Proposal

I. Introduction

This proposal outlines an internship opportunity for me to collaborate with Autonomy, a technology company specializing in conceptual graphing. The internship aims to leverage Autonomy's innovative platform, Dryad, to enhance organizational governance and operations. The focus will be on researching decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and identifying opportunities for improving their accounting practices, systems, and tools. This internship will provide invaluable real-world knowledge and prepare me for professional success.

II. Background on Autonomy and DAOs

Autonomy has developed a conceptual graphing technology, Dryad, which visually models semantic relationships between words and concepts. This allows for the mapping of complex organizational information in a machine-readable yet human-understandable way. Autonomy sees potential in applying Dryad's graphing system to enhance governance, decision-making, incentives, and operational systems within DAOs.

DAOs are member-governed organizations operating on the blockchain through smart contracts. They face challenges in tracking funds, reporting finances, implementing governance policies, and other operational aspects. This internship presents an opportunity to analyze DAO systems and find innovative solutions.

III. Internship Objectives

This internship has the following core objectives:

  1. Conduct comprehensive research on prominent DAOs, examining their current tools, governance structures, pain points, and needs.
  2. Engage with 5-10 diverse and innovative DAOs through informational interviews to identify challenges and gather insights.
  3. Analyze findings from the DAO interviews to identify areas for improvement in accounting, systems, incentives, governance, and other operational aspects.
  4. Synthesize the research into a summary report highlighting the top recommended applications of Dryad's technology to address the identified priority issues.

IV. Internship Activities

The internship will be divided into four major phases:

  1. Background research: Review materials provided by Autonomy on Dryad's conceptual graphing technology and its applications. Research various DAO structures, tools, and pain points.
  2. User research: Develop customized DAO interview guides informed by Dryad's capabilities. Conduct one-hour interviews focused on governance, incentives, accounting, and system needs.
  3. Analysis: Extract findings from the DAO interviews, identifying potential applications of Dryad to address accounting, governance, incentives, communication, and system-related challenges.
  4. Reporting: Synthesize the research findings into a comprehensive report summarizing the recommended applications of Dryad's technology to address the priority issues identified in the analysis.

V. Timeline and Deliverables

The internship will span a period of 12 weeks, with the following milestones and deliverables: