Velora Growth Committee (VGC) - Application Thread Season 1

[SEEDGov]

The PIP-63 - ParaSwap Growth Working Group Outcome - Velora Growth Framework (VGF) and Velora Growth Committee (VGC) recently approved established the creation of the Velora Growth Committee (VGC). For the scope and responsibilities, framework and all the details, we encourage you to read the full proposal.

In accordance with the next steps established therein, a 7-day application period is hereby opened for those interested - individuals or organisations - in being part of the VGC:

• Today, Tuesday, April 28, 2025, starts a 7-day period to apply in this thread.
• Applications close on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 11:59 pm UTC.

If you wish to apply for a position in the VGC, please comment on this post by completing the below application template.

We appeal to honesty, trusting that individuals or organizations who apply possess the necessary expertise and skills in the areas of growth, marketing, and related fields whether in Velora and/or any other protocols/ aggregator/intents product, ensuring they can make concrete and valuable contributions to the working group.

Application template:

• DAO-recognized Name:
• Individual or Organization?:
• Time Zone (For Coordination Purposes):
• Relevant Background and skills (Summarize your professional or DAO experience relevant to growth, marketing, partnerships, or DeFi strategy):
• What can you contribute to the Velora Growth Committee? (Highlight specific contributions, strengths, or areas you’d like to take ownership of):
• What is your motivation for applying to this working group? (Tell us why this opportunity matters to you - max 3 sentences):
• List your past or current association, history, role and contributions to the Velora protocol or DAO (List past roles, proposals, contributions, or collaborations with the DAO or protocol):
• Other DAO roles or working groups (Briefly describe other communities or DAOs where you have actively contributed, either currently or in the past):
• Conflict of Interest Declaration (Please disclose any current or prior engagements with protocols that could conflict with Velora’s mission -DEX aggregators, intent-based trading platforms, or similar-. Full transparency is expected; failure to disclose may affect eligibility):

Next Step

Once the 7-days application period is closed, a Snapshot vote will be conducted where voters will use a weighted voting system to select the 3 remaining members of the VGC who will serve in this role for the next 6 months.

Important dates:

• 7-days application period start: Today, April 29, 2025.
• 7-days application period close: May 6, 2025 at 11:59 pm UTC.
• Snapshot voting to select the 3 remaining members start: May 7/8, 2025.
• Snapshot voting close: May 12/13, 2025.
• Publication of results and start VGC Season 1: Mid-May 2025.
• The VGC Season 1 will end after 6 months of its start: Mid-November, 2025.
• At that time, the DAO will decide whether to renew the VGC to a Season 2, with the same framework or with modifications, and if so will select its 3 members for that period.

Good luck to all those interested!

[Sov]

Velora Growth Committee (VGC) Application - Season 1

DAO-recognized Name:

Sov

Individual or Organization?:

Individual

Time Zone (For Coordination Purposes):

West Coast, USA (UTC-7)

Relevant Background and skills:

As the Head of Grants at Gitcoin, I lead BD, Partnerships, and Programs across multiple ecosystems, managing millions of dollars in funding distribution. My expertise spans protocol governance, ecosystem development, and strategic partnerships with a proven track record of:

• Designing and implementing effective programs
• Serving as OP govNERDs Lead, coordinating governance operations and proposal processes
• Active delegate for multiple DAOs (Gitcoin, Optimism, ENS, Radicle) with deep governance expertise
• Creating and curating ecosystem-wide grant resources (Grantfarm, Crypto Grant Wire, Onchain Grants Registry)
• Over a decade of senior management experience running a profitable systems integrator before transitioning to Web3

What can you contribute to the Velora Growth Committee?:

I bring three key strengths to the VGC that align perfectly with Velora’s growth needs:

1. Partnership Expertise: My extensive network across DeFi protocols, L2 ecosystems, and infrastructure providers enables rapid connection-building and partnership formation. I can help Velora establish strategic DAO-to-DAO collaborations

2. Program Expertise: I can design and implement targeted programs. My experience running grant operations at scale ensures efficient resource allocation and measurable outcomes.

3. Cross-Ecosystem Intelligence: My active participation in multiple governance systems provides valuable intelligence for identifying growth opportunities. I understand which strategies are working across different protocols and can adapt these insights for Velora’s unique position.

What is your motivation for applying to this working group?:

Intents-based trading represents the next evolution in DeFi UX, and Velora is positioned at the forefront of this transformation. I’m excited to help shape growth strategies that accelerate adoption of this technology while leveraging my cross-DAO experience to create ecosystem-wide impact.

List your past or current association, history, role and contributions to the Velora protocol or DAO:

While I’m new to the Velora DAO specifically, I’ve been following the protocol since its ParaSwap days and have experience with DEX aggregators. My deep understanding of how these systems fit into the broader DeFi landscape will bring fresh perspectives to Velora’s growth strategy.

Other DAO roles or working groups:

• Optimism: Currently serve as govNERDs Lead, coordinating governance operations; previously served on Grants Council (Season 6)
• ENS: Public Goods Steward overseeing treasury allocation for ecosystem support
• Gitcoin: Head of Grants, leading grant program strategy and operations
• Scroll, Optimism, Arbitrum, ENS, Gitcoin: Active delegate

Conflict of Interest Declaration:

I currently hold no positions with competing DEX aggregators or intent-based trading platforms.

While I interact with various protocols through my role at Gitcoin, none represent a direct conflict with Velora’s mission or business model. I’m committed to full transparency and will recuse myself from any decisions where potential conflicts might arise.

