Build DAO: Monthly Report (January 2024)

NDC Community and nodes Build DAO
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This post summarizes the impact of Build DAO so far this year.

Overview

In just over a month, we’ve gone from one core team to five teams explicitly dedicated to scaling the operations, efficiency, and sustainability of our initiatives. Every day, we become more dynamic and impactful to the future of NEAR.

What problem does Build DAO solve?

Builders often struggle to navigate our complex ecosystem. They can participate in a hackathon, read the docs, and reach a “Hello World” moment. Still, it may feel unclear why they should continue building open web solutions.

How are we going to solve that problem? What is Build DAO trying to do?

Build DAO intentionally empowers builders to coordinate, help each other, and learn together. Our lean, community-driven programs retain talent with real jobs and interesting projects involving open web development. We are creating the tools, resources, and experiences to attract developers and reward them for building useful things on NEAR.

→ Funding Process ~ open discussion

Want to know more? Come find us at ETHDenver, where we will be onboarding the next wave.

Strategic Goals

These objectives align us toward widening ecosystem adoption and supporting public goods. We are focused on activating contributors and improving developer experience with bos-workspace, type systems, reusable apps, curated libraries, helpful documentation, and more.

  • Connecting developers with other kinds of builders
  • Supporting open web projects and communities
  • Facilitating decentralized governance

Ultimately, our strategy is turning quality engagement into retention and meaningful adoption by generating opportunities for productive builders.

Key Results with Metrics

So far, we are doing well considering the milestones and metrics outlined in our Q1 proposal and January funding request. Here’s a breakdown of our key results to date:

  1. Growth and Retention — 10% increase of active builders week over week, based on the number of Build DAO members who create or update at least one thing on mainnet

    • 30 → 70+ members in the community group of Build DAO

  2. Onboarding and Support — reduce builder acquisition costs by enhancing quality of resources

    • bos-workspace, SDKs, packages, templates, examples, tutorials, and mentorship

  3. Development and Collaboration — 15+ builders working in the context of Build DAO and regularly using bos-workspace + related tools / apps

Supported Projects

NEAR Builders GitHub

Below is a summary of activity growth over the last 30 days (January 17 - February 16) compared to the 30 days before that (December 18 - January 17).

Active Repositories:

bos-workspace

→ Supports local B.O.S. development using VS Code, GitHub, and Typescript. This provides a familiar environment for web developers to collaborate on serious projects.

gateway

→ Demonstrates a common pattern for every app, which builders can easily adapt for their own projects. We are introducing a quickstart guide that enables anyone to create open web apps by simply defining their own routes and metadata.

Detailed Stats:

Conclusion

Looking ahead, we will keep building momentum, preparing for Q2 and beyond. The plan is to engage JavaScript and React developers by offering compensation and other benefits, while coordinating sustainable development of related products.

Thanks to NDC, our ecosystem is overcoming challenges and growing stronger in the process.

Let’s build :beaver:

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Hello James! Please update your report with results according to the requested budget breakdown. I don’t see any transfers from your wallet after receiving January’s (and February’s) funds. Have the initiatives been funded? Thanks!

Category Context Amount Notes Results
Projects BOS Workspace + Create $5,000.00 Hire open-source contributors (achraf.near + wendersonpires.near) to further improve BOS Workspace, a developer toolkit. View the roadmap.
Feeds and Post Types → Global Type Registry $2,500.00 Hire a team of developers (Archetype) to build open web components that increase utility of social feeds across open web applications gateways.
everything: UI / UX Design $1,000.00 Hire a designer (via DeeDee) to create UI / UX for everything.dev (no-code platform) to make it more accessible for non-developers to build, use, and grow the open web.
Lens Protocol SDK $1,500.00 Hire a builder (mattb.near) to update V1 of his Lens Protocol SDK on BOS to support V2 of the Lens React SDK to create interactive multi-chain social graphs.
Hyperfiles $3,000.00 Hire flowscience.near to a create an attestation system using Hyperfiles. We will test it on PotLock.io to improve project discovery with reputation-based curation.
DiscoverBOS: Curation System $2,000.00 Hire builders (itexpert120-contra.near + manzanal.near) to develop the frontend of discoverbos.org and create a library system for commonly used components.
Assisterr $1,500.00 Hire NEARCON Hackathon winner (nick_h.near) to build out a solution for AI-guided developer relations / onboarding. See his original proposal to DevHub.
Rewards Requests → to be approved by DAO members $3,500.00 Allocate resources to be distributed according to results of Build DAO members voting on legitimate proposals, based on weekly updates / reports.
Operations Project Management + Reporting $4,500.00 Hire additional contributors to be responsible for coordination & accountability.
Miscellaneous Costs $500.00 Cover admin costs: Google Workspace, Vercel, Figma, wallet creation, etc.
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Hey @Dacha, thanks for your feedback.

We are using a different process than other Grassroots DAOs, and our approach is retroactive, meaning we only distribute rewards after work is completed and invoices / reports have been reviewed by council members.

For the January cylce, we are now reaching the final step in our process, outlined here:

  1. Write a request using our template, and be sure to include relevant tags, e.g., #SDKs.

  2. Reply to constructive comments, if there is feedback. Clarifications might be required.

  3. If accepted, complete identity verification and formalize your agreement.

  4. Share updates, ask questions, and submit reports in the feed: #build

  5. Propose fund transfers from Build DAO to your verified NEAR account.

January Spending

Here is a breakdown of the $25K budget we had requested:

bos-workspace + create ~ $5000 paid via cooperative

efiz.near received this amount for stepping up to lead these projects.

everything.dev redesign by DeeDee ~ $1000 still in Build DAO

We shifted focus to engage clippy.near as an independent contractor and onboarded more designers to help with various projects.

Archetype ~ paid $5000 via Build DAO

Two weeks ago, Archetype received payment for their work in January.

Updates:

Hyperfiles ~ paid $3000 via Build DAO

flowscience.near provided this update from his February funding request:

Updates:

Lens SDK ~ $1500 paid via the cooperative

→ code + examples

mattb.near has received a total of $2760 for his work in January and February.

Developers, read this documentation about Loader :eyes:

Check out all the SDKs we are building, and learn about VM.require!

DiscoverBOS ~ $2000 paid via Build DAO

We are thinking about how to build on the idea of DiscoverBOS, now that the NEAR Catalog project is gaining traction. Following this report by inspiratibiz.near, we are ideating ways facilitate discovery of all kinds of projects and communities worldwide.

Assisterr ~ $1500 paid via Build DAO

UPDATE ~ now complete. Read their on-chain report here.

Project Management ~ $4900 paid via the cooperative

jass.near managed our gateway project.

Reserve Funds ~ $3500 spent by the cooperative

Details

Build DAO:

build.sputnik-dao.near

→ click here to see all proposals on Astra++

NEAR Builders Cooperative:

nearbuilders.near

→ click here to review transaction history on NearBlocks