DAOs are in. they’re hot, and more people are realizing the opportunities that come when collectives form to work towards a shared goal. So much so that 2022 will be dubbed the year of the DAO. With this surge in popularity, we’re seeing challenges arise. The immediate challenge is helping those new to DAOs find, join and contribute to a DAO that matches their interests. Finding the ideal DAO or DAOs doesn’t have to be overwhelming, it just requires an understanding what motivates you, what you’re looking to accomplish, and frequent vibe checks.

Understanding your why

In Simon Sinek’s “Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. He states the following:

“The goal for an organization is to know its WHY in order to attract the right birds. And the goal for each team within the company is to make sure that they have the right birds in each nest—those who will work together most effectively to contribute to the organization’s higher purpose and cause.”

Simon Sinek “Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team

The above quote sums up the trifecta of how to frame your thinking when you’re looking to join a DAO. However, most people don’t pay attention to their why and often end up in situations where they’re working for a company or starting a business that doesn’t resonate with their intrinsic value. It doesn’t work that way with DAOs.

DAOs are heavily mission-driven, and it’s the mission that acts as the primary hook for catching your interest. It’s that same mission that drives you to become a contributor even if financial rewards aren’t available in the immediate future or at all.

Examples of DAOs with strong missions:

• KrauseHouse DAO – working to collectively own an NBA team
• Constitution DAO – working to purchase the constitution and return IT to the hands of the people

Finding your why in DAOs

Finding your why is what lets you narrow down your search for DAOs that fit your interests. But how do you do it? Start with figuring out what’s important. Ask yourself this:

• What do consistently think about?
• what subjects and topics do I find myself naturally revisiting or discussing? 
• what are my ideal outcomes if I join a DAO? 

Next, rank what’s most important when considering the right DAO. 

• unique mission: defined as the unique mission you’re working towards. Examples include large goals like climate change (Klima DAO)or building cryptos largest reserve currency (OlympusDAO).
• learning: the ability to learn about a particular topic, vertical (NFTs, social tokens,etc), or set of skills.
• network/access: the ability to connect with influential individuals or gain access to a private group/social club.
• investment/financial upside: the opportunity for sizable financial returns.
  
  

Joining the right DAO aka going steady

Once you hit your moving target of a why, it’s time to get out there and start feeling out your options. Here are three methods to discover new DAOs.

Snapshot Search

Head over to Snapshot, go through the DAOs listed on their site, and read active/past proposals.

Make a list of DAOs that align with your core areas of focus then head over to Twitter to find each DAO’s discord. 

Twitter Search

Most of the conversations around DAOs happen exclusively on Twitter, so using advanced Twitter search is a great way to find a DAO’s Twitter accounts and members. Search DAO in Twitter and in advance search, input “DAO” in the exact phrase section. Navigate to people and go through each DAOs account. Research each DAOs account to get a better understanding of their goal and join their Discord.

DAO Resource: I created a master list of active DAOs and DAO tools that can be found here: Antonio’s DAO Cheat Sheet.

Tools & communities

Tools like Deep DAO, DAO Masters, and DAOs like forefront, share insights, data, and case studies on various DAOs and their tokens. You can go through these resources to find popular DAOs and then cross-reference them on Twitter.

Vibe Check

At this point, you have a better idea of your why and you’ve hopefully found a few different DAOs that align with your interests. What’s next is joining various DAOs and running a vibe check. What’s a vibe check? It’s you determining which communites you resonate with the most. You accomplish this by joining different DAOs, engaging with members of the community, and showing up consistently.

Which communities do you naturally find yourself coming back to? Which communities do you want to help win? Finally, which communities do you find yourself wanting to take on a more important role? Don’t rush this phase. Take your time and enjoy participating in the community. The communities where you naturally find yourself coming back to are the ones for you.

Doing The DAO Thing

Much like most of web3, we’re still early and DAOs are in the same boat. This is why finding the right DAO is a process that requires a decent amount of manual work. Be patient, test the waters, and double down on what you naturally gravitate towards.

About Antonio

Antonio is a core contributor at Global Coin Research where he spearheads strategy and growth, and a contributor at Krause House DAO where he helps with content creation.

Twitter: @antoniogaryjr

Website: https://www.antoniogaryjr.com/

Newsletter: https://antoniogaryjr.com/newsletter

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzs3sZnahIcw6_JmwW1oJew

Resources: Antonio’s DAO Cheat Sheet