1. General Information
- Organization Name: Build DAO
- Proposal Title: Funding Open Web Development Cooperatively
- Background
- DAO created May 4, 2023
- Entity formed August 25, 2023
- Category: Ecosystem
- Grassroots initiative to support builders
2. Previous Funding
Over the past few months, Build DAO processed $41k from NEAR Foundation (via DevHub, Regional Communities, and other programs).
3. Relevant Links
Social Media Distribution Channels:
Geographic Location:
Supporting all communities of NEAR worldwide
4. Point of Contact
DAO Wallet: build.sputnik-dao.near
James Waugh | james.near
Country of Residence: USA
Links to Profiles:
5. Team Members
Elliot Braem | efiz.near
Country of Residence: USA
Links to Profiles:
Shot K | plugrel.near
Country of Residence: N/A
Links to Profiles:
6. Experience
james.near | Director at NEAR Builders
- Developer Relations at Banyan
- Former Community Manager at NEAR Foundation
efiz.near | Director at NEAR Builders
- DevHub contributor
- everything.dev
plugrel.near | Head of Decentralization at Banyan
- President at Minority Programmers
- Volunteer Contributor at NFT WG, Impact, Former NDC GWG
- Founder at GenaDrop
These core contributors of Build DAO have made significant progress with collaborators, including NDC, DevHub, NEAR Foundation, Pagoda, Aurora, Proximity Labs, and more!
- Refactoring DevHub to build a better support system for communities (merged)
- Contributions to Groups feature on Near Social
- Existing Code Review Program with Marketing DAO
- BOSHACKS, leading to development of products like dApplets, MagicBuild.ai, etc.
- Build DAO Telegram with a support channel and open hangout sessions every workday
- BOS Academy education program (6 workshop videos)
- DiscoverBOS community platform in development
- NEARbuilders.com provides a go-to developer community portal for groups and projects
- Partnered with Liberty DAO for Hack-o-ween (project viewer)
- Supporting Abstraction Hacks event in January 2024
- Launched gateway to streamline onboarding and experiment with on-chain collaboration tools: NEARbuilders.org
7. Charter / Goals
Working Document: Build DAO
Adjacent Legal Entity
NEAR Builders Cooperative
—> filed in Colorado
Bylaws: 23.08.25_BDAO_bylaws.pdf
Context:
Overview
Mission: empowering communities to learn, collaborate, and evolve
Vision: builders helping everyone build, using the open web stack
Core Programs:
- Open Sprints
- Rewards
- Workshops
What problem does Build DAO solve?
Builders want to get involved with NEAR, but they don’t immediately understand how to navigate the complexity of this decentralized ecosystem. They might read the documentation and reach a “hello world” moment. However, it feels unclear why they should continue building open web solutions, especially if community validation doesn’t generate opportunities.
- Connecting builders with opportunities
- Supporting open web development
- Facilitating community-led governance
How can your DAO / project achieve NDC priorities, goals, and KPIs?
Build DAO will add to the vitality of NEAR in several ways:
- Strengthening the NEAR developer community via knowledge sharing
- Improving the quality of products developed on the NEAR platform
- Activating and retaining talented builders, projects, and teams
- Fostering a collaborative culture that aligns with NEAR’s core principles
- Empowering builders with real decision-making power in governance
Alignment with NEAR Ecosystem
This proposal is aligned with the strategy of the NEAR Digital Collective (NDC). We aim to drive sustainable growth (retention) by engaging, supporting, and rewarding qualified builders. As our community continues to develop the open web together, we create opportunities to activate contributors in our evolving builder economy.
- Growth / Adoption
- On-chain Value
- Engagement
Our attribution system is based on measurable progress in terms of development and usage of valuable applications, tools, and other solutions. This approach, involving retroactive compensation, encourages NEAR builders to experiment and further develop useful products.
Composable Dashboards
Recently Active Builders: hack.near/widget/Builders
→ anyone who saved at least 1 widget on mainnet after (or before) a given blockheight
Most Active Builders: devs.near/widget/devs.Rank
→ ranked by total number of widgets on mainnet
Most Popular Builders: hack.near/widget/devs
→ ranked by total number of stars (across all their widgets)
Most Popular Widgets: hack.near/widget/widgets
→ ranked by number of stars
Roadmap + Milestones
December: 100 members in community group (30 currently)
January: 10+ stewards / mentors volunteering
February: ETHDenver activation (30 new builders with 50% retention month over month)
March: submit proposal for V2 of NDC
8. Budget
Projected Q1 Budget: $150k
The plan is to use 90% of the funds ($135k) to reward builders for open web contributions, along with 10% (~$5k per month) for operational costs and other necessary expenses.
- $20k rewards in January
- $45k rewards in February
- $70k rewards in March
Details: Until next year, we are focused on growing the Build DAO community group (on-chain) by inviting well-known NEAR contributors. Our team will coordinate with DevHub to produce a community-led activation for engaging developers at ETHDenver in February, and we plan to support an online public goods hackathon starting in March.
Time Commitment
- James Waugh: full time
- Elliot Braem: part time
- Shot K: part time
Remunerations
Our team is not prioritizing any compensation for governance / admin work in the budget.
9. Longevity
This DAO requires continuous funding to support public goods. However, we do have additional sources of revenue and potential funding. The intention is to develop a regenerative model, which means it will be self-sustainable, self-improving, self-propagating, and self-evolving by nature. Our vision is pluralizing Build DAO to connect many resilient communities who learn from each other and work together! Possible roadblocks include complexity of coordination with similar organizations like DevHub and Developer DAO. However, by cooperating and ideally collaborating, we can identify shared values, facilitate alignment, and maximize opportunities.
