# DAOs, A Canon > What is (and isn’t) a DAO? Why do DAOs matter? How do DAOs fit into web3, crypto, the creator economy, future of work, and many other areas? Inspired by our NFT Canon earlier this year (and original Crypto Canon), we’ve culled the below list of resources for those seeking to understand, build, and o... - URL: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/dao-canon - Authors: [Sonal Chokshi](https://a16zcrypto.com/team/sonal-chokshi), Zoran Basich, [Guy Wuollet](https://a16zcrypto.com/team/guy-wuollet) - Published: 2021-11-20 - Updated: 2024-09-09 - Focus areas: tech trends - Tags: DAOs, governance, what we're reading, glossaries & terminology, how innovation happens --- What is (and isn’t) a DAO? Why do DAOs matter? How do DAOs fit into web3, crypto, the creator economy, future of work, and many other areas? Inspired by our [NFT Canon](https://future.com/nft-canon/) earlier this year (and original [Crypto Canon](https://a16z.com/2018/02/10/crypto-readings-resources/)), we’ve culled the below list of resources for those seeking to understand, build, and otherwise get involved with these “decentralized autonomous organizations” — which represent the future of community, coordination, work… and much, much more. If you have suggestions for quality pieces to add, let us know @[a16z](https://twitter.com/a16z). \*   \*   \* ### **Definitions; conceptual foundations, evolutions** **Why decentralization matters** — decentralized networks aren’t a silver bullet, but they offer a much better approach than centralized systems *by Chris Dixon* [https://cdixon.org/2018/02/18/why-decentralization-matters](https://cdixon.org/2018/02/18/why-decentralization-matters) **The meaning of decentralization** — one of the most frequently yet most poorly defined words; reasons for; three types of *by Vitalik Buterin* [https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274](https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274) **A glossary definition** — defining the “decentralized”, the “autonomous”, and “organization”, all enabled by blockchains *by Alex Pruden and Sonal Chokshi* [https://a16z.com/2019/11/08/crypto-glossary/](https://a16z.com/2019/11/08/crypto-glossary/) **Defining D, A, O** — organizations and DAOs as tools for coordinating human activity; going beyond organization to organism *by Philippe Honigman* [https://hackernoon.com/what-is-a-dao-c7e84aa1bd69](https://hackernoon.com/what-is-a-dao-c7e84aa1bd69) **D is for…, A is for…, O is for…** — what is a DAO? *by Aragon* [https://blog.aragon.org/what-is-a-dao/](https://blog.aragon.org/what-is-a-dao/) **DAOs defined: the big picture** — from traditional organization to internet-native organizations *by Aragon* [https://blog.aragon.org/a-dao-defined-the-big-picture/](https://blog.aragon.org/a-dao-defined-the-big-picture/) **‘Scissor labels’** — on narratives, incentives, and how terms can be divisive *by John Palmer* [https://j.mirror.xyz/RUeJfZEZxr-hkuzUCakQyUuf2kOJVMPPiAWBaQFhhqc](https://j.mirror.xyz/RUeJfZEZxr-hkuzUCakQyUuf2kOJVMPPiAWBaQFhhqc) **Terminology guide** — smart contracts, autonomous agents; decentralized applications, decentralized organizations, decentralized corporations *by Vitalik Buterin* [https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/05/06/daos-dacs-das-and-more-an-incomplete-terminology-guide/](https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/05/06/daos-dacs-das-and-more-an-incomplete-terminology-guide/) **Who will control the software that powers the internet?** — toward an internet governed by open, community-controlled services *by Chris Dixon* [https://www.wired.com/story/how-blockchain-can-wrest-the-internet-from-corporations/](https://www.wired.com/story/how-blockchain-can-wrest-the-internet-from-corporations/) **DAOs: a new organizational and governance paradigm** — a conceptual introduction *by Louis Grx* [https://medium.com/@LuigiGrx/2-2-daos-a-new-organizational-and-governance-paradigm-93e889df1b39](https://medium.com/@LuigiGrx/2-2-daos-a-new-organizational-and-governance-paradigm-93e889df1b39) **The successor of the ‘organization man’? The ‘blockchain man’** — on cooperation, a world without transaction costs, and “protocolism” *by Taylor Pearson* [https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/10/10/the-blockchain-man/](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/10/10/the-blockchain-man/) **On cryptocurrency communities** — how company building and cryptocurrency building are different *by Nick