[BIP-149] Funding Proposal for Silverlight Labs - REVISED

Governance General Proposal
1

Balancer has a vision to be a platform for other projects to build on. In pursuit of this goal, the core contributors have implemented a sophisticated technical architecture, an easy-to-use SDK for integrations, and have created custom AMM pools to demonstrate the potential of the Balancer v2 framework.

Balancer would benefit from product and project management. I would like to help develop and refine the value proposition for developers & token projects. And help service provider organizations / Blabs collaboratively deliver results.

I propose a 3-month assignment to provide a research report to inform the platform strategy and develop a project management framework that I will actively manage with Balancer Labs & SP orgs.

Strategy research report

Balancer would benefit from having a detailed understanding of the needs and challenges of web3 developers and projects that could benefit from Balancer technology. A report will seek to answer the following questions:

  • Market analysis
    • What types of projects/companies/DAOs are expected to be built using defi primitives?
    • Who are the target projects for Balancer? What products are they building for users?
  • Customer needs
    • What are the unique needs of stablecoin issuers? AMM designers? Lending markets?
    • What will drive needs and what are the factors that could change expectations?
  • Value proposition opportunities
    • In addition to an SDK, what other features could differentiate Balancer as a platform for defi developers?
    • What pricing models should be considered when partnering / co-launching products with other protocols?

Note: The above list of questions is indicative and could be revised based on discussions with Balancer contributors.

Project management & reporting framework

Contribution to the Balancer protocol has scaled into several service provider organizations and partner projects. Service provider organizations have highlighted the need for closer coordination and project management. As part of this assignment, I will take an active role in cross SP project management and define an operating framework that can guide Balancer projects. Activities include the following:

  • Partner effectively with other service provider orgs to accelerate Balancer projects and product development to define the planning & execution process.
  • Develop by week and by month project management and reporting framework.
  • Review metrics and reporting reports and recommend improvements.

Duration & Costs

2500 BAL paid at the beginning of each month (3)

5000 BAL locked into veBAL for 1-year

Expenses up to $5k USDC, which will be submitted and reviewed by * @ZenDragon & @burns

Wallet address: 0x145a806E81Ea58087bB5e6165324E57Dababc66a

Contact Information:

Name: Andrew Forman

https://twitter.com/andrew_forman

Discord: Andy 4pool#2486

Specification:
If Approved send 7500 BAL and 5000 USDC to the Grants Multisig at 0xE2c91f3409Ad6d8cE3a2E2eb330790398CB23597
Send 5000 BAL to Andy at 0x145a806E81Ea58087bB5e6165324E57Dababc66a

Upon confirmation that the 5000 BAL has been max locked in veBAL, the grants team would distribute 2500 BAL for the first month’s payment and proceed with distributing 2500 BAL per month for the next two months.

Any expenses incurred by Andy would be submitted to Grants who would disperse USDC to Andy as needed. Any unused USDC at the end of this engagement would be returned to the treasury by grants team.

3 Likes
2

small clarification, it will not be me reviewing any expenses but rather the grants team, assuming they’re open to handling that (@ZenDragon @burns)

in terms of movement of funds, what will happen if this is approved is the following:

7500 BAL & 5000 USDC will be sent to the Grants multisig
5000 BAL will be sent to Andy at the wallet address provided

Upon confirmation that the 5000 BAL has been max locked in veBAL, the grants team would distribute 2500 BAL for the first month’s payment and proceed with distributing 2500 BAL per month for the next two months.

Any expenses incurred by Andy would be submitted to Grants who would disperse USDC to Andy as needed. Any unused USDC at the end of this engagement would be returned to the treasury by grants team.

1 Like
3

This approach is as frictionless / straightforward as we can make it so this is fine with me. Andy can work with us and we can post here in comments as to when expenses are incurred, similar to Fjord. No need to apply for a grant for these expenditures as long as we track imo.

3 Likes
4

Since it is only a 3-month task, we are happy to support this and evaluate the success of this after but would like to see a reduction in cost. I see a need for this, but as a team of one person, the cost for 3 months of work totals $67.5k (Bal at $5, I reduced it from the current 5.50) - 3 months, lock up, and expenses.

I appreciate that we have to spend money to get quality, but I assume you know that the treasury isn’t that large, and it might be suitable to reduce your costs.

1 Like
5

Hi Bobbay. Correct, the compensation structure was updated to be 100% in BAL, which introduces BAL price risk to the contributor but is more advantageous for the DAO. I am looking at the one-year lock-up as something that is longer term and would be factored into future compensation proposals (ie. next quarter). My understanding of the treasury situation is that there is currently about 4.8 million BAL (~$32 million) available to support DAO runway

6

Fair enough, since the lock-up is a one-off, I am happy to support it! appreciate the clarification.

7

Thanks for reassessing the proposal @Andy4man… imo, we should be able to tinker with our DAO revenue streams not to market sell the BAL and preserve our reserves, specially considering the all-time lower points and future USD payments already committed. I appreciate your willing to get compensation in (locked) BAL, showing your commitment to work for Balancer.

1 Like
8

I have to agree with others that this proposal is much more in line with the current landscape.

I will abstain from voting as stated previously but signal support for this revised proposal.

9

Echoing Zen Dragon, no problem grants coordinating payments and updates.

As for timing of payments, I am generally not a supporter of payments prior to completion of deliverables. Intentions always begin well but it leaves the risk with the DAO when the engagement comes to an end, relying only on the goodwill of the entity to see out their deliverables at the quality expected. I’m sure you have no intention of doing this as your reputation is worth more than 2500 BAL and you plan on making this a long term commitment, but I think it’s prudent for us to request this especially for a first time engagement.

Also, could you give some examples of planned and potential expenses that would be deemed over and above the compensation proposed?

10

@Andy4man To prepare this BIP for snapshot I have edited to to add a specification section that discusses how this grant should be processed on chain to the bottom of your Forum post. Can you please just confirm that this is what you expect?

Further, here is a PR for a Multisig Payload for the DAO Multlsig 0x10A19e7eE7d7F8a52822f6817de8ea18204F2e4f

1 Like
11

Re payments- I structured it in a way to keep myself motivated and engaged throughout the 3-months. In the event of disruption or changes I would expect that we would have a conversation about what is fair and how to handle any outstanding payments. As you correctly pointed out I’m not planning to run-away, and that Balancer is trying to have more SP feel comfortable supporting the DAO. Let me know if you have specific concerns, glad to talk about how we can address them.

Re expenses- Looking at this part as standard, as-needed line item. During a project things can come up like need for travel, tech costs, expert third-parties, etc. I don’t have planned expenses which is why I asked for the Balancer Maxis to be in a review position to protect the DAO’s best interests.

12

It all looks fine to me. I just changed your original post to be a bit more specific and wanted to confirm it was in line with your expectations as the OP of the BIP.

1 Like
13

https://snapshot.org/#/balancer.eth/proposal/0xd4b02e3fcd026e0c75756238093223b06e58961150a5d9f40bbd321221aca1ad

14

Hi all. Want to provide an update to the community. This proposal was voted down in governance. I received constructive feedback from various delegates and believe there was a path to resubmitting for a vote. However during the intervening weeks I began work with a few friends on a new app that we hope to bring a lot of new users to crypto and defi. I’m taking a pause on this proposal while I focus on that project. I hope to stay involved in the Balancer community and remain open to collaborating with the DAO in the future.

1 Like