Decentralized Voices: Cohort 3 | Polkassembly Application

Polkassembly has been the active go-to platform for Polkadot and Kusama’s governance.

We have built products and tools that form the foundational layers of governance experience on Polkadot.

Delegation dashboard, Identity Verification, Treasury Proposal Creator. Reports, Governance and Treasury Analytics, and many more features enable us to provide the best platform for the world’s largest DAO.

While we built Polkassembly with the users and community from day 1, over the past 4+ months we have got deeper insights into the functioning of the DAO and the diversity of decisions that DOT token holders take. With other delegates and important ecosystem participants, we have contributed by actively leveraging our voting power and voting on important decisions and sharing feedback with the ecosystem.

  1. We participated in over 90 discussions to discuss and provide feedback , connected with proposers on 30+ calls to discuss their goals and provide valuable feedback on aligning better with Polkadot’s goals. We voted on 290+ proposals supporting value building in DOT ecosystem
  2. We heard the community. Agility is the key to community-driven building. We shipped upgrades to our features like search by name on delegation , improved filters, anon username generator, a highly interactive sidebar for easy navigation , activity feed with increased discoverability of hot and trending referendas with a focus on referendas nearing decision, progress reports for tracking and increased user activity overview via profile tabs . We have dedicated team working on improving the overall user experience by conducting market research and focus discussions with each flow
  3. The Polkassembly team also actively engages with fellow builders to understand gaps in ecosystem and navigating through various processes through the telegram community
  4. Speaking to ecosystem funds, big organizations, money managers(capital deployers) to understand ecosystem outlook and activities better

We not only vote, but have discussions and calls with proposers, to understand their proposal, go over suggestions and feedbacks, trying to create positive value for builders, contributors and Polkadot.

Application for Cohort 2

As the go-to governance platform for Polkadot and Kusama, Polkassembly has always been deeply integrated with the ecosystem’s governance processes. Over the past 3+ months, serving as a delegate has significantly enhanced our understanding of both the technical and communal facets of the world’s largest DAO. We have expanded our role as a platform, not only providing governance tools but actively engaging as participants, builders, and key contributors to the decision-making process.

Key Contributions and Learnings:

  1. Deepened Participation: Serving as a delegate has allowed us to truly understand the depth and breadth of the Polkadot ecosystem. We have witnessed firsthand the diversity of proposals—from technical upgrades to ecosystem development. Our voting power was used carefully and transparently, with each decision rooted in detailed analysis of long-term impact and feedback from our users and proposers.
  2. Building New Features Based on Feedback: Throughout this cohort, we have directly engaged with proposers and community members, leveraging their insights to shape new products. For example:
  • Delegation Dashboard: Enhanced based on user feedback for easier tracking of governance participation.
  • Identity Verification: A system to ensure that proposers and voters alike are clearly identified, adding legitimacy to discussions.
  • Treasury Proposal Creator: Streamlined tools to aid proposers in submitting proposals.
  • Governance & Treasury Analytics: Comprehensive insights for better decision-making and understanding of the DAO’s overall health.
  1. Engaging with Key Ecosystem Participants: We’ve gone beyond voting by holding discussions and calls with proposers, ecosystem funds, large organizations, and money managers. This has allowed us to contribute not only through votes but through active collaboration and feedback, supporting projects with genuine potential to drive ecosystem growth. We’ve facilitated conversations that bridged the gap between governance participants and capital deployers, gaining deeper insights into the current landscape and future opportunities.

Statistics on Impact:

  • Over 30+ governance calls held with proposers and ecosystem participants.
  • Direct feedback from 25+ users that helped shape improvements on our platform.
  • Actively participated in 290+ proposals, carefully analyzing and voting on each while sharing detailed reports with the community.

Why We’re the Right Candidate for the Next Cohort:

Polkassembly’s involvement in the governance process goes far beyond building tools—we are active collaborators, enabling meaningful engagement and tangible improvements for the community. By leveraging both our platform and our position as a delegate, we have cultivated a unique ability to not only contribute but also evolve how Polkadot’s governance operates.

Our Plan for the Next Cohort:

  1. Enhanced Voting & Feedback Mechanisms: We plan to implement new features that will allow the community to give feedback on proposals in real time, increasing transparency and informed decision-making.
  2. Deeper Ecosystem Collaboration: Continue engaging with ecosystem funds, large organizations, and builders to ensure proposals align with the long-term vision of Polkadot’s development.
  3. Broader Community Outreach: Expanding educational content and hosting more calls with proposers and DOT holders to discuss ongoing and upcoming proposals.
  4. Accountability: We are closely working with the OGTracker team to implement accountability and reporting standards for proposal creators and builders.
  5. Feedback Channel: Polkassembly has a small group of council members from our community that help guide the decision making and roadmap for our product. These council members have actively participated to give feedback on proposals. We are working with them to establish a more collaborative feedback channel so that proposers and builders in the ecosystem can then directly leverage their ecosystem experience and expertise to build better products for the Polkadot ecosystem.
  6. Vote more: While we have actively voted and given feedback for most proposals, we still fall short and can do better. With this cohort, we aim to vote on atleast 95% of all proposals. And to ensure this we have onboarded a new governance evangelist from the optimism team to help us do better and be more proactive.

Philosophy of Vote

The Polkadot ecosystem is evolving at a rapid pace. With JAM, Async Backing and so many interesting technical primitives being built, there is an emerging need for apps and product builders to come and join the ecosystem. We believe that over the next 2 quarters, our focus should be on allocating budgets and taking initiatives to create a vibrant experience for new builders.

Additionally, we believe that Polkadot needs to build and capture a lot more mindshare within and outside web3. Intermiami, Cab ads and a few other ideas have helped us a lot as an ecosystem but there is a long way to go for marketing and BD growth within the ecosystem. Our focus would be not only to support the right business initiatives but also work closely and create an ecosystem wide collaboration strategy specially for teams looking to venture into Polkadot from other ecosystems.

We are excited to play our role both as an active delegate and a platform to serve the governance needs of the ecosystem.

2 Likes

I really appreciate having DV Polkassembly (again, we have no connection, they didn’t vote for me). The thing is, Polkassembly is one of the coolest builders in the ecosystem. They constantly create something decentralized, explore, and truly understand how the system works from the inside. We owe them for the inscriptions marketplace, which provided one of the best test drives of the Relay Chain and demonstrated how it can work!
I’m glad they find the time to be representatives and study proposals

love it

1 Like

The Polkassembly team has cultivated one of the most engaged and supportive communities in the DOT Ecosystem. They consistently provide valuable feedback, which has contributed to refining governance processes across the network. Their focus on user experience, combined with their hands-on experience in Web3, makes them a well suited candidate for Cohort 3. I believe their leadership would further strengthen our collective efforts toward decentralized governance

We fully support Polkassembly’s application and hope they have the opportunity to continue their excellent work with the Decentralized Voices program. Throughout our treasury proposal process, the team was incredibly helpful, offering invaluable guidance and support before, during, and after, which ultimately resulted in our proposal’s successful approval.

Natalie & Jashar | So So Scaled!