Tomaino* [https://thecontrol.co/on-cryptocurrency-communities-f592b5ce6b0b](https://thecontrol.co/on-cryptocurrency-communities-f592b5ce6b0b) **The slow death of the firm** — why do firms exist; making decentralized organizations more broadly adopted *by Nick Tomaino* [https://thecontrol.co/the-slow-death-of-the-firm-1bd6cc81286b](https://thecontrol.co/the-slow-death-of-the-firm-1bd6cc81286b) **Bootstrapping a decentralized autonomous corporation** — encoding a corporate mission statement into code *by Vitalik Buterin* [https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/bootstrapping-a-decentralized-autonomous-corporation-part-i-1379644274](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/bootstrapping-a-decentralized-autonomous-corporation-part-i-1379644274) **Companies, networks, crowds** \[a16z podcast\] — ‘The DAO’ vs. a DAO; automation, contingencies, smart contracts; will the firm go away? *with Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, Frank Chen, Sonal Chokshi* [https://future.com/podcasts/machine-platform-crowd/](https://future.com/podcasts/machine-platform-crowd/) **Past, present, future: From co-ops to cryptonetworks** — how cooperative governance can be both efficient yet representative *by Jesse Walden* [https://a16z.com/2019/03/02/cooperatives-cryptonetworks/](https://a16z.com/2019/03/02/cooperatives-cryptonetworks/) **On web3 and participatory governance** — policy frameworks for the third generation of the internet *by a16z Crypto* [https://a16z.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/How-to-Win-the-Future-1.pdf](https://a16z.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/How-to-Win-the-Future-1.pdf) **DAOs and legal questions** — on legitimacy, legal ramifications, and more *with Priyanka Desai and Aaron Wright* [https://modern.finance/episode/flamingo-dao/](https://modern.finance/episode/flamingo-dao/) **The rise of ‘Lex Cryptographia’** — a new subset of law for rules administered through self-executing smart contracts and DAOs *by Aaron Wright and Primavera de Filippi* [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract\_id=2580664](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2580664) ### **Overviews & guides** **A prehistory of DAOs** — defining a chimeric term; layers of; cooperatives, gaming guilds, and the networks to come *by Kei Kreutler* [https://gnosisguild.mirror.xyz/t4F5rItMw4-mlpLZf5JQhElbDfQ2JRVKAzEpanyxW1Q](https://gnosisguild.mirror.xyz/t4F5rItMw4-mlpLZf5JQhElbDfQ2JRVKAzEpanyxW1Q) **A beginner’s guide to DAOs** — definitions, mindsets, tools, examples *by Linda Xie* [https://linda.mirror.xyz/Vh8K4leCGEO06\_qSGx-vS5lvgUqhqkCz9ut81WwCP2o](https://linda.mirror.xyz/Vh8K4leCGEO06_qSGx-vS5lvgUqhqkCz9ut81WwCP2o) **The Dao of DAOs** — NFTs and DAOs; why DAO, how DAOs can be a source of competitive advantage; types of DAOs today and tomorrow; DAO lego kits *by Packy McCormick* [https://www.notboring.co/p/the-dao-of-daos](https://www.notboring.co/p/the-dao-of-daos) **DAOs, NFTs, and the new creator economy** — a DAO allows its creators, its support, its contributors, and its audience to be owners in the collective *by Jarrod Dicker, Brian Flynn, Patrick Rivera* [https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/03/04/nfts-daos-and-the-new-creator-economy/](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/03/04/nfts-daos-and-the-new-creator-economy/) **The ABCs of DAOs** — internet-native constitutions; how DAOs are automating the corporation, more *by Theodor Marcu* [https://1729.com/daos](https://1729.com/daos) **DAOs and the future of organizations online** — public goods on the internet; governing and funding projects *with Chris Dixon interviewed by Steven Johnson* [https://adjacentpossible.substack.com/p/lets-run-the-experiment-a-conversation](https://adjacentpossible.substack.com/p/lets-run-the-experiment-a-conversation) **DAO landscape** — different types and use cases of DAOs; how DAOs evolve *by Cooper Turley* [https://coopahtroopa.mirror.xyz/\_EDyn4cs9tDoOxNGZLfKL7JjLo5rGkkEfRa\_a-6VEWw](https://coopahtroopa.mirror.xyz/_EDyn4cs9tDoOxNGZLfKL7JjLo5rGkkEfRa_a-6VEWw) **Everything you need to know about DAOs** — a primer on how DAOs are working to collectively shape the new creative economy *by Foundation* [https://foundation.app/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-daos](https://foundation.app/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-daos) ### **DAO applications: communities, creators, future of work, cities, more** **15 ways the world is being transformed by DAOs** — doing for organizations what the internet did for communication *by