A relatively new approach to viewing DAOs is less of a focus on "the future of work", instead, viewing DAOs as their own brands or consumer products. The concept is notably followed (and maybe created) by Seed Club.
Check out this quick idea piece by DAO Strategist Evan Brown 👇
DAOs as brands is a fairly new concept but one that has been naturally evolving.
You can trace it back to 2021 when there were what has now become known as Special Purpose Acquisition DAOs. These DAOs were built essentially as a form of crowdfunding where groups raise money from the public to purchase an asset, think Spice DAO or Constitution DAO. Both organisations were built around purchasing a singular text with the community choosing how they would develop this asset afterwards.
Moving forward. Another step towards the concept of DAOs as Brands can be seen within Nouns DAO. The mission statement for Nouns is quite simple - "Nouns is a protocol for proliferating Nouns", it's what they call "The Nouns Virtuous Cycle".
Just as any brand's implicit goal is to grow its brand Nouns' goal is to grow the Nouns Brand. The power that DAOs have that traditional brands do not is community-driven idea generation. Each grant that Nouns have given is not a demand from an executive, instead, it is a community member that thinks through what proliferation means and delivers that meaning
The part of Nouns that might seem foreign to real-world brands is that NounsDAO itself is not receiving any ownership or residuals from the projects it funds. As the purpose of Nouns is not explicitly monetary gain, the ROI is from others learning about Nouns with the hope that some who learn about Nouns will follow suit and purchase a Noun. This can be argued as the core of crypto - tell your friend and hope they will buy.
There are other examples of "Brand" DAOs at play throughout the ecosystem. To name a few; LinksDAO is creating a golfing brand, CabinDAO is creating experiences around co-living/working, and @FWBtweets is creating a social brand.
All these DAOs as brands go back to the Nouns virtuous Cycle - DAOs create experiences that the public derives enjoyment from, which in turn makes them want to join and contribute to the DAO thus (hopefully) enlarging the treasury which is spent to grow the DAO (brand). Of course, that cycle is different from DAO to DAO. Some DAO brands will focus more on generating revenue through the sale of their products or experiences.
But, the baseline cycle that each DAO brand wants to create follows a similar pattern.
The natural evolution of DAOs will continue to steer a course towards non-hierarchical, worker-owned, self-governed, autonomous organisations. DAOs as Brands and Consumer Experiences might just be the catalyst for how many more are onboarded into the ideology and ecosystem
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