Author: Bo Brustkern (Bo | Bankless DAO 
#7210)
Date of Survey: 08 March 2022
Date of Publication: 22 April 2022
Previous Surveys can be found in this table.
This analysis pertains to the survey of BanklessDAO members taken during the Coordinape period ending 8 March 2022, sampling 146 Guest Pass holders, 78 L1 contributors, and 83 L2 contributors for a total sample size of 307.
TL;DR
Our cNPS continues to drop month-over-month, and yet there is still ample optimism, excitement and appreciation for the DAO, its mission and its members. While the most noteworthy concerns of our members relate to tokenomics, governance and compensation, there is still a strong belief that this community will be a profound web3 catalyst.
Community Net Promoter Score Summary
BanklessDAO’s cNPS
For a background and explanation of Net Promoter Score (NPS), please see the section at the bottom of this document.
We achieved an cNPS of 45, a great score, likely ranking among the top organizations in the world; and yet the S3M2 score continues a downward trend from the prior three months.
A total of 307 bDAO members responded to our survey, including Guest Passes, L1s and L2s, a decrease of 20 participants (down 6%). Of these, a low number (37 of 307) were counted as Detractors.
Since we began measuring cNPS, we have achieved scores of 68, 68, 62, 52 and 45. Our analysis indicates that Guest Pass holders showed a slight decrease in satisfaction with the DAO, L1s indicated a material decrease in satisfaction (down 18 points!), and L2s experienced a slight increase in satisfaction.
These data indicate that there is a material difference in satisfaction between L1s (cNPS=28) and L2s (cNPS=52).
Quantitative Results:
As you can see, we seem to be on a downward slide where cNPS is concerned. When set against the entire range of scores (+100 to -100), the slide from 68 to 45 does not seem so severe. However, the question remains: where will we find the bottom?
Interestingly, Guest Pass satisfaction levels have been quite steady throughout the history of our survey, while L2s and L1s have seen a much larger variance in the February and March measurement dates.
Sources:
Unattributed NPS scoring sheet source is here
Confidential GUEST PASS responses here (restricted access)
Confidential LEVEL ONE responses here (restricted access)
Confidential LEVEL TWO responses here (restricted access)
Synthesis Scratch Pad here
Confidence in the DAO
Along with the quantitative cNPS question, we asked, “How has your confidence in bDAO changed since last season?” which we asked respondents to rank from 1 to 5, with “1” meaning “greatly decreased”, “3” meaning “no change” and “5” meaning “greatly increased”.
While this measure does not have high level research to substantiate it like the cNPS does, I believe it is useful to examine a plus-minus score where confidence is concerned. That is, we subtract the total number of those who reported a decrease in confidence from the total number who reported an increase in confidence to arrive at a points-based system indicating whether the community is generally increasing or decreasing in confidence. Like cNPS, the confidence scale ranges from +100 to -100.
Whereas in February our confidence scored +50, in March we fell to +43. Most notably, we saw four individuals report in March that their confidence had “greatly decreased” – two of whom were L1s and two L2s.
Qualitative Questions
Along with the quantitative questions, we asked, “In one sentence, what is the primary reason you gave this score?” and “Anything else we should know?” to provide a more nuanced understanding of the movements in cNPS and Confidence Scores.
The following is a synthesis of the responses we received from the 404 individual written responses we received. Many thanks to @Ella Dane for compiling the results in the Synthesis Scratch Pad.
Qual Q1: In one sentence, what is the primary reason you gave this score?
Promoters
Among Promoters, several common refrains appeared:
Community (51 mentions)
“I strongly believe in this community to be part and the catalyst for the change to web3”
“I work in a few DAOs, but 85% of my time is here - it’s home.”
Learning (32 mentions)
“Nothing but goodness and learning here. Great entry point to DAOs, web3, metaverse.”
Opportunities (29 mentions, 20 of which were Guest Pass holders)
“Fantastic experience with Bankless Consulting. Team is really accepting; there is lots of exciting work, and it is very easy to start contributing.”
“The wide variety of guilds means everyone is welcome and can find a way to contribute.”
Culture / vibe (22 mentions)
“Navigating change with reasoned discourse and respectful debate stokes my bullish conviction.”
“wagmi vibes”
Mission (12 mentions)
“big mission”
Potential (5 mentions, all five of which were L2s)
“We are at an important turning point and I feel good about it.”
Passives
Among the Passives we heard:
Community (18 mentions)
#permissionless
Organization (13 mentions)
“All cool, but still messy”
“the DAO seems to be pretty chaotic and in some projects there are quite selfish interests.” “Great vision but getting very large and overwhelming to follow everything.”
“scope bloat”
Opportunities (it takes a lot of commitment) (10 mentions)
“It’s a good place to start learning how to DAO, but requires a lot of initiative on one’s part to get involved”
Learning (10 mentions)
“lots to learn, great place to learn it”
Tokenomics (7 mentions)
“tokenomics - why isn’t this a high priority?”
“Compensation is lacking, but the vibes are lit”
“Token price keeping me from giving a higher score at the moment”
Governance (3 mentions)
“Too much voting for everything. We need to distribute decision-making power instead”
Detractors
Detractors, while few in number, often seem to provide us the most compelling feedback. We learned that the following issues are of primary concern among detractors:
Engagement (7 mentions)
“Guild engagement low.”
