Proposal: Hiring of Top-level Dash Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

[tungfa]

When a company adds talent to their team [or investors to their company], they don't usually refer to them as "outsiders". Each new person who buys a masternode is not an attacker, they're an investor who has an equal interest in increasing the value of that investment, and made that investment because they value the product.

Companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many others choose their base of operations in a location where they can attract top-level talent. You can't actually believe that adding an independent CMO hired directly by the MNOs is an attack, or do you? Does anyone else feel this way?

Core is doing great at R&D and nobody is talking about diminishing their role.

I cannot understand for the life of me why you and @tungfa have chosen to take this aggressive tone and position when all we've done is present an option that could potentially benefit the entire community. Can someone please explain this. Please explain it, perhaps someone in the "old guard" who shares this view.

there is no "aggressive" tone here - u must have misunderstood that !
we are trying to figure out what is going on
no offence but u have to understand how this "can " look from the outside
- somebody rushing in - starting new pages / big idea
- that newcomer has zero track record in community
- that newcomer is totally anonymous (nobody knows where he is coming from and what agenda he is running)
- newcomer trying to divert Governance from (trusted) dashcentral to their own page
- newcomer undermining community attempts to evaluate proposals with his own system (which until now is still unknown to me ? 1 person evaluates ? 1 opinion ? are u doing the evaluations yourself ? ....)

tbh
we have seen it all before - good and bad
and so (as of the 'bad') we have to be cautious with these kind of attempts as proposal evaluations were supposed to make it easier for MNO's, and now we have multiple pages with different opinions 'trying' to do the same thing ?
a newcomer 'undermining' a community effort never looks pretty in public - and obviously community (and their track record ) is trusted !

newcomers and their ideas are always welcome
but there is a way to do this 'right' as in any community you enter new and fresh
normally people bail;d up relations, engage , support before they start their own proposals or ideas .... rushing in and telling everybody what they are doing ' wrong ' and what you can do 'better' with no track record (or anything to back that up) will only raise eyebrows
(that is exactly where we are)

 

[Leonidas]

I agree with @tungfa .

I really like your ideas @dashdisciple. As an enthusiast, I would like to support you. But you cannot have it both ways. Being anonymous and having no reputation.

You strongly support anonimty from what I read on your website while many have asked you to reveal your identity regarding your official proposals.

Make no mistake, everybody here supports anonimity. Big contributors of Dash were anonymous during a long time and quite a few still are. But we do trust them because we know them, they have tracks. You don't...

That's why so many people ask to reveal your identity : that would be a fast track to gain trust from the community. If you don't want, I guess it will be the other way, spend some months here making contributions. But again, can't have it both ways.

 

[dashdisciple]

I agree with @tungfa .

I really like your ideas @dashdisciple. As an enthusiast, I would like to support you. But you cannot have it both ways. Being anonymous and having no reputation.

You strongly support anonimty from what I read on your website while many have asked you to reveal your identity regarding your official proposals.

Make no mistake, everybody here supports anonimity. Big contributors of Dash were anonymous during a long time and quite a few still are. But we do trust them because we know them, they have tracks. You don't...

That's why so many people ask to reveal your identity : that would be a fast track to gain trust from the community. If you don't want, I guess it will be the other way, spend some months here making contributions. But again, can't have it both ways.

Thanks very much for that explanation, Leonidas. I understand it, and I approve of the community's caution. I hadn't realized that the community had suffered betrayals in the past, but that's been made clear to me by several old timers, now. I appreciate that.


I'm in a bit of a pickle, because I am the type of person who likes to move quickly on good ideas, and I also do have a very strong belief in the importance of privacy and anonymity. I'll continue to build relationships slowly, but I won't have time to build the trust required to make big, coefficient level changes in Dash.


I anticipated that trust would be a problem, so for that reason, I attempted to make my entrance as trustless as possible. We never asked for any money outside of reimbursements, we put our money/resources upfront first, and the ideas we put forth attempted to be "open source" in that anybody could take them and run with them.


