Joining RnDAO as a Contributor – 2025

RnDAO is designed to outperform the traditional way of building startups.

Instead of each startup having to build everything from scratch, we’ve created a collaborative network where each startup benefits from the achievements of the others. Ventures in RnDAO can build on top of the marketing channels, talent networks, brand recognition, investor networks, technology, and market insights of all ventures combined. The success of one benefits all. 

Each startup is led by a small team that can quickly make decisions, experiment, and iterate, thus avoiding both the bureaucracy and mind-numbing of corporations and the politics and barriers to the execution of DAOs.

We call this approach Swarms.

When to join RnDAO?

You can join RnDAO as an:

• Aspiring entrepreneur: Work with us to develop a venture via our Entrepreneur in Residence Program, validating one of the venture opportunities our research team has identified.
• Early-stage venture: If you have already founded your venture and started building, you can apply to be incubated by RnDAO and become part of our product ecosystem.
• Contributor: Join one of our existing teams and help them grow.

This article focuses on joining as a contributor to one of our ventures or the RnDAO Labs team (focused on venture support).

Our Contributors Profile

Across our portfolio of ventures, we are regularly looking for contributors with skills for building tech startups, including UX designers, developers, marketers, growth, salespeople, user researchers, product managers, and operations.

We’re not looking for those with a passive employee mindset or “mercenary” freelancers. We’re looking for those interested in the long-term upside of building a successful venture and ready for the fast pace, constant learning, and resilience needed to build startups.

Commitment Expectations

Contributors can work part or full-time, although we usually look for a minimum of 10 hours a week, and full-time is preferred. For senior people, we can occasionally open mentorship positions with a reduced commitment.

Remote and Autonomous

Our ventures are remote-first and generally operate in a mix of Europe/Africa and America time zones. You can work whichever schedules suit you as long as the team can meet when needed.

Each venture is a separate entity, with its own governance, treasury,  and finances. As such, each venture is free to adapt its practices. As a contributor, you get a voice and a vote in selecting team members, electing team leads, and shaping how you work. You are given agency and have the responsibility to improve the venture you contribute to.

We expect you to take responsibility for your work and hold your colleagues accountable to do the same. Communicate your availability proactively, update the team on progress, and ask for help when needed. We’re here to support each other and be our best.

Compensation

Our approach to compensation is based on sweat equity, where ownership is calculated by taking the fair market price for a contributor's work and subtracting the amount in fiat they receive each month. When we add everyone’s points, that gives us the percentage each contributor owns. The more you contribute, the more you own. The more you pay yourself in the short term, the less you own.

Our ideal contributors are entrepreneurial: They’re looking for little or no fiat payments compared to their market rate as they “invest” their labor towards building and co-owning a venture. You can read more about our philosophy on compensation here and here.

Contributors can become Leads (akin to cofounders). We’re often looking for those willing to put in the work and commit for the next 3-6 years and lead a venture to success. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to mention it! We regularly have multiple technical and non-technical opportunities open.

Mission Alignment

Our mission is to empower humane collaboration. Contributors must be passionate about Collaboration Technology (CollabTech) and embrace a culture of collaboration as part of our Swarm.

CollabTech refers to tools that enhance human(e) collaboration, evolving traditional B2B SaaS and other tools for organizations, gig economy, and creators. If your startup builds products that help people work better together, you’re in the right place. CollabTech can use AI agents, blockchain infrastructure, and more.

A Swarm is a network of startups or companies, focused on a similar domain, that align incentives and collaborate to grow faster. Companies in a Swarm benefit from the scale of a whole product ecosystem (distribution to customers, access to capital, market insights, product integrations, etc.) while retaining the speed and innovation of startup teams. More about Swarms here. 

The Application Process

Here's a quick summary of the steps:

1. Join RnDAO Discord and introduce yourself, mentioning you’re interested in being a Contributor.
2. Onboarding Call to learn more about you, answer any questions you might have, and explore how you can get involved.
3. Filling the Contributor Form (shared on the onboarding call) so we have you on our database and can connect you to opportunities.
4. Connecting you to a venture. When we find a match, we’ll introduce you to the team leads of the corresponding venture. You’re also welcome to learn about the ventures and propose ways you can help.
5. Trial Period: We’ll ask you to complete a few tasks helping one of our existing startups or RnDAO Labs as a Supporter.
6. Contributor Agreement: If both parties enjoy working together, you can propose that the team accepts you as a Contributor.

Next Steps

Join Our Discord server and introduce yourself in the Introductions channel. We look forward to meeting you.