[Proposal #13] Working Capital for the Pro Shop

Summary: Use $200,000 from the treasury to use as working capital for the LinksDAO Pro Shop - purchasing inventory upfront and warehousing items centrally. We currently have drop-shipping arrangements with our vendors, but moving to a centralized supply chain model will create multiple benefits for LinksDAO members: lower prices, faster shipping times, more selection, the ability to process returns, and expanded international shipping capabilities.

Submitters: @cbruce Members: @BLL01, @Nick Walker, JenS Category: Grow the Brand

Funding Requested: $200,000

Motivation: Create a better pro shop experience for LinksDAO members, and a more professional e-commerce operation which will further grow the LinksDAO brand with non-members.

Detail of Proposal: $200,000 of the treasury would be converted from USDC to USD and sent to the LinksDAO bank account. These funds would be used for working capital for the pro shop - ie, to purchase inventory of pro shop items up front.

This will facilitate a move from our current arrangement, where we have items “drop shipped” from our vendors directly to the customer, to an arrangement where we centrally warehouse our inventory and control our own supply chain. This centralized approach will have many benefits for LinksDAO members and other purchasers of our merchandise:

• Lower prices through larger bulk ordering
• Faster shipping times because inventory will be available to ship immediately when ordered instead of being made to order and then shipped separately by each vendor
• Greater selection of brands because we previously were not able to work with vendors that didn’t support drop shipping
• Ability to return items because we have a centralized place to accept returns and a stock of common inventory
• Expanded international shipping because we will no longer be limited by our vendors’ shipping restrictions

The $200,000 amount accounts for our current sell through in the pro shop, and it would also accommodate the next pro shop drop that is currently being planned with some additional buffer, so this should be a sufficient amount. If passed, we plan to report on the use of these funds and inventory levels on a quarterly basis going forward.

These funds would not be used to pay contributors, just to fund the working capital of the pro shop operation. Because inventory would be held on an ongoing basis, we are proposing that this funding be utilized on an ongoing basis going forward - ie, the $200,000 will continually be used to stock our pro shop and will not be “paid back” to the treasury at any point. At the same time, there is only a one-time need to initiate this funding as it will not “run out” after the initial inventory sells through. If we determine that this system isn’t working, we could vote to unwind it and payback the funds to the treasury in the future.

A better run, more professional pro shop will enable a more efficient e-commerce operation, and as we sell merch to a broader audience these profits can be used to support the broader LinksDAO mission. (We plan to continue to offer members items at little to no margin, passing on the benefit of our partnerships to our members in the form of 20-40% discounts on average - but non member items are sold at a profit). Additionally, merchandise is a key lever to grow the LinksDAO brand and share our community with more golfers.

Effort: Minimal - the logistics of the transfer from treasury, conversion to USD and payment to suppliers would be the only effort (the operation of the pro shop takes more effort, but this proposal is only in regards to the use of funds for working capital) Expected Time Commitment: N/A Community Contribution Amount: N/A

Voting: Voting Yes = LinksDAO will transfer $200,000 from the treasury to an exchange, convert to USD, and pay suppliers for up to $200,000 of inventory to stock the pro shop. Voting No = No transfer would be made from the treasury. Voting to Abstain = Will add a vote to quorum requirement without choosing a side.

Quorum: 500 votes Duration: 48 Hours Resources: https://proshop.linksdao.io/