2024 Recap: Thank You for a Year of Community and Innovation

We reflect on the achievements of 2024 and share exciting announcements for 2025, including the launch of a video format for our podcast and the creation of a new community group for regenerative leaders. We review key insights from past episodes focusing on real estate innovations, impact investing, digital nomadism, and holistic community dynamics to enrich our understanding of coliving. 

Wrapping up the year, we extend heartfelt thanks to our listeners for joining us on this incredible journey. As we set our sights on 2025, we’re buzzing with plans for new visual content and deeper discussions on governance, regeneration, and community empowerment. We encourage you to share your thoughts on the year gone by and what lies ahead, as we collectively embrace the opportunities and challenges of the future. Celebrate with us, and get ready for more inspiring conversations!

Chapters

• 0:05 Enhancements and Announcements
• 4:15 2024 Recap
• 47:36 Year-End Thank You and Future Plans

Transcript

Daniel: 0:05

Welcome everyone to another episode of Coliving DAO Insights. This is your co-host, daniel, joined today by my co-host, gareth. Hi, gareth, hey Dan, great to be back, great to have you here as well, gareth, and today is the last episode of 2024. So, whoa, big milestone, big achievement? Not really. It's kind of cool. Nothing changes, it's all arbitrary. But what we're going to do today is we're going to have a look at what we've done so far this year, and we have a couple of exciting announcements for the next year as well. So it's a big opportunity to thank everyone who's been listening to the show. It's been great to have each and every one of you here for this year and we are, of course, looking forward to having you again in 2025.

Daniel: 0:51

But there's a couple of big announcements to make before we jump into a 2024 review, and we share with you the main insights we had on this podcast, thanks to the guests, of course, and thanks to the listeners as well, because it's really cool to know that all of you are there listening to what we share. So the first big announcement drum roll you ready. The first big announcement is there will be an enhancement to this podcast and, in fact, it's going to go from an audio-only podcast into a video podcast as well. Now, don't worry, nothing is changing. If you like the audio version, you can definitely keep listening to the audio in the very same way you're listening right now. However, if you'd like to see our faces a little bit more because who doesn't right? If you'd like to see the faces a little bit more because who doesn't right? If you'd like to see the face of our guests as well, we are going to be also in video format on YouTube.

Daniel: 1:52

So we are starting a YouTube channel and, by the way, the YouTube channel is not just limited to the podcast. We will have a lot more content on YouTube as well. We want to be more available, more in touch, more content on YouTube as well. We want to be more available, more in touch. So, by all means, once you join our YouTube channel as well, if you want to contact us, we'll be very happy to communicate more and more with all of you. But yeah, that was the first big announcement you will be able to listen to this podcast and also watch this podcast from 2025. We already recorded some very interesting interviews. Can't say too much about this yet. You will find out very soon, but, yes, we have some really really exciting conversations with high-profile guests. So looking forward to that. And that's not the end of the story, right, gareth? There's more, so looking forward to that, and that's not the end of the story, right, gareth?

Gareth: 2:46

There's more. There is Dan. There's another big announcement for 2025. Because we've been speaking to a few of you and we know that there's a significant number in the community who are interested in starting their own regenerative co-living communities, and we also have a big segment of the community who are already in leadership positions like community managers and are active in regenerative communities today, and so what we're doing drum roll is we have created a new community group for all those who are thinking about starting their own communities or are already leading and organizing regenerative communities, and we've got a new community group for you all to interact on and join in the conversation in, and it's on the new platform school. That's school spelt with a K, dan, s-k-o-o-l. And so we really encourage you, if you consider yourself a regenerative co-living community leader, to go ahead over to that group. It's free to join, there's no obligation, and you'll get great connections and a lot of great content that we're going to share on that group. So be great to see you there in 2025 absolutely.

Daniel: 4:00

By all means, make sure you join. The group is already open for people to join. It's called Regenerative Co-Living Leaders and you'll find that on school, so make sure you join that one. And what we're going to do today is we'll have a light review of 2024 here on Co-Living Tao Insights and we'll share the main insights that we had in our podcast. Of course, there's a lot more, so if there's any topic that we mentioned today that you feel that it's somehow catching your interest, by all means go back and have a look at that and feel free to reach out as well if you want to discuss anything further. But what we did is in the last episode. Gareth, I'll let you talk a bit more about that. We recently had an episode that was you and I discussing some news and some concept in the co-living space, some trends. So, gareth, what would you like to share about that?

Gareth: 5:01

Yeah, so if we go back to the most recent episode, Dan, what we spoke about there was real world assets and how tokenized real estate works. And basically tokenized real estate is you take a property of some kind, whether it's a co-living or any other community you break it into small pieces and then you can offer those pieces for sale, usually on the blockchain. That's how it works, and so, instead of buying an entire property, you can buy a really small piece of property, which gives lots of people access to property investment where they might not have been able to access it before. Much smaller ticket prices and a real, integral part of how co-living DAO works, but a really interesting development in the real estate market at large, Dan.

Daniel: 5:47

Absolutely, and for the ones of you that are interested in RWAs, as in real world assets, you definitely want to stick around, because we'll be talking more about this and here at CoLivingDAO, this is really at the center of what we do making things more accessible, making sure that it becomes easier for everyone to access assets, such as real estate, for example, and businesses. So, yes, great to discuss that, gareth, and what we also did is in the previous episode. Actually, we had a very inspiring conversation with Damien De Sousa. You definitely want to check that out, because we discussed impact investing and, funnily enough, the expression impact investing is probably going to die. At least, that was what Damien shared as his opinion, and I definitely see the rationale there.

Daniel: 6:42

You may be thinking wait a minute, impact investing is going to die. What's going on here? Now? This is what's going on All investing is likely to become impact investing. That's why the label is probably not going to be used as much as it is right now. It's still going to be around for a while, I believe, but I definitely see the trend there and the pattern, which is people, especially new generations, want to put their money where their values are, and this is fantastic because it really means that we have an opportunity everybody who's listening to this right now to shape the world the way we want it to be, and if we want the world to be a better place for everyone, this is our chance to make an impact by simply investing, without necessarily thinking of impact investing because all investing is impact and that's the vision that we want to realize, right, gareth?

Gareth: 7:37

Yeah, absolutely, dan. This is very close to my heart, as you know, and as the viewers probably already know as well. As you know, and as the viewers probably already know as well, I think you know, whenever we're talking about business and money, we should be thinking about how we protect nature as well, and so turning all investing or impact investing turning all impact investing into just investing for the sake of the restoration of nature and to make sure that everyone gets their well-being it's the kind of world we want to live in, and so it just doesn't make sense to invest in things that are going to be destructive, and I'm sure a lot of our listeners agree. So, yeah, a great development and a really good insight from Damien D'Souza there.

Daniel: 8:19

Definitely a great insight there, and, gareth, in the previous episode we also had some great insights and there was also an interesting dynamic between old power and new power, right? So tell me more about your main insights with the previous podcast episode.

Gareth: 8:38

Yeah, so in that episode, Dan, we interviewed Alex Estrick, who's an expert in NFTs and digital art A super interesting guy and a really interesting conversation, because you might be thinking, wait, what's an expert in NFTs and digital art? A super interesting guy and really interesting conversation. Because you might be thinking, wait, what's co-living got to do with digital art and NFTs. Well, these things are very closely related and exactly what you said, dan the struggle between old power and new power. This sounds like kind of like one of those epic mythic battles or comic book scenarios struggle between old power and new power but what it actually means in Alex's world and NFTs and digital art is that we've spoken about before about how blockchain empowers people and gives people power where they didn't have power before, have power before, and nfts and digital art empowers artists and enables them to take ownership of of their own work and sell it on an open market and prove that it's theirs. Lots of, lots of great benefits.

Gareth: 9:34

However, what alex pointed out is that a lot of wealthy old power in the art world is, um, taking advantage of that new technology to push back and create more of a centralized presence and a centralized control, so using the same technology and NFTs to make sure that they hold power and they don't give power to the artists, and so that's a really interesting struggle. We always were idealistic sometimes and we think that blockchainfts and these technologies are going to really um hand over power automatically to people, but really we have to shape it. We have to use the technology to shape the outcome we want and, of course, we're all about empowering people, and where that's relevant for us is empowering our residents and co-living dial communities, dan. So really cool. We have to be active in shaping that new power and making sure that residents get that power through those new technologies.

