FTW DAO - Gitcoin Grant Application

About FTW DAO

Founded in 2021, FTW DAO counts 80 members from all around the globe, all of whom chose to join and be part of building on our mission to find, fund and foster diverse founders globally.

Our goal is to build a $billion grants fund by 2030 to promote and fund initiatives that increase the diversity of leaders who receive venture finance globally.

FTW.DAO is a Swiss registered association, with a societal mission to DAOversify the venture ecosystem. The association has the mission to find, fund and foster diverse founders globally, and is not following commercial purposes. Our wider mission to DAOversify the venture ecosystem in sustainable model will include the creation of both for profit and non-profit ventures as sub-DAOs in our ecosystem, which will work together to create revenues that flow back into the DAO’s ecosystem fund, while also creating societal impact and positive externalities at scale. A healthy VC ecosystem in both Web2 and Web3 (our ultimate goal as a DAO) is a public good.

Background

From academic and financial research it is overwhelmingly clear that diversity and inclusion are strong indicators and / or pre-condition for future success of organisations. All organisations need to make diversity & inclusion core pillars of everything they do. Diversity is mission critical.

We believe DAOs are the business model of a better and more diverse future for venture investing and tech companies. We believe that DAOs are part of the solution to create a tech and investment ecosystem that is accessible to all, and built on values of fairness, transparency, openness and continuous improvement we can create real change for diverse founders and investors, and capture the multi trillion $ opportunity of diverse founding teams.

What we have achieved so far

Growing to an 80-member strong DAO and nearly 2 years operating as a Swiss Association Delivering two cohorts of the FTW DAO Venture Analyst training programs, teaching 30-40 people the basics of venture finance, venture DAOs and how to analyse companies Developing and launching the DAOVOZ project as a FTW DAO member-incubated project Electing a diverse DAO council of top minds to lead us through 2023/2024

What we aim to achieve in 2023

Final OKRs are still being reviewed and defined by our council but a rough outline includes:

Generate $50k in grants funding towards FTW DAO Allocate at least $5k in grants funding each to at least three member-led initiatives Generate $20k in revenue from new memberships / education programs Define and validate a clear path to financial sustainability in 2024

Why we need a Gitcoin grant

In the last 6 months of 2023 our monthly revenues averaged around $15k, and we were able to employ a full-time team of three to manage our growth and operations and were close to achieving financial and operational sustainability. Unfortunately, after the downfall of FTX, and the subsequent lack of funding for web3 projects, our efforts to fundraise became very difficult, and could no longer sustain a full-time team.

In line with our original plans to gradually decentralise away from the initial founding team, we set in motion a plan for the next step of decentralisation and recently elected a DAO council to oversee core legal and financial obligations for the year 2023/2024

We are now seeking funds to ensure our sustainability and support member initiatives in 2023/2024 financial year, of which some projects being worked on currently include: A program to identify and highlight the top emerging voices in web3 (DAOVOZ) An accelerator program for community-led ventures An open-source dApp to decentralise deal-sourcing for investment so that anyone, anywhere can get funded A web3 education program focused on bringing new, diverse audiences into web3, and teaching them how to get involved in governance, DAOs and building projects

About the FTW DAO Council

Isla Munro-Hochmayr / 1sla.eth

Isla is one of the original founders of FTW DAO. Her background in venture capital and finance, led her to question the current models used for financing ventures. She is passionate about redefining the future of work, finance and organisations, and is currently Grants Lead at the Safe Foundation where she is bringing her capital allocation expertise to their plan to grow the Safe ecosystem.

Ben Hoelzl

Ben is the other original founder of FTW DAO. His background is in finance, where he worked together with Isla on launching an ETF based on a gender diversity index which now has over $1b AUM. He is passionate about democracy, politics and history.

Victoria Citterio-Soelle

Victoria joined FTW DAO as a founding member in 2022, and has been a champion for the DAOVOZ project where we are working to identify and amplify a diverse group of emerging voices in web3, leveraging transparent and democratic tools to curate and select them. She has a background in policy and movement building. What drives her are the questions of "what brings people together, what keeps them engaged, and how to regulate the spaces where we interact

Peter Bachinger

Peter joined FTW DAO in 2022, and has been a champion of our angel lounge, where we identify interesting companies seeking investment, and share them with our members. Having worked in venture capital and now M&A, he is excited about our mission to make venture finance fairer, and loves scouting and analysing interesting opportunities. He is passionate about the power of the right mindset and impact of a great team working together on the same goal.

Hana Kanjaa

Hana joined FTW DAO first as a community manager, then as a co-founder in 2022, leading our community engagement and relations. She also co-founded PivotDAO, a 1000 member community to empower women over 35 to learn about blockchain and discover job opportunities in Web3 with a free 6-week program. She is passionate about communication, culture and good community vibes.

Bassil Eid

Bassil joined FTW DAO as a founding member in 2022, and has been instrumental in building out an accounting and finance system that bridges the gaps between web3 and on-chain transactions, and the Swiss Association entity for which we must complete annual financial reports. Bassil is also the Founder of Detof, an accounting and finance services company focused on web3, and an active angel investor in the fintech space.

Marko Hrelja

Marko joined FTW DAO as a founding member in 2022, primarily supporting our angel lounge activities. He has been in Bitcoin since 2013 via Draper. Seen dApps from 2015 (that were gritty). Supported startups in accelerators like: Draper, Singularity, Blockchain for Social Impact, ETHGlobal, lectured in university about the Chinese innovation ecosystem since 2013.