[citizen42]

DAO-recognized Name: citizen42

Individual or Organization?: Individual

Time Zone (For Coordination Purposes):GMT (London)

Relevant Background and Skills:

My background in DAO governance and DeFi equips me with unique skills to support Velora’s growth:

• Partnership Building: I’ve contributed to DAO-to-DAO integrations at Threshold Network with few notable mentions for tBTC listings on Moonwell, Fluid and Aave V3 on Arbitrum, enhancing ecosystem reach.
• Governance Strategy: I’ve crafted proposals and frameworks to optimize decision-making in Threshold and Velora DAOs.
• Community Engagement: I’ve launched delegate platforms to foster participation and transparency in Velora, Compound and Superfluid.

These experiences enable me to deliver strategic, community-driven outcomes for Velora.

What Can You Contribute to the Velora Growth Committee?

I bring expertise in partnership development and growth execution, focusing on initiatives like Intent-based trade, educational campaigns to broaden reach across other DAOs to strengthen Velora’s ecosystem. My collaborative style aligns with Laita’s objectives and I take great pleasure working alongside its members, ensuring efficient and impactful contributions to both the protocol and its community.

What Is Your Motivation for Applying to This Working Group?:

I’m bullish on Velora’s pioneering approach to DeFi, delivering seamless swaps, unmatched execution and user-centric innovation with recent developments really igniting my passion further then my previous interactions as a day-zero staker and $PSP airdrop recipient who’s tracked its journey until present. I’m driven to shape its future by leveraging my skills to expand its reach and refine its governance, fulfilling a personal commitment to its success. This role lets me contribute to a decentralized financial ecosystem that’s more inclusive and efficient, a vision I’ve championed across my DeFi work.

List of Past or Current Association, History, Role, and Contributions to the Velora Protocol or DAO:

I’ve been a Velora staker since launch, a delegate and an active member of the Velora Growth Working Group (VGWG) where I helped shape the framework creating this very committee which resulted in proposals like PIP-63. I also created a Delegate Platform (here) to enhance community engagement.

Other DAO Roles or Working Groups:

My broader DAO involvement includes:

• Threshold Network: Pre-TIP 103 member of the Integrations Guild, thUSD Steering Committee and now the Threshold Council Committee, focusing on security, analytics and multisig operations.
• Compound: Contributed with votes and a staking solution proposal to improve protocol efficiency.
• Superfluid: Established delegate from day 0 with platform thread to advance DAO goals.
• Obol: Currently seeking a delegate role to support Ethereum’s consensus layer as an ETH maximalist.

Conflict of Interest Declaration:

I have no affiliations with competing protocols (e.g., DEX aggregators or intent-based trading platforms) that could conflict with Velora’s mission, as outlined in the VGWG framework. My focus is solely on Velora’s success and I’ll disclose any future conflicts openly should any arise but I am faithful Velorian and plan to remain as such!

[PGov]

DAO-recognized Name: PGov

Individual or Organization: Organization
Time Zone: UTC -5 (US East Coast)

Relevant Background and skills:

• Paraswap Growth Working Group Member
• Active Velora Delegate and DIP Member
• 4+ years of governance experience
• Delegate for various blue chip defi protocols and L2s
• Contributed to growth teams at various teams and web3 projects
• Active currently in relevant roles with protocols including Uniswap, Compound, Optimism, Arbitrum, etc.

What can you contribute to the Velora Growth Committee?:
As a member of the initial Growth Working Group, we are confident we can continue to contribute to this committee, particularly with Defi integrations and token utilization. As an active participant across various DAOs, we have a wide scope on the current state of affairs across Defi and can utilize our networks to help grow the DAO in this role significantly.

We will use our overarching goals to provide as much long term sustainable value as we can.

• Growth: Our decisions are primarily focused on the growth of the protocol. This often results in how to spend money efficiently, but even more importantly and objecting for unreasonable spends and knowing when to vote no.
• Transparency: Clear communication with votes and explanations of reasoning, and an equivalent demand for proposals to do the same. Too often we see thousands, if not millions, being rolled up together and glossed over during proposals.
• Accountability: Too often once a decision is done, having proper accountability becomes an afterthought. Whether it’s a DAO promise or a grant or a new program, once a DAO votes something in, we forget about it. Our goal with PGov is to both continue to check in on these decisions as well as ensure that there are proper channels set up to ensure accountability.

What is your motivation for applying to this working group?:

We are heavily involved in Velora adjacent protocols that provide extensive experience for this role and believe this will be a perfect to provide tangible value. For example, we are founding members of the Uniswap Accountability Committee and involved on many chains Velora is deployed on such as Optimism and Arbitrum.

List your past or current association, history, role and contributions to the Velora protocol or DAO:

• Paraswap Growth Working Group Member
• Active Velora Delegate and DIP Member
• Investor and token holder
• Early user and airdrop recipient
• Worked with Paraswap team members on prior governance initiatives

Other DAO roles or working groups:

• Uniswap Accountability Committee: Help maintain deployments of Uniswap across different chains, hold different service providers to the DAO accountable, manage operations and deliverables for the DAO
• Optimism Grants and Milestones/Metrics Council: Ensure accountability and deliverables on grants for the DAO
• Compound Governance Group: Steward for the DAO and manage the governance ecosystem.
• Badger Treasury Council: Day to day work on treasury, growth, and financial operations management for the DAO.
• Engagements with Arbitrum, Lido, Moonwell, etc.

Conflict of Interest Declaration: PGov is actively involved in governance across defi protocols. As mentioned, we will leverage this experience and network and disclose conflicts of interest as they arise. We are not delegates at other DEX aggregators and have recently offramped our Cowswap delegation to focus solely on Velora.