44: DAOPlanet & DAODenver // Steve Echtman & Elijah Spina

Today’s guests are Steve Echtman and Elijah Spina who are both representing DAOPlanet. DAOPlanet holds the vision of greater representation for individuals within communities, organizations, businesses, and the entire world — achieved through the integration and proliferation of DAO principles and Web3 tools.

As demand increases for more autonomy and flexibility in where, when, and how people work, organizational structures will have to adapt to accommodate this new normal. DAOPlanet’s mission is to deliver access to strategies, tools, and practices that support greater individual productivity, flexibility, and representation within all organizations.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 4:12 Steve: the benefit of human connection is very important when attending events like DAO Denver.
• 6:00 Elijah: having the opportunity to talk to people is also valuable when going to events.
• 7:54 Eric: shares his own experience with organizing and producing an event. He also provides tips for people who are planning to go to events.
• 9:40 Steve: More advice and tips for attending events.
• 10:24 Elijah: His advice for attending events is not to take it too seriously, don’t sell too hard, and just connect with people.
• 11:49 Steve: they are steadily growing their number of events, which started in DAO Denver 2022.
• 12:51 Steve: this is the type of conversation that he happens to find himself in most often.
• 13:30 Steve: talks about their next plan.
• 14:33 Elijah: regarding their voting system, it’s still in progress.
• 14:46 Steve: elaborates more on their voting system.
• 15:28 Steve: they are in the process of minting tokens.
• 16:15 Eric: considers Steve’s explanation as the best line he has heard in 2023.
• 18:23 Steve: believes that you don’t need a token for the sake of starting a DAO.
• 20:06 Elijah: offers more explanation about tokens in a DAO.
• 21:49 Steve: his philosophy is that everything starts centralized with a core group and aims towards decentralization.
• 23:55 Steve: got into the DAO space 3 years ago because he sees it as the perfect vehicle to form a group of people and start a project where he could have partial ownership over something.
• 25:26 Steve: talks about how he started a DAO for the first time.
• 27:03 Elijah: shares his story of how he got into the DAO space.
• 28:38 Eric: introduces the controversial issue about Arbitrum.
• 31:12 Elijah: according to him, it’s not easy to start a DAO in the US today.
• 33:48 Elijah: continues to talk about the Arbitrum issue.
• 35:12 Eric: wants to see a Howey test for DAOs.
• 35:45 Steve: discusses communities transitioning into a more decentralized organization and giving away control.
• 38:47 Eric: gives an example of a DAO that can separate governance from profit.
• 41:39 Steve: His immediate plans are to get back to San Francisco and figure out their next event.
• 44:09 Elijah: provides his action plan for the next few weeks and months.
• 47:06 Steve: reminds everyone to visit DAOPlanet.org to explore and get to know the DAO space.

Key Points from this Interview:

1. Steve: “I think what we want to do is get out there and bring people together to have a conversation, and to figure this stuff out. And to really explore what’s the range and what are the bounds, if there are even really bounds to what can be considered a DAO, and what are the practices that can make organizations successful, and what are the tools that really help.”
2. Elijah: “It’s not easy to start a DAO right now, especially in the US, legally. There are hoops that don’t really make a lot of sense to most of us in DAOs.”

Resources Mentioned: