TL;DR
We are reducing burn and increasing runway by 4x. We have not found product market fit with coliving, and our current core team has decided not to reapply to the DAO for funding. I am planning to continue under a new proposal, focused on running and supporting small experiments that help internet friends build a network of modern villages.
Looking back
Over the past year, we have attempted to build and grow a marketplace for rural coliving with cool people from the internet. Cabin brought together 355 citizens and 22 properties from around the world to plant the seeds of the first network city. We hosted hundreds of people for stays across the network, and have provided life changing experiences to many residents. We used Neighborhood Zero as a testing ground for a wide range of paid coliving and work-stay exchange experiments.
However, we could not attract sufficient rural coliving demand to utilize properties efficiently enough to make the financial model work. Since our last update, we have executed on the plan to dramatically reduce coliving onboarding and activation energy, simplify our experiences and offerings, tighten our product focus, and clarify our marketing.
While Cabin Weeks have been successful this season, with sold-out and transformative experiences for participants, they have not generated sufficient conversion into longer term coliving experiences to serve as an adequate channel that justifies the costs. Market headwinds make it unlikely we could find another channel that will allow for sufficient growth before we run out of money.
For more detail, check out the First Fellowship Retrospective, which covers the work we’ve completed over the past year, successes, failures, learnings, and plans going forward. You can also read our History of experiments, which includes context and learnings from the 18 product bets we’ve taken over the last few years.
Looking forward
After exploring a wide range of possible product directions, we concluded that none were clear enough paths forward to justify our burn rate. Over the next month, our current pod will wind down their roles and I will continue to run and support small experiments to help validate or invalidate product directions. As we transition to a leaner team, we will get back to our roots and operate as a community-driven organization.
To take a step in that direction, we set up this forum (forum.cabin.city): a place for memos, draft governance proposals, and our wiki to increase the DAO’s transparency and accessibility. We will continue building in public, starting with these forum posts that provide context on where we’re going next:
• Fall 23 Product Directions: outline and framework for considering product directions
- The Neighborhood for Families: building villages for families to raise kids near friends
- Social Clubhouse: operating a social club at Neighborhood Zero
- Network Citizens: subscription membership for citizens & network state software
• Cabin Labs proposal: my plans to continue the work of the DAO and run new experiments to chart a path forward
• DAO Multi-sig Signers: a proposal to progressively decentralize the DAO’s multi-sig by adding three more signers
• Exploring Villages for Families in Colorado: a first step in considering places to build The Neighborhood for Families
In the coming weeks and months, we expect additional proposals from members of the community will be workshopped in the forum and put to the DAO for a vote.
Money
• Cash (treasury): $3,063,444 USDC
• Burn Rate: $103k / month → $25k / month
- assuming Cabin Labs proposal passes
- doesn’t account for other proposals
- implied runway: 122 months (10 years)
Asks
• Please read and comment on the forum docs above
• If you know of great opportunities for these excellent team members, please let me know:
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Mel: product and brand designer
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Grin: engineering leader
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Chalice: artful gatherer
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Jackson: growth & media
Shoutouts:
Despite this being a challenging season, there is a lot for the First Fellowship to be proud about. We launched the world’s first network city, created incredible coliving experiences for Cabin citizens, and came to the collective decision to wind down our work. Building a city takes time, and the fellowship demonstrated our values by focusing on the long-term needs of the DAO. I am honored to have had the chance to work with Mel, Chalice, Jackson, Grin, and Lauren over the last few years, and look forward to spending time with them as community members.