A conversation with @s0crates_eth and @SOLDIERweb3 from Cult DAO.
We're always trying to learn about all the interesting things happening in web3. To satiate our curiosity, we host a weekly-ish Twitter Spaces series called Coffee Conversations. What follows is a summary of the seventh episode.
For the seventh episode of Coffee Conversations, we hosted Soldier and S0crates from Cult DAO.
Besides being active members of the Cult community, Soldier heads growth at WISTAVERSE, and S0crates is one half of the main development team at Bank of Nowhere.
Highlights
The Cult DAO members are expected to uphold the values mentioned in the Cult manifesto at all times.
The three stated values, to paraphrase, are fighting against centralization, furthering the cause of decentralization, and directly benefiting a noble cause.
Since these values are adhered to in all endeavors concering the DAO, there is a high level of alignment between all the members.
This set off a virtuous cycle. The community only attracts those that share these values.
Most members learn of the DAO through the founders' activity on Twitter. Then they usually stop by the Cult DAO Twitter account, before coming to the Cult Discord server.
The community is very welcoming towards new members, and involves them in conversations from the very first day.
Currently, they're working on launching their blockchain, and crowdsourcing ideas (and talent) from the community to help in the development efforts.
The DAO plans to use rep3 to track members' contributions (i.e. how long they have staked their tokens for, how many proposals have they voted in) and might have a Twitter engagement workflow on the cards as well.
Transcript
This transcript is edited for brevity and clarity.
Soldier: Hey guys, good morning. How are you?
Infi: I'm great. What about you? What time is it for you?
Soldier: Good! It's afternoon here. Around 2:00 PM.
Infi: I thought as much. Fortunately, it's not the middle of the night or super early in the morning for either of us, so that's good, haha. We've got quite a few people in the audience, so let's begin!
Alright, so a warm welcome to everyone here for the seventh episode of Coffee Conversations. We have with us Soldier and S0crates from Cult DAO -- a one of a kind investment DAO with a very active community. In fact, I remember coming across their manifesto, which really drew me in because that's something in and of itself. How about we start with that?
S0crates: One of the founding documents from Cult DAO is this thing called the Cult Manifesto. It plays a huge role in everything we do. There are three stated values -- the fight against centralization, furthering the cause of decentralization, and directly benefiting a noble cause.
I bring this up because everything we do funnels back to those three main points. Any investment, event, protocol developments, etc., should all tie back to those three tenets. And that's what separates us from all other DAOs.
Sometimes this can be a pain in the ass. For example, Soldier and I do a lot of community work. We organize things, think about them, and run them. We could just do all that without asking anyone. But because of the three core tenets and the general attitude of the average Cult DAO member – which is so inviting – we want to go the extra mile and hear what everyone has to say.
So for any investment that comes to us, we evaluate it against our three tenets. Will it make us money? But also, does it satisfy a majority of our tenets?
Soldier: I totally agree with that. What makes us stand out is our commitment to those three tenets. Especially the third one, i.e. directly benefiting a noble cause.
Infi: Thanks for the detailed answer. I just want to double-click on the second tenet of furthering decentralization. I learned that Cult DAO has this mechanism where only the top 50 holders of the Cult token get to make proposals. But they don't get to vote on them. So this enforces a certain level of decentralization that other DAOs can learn from.
But promoting decentralization is one thing, and having people turn up and embody your values is a whole other thing. And time and again, we see people showing up for Cult and sharing their enthusiasm with other members.
So what do you think is the reason behind Cult being such a vibrant community?
Soldier: Well, I think the main reason for our community is this way is how well we were aligned from the very first day. The manifesto did a great job of bringing like-minded people together. And since it was so opinionated, it attracted only the most passionate, which sort of had a snowball effect.
S0crates: Yeah, I think it's a mix of the manifesto and our values. We're also a counterculture against the big guys, against the establishment, and I think many people resonate with that. On top of that, I think we have a healthy vibe in our community. In contrast, in other communities, it's either completely chilling or just going, showing your token, and leaving.
Soldier: We actually have real conversations; we talk about things. We want to improve the world. And we're actively working towards those things. So it's that. And also we're nice to each other. I rarely see people, you know, bad-mouthing other members. And if that happens, we seem to push through it and get back to a healthy conversation.
So I think we are a very welcoming and friendly group of people. And we maintain this in our interactions, especially when we're trying to build partnerships or get different communities together.
Infi: Just hearing you guys speak makes me an even bigger fan of Cult. You guys work with a lot of integrity and with a genuine interest in the larger goal of furthering decentralization. Awesome. That brings me to my next question.
How do you quantify participation and contributions in the community? Participating in governance is one way. What else?
