YIP-59: Full-time Contributor Request: Ross

The last few months that I have spent working part time for YAM have been great and I would love the opportunity to expand my role within the DAO.

Biography

I am an architect (buildings) who has worked on projects of many different scales on both the design and construction sides of the industry. And while this may seem like it is not relevant to the work of building a DAO, it has a number of parallels where I believe I can add unique value (See "why" below). I discovered crypto in 2017 and have been active within the DeFi space for about a year. I would consider myself highly versed in the workings of the Ethereum ecosystem, and while I am not a developer, I have a broad knowledge of many projects, with a particular interest in crypto-economics.

Current Role

My current role in the DAO is a bit amorphous. As described in the initial compensation plan my role focuses on “strategy” with specific roles being discord moderation, strategy discussion, and SubDAO token sales, with an expected time commitment of 10 hrs/wk.

In the time since that proposal I have done work for the DAO in a number of different areas:

• Governance analysis and proposed reforms
• Work on UMA synths and the YAM collateral and price identifier Umips
• Ideation and discussion around Degenerative economics and potential token design.
• Contributed to numerous conversations about overall DAO strategy as well as strategy around specific sub-projects
• Business development leads for DaoHouse
• Moderated both discord and the forums
• Developed a number of out-there ideas including AYM: a Yam Built Stablecoin as well as a long analysis of our pre-rebase token model that I’m pretty sure no one read.

The time is ripe for me to part ways with my previous job working for an architecture firm and come jump into Crypto and DeFi full time. Below, I want to lay out why I think I am a good fit to contribute in an expanded role at YAM and how I would do so.

Why?

As many have mentioned before, YAM is a great story of rags, riches, and a phoenix risen from the ashes. It is a community of diverse contributors and smart cookies. What we are building is hard to nail down. YAM isn’t one thing, but a loose collection of ideas and projects that are all housed under one umbrella. This is what I love about it. It is not limited by some mandate or assumption of what it should be, but by what we choose to make it.

Building YAM is a bit like designing and building a house. There are lots of different pieces that all have their own requirements but in the end need to work together to make a cohesive and well functioning whole. This is often called composability, and it is what I love about architecture and it is also what I love about YAM, and Defi in general. There are many different elements that all need to be understood so that they can then be fit together to become more than a sum of their parts. I want to help YAM become more than the sum of its parts.

How?

So how can we do that? I realize that the aspirational stuff I wrote above only works if we can get the individual components working well. That is where I will start.

• Degenerative.finance: I would like to take a larger role and help steward our new synths forward. I do not have the financial chops of some of the gurus around like Jono (TheVDM1) and Theo but I have a good sense of how UMA works and would be interested in diving in more. I can help coordinate turning the financial ideas that we have into working synths and assist with the marketing and messaging of them.

• Umbrella: As we gear up to launch Umbrella there seem to be a number of outstanding questions regarding how we want to position it in the market as well as optimize it for the target audience we choose. I would like to take on the challenge of diving into the protocol and working with the developers to better understand the inner workings of it and help to determine how we can make it a successful product. This will require working alongside Theo and Bruce to create a product that is beautiful and functional.

• Yam Factory: This would take lower priority compared to the above 2 roles. The Yam Factory is still just an idea. It needs to be fleshed out with ideation and documentation about what it is and how it may function. If we are going to fund and incubate projects, we need to first be able to communicate to potential builders how we can do that. I would like to work on a framework and documentation around the YAM factory that lays out an MVP for it. Some work on this has been done and it will need to be dug up and considered based on what we have learned recently with Degenerative and Umbrella.

• Overall Strategy: As a small and flexible organization, it helps to be able to wear many hats. And while I may focus a majority of my time on Degenerative and Umbrella, it is still important to keep the whole picture in mind. As I mentioned above, I want to help YAM become more than the sum of its parts.

  • In that spirit, I plan to stay abreast of everything that is happening in the DAO and look for ways that we can create synergies within our products but also with other protocols.
  • I will use the connections that I have within the space to search for new opportunities for YAM.
  • Continue to think hard about YAM and SubDAO tokenomics.
  • Research new projects and opportunities, including layer 2 solutions for our products.
  • Jump in to help with whatever is needed when deadlines loom, and hopefully use some of my design skills to help out our talented design team when needed.
  • Continue to propose crazy ideas in the hope that one day one of them won’t be as crazy as it sounds.

Requested Compensation: Yam Streamed Over 3 Month Period

Maintain existing pay of 1250 YAM BoU per month (3125 $YAM) Add 30hrs/week pay at $6000/month. 1/2 in YAM based on 30 day TWAP, 1/2 in yUSD

Final Words

I am committed to making interesting and beautiful things and see an opportunity to do that with YAM. I look forward to working to diligently work at making YAM a powerhouse in the DeFi space with a unique value proposition and robust and vibrant community.