Daniel: 10:34

Fantastic Because, again, I can see a pattern there. It's all about making this conscious and collective effort to really make sure that we can make a difference, make an impact in a positive way. So, yes, nfts is something I find fascinating. I think there's so much potential in that technology. It's a complete mindset shift. A lot of people still don't understand and they think it's just JPEGs, right. So it's interesting to see how different people relate to that. But what really matters is that it's an opportunity. We have an opportunity, but it's not something we need to take for granted. We want to make sure that we can make good use of this opportunity to really shape the world. And, speaking about the new world, or what's happening in the world, the direction the world is taking, in the previous episode we discussed digital nomads, short-term co-living and this idea of fusing co-working and co-living, having short-term, long-term and so on.

Daniel: 11:38

So it was a very insightful conversation as well, because right now, we are in a position where co-working and co-living obviously go hand in hand. That's something that people do, people can do and a lot of people want to do, but, at the same time, co-living is something that can be done in multiple different ways, and I'm not going to go into definitions or anything like that. Of course, for any details, you can check out the actual episodes that we're discussing. But, yes, we have discussed ideas and trends and news in the episodes. You definitely want to check it out, and one of the trends is more and more people want to work and live in a co-living space, and sometimes people like to do it in a rural setting.

Daniel: 12:28

We mentioned Spain, for example. A lot of digital nomads going to Spain, go to Portugal, going to the places where they can be more in contact with nature compared to big cities and metropolises. However, they still want to be professionals. They're not trying to just live in the community, completely disconnected from the rest of the world. So, very interesting trends and, for a deeper dive, make sure you check out the episode, gareth.

Gareth: 12:59

Yeah, it was a really interesting trend there, dan, because digital nomads have a huge amount of freedom to travel and work where they want to work, which is a fantastic development. Many people welcome that, but they also speak of a loneliness when they're traveling and working alone and that short-term nature of being in a place for a few days perhaps and then moving to another place without getting any strong links. Without getting any strong links, and so there's a really interesting opportunity there to have digital nomads be more a part of co-living communities. If they're going to use a co-work space in co-living communities, so kind of like a mini partnership, perhaps some co-living communities will actively seek out digital nomads and say, hey, come and stay here for a couple of weeks or a month and get to know us, hang out with us, it'll be fun, you'll have a bit of a social life, a bit of a community, and that's really like this nice blend of both worlds, right, having that security and freedom, getting the connections. It's got a real feel-good factor to it, dan.

Daniel: 14:03

Beautiful and, yes, it's a great blend. And speaking of feel-good factor, gareth, what's your insight on the previous episode?

Gareth: 14:13

Yeah, so the one before that. It's a nice little link there on work-life balance and really I think you know work-life balance is a bit of an illusion, to be honest, like who perfectly balances their work and their life every single day? It's almost impossible, right. And so I prefer the definition of the World Health Organization when they talk about well-being and health, and that's a much more holistic perspective in that you know your well-being and your health is dependent on your physical, your mental, your psychological and your spiritual well-being, and so if you take care of all of those over a period of time, you get a kind of dynamic balance. And when you think about work-life balance, if it's kind of an impossible target sometimes, we need to work hard, we want to work hard. As long as you're taking care of all those elements of your health, you get a much better, more rounded well-being. So I prefer to talk about holistic well-being than work-life balance, and that's one of the major insights that we took away from that episode, dan.

Daniel: 15:17

Yeah, I completely agree. I'm a bit struggling to understand why people even think in terms of work-life balance, as if work and life were in contrast. In reality, if anything, just call it life balance right, Work is part of life. If, when you're working, it doesn't feel that you're living, you should probably work on something else. And, of course, it's easier said than done. So we completely understand what the situation is right now and that's why we want to move away from this concept and embrace a new concept, so holistic well-being great way to put it or simply life balance. So I'd like to see life as a symbiotic balance between multiple things, just like you perfectly put it into words, Gareth. So great, great to get those insights as well.

Daniel: 16:04

Now, in the episode before that one, what we did is we discussed more in-depth digital communication in co-living spaces, which is a big one, because if there's people living in a community, how do they communicate? How is the operator communicating with the members of the communities, the residents, how is everyone being able to reach out to everyone else? And again, for details, make sure you refer to the episode. But what the main insight was is yes, there are multiple ways to do it. It's possible on one end of the spectrum to have a bespoke dedicated platform like an app or a messaging system with any functionalities, really. So it's possible to do that.