I don't want to damage the CMO/professional marketing proposal by interfering with it myself. Would it set any MNOs at ease if abob54 and I completely removed ourselves from the CMO recruitment process? Aside from the proposal fees already paid, and the basic marketing outline I built - our involvement in this would end completely, so that people with more trust could be in charge of recruitment and the MNOs would have the final vote.


Would this help? It's the ideas that we feel are important, not our involvement in it. We're happy to step aside immediately and let more trusted members coordinate the recruitment process. Dash's success is all we care about.

 

[tungfa]

Thanks very much for that explanation, Leonidas. I understand it, and I approve of the community's caution. I hadn't realized that the community had suffered betrayals in the past, but that's been made clear to me by several old timers, now. I appreciate that.


I'm in a bit of a pickle, because I am the type of person who likes to move quickly on good ideas, and I also do have a very strong belief in the importance of privacy and anonymity. I'll continue to build relationships slowly, but I won't have time to build the trust required to make big, coefficient level changes in Dash.


I anticipated that trust would be a problem, so for that reason, I attempted to make my entrance as trustless as possible. We never asked for any money outside of reimbursements, we put our money/resources upfront first, and the ideas we put forth attempted to be "open source" in that anybody could take them and run with them.


I don't want to damage the CMO/professional marketing proposal by interfering with it myself. Would it set any MNOs at ease if abob54 and I completely removed ourselves from the CMO recruitment process? Aside from the proposal fees already paid, and the basic marketing outline I built - our involvement in this would end completely, so that people with more trust could be in charge of recruitment and the MNOs would have the final vote.


Would this help? It's the ideas that we feel are important, not our involvement in it. We're happy to step aside immediately and let more trusted members coordinate the recruitment process. Dash's success is all we care about.

Thing is
the question comes down to transparency

https://www.dashtreasury.org
- how do u evaluate ? is there a team ? or u 2 guys make up your own mind /opinion ?
- budget submission is legitimate ? Is that auditable ? why do u put your own system up there and do NOT use the public-proven and confirmed Proposal Generator ?
..... (need another coffee and probably have more questions after)

this should be sorted out in public 1st i believe before moving further (reputation and all ; )

tbh
https://www.dashtreasury.org/article-zoomoney.html
press like this from a Dash Budget/proposal page brings the totally wrong impression to "us"
this looks like a lame PnD hype article - use the 1 Mill to double that market cap now - and we are all rich !?!
is that what it comes down to for u guys ?
Remember , we are doing very well here since years, slow and steady rise is the plan !
creating a neutral , independent , autonomous currency is harder than it seems - read satochi white paper again - we are on a very good track there - but we do NOT need this kind of hype reg Marketcap (there are more important things than that !!!)
a dashtreasury page should be neutral (check Dashcentral) and NOT take sides or suggest opinions in their outlets - totally counterproductive / and sure questions the integrity of the page owners

 

[amanda_b_johnson]

I began feeling stress about Dash's future about two months ago.

I couldn't figure out exactly why, but it had to do with two seemingly conflicting facts: 1) our market capitalization was going up, up, up, but 2) we were slipping in investment ranking when compared to our competitors. Down, down, down. From 3rd to 7th.

Now, it goes without saying that our competitors have inferior technology, so this slip never should have happened. But it did. So if networks with inferior technology are earning investment faster than we are, what are they doing that we're not?

There's no magic at play (I think), so there has to be a reason.

Is It Me?

I wondered if I personally must be doing something wrong. So I paid $3000 out-of-pocket to produce a pilot episode to make my weekly show look more network-y. (You guys didn't end up liking it, but hey -- neither did I.) Then I changed its name to "Weekly Wednesday Show" so that its content could be more flexible, and I could say "Dash -- Digital Cash" along with it to add to branding. I even changed my content type from news reports to these insane social media campaigns.

