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  • Incubator Report & Incubator v2 request for comment

Having spoken to a lot of folks on this list personally, can agree that the partner program is vital to Olympus growth.

Also really like the section on learning and the look ahead especially around changing from never selling to responsible selling.

Some observations and suggestions below. These are my opinions and I say them in the most constructive & positive way possible. Please dont take them as criticisms.

  1. With every project, we should try and also score them on how they further the Olympus core goal of being a reserve defi currency. e.g. APY on a pool is not utility, its zero sum in the long run. Using the currency as a base pair is core utility, using it for lending, gambling, shopping, gaming, nfts or just as a reserve are all utilities. This is a core key metric and removes bias in decisions. This metric and a scorecard should be included in proposals. This is also the #1 question asked by the community.

  2. Publish, and hold partners accountable to using OHM as a base pair & part of their treasuries. I see this is already in the plan so good job on this.

  3. Add more crypto natives to the team. The list looks under represented in terms of crypto native "builders". Not all partnerships will bear results in terms of money or revenue which is what a traditional VC would look at. There will be some that help with our core goal.

  4. Add disclosure requirements for the partnership team when a new project is put up for proposal. If need be, increase base salary / funding for partnership team since they may miss out on any project launches due to disclosures.

  5. Cross marketing with Olympus can be improved. Looks like some of the projects launch and are still actively working with Olympus, but their marketing has pivoted away once the launch goes live. I would love to see previous partners do an ama with the team and explain to us how they helped OHM become the reserve defi currency.

  6. Add a bonus structure to the partnerships teams. Evaluate projects 6 months, 12 months from inception, and tie some compensation / bonus to the performance of the project. Performance should be rated on core goals (use OHM as reserve currency), furthering growth of OHM to new entrants and revenue "realised".



    Keep up the good work.

    As a VC I think it's great that the DAO is investing in early stage teams and projects. What I'm here is the mentioning of a carry structure. Contributors should be mainly incentivized by the long term success of the selected teams. Even though Ohm does not plan to sell in every case I can imagine to pay out carry if the project reaches a certain threshold (e.g. market cap > x, > x MAU, > x token price appreciation in y years). Good VCs earn most of their money through carry after 4-10 years and not at the moment of their investment.
    What are your thoughts on that?

    electo thanks for valuable input. Many already on our radar. When you say "partnerships team" in bullets 4 & 6 you are reffering to Incubator partners not our own partnerships team, right?
    Point 1. As we have stated we have developed robust Due Diligence process where Olympus utiliy is one of 5 main categories which include Culture fit, Olympus Values fit, Olympus Utiity, Security, Project evaluations.
    Olympus Utility/Value being scored as:
    Olympus (O)

    💡 Utility (U)

    • 1 point - protocol brings utility to OHM

    • 0 points - does not bring utility

    Value ($)

    • 1 point - protocol generates extra revenue for Olympus

    • 0 points - does not generate extra revenue

    Network (N)

    • 1 point - protocol helps onboard new Ohmies or builds Ohmie loyalty

    • 0 points - does not help onboard new Ohmies or build Ohmie loyalty

    O = U + $ + N

    Point 4. can you clarify which disclosure items you find relevant / would like to see
    Point 6. keen on looking at it, but we should be aware that it could be double edged sword. Namely because most teams that require funding need it around launch, we on the other hand have capped investment limit that might become limiting factor in such case (portion on launch vs bonus).

        @electo nice to see you around! just a quick note to this point

        1. Add more crypto natives to the team. The list looks under represented in terms of crypto native "builders". Not all partnerships will bear results in terms of money or revenue which is what a traditional VC would look at. There will be some that help with our core goal.

        This is an oversight on my part, and thank you for capturing it. You're right that there is a heavy focus on each persons meatspace experience as it relates to the incubator. I won't speak for others, though I know I am not the only one, but I guess I would be an example of what might be referred to as crypto/defi native. been in and around blockchain since 2012/13 and been full time in the space since 2014. I know there are others with varying ape levels.

