Unifying Arbitrum’s Mission, Vision, Purpose (MVP)

Proposals
6

gm - Thanks a lot Entropy for putting together this document. I agree that having three clear elements—Purpose, Mission, and Vision—will help the DAO define goals and actions for the next months and years.

After my private feedback, I’d like to publicly share some ideas as I feel strongly about them. I am confident they will be taken as constructive feedback rather than criticism.

I believe the MVP should be:

  • Unique to Arbitrum: In the proposed form, the MVP could be applied to any rollup stack—echoing @cp0x here. This was acceptable when the rollup technology was nascent and Arbitrum were pioneering it. It is now being commoditized, or at least looked at together with other components— our message must be different to survive and thrive.

  • Highlighting the key value proposition of Arbitrum: How can our unique values, approach to tech, and the way we see the on-chain world be transferred into the MVP?

  • Compelling and exciting for builders and users: The MVP should be able to answer the question: Why should I build on Arbitrum versus any other stack?

To be noted, I fully agree with all concepts expressed; I’m suggesting we tweak the way we express them, seeing technology as a means to a purpose (we are much more than a tech stack), and yet aligning with what I believe the Arbitrum core teams have expressed as values and technological roadmap.

Mission

“Bring…rollups to the masses.”

I believe this is too technology-focused.

If you look at other companies’ mission statements:

  • Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
  • Microsoft: To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
  • Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

There is no mention of the tech stack or algorithms. Technology should be a tool, not the goal. Our mission statement should focus on the impact and purpose, being timeless and resonating with a wider audience. What do we actually build for?

I believe the answer is Freedom, which has been already smartly used by other Arbitrum teams:

image
image1262×400 44.5 KB

Suggested mission statement:

We empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

  • From “compelling” to “freedom”
  • From “masses” to “people”
  • From a product (rollup) to an experience: building your best world (notice how this can apply to both builders and creators and users who create their own economy).
  • nicely fits Stylus, the Your Chain Your Rule approach of Orbit, and every other part of the tech.

Vision

Accelerate the universal shift onchain

I like the principle; I don’t this reflects a proper vision statement though, which should instead paint a picture of where we aspire to be in 5/10/20 years.

Suggested revision;

(We envision) Ethereum as the center of the onchain Universe, accessible to everyone through the best scaling technology and the most innovation-centric ecosystem

The message i’d like to convey:

  • If you want to build a app, and you align with Ethereum values, this is the best place to do it: it’s the best tech stack and it’s where innovation happens. It’s exciting! (See Arbitrum is the Home of Bulders, Arbitrum is the home of innovation).
  • If you are a user, you get access to the onchain world, Ethereum and the most innovative apps
  • We acknowledge that Ethereum will be a constellation of ecosystems (recalling the original “universal” term) - so it won’t be a one-chain-winner-takes-all). We want to enable a vision where Orbit chains fit and thrive.

Welcoming any feedback - I hope these elements can be incorporated - at least in part- in the final MVP.

5 Likes