Why we rebranded YAP DAO to Story Guild to take our Service DAO to the next stage of growth
In July 2021 during EthCC[4], myself and three other members of the YAP Global team, an international PR and communications firm supporting emerging crypto and Web3 clients, launched YAP DAO. It was started because the web3 industry was lacking communicators, marketers, content creators, and social media managers among other non-technical roles, and we wanted to build a community.
The ecosystem at the time needed more facilitators who provide guidance on how to shape discourse in an effective and productive way, or risk becoming an echo chamber that the mainstream world may never understand.
When we launched YAP DAO we were the first Service DAO to specialize in Public Relations, providing projects with communication, writing, and earned media support. By using a Service-based model for our DAO, we were profitable from day-one of launch, and we were able to earn clients stories in media publications and advise on brand messaging.
This week we announced our rebrand with a new name, Story Guild, as well as a new results-based model for servicing projects in the space.
Just like traditional agencies, measuring success can be challenging, and promising results on deliverables without using paid placements can be brutal in the media landscape.
We are experimenting with a results-based model, where a combination of fixed and tiered components will ensure better alignment of expectations between the DAO and our clients we service.
Without the recurring expenses of retaining employees, paying for office space, and other costly aspects of running a traditional business, we can incentivize members by letting them keep the majority of profit they earn on servicing projects.
Using a results-based model not only incentives the members doing the work, but it creates a wider sliding scale of services being offered, and prevents clients from being unhappy if their expectations are not aligned with the work being produced.
This model of matching talent with work, shifts the power dynamic into the hands of the community, and has been a successful premise for many past projects.
In 2017 Gitcoin launched Gitcoin Bounties, which was a forum for freelance developers to find projects they wanted to work on. By avoiding recruiters or websites like UpWork which take a significant percentage of the profit, developers from all over the world we’re able to contribute to meaningful projects and earn a living from the bounties they fulfill.
Our model at Story Guild is similar, however in a developer-heavy landscape, the decision to form as a Service DAO not only widens the reach of projects we can work with, but it creates a fruitful community of non-technical writers and PR professionals all passionate about translating the Web3 narrative.
All decisions within our DAO are proposed and voted on by members, and the lack of hierarchical structure creates room for creativity at the fringes of the future of internet-based work. Our mission at Story Guild is to redefine the future of collaborative work with transparency and efficient wealth distribution.
We will build on the success of YAP DAO, who in our first year serviced dozens of projects, earning placements across an array of crypto publications by helping translate technical jargon into impactful stories. Clients of YAP DAO have included DAOhaus, NFTB, PrimeDAO, Govrn, Pizza DAO, AP Wine, and more.
In the everchanging crypto landscape there are always new models and new ways to redistribute wealth.
We want to continue evolving as an organization and serve our community by holding true to core crypto philosophies of transparency and decentralization.
