Please see here for the proposed budget for PNF for 2024. And if you haven’t read our ecosystem strategy and ambitions update yet, please do, as everything we do at PNF is in service of our shared ambitions.
2024 budget overview
2023 was about building the right team and developing the infra and processes we needed to get the ecosystem moving in the right direction again.
2024 is about growth. Consequently, most of PNF’s spending for 2024, outside of personnel costs, is on BD and marketing initiatives - e.g. design, events and travel to meet the right people - to attract end-user developers and new gateway operators to join our ecosystem.
We have cut or reduced costs wherever the cost/benefit ratio isn’t justified.
Although we have sufficient USD runway for 2024, we plan to strategically sell some of our POKT holdings to long-term aligned investors in the course of 2024 to ensure we have runway for 2025. We want the POKT price to be considerably higher than where it is right now before doing so, however.
Upcoming changes to the PNF board
@nelson has been a Director since the inception of PNF all the way back in 2020. After almost four years in the hot seat, he is stepping down at the end of this year. Please join us in thanking him for his service! Nelson has been instrumental in managing PNF’s finances, accounts and transparency reports, acting as an important sounding board, managing and negotiating with banks, market makers and exchanges, as well as helping to shape PNF’s overall strategy and approach. To avoid disruption, the team at PNF plans to appoint @B3n as a temporary Director while we follow the process for a full-time replacement (more on this below).
You know @JackALaing as the brains behind Pocket’s unique governance model. You likely also know him as a vital contributor to POKT’s open source values and for his leadership on many topics. However, after helping to build out the current team, he feels now is the right time to provide space for others to drive POKT Network to the next level. Jack isn’t leaving the board immediately but is entering a transition phase over the next 6 months. He will focus his work on supporting the Shannon launch, Gateway-verse and governance. Given that the PNF multisig needs at least 3 signers to function effectively, Jack staying on as a Director for this period also buys us enough time to find a real superstar to join the board.
PNF Board v2
There have been significant improvements in the POKT Network ecosystem this year, and we hope for next year to be bigger and better. In tandem with the ecosystem maturing, we see the need for the board to evolve too.
Firstly, we want to improve the diversity of experience and skills on the board, and we believe the best way to do so is to expand the board to five people by adding two new independent board observers. This is in addition to our plans to appoint a replacement director for Jack. Board observers can add a lot of value by acting as independent counsel to the board without bearing the same legal and fiduciary burden as Directors. We hope that adding board observers will sharpen the board’s perspective and provide the DAO with new people to represent them on the issues they care about most.
Technical leadership is the clearest opportunity to strengthen the PNF board and we will kick off a full talent needs assessment, followed by an open and competitive hiring process in the new year. This will include an open submission and approval process involving the DAO for at least one of the new board observer positions.
As an immediate next step, we (the whole PNF team) believe that @b3n is the perfect candidate to replace Nelson on the board as an executive (full-time) director on a permanent basis. In addition to Ben’s obvious skills in all things related to the DAO and our ecosystem operations, he has leveraged his background in finance and consulting to take the lead on PNF’s (and the DAO’s) finance function in the last few months and also to support the evolution of PNF’s ecosystem strategy. We will start a formal vote to appoint Ben to a permanent Director’s role by the start of January at the latest.
Lastly, we plan to share a new proposal for discussion next week that will empower the DAO to approve PNF’s proposed board composition for each major Era. This is effectively a board renewal process without the rigidity of tying it to a fixed period, such as 1 or 2 years. We believe this will provide PNF’s board with an unambiguous, legitimate mandate for each new phase of POKT Network’s ecosystem strategy. This proposal will include a suggested board election process if the proposed board for the upcoming Era doesn’t receive the requisite approval. We want this new process to be in place by the end of Q2 next year so that we can use it to approve the Era that follows the Shannon launch.
Next steps
Please stay tuned for more information on the steps to expand the board, as well as the board renewal process.
In the meantime, all feedback about PNF’s budget for 2024 is very welcome.
Many thanks,
PNF