The WLD Show
Orion Parrott (Orange Fund, Orange DAO): Mobilizing Y-Combinator Alumni to Invest in Web3 Founders | Will, Lee, & Andrew Learn Web3 #65
Episode Summary
Orion Parrott is a cofounder of Orange DAO and General Partner of Orange Fund. Orange DAO is a collective of founders of Y Combinator-backed companies dedicated to backing the most promising web3 startups. In this episode, Orion discusses the story behind Orange DAO & Orange Fund, the process of managing a DAO, and how Orange DAO helps Web3 founders.
Episode Notes
Orion Parrott is a cofounder of Orange DAO and General Partner of Orange Fund. Orange DAO is a collective of founders of Y Combinator-backed companies dedicated to backing the most promising web3 startups. In this episode, Orion discusses the story behind Orange DAO & Orange Fund, the process of managing a DAO, and how Orange DAO helps Web3 founders.
Episode notes
In this episode, Orion discusses the story behind Orange DAO & Orange Fund, the process of managing a DAO, and how Orange DAO helps Web3 founders.
Learn more about Orion and Orange DAO:
In this episode, we discuss:
- Orion’s Orange Fund Co-General Partners
- How Orion transitioned into web3
- How Orange Fund and Orange DAO interact with each other
- How Orange DAO was created to experiment with being a DAO
- Building tools to help scale the network
- The Howey Test
- Choosing a traditional LP/GP structure for Orange Fund to ensure they meet SEC regulations
- Tools OrangeDAO has built:
- What value does OrangeDAO create?
- Access to a strategic network, founders, and investors
- Office hours
- Validation
- Providing flagship customers and users
- Access to the VC network
- What type of startups does Orange DAO look for?
- GameFi, guilds, in-game assets, DeFi protocols, DAO tooling
- When evaluating a company, Orange Fund places a lot of emphasis on the team.
- Has the team had past successes?
- Are they ready to build together?
- How has Orange Fund’s investment process and decision making changed?
- Continuously working on investing in companies even before joining YC.
- Given the “super angel strategy” and the current state of the market, not too much has changed.
- What Orion’s most excited about the future of OrangeDAO
- How to apply for Orange DAO funding
Lessons and key takeaways:
- If you’re creating a venture firm, here is a high level set of questions to answer and steps to take:
- What size check are you cutting?
- How often do you expect to give a check?
- How much are you looking to raise?
- How many investors will you likely raise from?
- Once you’ve answered the questions above, speak with a securities attorney to find the legal entity which bests supports your requirements.
- Alternatively, if you’d like to invest in web3 start ups without setting up a VC, you can use crowd funding platforms such as Republic or Angel List to invest.
- Web3 VC investments are typically completed via SAFE or SAFT contracts
- The innovation of Orange Fund is that the 20% carry normally given to GPs is distributed as funds to the Orange DAO treasury instead.
- Orion’s recommended resources for setting up a DAO:
- Recurring lesson: If you’re interested in web3, just get involved and/or start building.
- If you’re a VC fund looking to stand out to founders, two powerful items to provide are:
- Access. Access to other respected builders & founders
- Validation. Respected users using your app and validating it’s utility
- Orange DAO found it difficult to communicate vision and hired someone to run sharing the vision full time.
- Orange DAO organized and runs itself in the following manner
- 3 governance teams - devs, governance, treasury
- These teams set visions and scope work for people and sub-committees
- Sub-groups or committees create proposals to complete work. Or just do the work and create a proposal on how this type of role should be rewarded.
- Orange Fund + DAO’s tech stack
If you liked this episode, you can find more episodes at wld.show!