I am the Head DAO Architect at Alliance DAO. Alliance DAO is a community of builders that is focused on supporting Web3 founders individually and collectively succeed. Alliance believes that Optimism is building a foundation for Web3 projects that need the functionality of EVM without the gas intensity. Among many reasons for wanting to participate in Optimism’s governance, three reasons motivate me to apply: (1) Optimism is building core infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem; (2) Optimism will be increasingly important for Alliance founders; and (3) Optimism will play an important role in helping DAOs govern increasingly large pools of capital. I believe that by directing capital to support public goods in the Optimism and Ethereum communities will generate significant value to these three causes.

We believe Optimism will provide long-term value to the Ethereum ecosystem. Optimism’s focus on EVM equivalence and minimalism enable projects to access the core functions of Ethereum with high fidelity and low friction while reducing the gas intensity of operating directly on mainnet. The coming release of Bedrock represents the culmination of years of experience and trial-and-error that we believe will give developers even greater confidence to build on Optimism. Secure, battle-tested L2s are a gateway through which Web3 innovations will thrive.

Optimism is a scaling solution for a number of projects that have graduated from our accelerator, including Synthetix and Perpetual Protocol. We believe Optimism will be an L2 of choice for many future cohort participants, given the demand for EVM equivalence and the ease of integration via Optimism. I aim to represent the views of our founders and cohort companies who have a vested interest in Optimism’s reliability and improvement.

I believe we are approaching a point where L2 solutions will be critical to DAO function, specifically. As we see more experimentation with governance, we need an EVM equivalent L2 that reduces the transaction cost of governance. Delegated hierarchies, subdaos, and pods present exciting opportunities to augment governance systems, but the pace and quality of experimentation will be suboptimal unless DAOs build governance on L2, thereby minimizing gas costs. Optimism is a prime candidate for enabling better governance for DAOs.

By participating in the governance of the Optimism Collective, I aim to be a steward of the mission to direct funding to public goods that benefit builders in the Ethereum and Optimism communities in furtherance of the three purposes I listed.

My view on the Optimistic Vision : We believe that incentives drive outcomes. Web3 projects have created more tangible incentives for actions and relationships that were previously difficult to quantify. Optimism’s view that impact=profit is an extension of our view that well-engineered, traceable incentives create optimal value for collective activities.

Ownership and rewards are the most reliable way to attract talented builders to address problems that affect the collective. While there are noble examples of altruists who create public goods, altruism is not reliably abundant, and it is most often an individual trait rather than a trait of teams. Web3 building requires focused teams, and ownership and rewards offer predictable incentives that can guide teams to increase the common good.

Optimism’s vision touches on a matter of necessity. Web3 needs communities that strive to create incentives to build public goods. There are many Web3 participants who seek to extract rents and game systems for profit to the detriment of the community. Optimism’s vision is a rallying point for capable builders to push against short-termism, thereby ensuring that over the long run, value will compound for the entire community.

My view on the first three articles of the Working Constitution:

Article 1: At Alliance, we emphasize that the greatest systems start simple. To create a rigid model of governance without the benefit of incremental feedback on specific governing rules is to govern in a vacuum. In my constant review of DAO governance systems, I see that the most successful communities adopt minimal procedural principles and adopt specific rules as specific needs arise.

I often speak with Alliance cohort companies of the importance of experimentation in improving governance throughout Web3. The results of the experiments need to be intelligible in order to provide appropriate feedback. If the results of governance experiments are documented and made broadly available, the record of the experiments are, themselves, public goods. Optimism and other DAOs can study each others’ governance trials to consider how prospective rules could affect their own communities.

As we learn more about how rules function with specific communities, we need to permit those communities to adapt to their reality and adopt the rules that best suit them. For that reason, it is important that the Constitution is focused on flexibility. We should only adopt enough order to initiate a worthwhile experiment, while limiting the potential downsides of path dependence.

By virtue of the commitment to experimentation, it follows that the Constitution should be transitory at inception. We may discover sound methods of governing that are unimaginable to us at the moment, which would make dogmatic reference to the original document unproductive. An example of governance innovations that had no application in the recent past is Optimism’s adoption of soulbound tokens for the Citizens House. We may discover incredible utility from using soulbound tokens that, had a governing document conflicted with the adoption of those tokens, would have stunted the development of the governance system.

The goal of creating a Bedrock Constitution is helpful: at some point governance history may require documentation of foundational rules. The Bedrock Constitution should incorporate the principle of flexibility and the capacity for amendment in order to sustain the spirit of innovation.

Article 2 : Basic token-weighted governance has not proven to work for collectives. I have studied DAOs that are purportedly flat in structure and repeatedly these DAOs show gulf in participation between a small number of repeat-participants and the mass of inactive participants. Without balance of power, a few actors grab power, which alienates most would-be contributors.

Optimism’s bicameral structure is a compelling way to balance short term needs with long term, stable decision making. Variants of the bicameral model worked for Rome (Senate / Tribunes), Sparta (ephors / gerousia) and for many constitutional structures in modern government.

It is too early to assess whether the specific reserved powers for the Citizens’ House and Token House will provide sufficient controls. Experimentation will provide feedback that will help inform which powers should be reserved to which house.

Article 3: I am very familiar with Cayman Foundation Companies, as I have researched the option for Alliance DAO and for other DAOs. I believe that structures like the Cayman Foundation, which permit significant flexibility in organizational design, are a stepping stone, but not an end state, in building successful DAOs.

If the Optimism Foundation faithfully administers the vision of progressive decentralization, it will have fulfilled a critical function for the Optimism ecosystem. As drafted (presumably in the Memorandum of Association), the Board’s powers present an additional dimension of separation of powers. The Foundation can have a stabilizing effect if the initial allocation of powers between the Citizens’ House and Token House is not perfectly balanced. Over time, it should be made clear what powers the Citizens’ House and Token House have relative to the Foundation and whether the Foundation will have the ultimate goal of sharing the power to amend the Constitution or ceding the power altogether.

My skills and areas of expertise: I was trained as a corporate governance attorney. I left the practice of law to become an investment banker, then an investor, on my way to becoming an entrepreneur. Through my path, I gained a wide variety of organizational experience. Now, I focus my time both on DAO design and helping Web3 founders think through complex issues in tackling their product roadmaps at Alliance. I speak to founders of DAOs, protocols, and Web3 tools on a daily basis about the problems they face and I act as a thought partner to work with them to find long term solutions.

I have been an active participant in public policy and governance policy discussions. I testified to the Wyoming state legislature regarding amendments to their DAO LLC statute; I participate in DeFi Education Fund projects; I am part of the World Economic Forum DAO Working Group; and I participate regularly in conference panels on DAOs. I have a passion for governance design and am fortunate to have made it my daily work.

My favorite Web3 projects: Alliance DAO cohort companies and several others.