This is all well and good, but these changes didn't scratch-the-itch, so to speak. My stress about our future has still not gone away. That's a problem.

A Moment of Clarity

Then two nights ago, I saw a proposal about hiring a Chief Marketing Officer. ZING! I realized in that moment why I've been so stressed all the time: what Dash needs right now has nothing to do with me (thank god!), and everything to do with a full-scale marketing arm run by someone with experience. Because that is what our competitors are doing that we're not doing. They have businesses and VC firms flocking around them, and those businesses and VC firms are marketing the hell out of them. And they're doing a good job at it, too. Much better than we are.

Hence, I fully support the current proposal to recruit and hire a CMO.

If we do not, our superior technology will probably be copied by a competitor who then markets themselves much better than we do. If that happens, we will likely lose our first-mover advantage and lose this currency competition.

Still skeptical?

Let us consider the best and worst case scenarios of hiring a CMO:

Best case scenario: We attract new investment, which attracts new media coverage, which attracts even more new investment, which attracts even more media coverage. Which all results in a BIGGER BUDGET for us to launch Evolution with when the time comes. Dash goes to #1.

Worst case scenario: The CMO's efforts don't bring us new investment, and so after a few months, we have to fire him. We spend a chunk of Dash learning our lesson, we feel a little bad about it, and then we move on.

That is a lot of potential upside, with insignificant potential downside. We'd be mad not to try this.

Let Us Be Wise

I encourage you to vote 'yes' on the Dash DAO hiring a CMO. If you have any questions for me personally, I'm happy to answer them.

 

[amanda_b_johnson]

@tungfa and @Leonidas and others: this proposal has literally nothing to do with who runs dashtreasury.org and everything to do with whether or not the Dash DAO should hire a CMO.

It doesn't matter who proposed it -- it's a governance question! With governance questions, all that matters is whether or not it's a good idea.

Stay on-topic, please.

 

[GrandMasterDash]

I thought dash had a HR team now...

 

[Vedran Yoweri]

@tungfa, this proposal has literally nothing to do with who runs dashtreasury.org and everything to do with whether or not the Dash DAO should hire a CMO. Stay on-topic, please.

It does. You're not in the slack amanda.

Now, it goes without saying that our competitors have inferior technology to us,

That's a very stupid thing to say.
Don't think you fully appreciate what's happening in the crypto development world, either evolution or our competitors work. If you are doing communications that's a problem.

There's no magic at play (I think), so there has to be a reason.

Try this.
85% of our potential investors think dash does marketing and trolling. period.

 

[GrandMasterDash]

Dash's competition is the same as everyone else's competition.. that is to say, if you look at all the top cryptos, they all have their own unique selling point. Coin Market Cap should be renamed to Coin / Token Supermarket. That is to say, it's not so much about dash slipping down the chart, but more to the point that dash has been growing and will continue to do so, so long as it differentiates from others and stays relevant. Consider each coin / token like a programming language or operating system; https://steemit.com/crypto/@supernimity/the-best-crypto-analogy

I have been swayed by the arguments made for a CFO. On balance, I think Amanda is correct to say we have little to lose by trying. My only caveat being, I really think the CFO should also be an MNO (and checkable each month) to ensure they have skin in the game.

 

[JGCMiner]

It does. You're not in the slack amanda.

That's a very stupid thing to say.
Don't think you fully appreciate what's happening in the crypto development world, either evolution or our competitors work. If you are doing communications that's a problem.

Try this.
85% of our potential investors think dash does marketing and trolling. period.

The problem may just be that English is not your first language, but this post is a bit much. There is no reason imply that someone who has done so much for our network in @amanda_b_johnson is stupid. You may disagree with her, but let's not start flinging around ad homiems. That's how communities begin to break up.

To her point, @dashdisciple just posted this above.

Would this help? It's the ideas that we feel are important, not our involvement in it. We're happy to step aside immediately and let more trusted members coordinate the recruitment process. Dash's success is all we care about.

