By requiring governance participants to lock tokens for up to eight years, the system ensures they are invested in the network's sustained success. They cannot simply vote for a harmful proposal and sell their tokens before the consequences manifest.
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This autonomous governance protocol manages everything from adding node providers to upgrading the core protocol. It operates via proposals and a liquid democracy system, removing the need for a centralized administrative body.
To avoid building a company for a quick sale, Semafor's founders made a 10-year commitment to each other. They then embedded this philosophy into the company's structure by putting all employees and shareholders on a 10-year vesting schedule, aligning the entire organization for long-term, durable growth.
To ensure true alignment and 'skin in the game,' offer proven managers the opportunity to buy into the HoldCo's equity rather than giving them stock grants. People value what they pay for, creating a stronger sense of ownership and long-term commitment.
New technologies perceived as job-destroying, like AI, face significant public and regulatory risk. A powerful defense is to make the general public owners of the technology. When people have a financial stake in a technology's success, they are far more likely to defend it than fight against it.
As a step toward direct AI-driven governance, NEAR Protocol is creating "AI delegates." Token holders can delegate their voting power not to a person, but to an AI whose logic and values they agree with. This tests a model where AI can represent constituents' interests more directly and consistently than human politicians.
To ensure the "triumph of ideas, not the triumph of seniority," Sequoia uses anonymized inputs for strategic planning and initial investment votes. This forces the team to debate the merits of an idea without being influenced by who proposed it, leveling the playing field.
The Network Nervous System was designed with the idea that AIs would eventually participate in its liquid democracy. AIs will create and vote on proposals to rebalance and optimize the network, handling a scale of operations beyond human capacity.
The system replicates computing across nodes protected by a mathematical protocol. This ensures applications remain secure and functional even if malicious actors gain control of some underlying hardware.
Palo Alto Networks' M&A strategy requires founders to "unvest" half their existing stock. This is offset by a generous new equity grant (25-40% top-off) in the parent company, creating powerful financial incentives for founders to stay for the new three-year vesting period.
In a market dominated by short-term traders and passive indexers, companies crave long-duration shareholders. Firms that hold positions for 5-10 years and focus on long-term strategy gain a competitive edge through better access to management, as companies are incentivized to engage with stable partners over transient capital.
