How To Summon a DAO

Summon a Dao

Summoning a DAO is pretty easy. And by easy we mean the three step webform found here. Most users should stick to this simple form, but we do have some ways to get fancier with your DAO.

The 1…2…3’s of DAO summoning

Step 1: DAO Type…

The first step is to choose the type of DAO you want to form. We’ve created a selection of the most common types of DAOs. Each type of DAO comes with some presets for the type of currency the DAO should use along with standard voting and grace periods that we think make sense for that particular type of DAO (don’t worry you can change these).

The standard types of DAOs are:

  • Grants - collect funds and give them out to deserving recipients
  • Ventures - raise a pool of funds from members and then make investments in DAI or ETH in exchange for a project’s tokens.
  • Guilds - band together with other professionals to coordinate on projects and share the bounties from clients.
  • Clubs - plan and pay for activities with old friends and new friends.
  • Nonprofits - raise money from donors to support a cause.
  • Products - gather resources to build a new product.

Step 2: Give the DAO Some Character…

Choose a name for the DAO and describe (briefly) it’s mission, purpose, manifesto, whatever. If this is the hardest part of summoning, you’re definitely doing something right.

Step 3: Check yourself…

Check the presets (and that the DAO name and description) are all good. We’ll get into what each of the presets means in more detail below. If one of the presets doesn’t make sense for your community you can change them just by editing the colored text.

When you’re ready. Hit the “summon button” which will start the process of creating your DAO. You’ll likely see MetaMask or another wallet provider pop up to ask for you to approve the transaction and pay the gas fees to create your new DAO. If you’re an Ethereum n00b, this is a totally normal part of the process.

Step 3 ½: Boost your DAO and deploy your DAO interface…

While DAOhaus is building your DAO, you can check out some of the boosts packages you can buy to make your DAO more awesome. We’ll talk more about boosts later (and you can always buy boosts post-summoning).

As soon as your DAO is built, you’ll need to deploy a DAO interface. This will be the front-end site for interacting with your new DAO smart contracts. This will require authorizing another transaction via your Web3 wallet (it’ll be a lot cheaper this time).

That’s it. Now comes the hard part…building a successful magical internet community.

Hard Mode

We’ve built in a Hard Mode for those DAO experts out there who know exactly what they want. Via Hard Mode you can additionally toggle between Moloch v1 and v2, pick a non-standard ERC-20 as your deposit token, and set your own period duration.

If you really want to get into the weeds and need some help designing and picking the right form for your DAO, the experts at DAOshop are also here to help. A consultation starts at 200 $DAI, but for DAOs planning on legal wrappers or large token holdings, that can be a bargain.