If they are willing to step aside and let other trusted community members, say Core, handle things then I don't see why people are still focusing so much on @dashdisciple and his team. I was skeptical before this statement, but given this -- as Amanda said, it really does just become a governance question... Should we hire a CMO or not?

 

[AnarchicCluster]

Should we hire a CMO or not?

Well, let's put it up for a vote and we will see what MNOs think. Personally, I'd support such idea. I also like GrandMasterDash's idea about hiring an R&D team that would investigate other directions that Dash can go towards beyond Evolution. Frankly I thought it is something that Evan is into these days.

 

[JGCMiner]

Well, let's put it up for a vote and we will see what MNOs think. Personally, I'd support such idea. I also like GrandMasterDash's idea about hiring an R&D team that would investigate other directions that Dash can go towards beyond Evolution. Frankly I thought it is something that Evan is into these days.

Currently being voted on here:
https://www.dashcentral.org/p/CMORecruitment

 

[solarguy]

I appreciate that DashDisciple is willing to be completely hands-off regarding the hiring a Chief Marketing Officer. Surely that goes a long way toward assuring the Masternode community and the Core Team that DashDisciple has the best interest of the Dash community and Dash brand at heart.

I further agree with the idea that this is not in competition with DashForce or the Core Team, but rather will compliment it and produce a coherent powerful multi-armed marketing plan. This is not a premature move that should really wait until Evolution is released and fully functional. It will take months to do the thoughtful, sophisticated planning and research to implement a good plan. And I believe it is a false dichotomy to say that if we do this (a new CMO to produce a large coherent marketing plan) we can't do that (robust development of the product by the Core Team). We can and should do both.

I would also advocate that if we hire a CMO, that we plan for a good support person that comes along with the CmO, and their primary function would be first class communication and coordination with all the interested parties, the Masternodes, the larger Dash community, the Core Team, Amanda and Piet. Poor communication has hampered and damaged a number of otherwise good and useful projects. From here on out, the expectation for all successful proposals MUST be rapid and open communication with an agreed upon frequency. NO EXCEPTIONS.

I fully appreciate that Tungfa and other long term Dash folks are skeptical and want to go the extra mile to make sure we are not scammed, or hijacked by newcomers with questionable motives. I just do not believe there is any ill intent here at all.

And, I place a lot of trust in Amanda and Piet. For those who are suggesting that Amanda is stupid and just doesn't know what she is doing...

1. You are wrong. I'm going to be polite and stop there.
2. You just burned 86% of whatever social capital you had with the Dash community and 100% of your social capitol with me. Good luck with that.

solarguy2003

 

[Super8]

I DO think we should hire a CMO. I don't think we can insist on the incumbent being a Masternode owner immediately because this would restrict the talent pool to a few thousand (or fewer) people only.

Hopefully, in due course the new CMO will invest in a Masternode, but if they do their job right, it will hopefully become more and more out of their reach!

 

[GrandMasterDash]

I DO think we should hire a CMO. I don't think we can insist on the incumbent being a Masternode owner immediately because this would restrict the talent pool to a few thousand (or fewer) people only.

Hopefully, in due course the new CMO will invest in a Masternode, but if they do their job right, it will hopefully become more and more out of their reach!

Then what, a 50% share? I don't know, if it's not a masternode then it should be something that keeps them tethered and honest. There are plenty of examples of people getting paid well and doing a bad job.

 

[Super8]

Then what, a 50% share? I don't know, if it's not a masternode then it should be something that keeps them tethered and honest. There are plenty of examples of people getting paid well and doing a bad job.

Yes, a Masternode share (of some degree) would be a very good way to show some commitment to the cause. It's a bit like a stock option bundled in with a traditional job offer / incentive.

Remember, if they don't do a good job they can be fired by Masternode voting each month.

 

[Rod Ambrissi]

This has so much potencial, specialy for growing in different Markets like Latim America, Brazil and Specially Africa.

