Establishing a Key Account Management DAO for the Polkadot Ecosystem: Driving Enterprise Adoption

Ecosystem
1

Hey all,

I would like to propose an initiative that can significantly boost enterprise adoption of the Polkadot ecosystem.

As discussed at the recent Parachain Summit, Parity has expressed its intention to transition away from its leading role in approaching enterprises, and to decentralize this responsibility across the parachains. In light of this, I’d like to propose the creation of a DAO: A Key Account Management DAO dedicated to serving as the collective ‘salesforce’ for the entire Polkadot stack.

The overarching purpose of this DAO would be to actively seek, approach, and nurture relationships with enterprise clients. To ensure effectiveness, it would be structured to include key account managers specializing in different industry verticals. Each manager would be accompanied by a team of 2-3 solution architects tasked with creating tailored, industry-specific solutions for customers using the Polkadot stack and its associated parachains.

Here are some expected benefits of such an initiative:

    1. Professionalism: An organized sales force can help portray the Polkadot ecosystem as a professional, reliable, and trusted solution for enterprises.
    1. Decentralization: By involving multiple parachains and participants in enterprise outreach, we can avoid centralization of power and foster a more democratic and collaborative ecosystem.
    1. Specialization: By having key account managers and solution architects focused on specific industry verticals, we can ensure that solutions provided are tailored, sophisticated, and effective for each industry.
    1. Revenue Generation: This approach could potentially increase the adoption of Polkadot, leading to more income for the ecosystem and its participants.
    1. Feedback Aggregation: Key account managers working closely with enterprises would be in a unique position to gather valuable feedback. This feedback, if shared and analyzed collectively, could lead to actionable insights, continuous improvements, and better alignment with industry needs for the entire ecosystem, especially the parachains.

While I am excited about this proposal, I’m also aware that it carries its own challenges. The structuring, management, and funding of this DAO would need careful thought. The responsibilities, roles, and revenue sharing among the participants would also need to be clearly defined and agreed upon.

Some concerns that need to be addressed:

  • Developing strategies to deal with competitors and to differentiate our products/services especially on the parachain level.
  • Establishing clear criteria for participation or access, considering potential impacts of openness on the quality, safety, and value of our product/service.
  • Navigating legal and regulatory constraints, and determining how to handle projects that may be illegal or unregulated in certain regions.
  • Evaluating the strategic focus on specific market segments (verticals) and whether it could lead to higher growth or profitability.
  • Determining the appropriate business models for our organization, and how to effectively integrate and manage multiple models.
  • Clarifying customer ownership, and how relationships and customer data are managed in partnerships or collaborations.
  • Designing incentive systems that motivate stakeholders to attract more participants or customers.
  • Understanding potential risks, and planning for scenarios where errors or mishaps may significantly impact business deals or partnerships.

This is why I’d like to open the floor for a community discussion on this topic. How do you feel about the idea of creating a Key Account Management DAO for the Polkadot ecosystem? What suggestions, concerns, or insights do you have that could help shape this initiative?

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Cheers,

Matjaz

4 Likes
2

Hey Matjaz - This is definitely interesting for sure. Have you spoken to or checked out some of the other proposals that have been made on the forum with similar(ish) aspirations? Specifically;

These three are region-specific but generally focused on larger accounts. I believe there needs to be some kind of coordination between regions to ensure lead flow, updates, messaging, and general coordination are done as operating as islands doesn’t feel like it’s the right approach to me.

-Nate