TL;DR
AlphaGrowth has explained many of the potential strategies we can implement on behalf of the DAO in the pursuit of creating an impactful 2025 growth program for Compound. We’ve also outlined the corresponding salaries, working capital and bonuses.
AlphaGrowth is listening and we want what’s in the best interest of Compound’s continued success. We’ve taken feedback from forum posts, twitter spaces, and 1-1 calls with delegates and community members to bring the Compound Community an updated and consolidated version of our previous proposals.
Teams
We are retaining all of the teams from the V1 proposal as outlined in the budget below. We have reduced the size of the Community Team and removed DeFi Operations per DAO feedback.
V3 of 2025 Growth Program [Change Log]
Execution
- The Community Team reduced headcount & price by 51% per community feedback.
- The remaining teams & initiatives will be executed with their original scopes.
- Articles have been provided with additional explanation of DeFi Ops, however this team has been removed from the growth program, when opportunities arise they will be presented to the DAO separately with their own votes.
- SubDAOs will be put on pause; we will experiment paying a CFO in this manner, and AlphaGrowth will manage the remaining growth program teams as it does currently.
Compensation
- COMP fell as predicted from $120 to $50
- The USD Equivalent proposal dropped from ~$17M to ~$7.1M, the number of COMP remained consistent minus the Community team & DeFi Ops team reduction
- Performance based compensation will only bonus 50% of the TVL brought through deals with 1-year timeframes (like new chain liquidity loans)
Budget
2024 to 2025 Growth Program Comparison
Category | 2024 COMP | 2025 COMP | Increase |
---|---|---|---|
Salaries | 40,200 | 117,435 | 2.92x |
Working Capital | 37,008 | 55,512 | 1.50x |
Business Unit Focuses | 3 | 7 | 2.30x |
The current price of COMP is $50, the previous price of COMP when the 2024 proposal passed was $50, making the USD conversion comparable for the two budgets.
Sections Removed from the 2025 Salary Ask
Business Unit | Annual COMP | Annual USD | Win |
---|---|---|---|
Community | 19000 | $0 | Activation |
DeFi Operations | 11900 | $0 | TVL |
New 2025 Salaries
Business Unit | Annual COMP | Annual USD | Win |
---|---|---|---|
Wholistic Security | 20650 | $1,032,500 | Compliance & Safety |
New Assets & Markets | 9200 | $460,000 | TVL |
New Chains | 12300 | $615,000 | TVL |
Incentive Distribution & Structured Products | 6600 | $330,000 | TVL |
DeFi Deals | 16700 | $835,000 | TVL |
Rails to TradFi | 11700 | $585,000 | TVL |
Community | 9385 | $469,250 | Active Community Involvement |
117435 | $4,326,750 | Total |
2025 Variable Budgets that will be returned if not used
Working Capital | Annual COMP | Annual USD | Business unit in charge |
---|---|---|---|
Marketing Budget | 18,504 | $1,202,760 | New Chains |
Grant Budget for Builders | 18,504 | $1,202,760 | Community & Hyper Security |
COMP Incentives to distribute | 18,504 | $1,202,760 | Incentive Distribution |
55,512 | $3,608,280 | Total |
Total
Salaries + Working Capital | Annual COMP | Annual USD | |
---|---|---|---|
Total | 142,047 | $7,102,350 | Total |
Performance Based Compensation
- $5M for every $1B of new TVL brought to Compound that can be attributed to AlphaGrowth.
- Only 50% of the bonus amount on TVL designated to stay for a duration of 1 year (like Chain liquidity loans)
- AlphaGrowth will submit a proposal every time a new $1B is added, and on December 31st, 2025 for a prorated bonus amount on the remainder of TVL that’s currently working toward the next $1B milestone.
Payment Method
When executed the DAO proposal will transfer funds into the AlphaGrowth MultiSig, the same wallet to which the 2024 Growth Program Funds were sent. This is the same transfer execution as in the 2025-V1 proposal. Which was taken down because Open Zeppelin deemed the proposal a governance attack that consolidated too much COMP with the AlphaGrowth team. We now believe this to be unfounded. AlphaGrowth currently controls 103,000 COMP votes. While Gauntlet controls 270,000 Votes. AlphaGrowth has verbally agreed not to vote with the Growth program budget.
Next Steps
- Submit to DAO for Vote
- Reignite the Compound Growth Program
Additional Reading
If you’re interested in how Version3 came into existence, please review the journey and back and forth with the community below.
Version 1
In December, AlphaGrowth proposed renewal of the Compound Growth program for a tenure of 12 months. With a plethora of wins in 2024 and clear examples of how the team’s responsibilities had outgrown their original scope. While a majority of the community supported the program and AlphaGrowth could have passed a vote, we refrained instead stepping back to educate the community and create a firmer foundation for the long term joint success of both Compound Protocol and the Compound Growth Program.
Feedback
The original 2025 Renewal Forum Post was 22 pages long (doubled in length by the community discussion). Each strategy clearly needed its own thread to deeper educate the community on its benefits & operation. The community also commented on the manner in which COMP was to be paid out, requesting more structure. They also commented on the price spike in COMP around the vote leading to a larger than anticipated USD equivalent for the proposal.
Version 2
In response, AlphaGrowth incorporated community feedback into a series of articles outlining the Growth Program’s 2025 plan. We:
- Defined an organizational structure to ensure excellence and hold leaders accountable.
- Created a payment structure to provide business units with autonomy while protecting the DAO’s financial interests.
- Provided additional clarity on the strategies behind each business unit.
Feedback
This trajectory was squashed via a snapshot vote