 

[solarguy]

If we do this, a good incentive program would be that each time Dash passes another coin on Coinmarketcap (on the market cap list) the CMO get a 50 grand bonus. I would not be opposed to doing a similar pay structure for the Core Team as well.

I don't know if we should require the CMO to buy a masternode, but it would certainly be a good sign if they do buy one. Literal buy in to the Dash ecosystem. Of course, at the moment, that would require $185,000, which would certainly limit your pool of applicants. But if they bought a significant share, that would say something about their commitment to the community.

 

[RGXDK]

What an amazing community we have. I've read through the replies and here's my opinion.

Potential Pros:
- "Fresh stream of professional marketing proposal". This is exactly what we need.
- Coherent marketing message.
- Professionally done Marketing is a powerful thing with huge ROI. Imagine spending $300k but bringing $30mn of value to the network every month (not just market cap)

If the community approves bus tours, Dash T-shirts, acrobatic airplanes, MMA fighters and so on because it believes these initiatives can bring value to the network, imagine how much more value a high level CMO working full-time for Dash could bring. I guess we all agree on the possible upsides here, so let's focus on what could go wrong:

Risks raised so far:

By the way, these are all valid valid concerns. Would you all agree that if we could eliminate or mitigate those risks, we should approve this proposal?

1. @dashdisciple being annonymous, trying to diverge governance from dashcentral to dashtreasury, zero track record in community etc @tungfa
   - I don't see an issue here. CMO would be hired by the MNO and proposal will be approved by the MNO. Even if he had bad intentions he wouldn't be able to act through the CMO that the MNO hired.
   
   
2. Doubling down on DashForce efforts @tungfa
   I personally don't see an issue here too, they'll be working in very different levels.
   
   
3. Appearing like a MLM @tungfa
   Everything the CMO does will have to be approved by the MNO, so if we end up looking like MLM that will be because the MNO voted that way.
   
   
4. Funds could be used for R&D instead @GrandMasterDash
   I'm sure MNO can prioritize budget spending if it ever comes to this.
   
   
5. Forcing outsider onto the core team, "unhire" core and destroy dash @Vedran Yoweri
   Unsubstantiated in my opinion, but we could get Ryan or Even on board with this idea to put everyone at ease.

I could be wrong and I often am, but I see no downsides, only upsides, and I believe we should vote for this with confidence.

 

[GrandMasterDash]

Also, by saying yes to this proposal, we are acknowledging our achievements to date AND accepting that we might of taken things as far as we can. We (everyone) has taken dash to $1B and we now recognise that it might take the help of someone else to take us to the next level. I mean, when you're running Apple or Tesla, it takes a Steve Jobs or an Elon Musk to drive things forward to be the best they can.

 

[TroyDASH]

Crossposted from Reddit ---------

I'm not sure if we are all thinking the same thing when we refer to marketing. If it is more important to be targeting blockchain enthusiasts who might want to work for dash, in order to improve competition in the budget, than it is to target the general public for Mass usage of dash wallets, then so be it. That is also marketing, and it is something that a CMO could help with. If the priority is business development and awareness among merchants and businesses for potential integrations, then that is also a target market that could be focused on. A good CMO will be able to determine what the business needs are and work to attract the right people to the right places.

 

[Vedran Yoweri]

I'm not sure if we are all thinking the same thing

agree.

I think it would be helpful for everybody if core could define in clear plain text what dash is, what it will become and how to get there. In their own perception and vision. I have a feeling a lot of people have their own thoughts about this and reason from that. Clarity is essential for making the right decisions and have constructive discussions.

We should first hammer out what we are and what we should be doing.

This would make discussions about what we would like to change more effective, help judge proposals and get everybody on the same train.

 

[RGXDK]

I think it would be helpful for everybody if core could define in clear plain text what dash is, what it will become and how to get there. In their own perception and vision.

Dash is digital cash, the plan on how to get there is clearly defined on dash.org/evolution and explained in details by Ryan and Evan many times.