Aragon* [https://blog.aragon.org/15-ways-the-world-is-being-transformed-by-daos/](https://blog.aragon.org/15-ways-the-world-is-being-transformed-by-daos/) **Community DAOs** — what makes a DAO a DAO; going from group chats to real businesses *by Patrick Rivera* [https://p.mirror.xyz/cVN3KOss0uqpZwxHQKtC4Syvn1RfXaxofFKHJuKLWS4](https://p.mirror.xyz/cVN3KOss0uqpZwxHQKtC4Syvn1RfXaxofFKHJuKLWS4) **Giving communities the power to bid** — pooling capital, fractional ownership, more *with John Palmer interviewed by Cooper Turley* [https://zine.zora.co/party-dao-interview](https://zine.zora.co/party-dao-interview) **‘Fantasy Hollywood’: Crypto and community-owned characters** — enabling communities to bring new characters and culture to the world *by Cuy Sheffield* [https://future.com/fantasy-hollywood-crypto-and-community-owned-characters/](https://future.com/fantasy-hollywood-crypto-and-community-owned-characters/) **DAOs and the promise of utopia in the music industry** — changing the way music and art move through its usual life cycles *by Resident Advisor* [https://ra.co/features/3914](https://ra.co/features/3914) **Why DAOs are essential to DeFi** — almost all major DeFi applications are now governed by DAOs *by James Beck, Mattison Asher* [https://consensys.net/blog/codefi/daos/](https://consensys.net/blog/codefi/daos/) **Minimum viable participation in crypto** — spectrum of participation from capital to earning one’s place at the table to participating in crypto *by Elena Burger* [https://future.com/minimum-viable-participation-in-crypto-games-costs-accessibility/](https://future.com/minimum-viable-participation-in-crypto-games-costs-accessibility/) **Squad wealth** — informal peer-to-peer institutions, role of trust in squad logic; theory of the squad; a new model of group coordination; can squads scale? *by Sam Hart, Toby Shorin, Laura Lotti* [https://otherinter.net/research/squad-wealth/](https://otherinter.net/research/squad-wealth/) **The future of work** — “you will probably work for a protocol someday”; from create-to-earn to judge-to-earn to participate-to-earn *by Stephen McKeon* [https://medium.com/collab-currency/the-future-of-work-5d7b47cff308](https://medium.com/collab-currency/the-future-of-work-5d7b47cff308) ### **…plus DAO stories** **From contemptuous to indifferent to curious to pretty damn excited: my journey to web3** — what if NPR Planet Money could have been reinvented with DAOs? *by Adam Davidson* [https://adamd.mirror.xyz/ef3BZjrJGk7bb1ElhVdz5AMWxEAN7GIOQhsXMKTmOWY](https://adamd.mirror.xyz/ef3BZjrJGk7bb1ElhVdz5AMWxEAN7GIOQhsXMKTmOWY) **ConstitutionDAO** — the great decentralized blockchain experiment *by Kate Irwin* [https://decrypt.co/86359/constitutiondao-hits-30m-ethereum-raised-one-day-before-sothebys-auction](https://decrypt.co/86359/constitutiondao-hits-30m-ethereum-raised-one-day-before-sothebys-auction) **Examples of DAOs for economic empowerment** — more easily organizing human and financial capital to invest in projects and people, enabled at scale *by SyndicateDAO* [https://syndicate.mirror.xyz/xeRR8PJUnGr-mUlwLJppFHe65WPpyyULFBiz89K1qfI](https://syndicate.mirror.xyz/xeRR8PJUnGr-mUlwLJppFHe65WPpyyULFBiz89K1qfI) **What is it like to join a DAO?** — experiences of the first four weeks of joining a DAO *by Shawn Cubbedge* [https://blog.aragon.org/what-is-it-like-to-join-a-dao/](https://blog.aragon.org/what-is-it-like-to-join-a-dao/) **Life of a ‘protocol politician’** — overseeing governance, making proposals, voting, more *by Cooper Turley* [https://bankless.ghost.io/the-life-of-a-protocol-politician/](https://bankless.ghost.io/the-life-of-a-protocol-politician/) ### **How-to’s & getting started with DAOs** **DAOs and creators** — resources to get started today from 101 to much more *by Kinjal Shah* [https://kinjal.mirror.xyz/eD3-Sgv2h50j-kwjHQCOnwqMKqSLTfnrqrtNypU-P5k](https://kinjal.mirror.xyz/eD3-Sgv2h50j-kwjHQCOnwqMKqSLTfnrqrtNypU-P5k) **How to DAO** — basics & answers for beginners *from Aragon* [https://blog.aragon.org/how-to-dao-answers-for-beginners/](https://blog.aragon.org/how-to-dao-answers-for-beginners/) **How to join a DAO** — why join, identifying goals, getting started *by William Peaster* [https://www.bankless.com/its-time-for-bankless-dao](https://www.bankless.com/its-time-for-bankless-dao) **How to build a DAO in three days** — the DAO stack and components, case study of ConstitutionDAO *by Packy McCormick* [https://www.notboring.co/p/lets-buy-the-us-constitution](https://www.notboring.co/p/lets-buy-the-us-constitution) ### **Building & participating in DAOs: mechanics, incentives, governance, legal, more** **Progressive decentralization: A playbook for building** — product-market fit, community participation, ownership; how to avoid getting stuck *by Jesse Walden* [https://a16z.com/2020/01/09/progressive-decentralization-crypto-product-management/](https://a16z.com/2020/01/09/progressive-decentralization-crypto-product-management/) **Come for the creator, stay for the economy** — go to market strategy and the three phases of creator mode, org mode, protocol economy *by Patrick Rivera* [https://p.mirror.xyz/1EpvJwUpx\_KlRcHOKLNqADEkwHL\_Z1ZYKobF2uLwgBg](https://p.mirror.xyz/1EpvJwUpx_KlRcHOKLNqADEkwHL_Z1ZYKobF2uLwgBg) **How to get paid by DAOs** — different ways to contribute to DAOs *by Lucas Campbell* [https://bankless.ghost.io/how-to-get-paid-by-daos/](https://bankless.ghost.io/how-to-get-paid-by-daos/) **Creator DAOs, web3, and incentives** — intertwining social and financial, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations,  from badging to tokens *by Jarrod Dicker, Jonathan Glick, Tal Sachar* [https://darkstar.mirror.xyz/Tf9IS6yNxtPXwC5mmfi\_UISe8v6BOfef2bDmQSxoJao](https://darkstar.mirror.xyz/Tf9IS6yNxtPXwC5mmfi_UISe8v6BOfef2bDmQSxoJao) **Building and running a DAO: Why governance matters** — development of financial incentives, how the mechanics matter, practical challenges *by Tarun Chitra* [https://future.com/building-and-running-a-dao-why-governance-matters/](https://future.com/building-and-running-a-dao-why-governance-matters/) **Moving beyond coin governance** — from Defi to ‘DeGov’, exploring the design space for governance; solutions to keeping voting and DAOs safe *by Vitalik Buterin* [https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/08/16/voting3.html](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/08/16/voting3.html) **How DAOs could approach treasury management** — functions to manage treasuries from spending and asset allocation to borrowing and reporting *by Shreyas Hariharan* https://bankless.ghost.io/how-daos-should-approach-treasury/ **Organization legos: The state of DAO tooling** — DeFi’s “money legos” have seen a Cambrian explosion, but “organization legos” are still in their infancy *by  Nichanan Kesonpat* [https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/organization-legos-the-state-of-dao-tooling-866b6879e93e](https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/organization-legos-the-state-of-dao-tooling-866b6879e93e) **How to grow decentralized communities: community building for token networks** — funnels that lead discoverers to being participators *by Peter Yuan Pan (pet3rpan)* [https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/how-to-grow-decentralized-communities-1bf1044924f8](https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/how-to-grow-decentralized-communities-1bf1044924f8) **How to assess new community building hires for token networks** — what matters, what doesn’t; questions to ask candidates; assessing track records *by Peter Yuan Pan (pet3rpan)* [https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/how-to-assess-new-community-building-hires-for-token-networks-a2672c07dd58](https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/how-to-assess-new-community-building-hires-for-token-networks-a2672c07dd58) **On-chain vote buying and ‘dark DAOs’** — security for blockchain voting; how to avoid decentralized cartels, opaque vote buying, more *by Phil Daian, Tyler Kell, Ian Miers, and Ari Juels* [https://hackingdistributed.com/2018/07/02/on-chain-vote-buying/](https://hackingdistributed.com/2018/07/02/on-chain-vote-buying/) **Voting, security, and governance in blockchains** \[a16z Podcast\] — voting in social systems (blockchains, boardrooms, elections); gaming mechanisms *with Phil Daian and Ali Yahya* [https://a16z.com/2019/02/09/voting-blockchains-governance-security-cryptoeconomics/](https://a16z.com/2019/02/09/voting-blockchains-governance-security-cryptoeconomics/) **A legal framework for DAOs** — on taxation, entity formation, and operational issues pertaining to decentralized autonomous organizations *by David Kerr and Miles Jennings* [https://a16z.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DAO-Legal-Framework-Jennings-Kerr10.19.21-Final.pdf](https://a16z.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DAO-Legal-Framework-Jennings-Kerr10.19.21-Final.pdf) *\*\*\** *The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. 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Full archive: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts