GovHack is a fast, structured governance program for DAOs. It turns community intent into vote-ready proposals and stronger delegate cohorts through a three-stage mode. It trains delegates, builds trust, and ships vote-ready proposals.

• Professionalized delegates: shared norms, facilitation, and decision rituals that raise the quality and credibility of governance.
• Throughput & clarity: structured sprints and Expert Pitstops condense months of forum back-and-forth into days of targeted iteration.
• Vote-ready proposals: teams co-author well-scoped proposals aligned to DAO priorities, with clear ownership and next steps.
• Reusable governance assets: briefs, templates, rubrics, and a repeatable Governance Development Lifecycle for future cycles.
• Legitimacy & transparency: public pitches and a clear media trail (recaps, interviews, report) to show the work.
• AI-augmented governance (optional track): safe exploration of copilots to improve deliberation and decision quality.

Contributors (research, product, design, governance ops), and ecosystem partners who support proposal teams.

GovHack professionalizes the Delegate role, compresses months of async back-and-forth into days, and produces higher-quality proposals with clear ownership and next steps.

Network-level outcomes

• Cohort trust & capability: a trained, high-trust delegate group with shared norms, disclosures, and decision rituals.
  
• Proposals shortlisted during the IRL GovHack enter Post-event proposal coaching and are taken to vote-ready within 3–4 weeks.
  
• Reusable governance assets: briefs, templates, rubrics, and a repeatable Governance Development Lifecycle for future cycles.
  

Outcomes by audience

Delegates

• Clear workflow for prioritization, deliberation, and voting.
  
• Faster cycles via structured sprints and Expert Pitstops.
  
• Documented rationale and decisions that strengthen legitimacy.
  

Contributors (research, product, design, ops)

• Placement on track-aligned teams with explicit problem statements, milestones, and mentors.
  
• Practical experience producing governance deliverables and visibility to partners for continued work.
  

AI, blockchain & govtech builders

• Validated Challenge Statements derived from real governance pain points.
  
• High-velocity feedback with delegates and experts; space to test AI co-pilots that improve decision quality.
  

Foundations & ecosystem funds (critical role)

• A prioritized roadmap of governance improvements tied to measurable objectives.
  
• A vetted pipeline of finalist proposals and pilots mapped to funding envelopes.
  
• Transparent artifacts (impact report, briefs, rubrics) for follow-on decisions.
  

Ecosystem partners / co-sponsors

• Co-design of Tracks and Challenge Statements reflecting your strategic objectives.
  
• Early participation in Mapathons during OnRamp to define success metrics and evaluation rubrics.
  
• Matchmaking with teams during IRL and continued engagement through the coaching phase.
  

Phase 1 — OnRamp (4–6 weeks, remote)

Purpose: Align the network on what matters and set teams up to succeed.

Key activities

• Mapathons with foundations, partners, delegates, and builders to identify and prioritize DAO objectives.
  
• Convert priorities into Tracks and ranked Challenge Statements with success metrics.
  
• Draft evaluation rubrics and publish the working playbook (templates, timelines, roles).
  
• Delegate onboarding (roles, disclosures, conflict management) and tool setup.
  
• Pre-form teams and schedule Expert Pitstops.
  

Deliverables

• Track briefs + Challenge Statements (v1); evaluation rubrics (v1)
  
• Provisional teams & expert roster; OnRamp summary note
  

Phase 2 — IRL GovHack (3 days, in person)

Purpose: Move from problem statements to strong proposal drafts with expert validation.

• Day 1 — Trust & Tracks: team formation, stakeholder mapping, scope definition.
  
• Day 2 — Build & Iterate: facilitated sprints + Expert Pitstops to stress-test scope, feasibility, and path-to-decision.
  
• Day 3 — Pitch & Match: public pitches, awards, and partner matchmaking; finalist proposals are shortlisted for coaching.
  

Phase 3 — Post-event proposal coaching (3–4 weeks, remote)

Purpose: Take finalist proposals from the IRL GovHack to vote-ready status.

What happens

• Weekly office hours with track leads, delegates, and foundation partners.
  
• Incorporate stakeholder feedback; complete budget, implementation, and risk sections.
  
• Secure endorsements; finalize rubric scores and evidence links.
  
• Prepare artifacts (one-pager, short video, forum/governance-platform entry).
  
• Coordinate submission and scheduling for a vote.
  

A 20–30 minute, 1:1 or small-group checkpoint with a domain expert. Teams get rapid, actionable feedback on proposal scope, feasibility, stakeholders, and path-to-vote—replacing weeks of forum back-and-forth.

• ETHDenver 2024: 23 proposals submitted, 200+ participants, $15k prize pool, 16 projects demoed, 9.1★ and 67 NPS.
  
• ETHCC Brussels 2024: 25 proposals submitted (6 continued), 200+ participants, $20k prize pool, 9 Pitstop Experts / 168 sessions, 9.5★ and 83 NPS.