“Overworked, loss of energy.”
“Feels like we need more professional full-time people.”
Tokenomics & money (7 mentions)
“We have failed to capture the incredible value we are putting out back to the token itself.”
“Feels like price isn’t correlated to actual potential.”
“Concern about our runway & our ability to bring in revenue to sustain the DAO.”
Exclusivity (5 mentions)
“Decisions are behind closed doors”
Governance (5 mentions)
“PLM group is centralized spys”
“Lack of leadership and too decentralized.”
“Becoming very centralized”
“We need a clearly defined purpose / mission."
Onboarding (4 mentions)
“Onboarding it’s complex. Still, it’s the best one I’ve seen.”
Organization (3 mentions)
“Lack of structure”
Qual Q2: Anything else we should know?
Promoters
Promoters report increasing levels of confidence, particularly among L2s. In fact, only 3 of 43 L2 Promoters reported a slight decrease in confidence since last month’s survey, and none reported a material decrease. Select comments appear below.
Hype and rah-rah from this section of the survey (15 hype notes)
“I am honored to be on the frontier with you.”
“Happy to be here as a guest and looking forward to joining permanently.”
“Let’s keep building!”
“One love, One life! Let’s get bankless!”
“Keep building !!!”
“I have always been bullish AF about bDAO.”
Tokenomics & money (13 mentions)
“I’m worried about the price of $BANK, we need more utility”
“We need to figure out how to get the price of BANK up, or this experiment will end.”
“I fear we will not survive past this year if we don’t make major changes.”
“The GSE and Tokenomics are very closely connected.”
“Lots of hope is riding on the GSEs”
Engagement & Talent (6 mentions)
“I would like the DAO to greatly look at talent management.”
“Improve contributor retention. Quality over quantity.”
“I am concerned that too many people are leaving”
Passives
Passives are a mixed bag, naturally, of those reporting increased and decreased confidence. Comments include:
Hype and rah-rah from this section of the survey (9 hype notes)
“Marketing, translators, and AV guild are paving the way forward- follow their enthusiasm!”
“May next season be the best one yet”
“#bDAO strong”
Learning Curve (5 mentions)
“I really support the mission but a more robust onramp to participation in the mission would be greatly appreciated”
“Chaos can be stressful and difficult to work in”
Engagement & Talent (3 mentions)
“I am still unclear on how to bring value to the community. I am now working much more closely with the DAOpunks than with bDAO”
Tokenomics & money (2 mentions)
The falling price of the BANK token is demotivating
Detractors
Of 25 Detractors with L1 or L2 status, 12 said they felt a slight decrease in confidence since last month, and 3 reported a material decrease in confidence. Very few offered additional comments, but overall the sentiment from qualitative responses reflected concerns about two predictable topics: governance & token value.
Synthesis
As we witness the continual fall of cNPS and wonder where the bottom is, we must contemplate the most compelling concerns stated by the senior contributors and leader-members of the DAO. Among those I would like to call out are the following salient comments and concerns.
- The $BANK token has fallen materially off the $0.10 price that so many members became accustomed to in the Seasons 1 and 2. Irrespective of the cause, this has caused the two-fold problem of (a) demoralizing those who equate token price with value, and (b) dramatically reducing the purchasing power of those who depend on BANK for everyday living expenses.
- The departure of frogmonkee and delayed institution of the Governance Solution Engineer program have had mixed impact on the morale of the DAO. Some point to those challenges as evidence of our impending doom, while others indicate that our perseverance is evidence of our eventual world-beating success. It seems the indication is in the eye of the beholder.
- There were increasing concerns voiced during February 2022 (the time period in which this survey captured) regarding the perceived imbalance in BANK ownership between the Genesis Team, the LLC, and L1 & L2 builders. While not stated openly by many, this seems to have led more than a handful of key contributors to lose confidence in the DAO.
Author’s note
This will be the last synthesis that I write for bDAO – at least for a while – as I turn my attention away from Ops and toward key revenue-generating projects. As such, the Ops Guild has handed the reins of this important work to 
Ella Dane 
, who has shown skill in assisting with the analysis & prep for this written work over the past several months. You are in good hands with Ella Dane – perhaps better hands. Certainly more timely hands. 
I would like to echo the sentiments of one survey respondent: “Thank you to whomever reads this and all you do for the DAO.”
About Net Promoter Scores
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a well-regarded methodology for quantifying the whether a brand delivers on its promise. The standardized form of NPS reads as follows: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you recommend X to a friend or colleague?”
In our case, X = “working in BanklessDAO”
The results of an NPS survey can be quantified in a score that ranges from negative 100 to positive 100. Depending on the topic, brand, industry, etc., a “good” score can range anywhere from +0 to +40 and beyond.
Wikipedia discussion of NPS
Lattice discussion of eNPS
In our case, we are measuring “cNPS” which we cleverly coined to mean Community NPS. While there is no clear community standard yet, I believe cNPS relates closely to eNPS (Employee NPS). As for how to interpret the score, according to Jennifer Willy, Editor at Etia.com, “anything above zero is generally acceptable… Generally, a score between 10-30 is considered good while anything near 50 is excellent.”