@Sasha - Nomination 7/2023

Help & Resources Prior Elections
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Personal Information

Discourse ID: @Sasha

Twitter: x.com

Name: Sasha

Educational Background: B.S. in Computer Information Management w/ minor in Business

Professional Background:

15 years - software development (every role, from small companies to Intel, Fidelity, Shaw);
5 years - founder/CEO of esports team Gankstars (3x world champions);
5 months - venture partner at crypto accelerator for a Bitcoin L2 chain (almost every startup I picked and mentored raised well, $168M follow-on partner fund with OKCoin)
2 years - ape/cat/roboto/wonderpal/etc, book writer, 2x apefest + Miami Basel, had booth at NFT LA for own project called Bizarro World

Nomination Statement

Concise statement on why you are running for the Special Council

I want to push the web3 revolution forward and I see ApeCoin DAO at the head of it. We have an amazing opportunity to nurture an environment in which web3 innovation can thrive and help seed hundreds of promising ideas, many of which will grow to define our daily culture for years to come.

As a Venture Partner at Stacks Accelerator in '21, my primary responsibility was to help startups navigate legal and business environments, whether it was helping them solidify product-market fit, connecting with crypto lawyers, assisting with tokenomics, or introducing to potential investors and hires. This involved a lot of coordination and required both the ability to zoom out for bigger picture as well as being hands-on with specific challenges present for both the startups and the accelerator itself.

I think digital property ownership is an inalienable right without which freedom in the metaverse is not possible. I think the future of web3 and the metaverse will be built by many and the ApeCoin DAO will be a major enabler of that. It would be an honor and a privilege of a lifetime to apply my experiences in software, gaming, venture, and crypto to play my part in fostering the best environment for the builders of our web3-enabled future.

Motivation

Details on your motivation for becoming an ApeCoin DAO Special Council member

There are many. I was born in Ukraine under the Soviet Union and left for the US in 2002 in pursuit of freedom - freedom from corruption, freedom to chase my dreams, freedom of expression and belief.

Underpinning freedom is the right to property. Knowing your house can’t be taken away. Knowing your car, clothes, computers, money is yours. Knowing you can choose to own nothing at all. This gives you freedom to live as you like, travel where you want, grow a garden by your house or build the next big thing (or disaster) in your garage. The right to property is vital to our society.

I can’t control broader political action in any given country as a Special Council member, but I can help steer the DAO within legally-defined bounds to ensure that $ape holders have as a free a place to build, grow, participate, and own as we possibly can have. I would be but a brick in the wall, but it’s an important wall. Walls block out the noise, separate a warm room from the winter storm - they provide space for people to live and thrive in.

As a kid, I used to go to a small forest nearby to hang out and play. Now I want to care for the soil and help others plant a forest like that.

Rationale

Share relevant experience and skills that will bring value to the ApeCoin community

My four-pronged background in developing software, running an esports team, selecting/mentoring startups, and participating in almost every nft community and event of note is perfect for understanding the challenges the projects face and the needs they may have.

I’ve started many projects from scratch, hired and managed dozens of people, and sometimes outcompeted everyone else to help our teams win world championships and other tournaments.

These help me understand the process as a whole, from the nitty-gritty of figuring out which country or state to incorporate a company in and how to choose branding to the higher level of understanding legal and competitive landscape of a given industry to the less-talked-about-but-perhaps-most-important area of the mental challenges and stress that comes with being a founder/builder and how to deal with them.

I believe these experiences help me understand builders/founders and both the specific goals of the DAO and the bigger goals of the industry (self-custody, etc.) Add to that the fact that I’m a gamer through and through (I cried when I bought my WoW Collector’s Edition on release day; it was the first time I could buy with my own money) and you get someone who is super excited for Otherside and other metaverse projects.

Any role where I can help our ecosystem grow and ApeCoin thrive is a role I’d be honored to execute.

Specifications

Further describe relevant experience, including crypto and governance participation, and/or ideas for DAO improvement

Other than my relevant experience I already described, you may look up my participation on ApeCoin DAO forums (username: sasha) to see detailed and thorough responses, analyses, and suggestions.

I’ve been to many crypto events since '21, met numerous builders and artists, and am working on my own small hobby projects in my spare time. I am excited to be on the Council for a DAO that enables anyone with a great idea to build potentially the next big thing and move web3 as a whole forward.

As far as ideas for improvement, I think our primary goal should be to widen the acceptance and usage of ApeCoin. It needs far more utility. And this utility should include other NFT communities, just about all of whom don’t have a token of their own. ApeCoin is the token of choice for Otherside and the metaverse will be most fun and alive when it welcomes everyone. So we need to spread the message that ApeCoin isn’t just for apes, that every community can build with $ape and join the ecosystem.

Next, we need to figure out how to deal with transaction costs. Some infrastructure for either batching transactions, bridging to L2, or adopting another solution has to be developed soon so that we can all transact in the metaverse without a high tax.

Finally, we need a great system for connecting all of the builders/teams together. We should have a ““speed-dating”” event at ApeFest to connect founders, builders, and biz dev people together. We need a short ApeCoin track at ApeFest, too, showcasing top projects and inspiring others to apply to the DAO and start creating. We basically need to do a better job being the water that makes everyone feel like they’re swimming in the same pond (or infinity pool, your preference).

Concluding Statement

Summarize your statement as to why you are the best choice for Special Council

With decades of experience in software and gaming and now years of experience in crypto, including helping and mentoring over a dozen startups, coupled with my international experience of living for at least 9 months each on three different continents, I am qualified and highly-motivated to have the honor of helping steer the DAO through the not-so-easy waters ahead.

ApeCoin as THE currency of the metaverse and one of the main tokens of web3 - let’s make it happen!

Thank you for your consideration, trust, and vote.

PS: Please check my twitter for a more visual thread on my background and experiences.

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Please visit this Twitter thread with photos and more distilled, perhaps better presentation of information:

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Good luck Sasha you deserve it!!!

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Hi Sasha
Some really great and relevant experience. Only one question from me. Do you foresee any potential conflicts of interest between your current projects and ApeCoin DAO, if so how would you manage them if elected?
Thanks and good luck!

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Nice to see you apply for this @Sasha
Best of luck Fam

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Thanks, Stoic - I don’t have any full-time projects right now. I’ve been traveling and writing a book since November, but a book can be finished in spare time. The DAO would be my primary, full-time focus.

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Thank you, toga!! And thank you, @srinigoes.

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Cool. Very helpful thanks for the reply and good luck

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There are so many great candidates, but ngl there’s a few for me that stand out, (not due to deep personal relationships/connections, but from what I’ve observed over many months) - Sasha is another outstanding example of the best our community has to offer. A genuine person imo, great background and experience all round and someone I’d love to see make a difference and help us move forward. GL mate.

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Furious – I couldn’t agree more.

Sasha is a great candidate.

SSP🤙🏽

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That is so funny!! Sah-ee-sha it is, from now on.

:call_me_hand:t4:

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@Sasha it is great to see how active you are in the DAO and to now see you throwing your name into the ring.

My number one question I am asking to all nominees is, in your opinion what is the biggest hurdle we’ve yet to get past in the DAO?

Thank you and good luck!

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Gm Sasha – how’s the campaigning going?

That was a great question you asked Yat – not an easy one, but you got him to give a lengthy response :clap:t4:.

Good luck today.
:call_me_hand:t4:

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Hey Phil!

There are many challenges for us to tackle, from navigating the legal landscape to increasing transparency to improving processes and crafting a more resilient system to finding gas-saving implementations for $ape (per Yuga’s own AIP). To me, these are tasks, chores, or challenges - whichever word one prefers to use.

The biggest hurdle, however, is attracting the best builders in web3 to build with ApeCoin. All the administrative tasks we do and all the challenges we take on only have meaning if “devs do something”; without devs this DAO is just a busybody. Communication & marketing, token management, efficient DAO proposal process, and voter participation / effective voting system are all part of this hurdle. Various Working Groups that are being formed will tackle a piece each of this hurdle.

As a special council member, it would be my priority to remove obstacles for the working groups, help create and expand human networks (find and connect the right people with each other), facilitate (not necessarily lead or host) conversations around legal and regulatory landscapes, and find and suggest most efficient ways to reach out and onboard the builders, authors, organizers.

We’ve had a few great builders so far, and we’re barely scratching the surface. We have a sizable treasury which only has meaning when coupled with an army of builders. In whatever capacity I am able to and within the limits of Special Council role, I would make onboarding top devs in web3 my main priority.

Thank you for your question and supportive words!

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I was really waiting for an application from @Sasha , in my humble opinion this is a very worthy candidate. I don’t even have 2Lvl, on the forum, I took a long time to register, although the forum page has been in my browser bookmarks since February or March (I need to do something with the main page of the forum - I didn’t immediately understand where I got to at all :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:). So believe me, I know what I’m saying. You can dive into almost any API and see constructive criticism and rational suggestions based on Sasha’s serious experience. I am convinced that in his messages he is always guided by the interests of the entire community, abstracting from personal interests and trying on how this or that decision will affect the adoption and promotion of the DAO in the Web3 community.

His experience in software development, esports, venture partnerships and cryptography makes him a well-rounded candidate for the position of a Special Council. A diverse set of personal skills can also benefit the ApeCoin community.

He already brings a lot of benefits with his presence on the forum and in discord, but with the expansion of powers, the community can get a much valuable profit, which will be a multiplier for all areas that fall within the sphere of influence of ApeCoin DAO

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I don’t even know what to say… these are the nicest things anyone can say and you put so much effort into writing them. Thank you, Zloj :heart:

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Sasha,

I have not seen any tweets from you lately re: your campaign. How’s it going?

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Oh let’s see:

  • typing too much on the forums
  • editing my AIP for Progress-Based funding into Draft form
  • co-hosting ApeCoin Radio, and
  • being ADHD

So not really going at all. BUT now that I can have that coffee that you politely declined, I’ll have all the energy I need! Ty for the reminder, SSP, and…

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Thank you for the response, Sasha! I would agree that we need to strive to bring in the BEST builders we can to the Apecoin DAO to expand our reach as well. Good luck with the elections!

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If you don’t pick me, Pick Sasha :purple_heart: :sparkles:

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