Core team transitions

[khori.eth]

gm frENS! I have a few core team member updates to share. Some of these announcements were already made but I want to put everything in one place.

Leadership Changes

Leon is now head of engineering, responsible for overseeing all our development activities. All development-related matters (whether they be protocol or frontend) should be directed to him.

Marta leads business development (inclusive of partnerships, collaborations, etc.). If you have any great ideas or connections to decision-makers at organizations you think would benefit from an integration or a collaboration, please connect with Marta.

Sadaf, as you know, is leading our marketing efforts but also oversees several other areas including support, events, and communications. As Sadaf builds out this function, in-house, please send ideas her way.

Eskender has joined ENS Labs full time and leads product and strategy. In addition, he’ll have a keen eye directed toward enhancing the developer experience along with his teammates Greg and Luc. Excited to see what he and the team bring to the ecosystem.

The OG developers (Nick, Jeff, and Makoto) are still working on ENS and aren’t going anywhere.

Other New Additions
Evan joined us as community manager. You can see him on a weekly basis on Twitter Spaces.

Avery joined full time as operations associate, working across the organization on everything from recruitment to project management.

Departures

We have two people who are leaving the core team and going on to bigger and better things, no doubt. We’re not saying goodbye, just “see you later”.

First, Alisha.eth will be stepping down from the core team this month. Alisha joined ENS Labs in 2021, and since then she has played a pivotal role in evolving ENS’ and the DAO’s governance structures while also acting as an excellent steward of the ENS community. Creative, focused, and knowledgeable, we all came to know Alisha by the passion for ENS projects that she exuded during her regular Twitter Spaces sessions and townhalls. While she will no longer work on the core team, we’re sure Alisha will continue to contribute for many years to come. We wish Alisha the very best good fortune and success with her future endeavors.

Second, Vincent (aka Zadok7.eth) has stepped down from the core team. Vincent has been involved in the ENS community for several years and joined the core team last fall. He has deep knowledge of the protocol and brought all of his knowledge to bear in helping .eth users and ENS developers onboard and effective leverage all that ENS can do. Vincent is a deep thinker, a great writer, and is as mission-driven as it gets. He has several ENS passion-projects he’s currently working on, and we wish him the very best as he ships those projects.

Closing

You will continue to see ENS Labs evolve over the coming months and years. While ENS Labs is primarily responsible for ENS today, remember, the goal is to continue down the path of decentralization; we must eventually fade into the background. Practically speaking, you’ll see progressively less involvement from ENS Labs in day-to-day ENS DAO operations. Alisha successfully set the ENS DAO up quite well to be self-sufficient and self-perpetuating. In addition, there is solid experience and leadership among the stewards. Now, it’s up to you to keep it moving. So frENS, please continue to step up, participate, and lead! Let’s show the world what a mission-driven DAO can do.

[Limes]

Thank you Alisha and Vincent for your contributions in making ENS what it is today! Best of luck on your future endeavors.

[Magnum.eth]

Alisha and Zadok thank you for your efforts and passion.
All the best in your future endeavors!

[dr3a.eth]

Wishing the best for Alisha and Vincent they have personally taught me so much about ENS and I appreciate all they have done!

[acadian.eth]

Alisha and Zadok, sad to see you both leave! I know your next endeavor will benefit greatly from your talents, wishing you both the best in the future!

[accessor.eth]

Alisha has provided the vision for ENS DAO core values from the ground up through many hours of community involvement as well as fostering cross-protocol professional partnerships. It’s been great to be involved and watch this project mature.

[3531]

@khori.eth

While ENS Labs is primarily responsible for ENS today, remember, the goal is to continue down the path of decentralization; we must eventually fade into the background.

This phrasing scares me a little bit because ENS Labs is doing all the development, innovation, and marketing. It isn’t until the next sentence that you reference the DAO. If you’re going to be less involved in the DAO, then fine. The DAO doesn’t really do anything other than give out money and vote on stuff for ENS Labs to do. If you were truly speaking broadly, that ENS Labs should fade into the background overall, I think that is a terrible idea.

