CocoDAO

We are the CocoDAO team and our goal is to transform the future of learning through co-living communities.

When we first heard the prompt “future of learning,” our first instinct was to think back to our university experiences. However, with the caveat of learning outside the classroom, we had to think more critically about what really cultivates a learning environment when you remove the physical setting from the equation.

For some context, our team met through a NYC-based co-living community centered around Gen Z builders and innovation. Whether commuting on the subway from the Upper West Side or on the couch of our living room, we’ve spent countless hours discussing our personal projects, past experiences, and future aspirations. We share our goals, motivate and keep each other accountable. Throughout our time , we’ve worked together, lived together (and now participated in a hackathon together), but most of all, what ties this all together is that we’ve learned from one another – as builders, as students, and as people.

Through our experience in the Hangar House, we’ve come to understand that co-living with a value-aligned community is an irreplicable way of learning. Our particular generation of students and builders have experienced a pandemic that uniquely distorted our timeline. As we now wrap up our time in college, finding ways to continue to learn and make up for that lost time – no matter where we are – is more important than ever.

Traditional schooling is great and has it’s use cases, but learning is a life-long pursuit that ought not be limited to the confines of school. real world problems don’t find real world solutions within the bounds of a classroom. It takes exposure to people, industry, and really getting out there in the world to truly understand how our generation can make a meaningful impact on this world.

Coliving communities spur innovation through experiential learning. What makes these coliving communities special is they foster the entrepreneurialism of accelerator programs, cultivate the closeness and community of college campuses, and propel the drive and curiosity found in early stage startups.

We’re building CocoDAO because we believe this unique learning opportunity should be accessible to all. Our mission is to accelerate a generation of people-driven innovation in the way we know best: through intentional, stimulating coliving communities. We envision CocoDAO as a natural next step in one’s professional and personal life following the conclusion of college. Learning doesn’t have to stop once our time in the classroom does.

We’ve been able to learn so much in our micro environment, so as a team we wanted to figure out how to expand this to a macro environment. This is where the DAO structure comes in. We believe that a DAO structure is the best for our goals for three reasons. First, a DAO is built on community involvement. A DAO allows people all over world to come together and work on productive goals together. For CocoDAO, this would include creating a shared guidebook about how to create well designed co-living communities that will transform the future of learning. Second, a DAO allows for decentralization. Decentralization will allow for our coliving houses to exist physically across the world and also exist in an autonomous, self-sufficient manner. This gives us the ability to scale worldwide and build a community of lifelong learners. Finally, a DAO ensures transparency. Rather than using a typical company structure where all of the power is in the hands of one leader, community members who are contributing to the DAO are recognized through voting rights. With these rights, it will be members who decide how treasury funds are allocated and therefore organizing coliving communities that align with our values.

So, what comes next? First, we plan to launch NFTs for anyone who wants to invest and support our early mission to crowdfund our initial treasury. Next, we will use DAO productivity tools to build a guidebook by rewarding contributors in our community through token bounties. This will lead us to working with coliving community organizers to launch CocoPods around the world that are consistent with our mission and values. We aspire to grow this community of next gen purpose-driven innovators, and for them to recognize that CocoDAO is synonymous with learning through new radical ways.

If this mission resonates with you, we would love for you to get involved. Check out our website at bit.ly/cocodao-rdv for more information and next steps.