Applicant Information
- Name of Applicant & Applicant’s Representative (If applicable): Uhthred Of Bebbenburg
- Telegram Handle (if applicable): @Uhthred_B
- Twitter/X Handle (if applicable): x.com
- LinkedIn Profile (if applicable): Prasanth V. - proposals.app | LinkedIn
- The role being applied for (choose ONLY one):
- New Protocols and Ideas
Background & Skills
I hold an undergraduate degree in English Language & World History, and a Master’s in Politics & International Relations (specialization in middle eastern policy & conflict resolution) from a Russells group University. My trad-fi expertise is in private placement(analyst), financial advisory(licensed- private wealth) and investment banking(VP).
I began my web 3 journey three years ago researching decentralized governance as a full time vocation and has contributed to multiple DAOs (Deep Work (PoW), RnDAO (POW), Valley DAO (PoW), Lex DAO (PoW) and more)
Highlights of my web 3 journey:
- YC Startup school participant with a submission in DAO framework design - (PoW)
- Grant Winner, Governance- NEAR protocol Constitution Working Group
- Scholar, Arweave India Cohort 1
- Hackathon Winner, Arweave India Hacker house
- Co-founder- Baldr
- Co-founder- ProjectAthena
- Governance Analyst, NEAR Protocol (JD) -
- Speaker, Panelist, W3K Conference
- Governance Bounty, Arbitrum (proposals. app)
- Independent Researcher, ZKsync
- Speaker - Arbitrum (EThIndia 24)
Domain Related Experience and Vision
I am confident that I can transfer the following unique skills and experience I have acquired over my career to a potential DA mandate
Due Diligence playbook
I have experience conducting due diligence on the authenticity of founders, the competency of their execution, and examining the “founder-market” fit of a startup proposition. I am confident in my abilities to promise a demonstrable transfer of this playbook in the execution of my duties as a potential DA
Discovery Framework
I was VP of investment banking at a boutique advisory where I had P&L ownership for the startup capital raising vertical. I owned the “success-fee only” business model where mission success depended upon my ability to judge the scalability of an idea. I gained knowledge in the intricacies of discovery with regards to IP, market size, moat, founder-market fit and GTM strategies. I possess the knowledge, experience, and analytical skills to research a pitch deck, validate the arguments and develop an investment brief; all skills that are core to the success of a DA.
Public Market Exposure
I was a licensed private banker at IIFL Wealth with a US$ 10 mm book. I have knowledge, understanding, and experience selling most imaginable financial products (stocks, bonds, REITS, funds, margin financing, structure products) and am exposed to the nuances of trading instruments. If a CDO protocol applies for an MVP grant, it is comfortable within my skill sets to analyze, decide, and defend an investment thesis.
Vision
I strongly believe that defining an arbitrary range for “new protocols and ideas” is a counterproductive exercise. So instead my decision-making framework would depend on a proposition’s response to the following questions:
- What are you trying to do?
- Can you articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon?
- How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
- What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
- Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?
- What are the risks?
- How much will it cost?
- How long will it take?
- What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?
Grant related Experience
I do not have experience managing a Web 3 grants program. Instead, what I do possess is the ability to demonstrate such capability and pledge my commitment in the execution of such a potential DAO Mandate.
Framework Demo (PoW)
Objective
Choose 2 ideas to invest from a pool of 1362 projects that participated in the
Methodology
- Pull the list into a database
- Exclude all projects that were vague, duplicate, or had incomplete submissions
- Pick the first 100 based on
- size of market segment
- ease of understanding the business model,
- differentiation to market narratives
- successful Web 2 narratives and
- a whole lot of intuition (” Will I put my money into this”
- Quickly skim through project GitHub repos to measure the number of git commits and cadence (speed/ dedication to ship) and picked my top 100
- Ask the finale question - “If it was my money, which two projects would I invest in ?”
Pledge
If I receive this mandate, I pledge the following commitments:
Towards Founders
-
A turnaround time from application to decision in 2 weeks
-
Operational assistance in the onboarding process (KYC/KYB process streamlining)
-
A capital deployment signature to the multi-sig within 48 hours of confirmation
Towards the DAO
-
A transparent documentation of the selection process
-
A rationale thesis for every investment decision
-
MIS on the forum (every month)
-
Exclusivity of time and attention. I know this job requires a 100% full-time commitment, I pledge to make this my ONLY job, and ONLY source of income for the duration of this mandate.
Dealbreakers
These are the flags I shall look for in my elimination process
- Impersonation
- Idea Plagiarism
- Zombie GitHub repo history
- Concentrated deployment tranches(for example: if there are 2 milestones and the first tranche request is for 80% of the total ask, I would insist on the logic of this construct before accepting the risk)
- Premium invoicing (there is a discoverable market cost for almost everything- if an ask sounds premium, the proposition better defend this invoicing choice)
- “GTM first” use of funds- (If all the efforts are not towards getting an MVP out and identifying a scalable GTM, there better be explanations for this)
Declaration of Conflict of Interest
I have no conflicts of interest to declare in my submission
Presentation: Pitch