I would much rather ENS Labs become more involved over time than become less involved. The DAO is not decentralized and should be the entity that is fading into the background over time. ENS needs strong leadership. A bunch of random airdrop recipients permanently etched in stone in 2021 accustomed to giving out free money as its primary responsibility isn’t going to carry ENS into the future.

[hidayath.eth]

@alisha.eth and @zadok7 I’m deeply grateful for everything you’ve done to assist us in achieving our mission and goals. Best wishes to Alisha and Vincent on their new journeys. We will miss you, but we also look forward to hearing about your future successes. Please stay in touch!

[meta8.eth]

Thanks for the updates here. Interesting times indeed!

I think they are going to be very much missed by the entire ENS community.

🫶🏼

Please can I ask a general question about the best way in which to contact Marta?

I have some news that might be a useful / different way of marketing ENS.

It would be awesome to touch base at least prior to me attending the Beeple Crypto Punk event later this month.

Thanks in advance

[TobesVibration]

Thanks for the update.

What I dont quite understand is why do you need two entities for ENS, I guess ENS labs is a centralised for profit Ltd Company and the DAO acts as a guiding hand for a Ltd company? It’s a strange setup, but maybe I just dont understand the complexities to why its like this.

Should ENS not be a foundation, and the Devs work for ENS DAO and all funds are directed to the DAO for management and “contributions” code word for wages Isn’t that how these public goods are meant to be run?

Lastly, you mentioned members of ENS Labs but didnt tag them, can you please provide contact details for said members so if we want we can contact them, in particular for me, Marta whats her contact details please?

I know its easy for us to criticise from the outside without proper understanding of why ENS is structured this way, but I never feel easy with tokenomics of such projects as they don’t align properly with a properly run DAO, the tokenomics make the democratic process unbalanced and present conflicts of interests when some parties have more to lose or gain than others, voting is not necessarily neutral and fair.

If ENS Labs are to fade into the background, the DAO must take over Development and all proceeds should go to the DAO, but how does the income to ENS labs fade into the background?

Legit questions, I hold a lot of ENS domains and TLD’s and many other digital assets in the decentralised DNS space, but I cannot lie and must say that I am confused as hell with ENS structure.

Grateful for any input Khori, and thanks for keeping us updated

edit, I guess this is Marta,

Not very active here!

[khori.eth]

@marta Here she is!

[khori.eth]

Hey @3531! I’m specifically talking about the DAO. Labs team members serve on the foundation board, serve as stewards, and directly manage/guide the DAO. Over time, I believe the core team should have less direct involvement in official positions/roles in the DAO - That’s all I meant. More opportunities for leaders like yourself to step up. Best believe ENS Labs is going to continue to build though, that’s not changing.

[accessor.eth]

@TobesVibration

why do you need two entities for ENS

ENS Labs and ENS DAO are different entities for good reason. It creates a structure in which can both work independently from each other but still co-habitate the same project. ENS Labs is a private company that contracts developers and other administration positions to build ENS as a product. ENS DAO votes to fund ENS Labs through earned income from registrations of ENS Names. The DAO collectively voted to fund the development of ENS. The last thing that developers need is to deal with is a loss of time and to worry about the bureaucracy of all the conversations and debates that are held here. As a developer, time doesn’t always reflect the output of value.

You can think of the ENS DAO as a funding mechanism for which it supports the development of ENS through various grants sizes, initiatives, fellowship programs as well as a scholarship. All of these forms of funding are voted on by delegates or when proposed is specifically outlined for stewards of the working groups to decide internally. Again, depends on the initiative and depends on the proposal(s).

There is not real definitive structure of what a DAO should be, each is different and have their own processes and ways on chain. Who would enforce a DAO standard, sort of bypasses the very reason for a DAO. DAOs are a canvas that paints with creative and ever evolving governance.

Try not to saturate yourself. Think about the core values and why ENS is in existence!