Read the full article written by Krishna.

---

Web3 is a fast-changing industry, that’s why we can’t leave you without up-to-date news. Here are the juiciest ones to share this week:

1/ MoonDAO sent a blogger into outer space. The lucky winner was Koby Cotton, a member of the well-known YouTube team Dude Perfect with 58M subscribers.

2/ Polygon announces a partnership with gaming publisher Neowiz to launch a new Web3 gaming platform called Intella X.

3/ Pinata raises a total of $21.5M in funding. The NFT-focused media distribution platform will use the capital to grow the team and improve its infrastructure so it is faster, more stable and able to “power the next generation of NFTs.”

---

That’s it for today! Hope you found this week’s dose insightful 👋

If you want to get valuable insights daily,  subscribe to our Telegram channel:

Cheers,

The Epic Web3 Team