One of the most popular shows in America is Shark Tank. For those somehow unfamiliar, the premise revolves around entrepreneurs sharing presentations about their products (almost entirely CPG) to a panel of five judges who also happen to be investors. Those “Sharks” then decide if they want to invest in the presenters’ companies. I’ve personally never watched an episode, but clips I’ve seen make me think that the terms usually end up poorly.
However, there have been some pretty notable success stories from Shark Tank. Companies like Bombas, Squatty Potty, and Scrub Daddy have each generated more than $160M in revenue individually. As a proud Bombas owner myself, I can vouch for the quality of the product. I am and was not a Shark at the time, so I missed my chance to invest in any and all of these products from the jump. But a different type of Shark has recently emerged that opens up a different kind of vehicle for investing, which I am a part of. I (probably) won’t get to hang out with someone like Mark Cuban though…
SharkDAO was created recently by a group of strangers on the internet who wanted to pool “together resources to acquire Nouns”. Nouns are maybe the most interesting NFT project out right now, in my opinion. Rather than a fixed amount (usually 10,000) created upon launch, like many other projects, the Nouns project will mint and auctions one character every single day forever. The proceeds from those auctions goes into a Nouns treasury for the Nouns DAO - a decentralized autonomous organization used to essentially manage the project. That Nouns DAO is governed by all of the NFT owners who have purchased a Noun through auction. All it takes is one Noun for a vote. A vote leads to governance over the Noun treasury. It's a fascinating and novel use case for DeFi (decentralized finance).
Back to SharkDAO. Since their inception a little over a month ago on August 9th, they’ve acquired 5 Nouns, 400 contributors (aka “Sharks”) and raised over 1000 ETH - which is hovering around $3M right now. That’s the size of a small venture fund. Per the SharkDAO site, the Shark contributors will help “build up a community that collects Nouns by steering their ecosystem as well as partnering with artists, developers, and other DAOs to create new experiences.”
To be a part of the Shark DAO, a Shark acquires Shark tokens, the governance token that allows Sharks to vote and steer the objectives of the DAO. Objectives include topics like how the money raised will be spent. Shark tokens are relatively easy to get as long as you have a crypto wallet with ETH. Once you contribute your ETH to the DAO, your information is registered and you have access to things like private discord channels, town halls, ad speculation, team contributions, and more. There are sign-ups where people can list their skillsets and how they want to contribute to the DAO. It’s a true masterclass in community building and has a role for anyone interested in the community. Anyone can bring anything to the table and it’s welcome. As a member of the DAO, we also have the opportunity to name Nouns and give them personalities. None of which would otherwise be possible unless I was a whale with tons and tons of ETH and owned my own Noun.
With Nouns being created daily, the possibilities for SharkDAO are close to limitless. Money coming into the DAO is reinvested accordingly, which can pay dividends to members. But what’’s maybe the best part is that it’s just a lot of fun to be a part of. It feels like starting a business, with different operational aspects being split out - development, tokenomics, and more. The DAO has a snowball effect as well. More artists and NFTS are able to get backing and promotion, which opens access to all democratically.
I joined SharkDAO because I appreciated what they were doing, wanted to join a DAO, and was excited by the Nouns project. As a bonus, which you can see in my tweet, they’re super nice and welcoming! But DAOs won’t just be limited to fandom of NFT projects. Think bigger. At some point a DAO could easily buy a sports team, or something else that attracts voracious fans. Mark Cuban, notable Shark Tank contributor, seems to think it’s possible. The appeal of ownership, governance, and community when it comes to fandom is significantly more powerful than transactional fandom.
We’re still in the early innings of DAOs (notice my sports cross reference there? There’s a theme). Six months from now the landscape will look completely different. Two years from now we might not even recognize what we consider a DAO today. They’re the enormous upgrade of Facebook Groups or Social Clubs that can both operate with financial strength and a sense of community with skin in the game. And that’s an understatement. Find one that resonates and join.