API3 Operations Report, September 2021
Last month we mentioned that numerous roles and responsibilities within business development had changed and that various personnel had been moved to other verticals to achieve better strategic alignment organization-wide. Much of this maneuvering goes hand in hand with the need to increase visibility and coordinate across verticals. Last month we began efforts to build foundational processes that we can build on top of and that will foster collaboration in a meaningful and optimized way.
A major component of increasing visibility across the organization was in the development of an API Provider catalogue, which was designed to serve as a list of all our current partners and all relevant information pertaining to each of them. While the ideation and process building to accomplish this database was largely a collaborative effort, Nathan, a new addition to the Account Management team, played a crucial role in its execution. Because of this endeavor, all other verticals have a single source of truth where they can view all pertinent information that is relevant to their respective teams such as providers meeting a specific criteria or a list of available APIs offered. We expect that this will serve as a much needed tool both internally and externally as developers innovate on these APIs more and more because it has been designed to give information pertinent to all user groups.
In addition to an API3 Alliance partner catalogue, we also have worked to support and provide resources and guidance to the Account Management team as they develop their coordination processes between the Integrations and Marketing teams. Last month, we were able to get the entire back-and-forth processes between the Account Managers and the Integrations teams built into our CRM, and it has largely been a success. This month, we’ve extended the process-building that we started with Marketing to further utilize Account Managers, and we have begun to explore ways that this endeavor can be created for the Business Development team(s) as well. Unlike the Integrations team, which has a clear start-to-finish process, Marketing has numerous ways that they can leverage Account Managers to coordinate information in a non-linear fashion. Much has been done in initial coordination efforts that are needed now, but this has also informed how we will likely iterate on these processes when new marketing efforts arise. Again, the idea is specifically to build a foundation so that as new endeavors arise in the future, coordination efforts can be constructed and built on top of the groundwork already established in minimal time. This is expected to aid us in being lean and as adaptive as necessary in this rapidly changing environment we operate in.
The Account Management team started as a single person assisting with coordination with API Providers and Integration efforts as that is where immediate need arose at the time. With that being successfully executed in July and August, and with some lessons learned under our belts, we have realized that the Account Management vertical is going to be crucial in the long term. At first we believed this would amount to basic customer service but it has grown into much more. For this reason, we will likely propose moving all Account Managers into Operations until they are ready to evolve into their own vertical and make their own proposals to the DAO as a fully autonomous team in the upcoming cycle. In order for us to set them up for success, we have been diving into process analysis to determine how each vertical could leverage the support of Account Managers as a business unit. This has required customizing how we utilize information shared within our CRM tool. In the near future, we envision that the two-man operation that is Account Management will transform into a highly efficient, mission-critical team that is fully autonomous because so far they are doing a fantastic job.
We mentioned in our last report that we were working heavily on the process of continually improving and maintaining legal and regulatory compliance with regard to entity structure and accounting best practices. This month we have identified and defined key dependencies for operations and accounting needs, and are implementing some external service provider agreements and minor structural changes to alleviate some inefficiencies and further strengthen the API3 Foundation’s status as a standalone wrapper for the API3 DAO. Additionally the following business inputs have been achieved or are currently progressing:
- Formation of a wholly-owned operations entity subsidiary to be domiciled in Portugal.
- Trademark applications for API3, Airnode, and respective logos filed with API3 Foundation as the prospective holder.
- Extensive contract drafting and negotiation with data providers, development teams and auditors, prospective partner projects, university teams, and enterprises.
- Discussions with external teams and legal research regarding liquidity provision options, DAO proposal suggestions, and related structuring.
- Drafting memos and articles as to limitations around custodial obligations, tax considerations for grantees, and smart escrow contracts.
- Drafting form SPV documents for data providers seeking to containerize (and potentially monetize or securitize) their Airnode-related assets and proceeds, to provide further motivation for deployment.
- Drafting terms and conditions for various events in the future such as hackathons.
The Operations team has evolved into a vertical that is designed to help support and find resources for other verticals as new needs arise within the DAO. Our goal is to continue to work smarter, not harder; and we are doing this by working collaboratively with people across the DAO to build the foundation necessary to rapidly iterate and optimize in the future. Without the careful consideration and collaborative spirit of teams working closely with us, none of this would be possible, and for that we are truly grateful.
