This story comes out of PubDAO, a decentralized news wire.

So you want to start a DAO? Why not? All the cool kids are doing it. Like “blockchain” and “DeFi” before it, DAOs have become a buzzword in the crypto industry.

And they’re raising money at a feverish clip. ConstitutionDAO raised just over $45 million in an attempt to buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution. More recently, FreeRossDAO raised $12 million to win the Ross Ulbricht NFT collection auction.

The technical process of starting a DAO is not incredibly difficult:

• Draft a mission statement.
• Spin up a Discord server.
• Invite people to join.
• Launch a governance token.
• Use Snapshot and other tools for voting and logging member contributions.

The hard part is scaling it.

“It’s extremely easy to launch a DAO,” said Eric Arsenault, head of ecosystem at NFT marketplace Rarible and a core contributor to Rarible DAO. “The harder aspects of launching a DAO are forming the cultural norms, processes, and accountability tools that are essential for success. Having a committed group of contributors is essential.” 

What is a DAO?

Let’s take a step back for anyone new to DAO-land. DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) are online groups that use smart contracts to manage member participation, voting, funding, and more. While traditional corporate structures resemble a tower, with a select few at the top and the majority in the middle or the bottom, DAOs spread out like a net and give all members a say in decision-making. 

The most famous (and now infamous) DAO, called The DAO, was built on Ethereum in 2016 and…