Gm builders, let's talk consumer crypto.
More specifically, let's dig into where grants come in.
Today, many of the leading Web3/crypto grant programs, both by dollar amount and projects supported, are too expansive. We, as grant providers, need to narrow our focus to scale the development and usage of Web3-based consumer apps. Now, in saying that, I don't mean eliminating all other categories of grants.
I mean hone in our KPIs and double-down on everything that can be considered consumer-facing, within a unified strategic framework.
For example: let's say the driving strategy for a particular chain's grants program in the new year is: "transition from driving integrations with our tech to driving the development of native apps on our tech stack."
An integration-focused strategy might track, above all else, track: the number of projects brought in from grants that successfully integrated with the protocol, the growth in user numbers of those integrations, and the growth in transactions or messages sent via those integrations(depending on the protocol's focus).
When such a program reaches a critical mass of say, several hundred successful integrations, it might be the ideal time to conceptualize what's next. By this, I mean that the next step of the protocol's master plan needs to become the north star of what the grants program focuses on.
This might be many things, but for the purposes of this piece, let's say that next step is: "becoming a major hub for consumer-scale applications in web3."
Those 3 integration-focused KPIs need to then be transformed to account for this.
First and foremost, going from number of successful integrations to number of "successful apps" or something similar, doesn't really work. It's too vague. What I'd suggest is setting the program's leading KPIs to something like: "number of 1000+ DAU/MAU apps signed on to the program(this is a proxy for potential flagships), average churn from the app(as a proxy for a smooth vs. not so smooth UX), and milestones reached that indicate a deeper usage of the protocol's tech rather than mere, simple, level one integrations."
This third KPI, I've left purposefully vague because it needs to fit into exactly what the protocol involved is. If you've got a DeFi protocol, then it needs to focus on DeFi-specific applications that innovate on the protocol's tech stack. If you're protocol is more focused on social media, art creation and trading, or general communication, then you need to fit it to whichever applies.
Beyond KPIs, if you're dependent on a foundation, yet your grants program is community/DAO-managed, then you'll need to ensure all involved understand the exact need for a significant increase in budget as you shift to more of a true focus on consumer apps.
For now, a general metric I use is: if all of the above we've discussed is true, then your budget should 5-10x depending on the ecosystem's total available funds and the promised percentage-based allocations of those funds. To double down on consumer apps, you have to pay more, so to speak. At the same time, you should ensure that all funds are allocated within a careful framework.
Kick-off that effort with KPIs and you're off to an excellent start.
What's next?
These days, none of us have a lot of time to spare.
This is the new shorter format for these posts. Next time, I'll dig deeper into grants strategy for DAOs within this strategy of doubling down on consumer apps. If there's something you'd like me to dig into, reach out. I've been in this wild industry for almost a decade now and helping people and scaling decentralized communities are the passions that have kept me here.
Thanks for reading!
Be on the lookout for the launch of our podcast next month! Follow us on Twitter for that announcement and if you believe in a future driven by DAOified apps and want to help out, say hi in our forum!
These thoughts were inspired by recent discussions I've had with two members of our DAO Council, Rene and SixtyKeys. Be sure to follow them too.
See you next week!