        I just want to note though, that the contributors listed are the work horses who carry the incubator along, but that as a department it is embedded within the DAO. The DAO has between 130-200 contributors with varying ape levels and where it makes sense people are pulled in to review projects and give their opinion, insight and expertise. The same is true of ecosystem partners where relevant / needed. The ape network is stronk.

        The last point, which just came to mind in this stream of consciousness, so i'll share, is that despite the caliber of the team listed is that there is a remarkable lack of ego present in the team. Why I think this is important is that this spurs a spirit of collaboration and consultation. People are quick to say if they are not sure on something and to seek to consult others. Within the context I have outlined above this is a massive superpower which incubator as a team excel at leveraging.

        I'm not sure if that speaks to what you had specifically in mind, but hopefully adds some more context.

          Bigbabol

          ty for the reply ser.

          #1 Its nice to see this score card. I guess in my mind utility / use of OHM holds more weight than revenue currently. This is because revenue is never realised. This however I think is an education problem on my end and others. We assume like the revenue when number go up on underlying tokens, in a bad market we want all revenue rfv. I think once we have a framework to sell, this may get better.

          #4 disclosures do not need to be cumbersome. As the projects grow, a lot of them will grow internally too (sub-daos, or other ohmies building), this should be disclosed if it happens from within the partnerships team. Any prior holdings of a potential partner should also be disclosed. This ties in with point #6.

          #6 this is for our own partnerships team. I've spoken to them, I find them all high integrity, and I am proposing a bonus on top of any remuneration based on how well the partner projects do. This will encourage the team working on these deals and also for them to go out and scout for more. Right now we are getting an amazing deal flow, this may not be the case always as funds fight for allocations.

          wollemiPine

          ty ser. Yes, the meatspace representation is high. Would love to see folks showing off their crypto relevance more than meatspace. Nothing against the meatspace folks, I was in one too.❤

          For the last point, yes, I agree the team is great. I am proposing incentives aligned and top of current, based on performance of the team measured in project performance on a big enough timeframe (6, 12 months etc.). We all know the market is down, hence everything down, yet some projects are really good. e.g. Huge fan of vesta & redacted.

                Would it be an idea to, instead of giving out OHM-nominated funds to protocols, fund projects with FRAX/DAI? This could reduce selling pressure for OHM. Just like Redacted Cartel, we could utilise DebtDAO for a loan.

                Then, as a side note, it might also be a great idea to increase marketing efforts for Olympus Incubator. Actively reaching out to founders and already established protocols that could implement OHM to increase its utility.

                electo imho your perspective is right. The thing to understand is that Benchmark Score Evaluation Framework is a living organism, same as market we are operating in, and will definitely be adapted as we go. Such comments as yours help us in reviewing it and finetuning. I'd expect that kind of (important) detail to become decision factor once number of applications multiplies. For now we need more quality applicants to go through entire process to pinpoint areas where framework needs improvement.

                4. We already have the practice of disclosing conflict of interest to team members if that is what you were reffering to?

                6. thank you for thinking about it, can't speak for entire team but my personal opinion is that we are still young and unknown so our primary concern should be delivering outstanding results in following months, not the comp which has been fair so far.

                  12 days later

                  Apologies for the late comment, but we need to put the budget request in context. The macro crypto environment and price action for $OHM in particular are a much bigger problem than when Incubator initially passed in November. For context, here are the DAO holdings in November:

                  • OHM price: $892
                  • DAO OHM holdings: 916k OHM
                  • DAO OHM worth: $817M

                  The initial approved budget of $3.5M represents 0.4% of DAO OHM holdings at the time. Fast-forward to today… and the DAO OHM holdings are only worth $40M.

                  Within the above context, the DAO cannot sustain a budget of $3M per quarter. Given that the costs to-date for Incubator only total $289k over 3 months, I think it is worth revisiting the proposed budget. Obviously the ROI on our incubated projects is worthwhile ($14M), just need to figure out a sustainable funding rate given the current state of the DAO's balance sheet.

                    tex can't talk for the rest of the team but I agree that given the circumstances best thing we can do is to sit down and find the best way forward in a constructive and transparent manner.

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