And if this was not enough, Dash's Open House video is titled :
What is DASH & Where Is It Going? 2017 DASH Open House

 

[SimontheRavager]

Whatsoever the first thing our CMO has to do is to get a meeting with Amazon and get a deal to make DASH the top cryptocurrency of Amazon´s choice. We can offer discounts for retailers to buy wares at amazon and so push amazon earnings. If retailers and vendors are trustworthy, using a rating system with evolution, we can give more discounts with better ratings and so pushing the sales of the vendors/reailers which accept DASH. WE HAVE TO THING BIG. SO PLZ GET ON AMAZON NEXT HAHAHA

A WIN-WIN-WIN SITUATION

 

[solarguy]

If getting on the top of the crypto list with Amazon is critical, great marketing and a bigger market share will help us get that.
If getting integrated with Coinbase is critical, great marketing and a bigger market shares will help us get that.
If getting a direct frictionless fiat to Dash gateway is critical, great marketing and a bigger market share will help us get that.

 

[SimontheRavager]

https://www.reddit.com/r/dashpay/comments/6ile91/dash_atm_network/

 

[dashdisciple]

UPDATE: 36 hours ago, we asked the question whether removing ourselves (me, @abob54) from the CMO recruitment process could reduce any risk to the community. Since then it seems that some people would be put at ease if we were totally separated from this process, as we have not yet built the trust to spearhead it. We respect and understand this concern.

For that reason, I am officially rescinding my offer to help with recruitment (as stated in the proposal), and the same goes for @abob54. If there's any specific nuts and bolts help or advice we can offer when it comes time to recruit, we can be available to whichever trusted Dash member heads up this task, but for the good of Dash and our desire to see top marketing talent working for Dash, we will not get between the MNOs and the candidate.

We're really happy to see all this productive discussion about marketing, and we truly believe that Dash has incredible things in store for it, both in the short and long term.

 

[solarguy]

That's big of you to withdraw yourself from the process in response to the community's concerns about your anonymity and short history with the forums.

I'm still in favor of a CMO. And I am agnostic whether the CMO works directly for the Masternode community or is hired by the Core Team and works under Ryan.

Note that if we want an effective and coherent marketing strategy ready to rock in 3-6 months, we need to start that process now.

I suppose I would withdraw my support for a new CMO if Ryan and/or the core team came forward and said, "Hey, we have this great long term, broad spectrum marketing strategy going on in the background. Here's the broad outlines of the plan and here's the awesomely qualified people who are working on it, and here's the schedule when we anticipate rolling out parts A, B and C."

 

[-crypto]

I believe Amanda is absolutely correct in her assessment. I'm in favor of a CMO. It's the right thing to do, and I will vote for this when it's proposed. I don't think they need to be or even should be a Masternode Owner. Owning and operating a Masternode has nothing to do with the job we would be tasking them with. They need to understand tech, brand management, communications, research, and marketing. 1000 Dash and a raspberry pi shouldn't have anything to do with our search. If it's so important, it can be part of their salary. Hell, I'll personally donate the pi.

 

[demo]

It doesn't matter who proposed it -- it's a governance question! With governance questions, all that matters is whether or not it's a good idea.

Stay on-topic, please.

And when a governance question is considered a "good idea"?
You have to define what "good idea" means.
You are talking about governance questions without defining:
1) the selection process
2) the minimum participation percentage

Your wording is vague, as it is the wording of all marketeers.

The correct wording could be (for example): "With governance questions, all that matters is whether or not it's an idea suppored by a strong majority (66%) and has paricipation a least 22%."
Another correct wording could be: "With governance questions, all that matters is whether or not it's an idea suppored by a simple majority (50%+1) and has paricipation a least 12%."

If you dont define what "good" means for you, you say nothing, you only chatter. Too many people chatter instead of talking (and voting) the numbers. Thats why everything is a mess. Could you please, all of you, either talk accurately, or shut up?