Fundamentals
DAO examples and what they teach about execution
Looking at DAO examples by type is more useful than a list of names. Each category governs different decisions, and each hits a different execution bottleneck.
Protocol DAOs
They govern risk parameters, fee switches and contract upgrades. Their bottleneck is safety: an upgrade with the wrong calldata can drain a protocol.
They lean on timelocks and security councils, which makes disciplined execution non-negotiable.
Treasury and investment DAOs
They govern capital deployment. Their bottleneck is signer coordination - decisions are approved quickly and then wait days for signatures.
Grants and collective DAOs
They govern many small payouts. Their bottleneck is volume: hundreds of approved disbursements that nobody wants to process manually.
Batching and milestone-based execution solve most of it.