Introducing Odyssy and The Future of Work

Ven Gist
Odyssy
Published in
4 min readSep 21, 2018

How can we #Buidl together, while iterating towards a future of work?

First, let’s talk about blockchain.

We all know blockchain can save us and there is no shortage of thought and innovation happening on the blockchain today. However, we aren’t the only ones who think that a main barrier to mass adoption is getting more real-world applications of cryptocurrency and blockchain tech into the hands of a wider swath of users (humans!). There is an enormous amount of funding already deployed across thousands of projects. Now’s the time to #buidl #buidl #buidl.

Now, let’s talk about work.

Yea yea, I know work sucks. But is sucking a requirement of work? We don’t think so. We want to work together on projects we care about. We want to be rewarded based on our impact. We want to work wherever and whenever we want. We want to avoid micromanagement, prejudices. We want to be as efficient as humanly possible, so we can build as as much and as well as possible. Work should be rewarding in more ways than just monetary. And well hey lookie here, utilizing blockchain and cryptocurrency might actually help us fix some of this sucky work stuff.

Enter Odyssy, a full stack Design & Development collective for the blockchain & beyond

Who are we?

We are a distributed team of designers and developers who have been building apps and platforms in a rapid product development cycle for years. We live and work wherever we please and come from diverse backgrounds. We’ve worked for agencies, firms, corporations, non-profits and even ourselves. We’ve done everything from designing typefaces to building enterprise-level applications.

What are we doing?

We‘re focused on #buidling interfaces on the blockchain that are designed for humans. As opposed to being locked into one project, we’re operating across various chains and protocols. We’re hoping to accelerate the mass adoption of crypto and blockchain technologies for human and societal needs. Native is one extremely exciting project that we’re working on and launches later this month. Within the Native dapp, users will be able to create their own communities, currency, and have some governance tools.

How the heck are we doing this??

Decentralized Autonomous Organization

We’re working steadily towards a fully decentralized autonomous organization. Though there are roadblocks (fiat problems anyone?), we’re thrilled to experiment and really just start iterating towards the future we desire.

The Network is Tokenized

The Odyssy token (ODY) will capture value added to the Odyssy network as a whole. All token functions (i.e. minting, burning, updates) are controlled by an array of members attached to a multi-sig proxy wallet.

Trustless Governance

ODY is also used for trustless governance on token functions, dev fund expenditures, and the overall direction of Odyssy as a whole.

Shared Project Value

If a project has its own token, a portion gets distributed to the Dev Fund as well as the workers on the project. The future value of these tokens incentivizes good work to fuel success of the project, and subsequently, its token.

All Projects are Smart Contracts

Every project, and subsequent milestone, is written as a smart contract. Funds received into a Project are instantly distributed across the network.

1. Dev Fund (10%)
A portion of each project’s value is deposited into a shared fund, controlled by the proxy wallet. These funds are used to grow the network and its capacity so we can #Buidl even more together.

2. Reserve (2%)
A portion of all incoming funds is deposited into the reserve of ODY, raising the price of the token, and instantly distributing shared value across the network based on member holdings.

3. Finder (8%)
New projects are very valuable to the network. As such whoever brings a project into the network, receives a portion of the project funds. If there is no specific Finder for a project, this portion is added to the Contributors.

4. Contributors (80–88%)
All funds remaining in the contract are distributed to those contributing directly on the project.

Some challenges so far

Cryptocurrency is required. Fiat currency isn’t capable of handling this sort of activity. How do we phase fiat out entirely?

How do we ensure contributors earn based on actual value added to the network, as opposed to perceived value?

How can we remain a flat organization, while maintaining solid project management and quality control?

How do we attract talent without providing benefits?

How do we avoid salary and promotion negotiations that are based on trust and bias?

Conclusion

Work rules! Though we have much iteration and experimentation ahead of us, work has become a real joy

Onward

Up next, we’ll dive into some project examples, through various project types, such as Client, Open Source, and our own. as well as more explorations into the future of work stuff. We’re also firing up a decentralized open learning organization (DOLO).

Let us know if you have any ideas on how we can better build on our work model? Have some ideas on how we can tackle one of our challenges? Let us know in the comments!

#Buidl on

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