Disclaimer: This post is for informative purposes only and is not financial advice. This post may contain estimates of numbers, may contain errors, and is provided on a best-effort basis. DYOR, do not make any financial decisions based on these posts. In addition: I own crypto assets like ETH, DAI, USDC, and GTC.
UPDATED NUMBERS BELOW TO ACCOUNT FOR PUBLICWORKS.FM SITUATION
What: Updating the numbers to zero out our ownership stake in Public Works.
Background: Gitcoin bootstrapped publicworks.fm with Scott Moore between late 2021 and 2023. For much of this time it was called pgDAO. Gitcoin poured $500k-$1m into salaries and operational costs to support the raising of the fund, on the agreement that it would be GItcoin’s fund (30% - 50% of the carry was to go to Gitcoin). Initially the fund was to be large, north of $100m, but it dwindled in size as the market moved downwards & we failed to raise the fund. When Scott left Gitcoin, he took the IP and started the fund on his own. I believe he was finally able to raise about $10m for his first fund.
When I returned to Gitcoin in late 2023, I told him that was not acceptable that he took the IP without giving Gitcoin its share, that he was stealing. He would need to give at least 10% of the fund to Gitcoin in exchange for the capital we put in and to get the IP. At first Scott pushed back, but when I persisted, he verbally agreed it was something he could do. Rena and I have spent the last 18~ months trying to get this papered with legal. But Scott has still not signed.
While I do believe with some legal spend, we may realize the upside in the fund, (1) that spend may be larger than the upside stake and (2) Scott has shown no sign he is going to sign. So I am zeroing out the Gitcoin ownership in publicworks.fm.