S0crates: Interesting question. I always want to encourage our members to not just show up and say good morning but actually come in and build something. Because that's the value of a DAO, right? In a DAO, no one has a position higher than another person. So anyone can come and share their ideas. And if one of them is great, we can improve it.
So talking about contribution, well, right now, we are actually on the path to setup up a new blockchain. We don't have a name yet, but it should be coming early next year. So we will be having the development of that blockchain and development upon that blockchain. We will run a contest to crowdsource ideas and then crowdsource recommendations for who can go and build those specific things.
Infi: We echo that sentiment at rep3. Someone showing up and saying gm every day does not count as a contribution at all. It is a light form of participation at best.
So what are some ways complete beginners can enter the Cult ecosystem? In fact, how do most people enter the Cult ecosystem? The blockchain, I'm sure, is something that comes in the equation a little later.
S0crates: Yeah so mostly people find us on Twitter. That's where they start from. One of our founders, Artorius, is a really nice guy, and he's also really active everywhere. So if you have a technical question and post it on Twitter or Discord, you'll get a reply fairly quickly. So that attracts a lot of people.
Then we have another head dev called Mr. O. These are both anon developers. And Mr. O has a very, very interesting Twitter account. His posts have attracted an audience of ten thousand followers, so his feed is another way people get introduced to the DAO.
Then we've got our Twitter. So the funnel works like this – people first come across Mr. O, then they go to our Twitter, and then they come to our Discord server. And then, when they say hello, they're always greeted by enthusiastic members, which really seals their interest in Cult DAO.
Infi: Got it. We're about two-thirds of the way through, so now's the time for the final question. How are you planning on using rep3 in Cult DAO?
We all know what rep3 can do. For those who are unaware, rep3 is basically your ticket to a smoother DAO life. It makes finishing all your organizational and management tasks a breeze so you can actually focus on what matters.
S0crates, you have something to say to that?
S0crates: So what I see is that rep3 is a tool for both the user and the coordinators in Cult DAO. So from the user's perspective, it gamifies their engagement. One of the things that we are trying to track is voting on proposals. So, say, if they vote on two proposals, then they'll be level one, and then they vote on four, they're level two, you know, and that makes it kind of fun.
Another thing we're gonna try to implement is that if they don't vote on a couple proposals, they go down a level. So this gamifies their interaction with the DAO, which is really exciting. And not just voting; it's also things like staking, right? One of the amazing things about rep3 is that you have these visuals that change based on these on-chain metrics.
So the user levels up for the sake of "number going up" and their NFTs visually changing. But that's on the user side. Conversely, we can use these NFTs to verify members for certain things.
So, say, if we're going to do an airdrop, then we can just see who has the NFT at a certain level, and then that'll qualify those members for the airdrop. What do you think, Soldier? What else would we use it for?
Soldier: Yeah, I totally agree with you. There are a lot of use cases when you think about it. So I think there also could be a use-case in combination with a service like Lunar Crush and awarding people who are really engaging on Twitter, bragging about us. They could perhaps get an NFT that changes with their levels of engagement. Then we can do something for the guardians and gamify it for them.
It's fun to encourage engagement and governance, isn't it? We also have a workshop where people share their ideas, so you never know. We may have something interesting come out from there.
Infi: Alright. Well, Soldier and S0crates, that brings us to the end of our conversation. Before we wrap up, is there anyone you would like to give a shout out to? Perhaps someone in the Cult community, or a project you're involved in, or one of your investments.
S0crates: I always want to give a shout-out to Artorius. He's amazing. We love Mr. O as well. But I have had more personal interactions with one of our main developers, Artorius, so yeah, shout out to you, man!
Soldier: It's a big day for WISTAVERSE, a project I'm on the team of, and it's a Cult investment. Also, we will be working with you because we love your governance system. So I'd give a shout out to WISTAVERSE and the rep3 team!
Infi: Alright, perfect!
So that brings us to the end of the seventh episode of Coffee Conversations. Today, we hosted S0crates and Solder from Cult DAO. We explored what Cult DAO does, what makes it tick, and how it operates. We also discussed ways to get involved with their highly engaged community.
The short answer is -- just show up to their Discord serverand say hi!
Thank you once again, Soldier and S0crates, for taking out the time and hopping on a Space with us. It was a pleasure hosting you, and we're really looking forward to our partnership.
Soldier: Shout out to spacemoney. I don't want to forget him! He's been smashing it for rep3, working with Cult, and doing some great stuff. And thank you for having us on today. Bye-bye!
Infi: For those in the audience, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'll see you all next time! Till then, stay safe and work hard.
Did we pique your interest? If yes, visit our website to learn more, or book a demo to see rep3 in action!