Hey @Jujuboy, appreciate the tag!
Quick thought: each of the incubators already gives graduates up to $20 k, which is usually enough for an early-stage team to ship an MVP. In my opinion, instead of spinning up yet another builder-grant lane, we could steer promising projects into the existing Builder Grants program(for projects that are in line with the Season’s Goals).
Well, we aren’t “spinning” a new grant lane. This season 1 was proposed and voted on by members of this DAO, at the time, these programs were already up and running(Funded by the team).
So if they have any promising projects that align with this season’s intent, then they are welcome to encourage such projects to apply directly to the DAO. This will keep the DAO council relevant and also boost transparency.
It doesn’t make sense for the team to propose to take the total budget for this seasons and hand it over to a group of third-party contractors. This raises a few questions:
@Filmmaniak has asked for updates and proof of work. So far there has been no response (meaning none of them are active on this forum, to say the least).
who then will hold them accountable if they fail to properly manage and execute as promised. They’ll have total freedom to work without milestones, to work in the dark and without constrains, especially given that they do not have active representatives in this forum that we know of.
With all this in consideration, you simply don’t have the justification to show that these programs and the people behind it deserve to manage this season’s budget on behalf of the DAO council (which you are a member) 
Also, doing this will break the rules and structure for seasonal funding.
What happens after season 1?
Are you giving up on your job already @Ibraziz21
@Jujuboy
Quick clarification:
On the incubators:
My response is tied to the incubator programs. Graduates of the previous cohort of each incubator are welcome to apply for the grants. These programs are currently running(for example: Aya is on its second cohort) which is what the tagged discussion is focused on. I’m actually agreeing with you on my response that it is not necessary to direct funds to the Incubator programs as is the discussion.
Thanks for the clarification.
DAO funds should be invested in projects that meet the DAO’s intent for this season, not handed off to delegates who will only make the process opaque
Gm @Jujuboy
We’ve coordinated with multiple incubators and accelerators in the past and want to share some of our perspective on why we would be supportive of the Season 1 Program Budget flowing to these specific programs.
Running any incubator / accelerator is expensive and requires a dedicated team focused on this. We’ve worked with ecosystem that paid in the 100s of thousand of dollars in fees to operate a program with a handful of founders.
From our understanding, the Lisk team - previously to the start of Lisk DAO has already - have already started working with these teams, which means that all of the Builder Program budgets distributed to them now would be added as grants to be issued to graduating teams.
We always look at these programs by analyzing the program costs / resources distributed to builder teams - and from that angle this sounds like a great deal.
Also, these teams seem - as far as our online research can tell - to have a clear track record and pipeline, which is not something Lisk DAO would be able to build capacity for within the next months.
In the future - we could from our POV decide as an ecosystem that either 1. we want to expand our focus into other geographies / verticals or 2. decide that we want to internalize these builder programs with a Lisk DAO funded team. However for this initial Season 1 we see a lot of value in working with teams that already have a relationship with Lisk.
Hello @SuperchainEco
Happy to finally get some clarity from you with regards to this topic
My position is this:
I recommend that we let season 1 end and all unallocated funds returned to the treasury. At that point the team can initiate a new proposal to fund these initiatives, that way it doesn’t seem like we voted for one thing only to get cornered halfway through it.
Gm @SuperchainEco,
I appreciate your thoughtful perspective on the Season 1 Program Budget allocation. Your points about the economics of running incubators and the value of existing relationships are well-taken. I completely understand that quality programs require significant investment, and the 100s of thousands in operational costs you mentioned aligns with our experience in the space as well.
I recently spoke with Ibrahim about grants and broader ecosystem support. While the existing partnerships certainly bring value, we believe there’s an opportunity to enhance their impact by strengthening internal capabilities for EM talent development and capital allocation. My team at discere could complement these efforts without disrupting the established relationships Lisk has built.
What makes our approach unique is our dual presence in both London (FCA regulated) and across multiple Sub-Saharan African markets. This positioning allows us to bridge global standards with local execution - precisely addressing the challenges that several well-funded US startups encountered when entering East African markets. We’ve developed networks across both diaspora and local communities that would be immediately available to Lisk’s ecosystem.
