Samy

I don't like FUD being spread about @Polkadot usually I don't address it and rather prefer working in the shadows to fix things but apparently there's a bunch of people having concerns and not feeling comfortable to speak freely So, let me address some concerns we all have so you don't have to feel alone and my thoughts on how they can/are being flipped around (there's a lot of work going into this already) -- 1. DOT price - yes, it's down like 93% since ATH. Not sure I have to say this but obviously nobody likes that. How do we fix it? Well, we need buy demand (shocker, I know.) Decreasing supply simply isn't gonna cut it tbh. How do we create this demand? > OTC deals get large VCs, pension funds, EAMs, Familiy Offices in with a lock and a discount + we need the cabal to join. How? Become friends with cabal. Why? 1. Owning DOT at favourable terms would be financially lucrative for them, and would also align incentives, since they want to make profit and therefore support DOT going up. Leveraging networks etc. 2. Because crypto is a highly political game. If you're not playing ball with the cabal you will not be a poster child. As simple as that. This means, favourable terms, building strong relationships with Founders of CEXs, Stablecoins, VCs, MMs, large Protocols, and key KOLs. It's not utility that drives the narrative, but the cabal. If you don't agree, you don't know how crypto works. > Narrative Show how we will succeed, when we expect it to happen and actionable items we are pursuing to achieve it. Don't just show a tech roadmap - focus on highlighting where value is created and how. Oh, and tokenomics that make sense - don't just rely on coretime sales. > Communication Talk to stakeholders, listen to their concerns, show progress and willingness to adapt. Leadership! Oh and be nice! 2. OpenGov - quite a substantial experiment and definitely interesting to observe. I personally think it showcased how important quality leadership is and how most people can't budget right. Then again, incentives are misaligned so who can blame them. It was fun, but probably time to take a step back and re-assess how it should be structured, if at all. > Oversight the experiment is monitored and new fixes like DVs and similar are implemented on the regular. The question is, should it keep going? (treasury spending specifically) > Dependency If we want to mature as an ecosystem, we need to incentivize businesses and initiatives coming to the treasury to become self-sustainable. > Budgeting some of you are outright retarded with the amounts you request lol. Negotiate prices - I know of multiple instances where campaigns and events requested higher prices because it has made the round that the polkadot treasury will always pay higher prices. Be reasonable - don't grift. 3. Decentralization - I understand the OG web3 urge to make sure everything is decentralized. I really do. But let's all agree to first build a solid foundation (specifically in non-tech areas), leading us towards success rather than decentralizing for the sake of it. > Principles/Pride Sometimes it's better to be successful than to be right. What are others doing that work? How can we copy it? Once it works, how can we make it more decentralized without compromising efficiency? Be humble, not cocky. > Coordination There's really no point in having 6 teams reach out to the same stakeholders or 3rd party providers. This can only be resolved by overarching leadership and hierarchy. Otherwise we just fund too many initiatives that do the same thing. Incentive alignment is also key - if you make us money, you should make money. (specifically for BD and sales roles) If you work in any of those functions and are not edging to make money, you should consider changing job. 4. Lack of users - Look...yes, you need products to attract users. But I also strongly believe users start with branding and community building. For too many years we've been perceived as arrogant and too technical - excluding the mass market. Yes, hackathons are great and onboarding devs via PBA is nice. But they're not users. > Sometimes you just need people to like you. That's how you do sales, regardless if it's retail or institutional players. Make them like you → become friends → do business. Aka, we need more likeable people - not "know it all's" to attract community, aka users, aka investors. > Users follow price action, not the other way around. 5. Priorities - Now, since most vocal people in the ecosystem tend to be PHD level devs, which is great, phd devs = gud devs, but also means we end up focusing on tech. (duh) > However, the CTO should never be the CEO. Because they have 2 fundamentally different roles and responsibilities. The CTO pushes boundaries, researching, putting pieces together, envisioning the complete product and it's possibilities. The CEO needs to deliver on the vision, manage stakeholders, make sure he can mobilize resources and keep the CTO in check (usually has a tendency to get lost in a topic, rather than being focused on shipping fast). > Why am I saying this? Because that's what we're missing - accountability, leadership and a clear path towards success. Not building something because we can, but because there is demand and a clear path towards profitability. We need a CEO that's vocal and public! --- Look, there's a lot of work ahead to make Polkadot successful and I'm not gonna pretend like it's gonna be easy breezy. But I'm confident that step by step we'll get there if we position the right people in the right place with the right resources. For this to happen we just need to collectively accept the flaws and move away from decentralization and towards accountability. This is not a charity - it's a business. I'm happy to see that there's a lot of new and exciting initiatives on the BD, IR and Financial Structuring side addressing those exact problems. It's not like nothing is happening - you just haven't seen the fruits of it yet. New players, fresh capital leveraging our solid tech foundation to attract builders. On the community side we need a culture change. We need to be welcoming and humble - let's compliment others, become friends and eventually join efforts. It's a journey which requires collective effort - step by step. MPGA Thank you for your attention to this matter!