Thanks @JackALaing.
I warmed up to Messari’s proposal since my initial sceptical-neutral reactions.
Reasons:
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Messari’s combined value in the space is unmatched. No single player has the combined capabilities of the brand name + crypto native media role & the target audience + marketing engine + high quality research & data science + more. I already knew this, looked again but couldn’t really find an alternative that covers so many bases.
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For SER marketing I checked Coin Desk’s media kit, and boy they are not cheap. Coin Desk’s is just media and advertisement services.
Assuming that SER will pass, I thought that if we end up with Messari, we probably wouldn’t need Coin Desk for some noise on “emissions cuts”. It’s not V1 but it’s indeed a catalyst that generally does move token value.
- I dug a bit (nothing deep) what other big boy DAO’s spend on similar services. Not apples to apples, as we are small but the amounts are hefty.
Putting all the above together, I did attempt some benchmarking and poking here and there in my limited time.
- Messari going down from 100k upfront to a trial of 50k in 2 quarters also helped.
To digress a bit-
For the future I have suggested the following:
and @Cryptocorn 's insistence on RFPs, which I agree.
Good news is that PNF is either already working on most of the above or have agreed to do so in the future.
However, none of those are happening immediately.
So betting on Messari through this proposal felt right.
I am also excited about what it might bring to the DAO such as high quality eye balls, builders and contributors- the foundational blocks, and not just potential investors and narrative driven (of V1, inflation cut) impacts.
Regarding timing-
Ideally I would have wanted the 1st release by the end of Sept/beginning of Oct; I think few others support that.
But I didn’t want to make that insurmountable. Maybe we are early but we will learn something in 2 Qs. By that time, other internal processes for vendor/partner recruitment should be ready.
This is the first time the DAO (PNF) is trying such a partnership. Might as well support and celebrate instead of being anal. We will correct course in the future if we err, I thought.
Plus we have SER; if not Messari, I might anyway request the DAO for some marketing budget for Q2.
Should the actual voting have waited for some more time for better digestion? Sure, I would have preferred/wanted that.
But again, these preferences don’t really have any math and science backing. PNF/@JackALaing did what he thought was best at that moment and I would give him/PNF the "benefit of DAO "
Regarding PNF’s stand in this proposal-
On this PEP, I kept inviting the individuals at PNF for their views because I was genuinely curious and was almost mad when they weren’t engaging.
So they did in their own way.
What shall I do now- be mad again because they responded?
Are they not supposed to freely give their opinions on such matters if they truly believe something?
Did anyone feel pushed or cornered? Well, I certainly didn’t.
Sure, PNF is a governing body held to higher standards because it upholds Pocket DNA (whenever ready), the DAO constitution and the PNF governance doc.
I would rather also have them express themselves normally (with disclaimers such as “in my personal opinion”), give guidance and be imperfect at times as we all are, than “not respond” and only speak from an Ivory Tower once in a blue moon.
For that I need to give them some respect & space; allow them to make some mistakes (generally are in hindsight) and not be always ready with a machete.
So thank you @Dermot & @b3n for engaging on this PEP and for sharing your thoughts!
I hope Messari passes in this round. If not, we will take another stab at it (maybe with an amended version) soon after and not let go of Messari.
Thanks for reading.