We could start contributing immediately in ways that enhance the current programs:
Our team could work alongside the existing incubators you’ve identified, bringing complementary regional expertise from both Africa and potentially other DAO members from Asia and CEEMEA. This collaborative approach would create a more robust evaluation framework while maintaining the efficiency of working with established partners.
One consideration that might benefit all parties involved would be establishing standardized reporting on program costs, resource distribution to builders, and outcomes. This transparency would demonstrate the value being created across all partners while ensuring accountability.
Would you be open to a brief call next week to discuss how discere might complement the existing programs without disrupting the Season 1 timeline? We’ve shared more information about our work on Charmverse and would welcome the opportunity to explore practical collaboration options that advance Lisk’s mission in emerging markets.
Best, @East_Africa_Dev
This is one suggestion I’ll support. 
Is it third party (money grab) offering which suggest that there is additional job to do for lisk DAO (creating artificial problem and offering solution) or I’m getting it wrong? Shouldn’t DAO take care of it instead? Just asking…
I’ll like to see the DAO councils review on This application by @East_Africa_Dev
Does it align with season 1 Intent and timeline? Will it help boost governance and TVL.
These questions are up to the likes of @SuperchainEco, @Ibraziz21 and @Mona to answer.
Also highlights the difference in level of transparency between enclosed programs like the Incubation and open grant processes like the one by the lisk DAO.
I’ll will be checking comments and reviews on Charmverse
Gm Guys
Just a reminder…
According to Operating Procedures for Lisk DAO season 1, Mid-point report for season 1 was scheduled to be published here on April 30th, 2025.
Looks like the report hasn’t been published yet.
Hopefully it comes out soon as it will inform and set the pace for subsequent seasons.
Tagging @Ibraziz21
Cheers
Gm!
Glad you’re engaged and keeping us accountable for S1 operations. This week we imagine the first batch of Grant applicationts and Incentive Campaign to progress. Prior to that we did not have enough updates to provide for a mid-report.
You can expect the mid-report by the end of next week!
April 30th, 2025 was the official date. Now what? We have to guess the day on which it will be published?
Did you read our message above? We specified an expected date. The report will be shared by May 16th latest.
We see a pattern in your comments where you continue to nag without properly reading what others are saying.
If you truly want to help Lisk grow, please consider writing comments that are more solution-oriented. Sharing negative comments every time doesn’t help fro m our POV.
" Reporting and Transparency
To maintain a transparent process, the following reporting practices are in place:
I read “will be” as “it will happen that day”. I’m sorry if you feel that my posts are negative, it’s not my intention to spread hate towards lisk. I’m only thinking realistically and for me this failed to deliver so called “transparency”.
Hey man, You don’t have to be harsh always
Honestly there hasn’t been much activity to report (you can blame that on applicants and not the review council).
I was only sending a reminder, that’s all.
I checked today and I see some applications have progressed, which means everything is still in line with what @SuperchainEco stated.
You can’t publish a report when there hasn’t been much to report.
I guess Season 1 anticipated an early turnout of applications, but this wasn’t the case. New applications have recently begun to come in and I believe the report will capture this once it’s out.
It’s not a transparency issue here. You need data to make a comprehensive report. I wouldn’t blame the review council for pushing back the report seeing that it takes time to properly review applications and these applications started trinkling in quite recently.
So stay chill on this one. Report should be out soon 
Always happy to help
Thanks for the feedback 
It’s my personal post-traumatic stress issue because every single time lisk is delaying something I keep loosing more and more real money that I invested into it and no relief in between that just constant downtrend line since 2021.
Yea. I can totally relate with that 
However, I’ve recently noticed some drastic improvements with the general perception of Lisk and I’m quite optimistic. I thing $LSK has found It’s base and If we maintain good energy, both price and investor confidence will improve drastically in the coming weeks.
We’ve all shared out thoughts, now we just have to watch closely and keep all parties accountable. Still super bullish on Lisk 