DAOs Are the New Way of Impact Work

A DAO succeeds if its technical properties grease the flywheel of decision-making, community building and participation, rather than staying the center of attention.

But the management and organizational ‘overhead’ of traditional associations often exceed the will and ability of potential participants. If you’ve ever been part of a community or school group, you understand the often prohibitive burden. It’s not only the time commitment of planning meetings — it’s the social dynamics where a few very active memb... See more

DAOs believe “ask the audience” is the winning strategy, and if you set up the right decision-making systems, collective wisdom is greater than individual vision.

New DAOs can be spun up in minutes. If those communities instead tried to form traditional companies, it would take weeks and require lots of paperwork. Many of the prospective members would likely need to be excluded due to variations in local laws and other reasons. There would be thorny challenges around governance and enforcing rules.