Daniel: 16:58

However, if you don't have a large co-living, that's really justified the cost and risk in designing your own platform. So something that makes sense for most co-living spaces is to piggyback on other digital platforms and there are some dedicated ones as well or simply generic ones that can be utilized for internal communication, and we really understand the need for co-living spaces existing and new co-living spaces to really have an effective and efficient solution to digital communication, and that's why this will also be one of the features of our platform here at Co-Living DAO. So definitely stay tuned if you're thinking to start a co-living space or maybe you have one already and communication is important to you you definitely want to stick around, Right, Gareth?

Gareth: 17:38

Yeah, absolutely, and at Co-Living DAO, because we offer very unique benefits in terms of residents becoming owners and having a say in how decisions are made and being part of the DAO as well for those decision-making practices. Then it makes sense for us. We have our own bespoke platform that we're building at CoLiving DAO and that's going to enable those unique features. But for those of you who are maybe part of more traditional, smaller communities, why not just use an off-the-shelf digital platform, absolutely for the needs that you have, but we're doing things a bit differently here at CoLiving DAO, so we need that custom build.

Daniel: 18:17

Yeah, and that's why we want people to piggyback on that right. So once we can custom build something, then each individual community starter or founder or operator will not need to reinvent the wheel. That's the whole point. So that's exactly why we're here to really make things easier for everyone, not harder and more effective. And speaking of why we're here, this is interesting because the episode before that one, we actually had a bit of a recap as well. Now, it's kind of strange to recap of a recap, but what we're planning to do is to have a bit of a session like the one we're having today, at the end of the year. We didn't have one in 2023. That's why we had a recap, uh, midway through the year and gareth. What was your main takeaway from that?

Gareth: 19:07

yeah, for me, the the recap was, um, the best part there was reliving the beginning of our journey and speaking with the creators of the Fair Shares Commons, which is the advanced organizational structure that we're using at CoLivingDAO basically to enable residents to have a fair share in wealth and power. We use the Fair Shares Commons and so, speaking to Rory and graham, who are the creators of the fair shares commons, for me that was really interesting and really like. It just felt good, you know, because they're integral to the, to our journey and our journey of discovery and looking for models that would really empower residents and enable co-living to paradigm shift into something much more exciting than in the traditional structures that we have. So the chat with Rory and Graham was really insightful and really inspiring towards that really big vision that we have here at Co-Living DAO, and they've enabled us to move and build on that great work that they're doing. That they've done in order to make a future that we all want to live in.

Daniel: 20:13

Absolutely Speaking of piggybacking, right, this feels more like sitting on shoulders of giants. So great to have this opportunity as well. And the previous episode was actually with one of our guests it was Dorches and we discussed with her empowerment and personal growth within co-living spaces. Now, this is a very interesting concept. We touched on well-being as well, but, more importantly, living in a co-living space, living in a community, is an opportunity for personal growth and, yes, there will be stimulation, there will be chances, challenges, things will happen. So when you live with people around, that's the opportunity to grow, and we had a very fascinating conversation with the Orchards to see exactly how one individual, for example, can channel every challenge and every opportunity for growth into something positive and empowering, while, at the same time, the community itself can be designed in a way that really facilitates this empowerment journey, right, gareth?

Gareth: 21:22

Yeah, and that's exactly how we met Dan and empowered each other because we were neighbors in a co-living community, and that resulted in a huge amount of personal and professional growth for both of us, which is fantastic, and you know other people that are making great connections, finding like-minded spirits, can do the same in whatever their interests are, and in a co-living it really enables that, because you can connect with the people on your doorstep and it's just an incredible opportunity for people to grow.

Daniel: 21:55

Absolutely, and you mentioned like-minded people and connections. This really introduces the previous episode in a perfect way. Now, we spoke about personal growth and, yes, this means there will be things happening. In fact, one of the main objections that I get from people when I talk about co-living from people that never lived in a co-living space. They don't know what it's like. In their imagination, they think, oh, wait a minute, what if I don't like my neighbors? So, Gareth, what's the answer to that?

Gareth: 22:26

Yeah, super common objection from people what if I don't like my neighbors, neighbors? What if I want to lock myself in my room all day and avoid everyone? Well, one of the first part of that is, if you want to lock yourself in your room and have some private space, you can in a co-living. That's how it works. You have your own little private space and you can do that if you, if you ever need to do it and all of us need to do that sometimes we're not saying that you live in community all the time. But the other big exciting piece here on um, what if I don't like my neighbors? What if I'm not, don't have the same interests? Right, is in themed co-living's, dan.

Gareth: 23:01

So we spoke a lot about co-living's that have a strong theme. For example, you could live in a co-living if you're an athlete in a particular sport. You could live in a co-living with other athletes in that sport and then you have a really strong shared interest and you can hang out together and and support each other and it links really closely to that other episode we spoke about on the personal growth angle with Dorchus. So living in a community of athletes if you're an athlete, of course, is going to turbocharge your life and you're going to walk, you're going to, you're going to like at least some of your neighbors.

Gareth: 23:35

Maybe you won't get on with everyone that's, that's human nature, right? We don't. We never assume we're going to get along with everyone, especially if there's a very large number of people in a big community. But you're for sure you're going to find some friends and like-minded spirits and have that shared interest, which again, is a huge opportunity. So themed co-living fantastic. Also in co-living DAO there's the potential to have a federation of themed co-livings so you can move into whichever flavor is suitable for you and aligns with your interests and the type of people you want to hang out with. So big opportunity there, dan.

Daniel: 24:13

Isn't that so cool being able to surround yourself with like-minded people and, at the same time, tapping into a federation of people from all walks of life. So that's exactly what we're enabling here at CoLivingDAO. Thank you for the insights, gareth, and the other thing that we discussed in this podcast in fact, we discussed that in the previous episode is short-term versus long-term co-living, and I know a lot of people are still confused, and rightly so, because the word co-living is used for all sorts of different arrangements. Sometimes it could be something that feels more like a hostel, sometimes more like a flat share, a house share. So we've heard pretty much of the word co-living used in multiple contexts, but at the end of the day, what you want to think about is this Every stay has a certain length. Whether it's short, whether it's long, it's still living in a certain place for a certain period of time. So if you want the ins and outs of short-term versus long-term co-living, by all means go and check out that episode.

Daniel: 25:23

But what the main insight was is that having the ability to be part of a federation and move from one place to another, from short-term to long-term and so on, is really something that could potentially be a game changer, if you ask me, I'd love the idea to have maybe one base, or maybe more than one base, maybe having multiple places I can really call home and then having the ability to tap into multiple communities as well. So here at Co-Living Down, we envision co-living as something that can be pretty much anywhere on the spectrum. Let's imagine something as quick as a pop-up co-living could be that. But what's even more interesting is having a permanent co-living that allows for both long-term stays and short-term stays, which means communities can really thrive and bond and create strong connections and really grow together, while at the same time having this sort of dynamism where new people bringing fresh ideas and new stimulation coming in. This can really be a fantastic blend. How does that feel to you, gareth?

Gareth: 26:32

Yeah, the key phrase here, I think, is freedom of choice, dan. So if you imagine being a digital nomad and you're moving around, like we discussed before, and you fancy staying in a place for a week, well, you can stay for a week, especially if you're moving around a federation, you could stay for a week. Or you might change your mind and say after that week, you know what, that was too short, let me stay a bit longer. Or let me move to another community where I'm going to spend three months or six months. I'm going to go real deep and I'm going to get great connections. I'm going to really soak myself into the local culture and I want to be a part. You know, I want to be part of the furniture. I want to be there long enough that I'm part of the furniture. So freedom of choice, whether it's short-term or long-term, is the really key phrase there and that's what we're helping to enable at Co-Living DAO Freedom of choice that's beautifully put.

Daniel: 27:29

And speaking of things that were beautifully put, gareth, in the previous episode to that one, I remember you came up with a complete new term. Right, we're talking about gentrification, and what was that new word that you coined?

Gareth: 27:45

Yeah, blandification, awesome. What is that about? Blandification Sounds really exciting, right, awesome. What is that about? About Dan was in Hackney in East London, used to be really run down dilapidated area back in the 90s and artists moved in because it was cheap, it was affordable, there was really cool warehouse spaces, they could live there, they could work there in these giant old warehouses and create fantastic works of art and really amazing social commentary on the state of well, their neighborhoods and the nation and so on and big trends in global society.

Gareth: 28:37

But the key thing there is that the artists then revitalize the neighborhoods because then artists are there. You get really cool coffee shops, you get nice clothes shops moving in, you get interesting people, entrepreneurs and innovators moving in to hang out with the artists and be a part of that culture. Then the property prices go up because people want to live there regular people want to live there and what happens then is these old dilapidated buildings get bought out by property buyers, upgraded and you get this kind of corporate takeover. Then your high-income professionals come in and they rent out and buy these new spaces and the artists are priced out because it's too expensive. So the artists that created the gentrification then get kicked out and what you get is this corporate blandification of a neighborhood, which is really sad and one of the ways out, because we're looking for non-zero-sum solutions here.

Gareth: 29:35

Okay, how do we get the best of both worlds? How do we avoid blandification but also get the benefits of gentrification? Well, it's through shared ownership and empowering and sharing in the wealth and power. So imagine a co-living DAO community in Hackney. Those artist residents could stay where they are, become co-owners, upgrade the buildings, upgrade the local community, be a part of the local community and not have to leave because of the prices. So that's one possible direction that a co-living DAO community could take in bridging that gap and moving away from these zero-sum trade-offs and away from blandification. We don't want blandification. This is not a cool thing.

Daniel: 30:21

Yeah, such a great concept, Very, very interesting and fascinating. And, speaking of market dynamics being dysfunctional, what we discussed in the previous episode is that the house share market is effectively broken right now, and for multiple reasons, of course, but in particular, we explored one angle, which is how, the way the market is positioned. If someone is looking for a share flat, a share house, renting a room in a shared apartment, what we realize is that the number one focus is just the physical space. Talking about things okay, how big the room is, that's important. Okay, I agree.

Daniel: 31:04

But also, do you need to know all the little details? Or like how many toasters you have in the kitchen and kettles and pots? For someone who's passionate about cooking, it might be an important detail. But when you go very, very granular on that, you start thinking, okay, that might be important, but what's even more important than the specs, what's even more important than the physical details of a place? And then very quickly you realize that that's people, in-person connections. So who am I going to live with?

Daniel: 31:39

I find it crazy to read an ad, the average ad, nearly every ad, the vast majority of those that spend a lot more words to describe the place itself and barely any when it comes to describing the people you'll be living with. Why would you want to live in a place if you don't know who else is going to live there? Isn't that as important, if not even more important, than knowing what brand of grill you have in the kitchen? And if you agree with me and your answer is yes, that's exactly the shift we want to see here at Coluva Endow. We mentioned themed communities earlier. I think house share and flat share is a fantastic opportunity to connect with people and learn and being empowered like we mentioned from the podcast with Dorches as well and this is something that's really overlooked nowadays in the house share market. So, gareth, a bit of an opportunity there.

Gareth: 32:37

Yeah, and I find it so fascinating that house share and flat share ads and platforms. They typically have descriptions of the flatmates, but in the small print, away from the physical space, as you said, you have to kind of try and look through a keyhole to try and figure out who the people are that are in the flat or the apartment. You might get some really basic info, like they're 25 years old, a smoker, and they like pets, and you're like well, is this a person I can live with? Do I need to arrange an interview with them as well as tour the space? How does that work?

Gareth: 33:13

But really, the platforms are so geared towards this is how many rooms you've got. This is the neighborhood you live in and if you think about the way that people live, the most important way to utilize a physical space is to have really good connections with the people you live with. Right, because if you want to have, like, a party in the flat or you want to invite friends over or you want to cook dinner, the fundamental thing you need there is to get on with the people you live with to enable those things to happen. So, yeah, it's just really interesting that the focus is in the wrong place.

Daniel: 33:49

Very interesting indeed, and what's also interesting is that, gareth, the episode before that one was actually one of my favorite episodes, because we discussed why DAOs fail and how to fix that. So, gareth, what's your insight on that one?

Gareth: 34:05

Yeah, quite a heavy topic. Why did DAOs fail? Well, I mean, in a nutshell, what we discussed there is that DAOs fail through the very sort of benefit that they give. So the DAOs, of course, enable this decentralization of power, giving away power to users and members so that the community as a whole can shape itself and make all the major decisions.

Gareth: 34:38

But unfortunately, what we've seen is that some bad actors find loopholes to exploit that system, gain an unfair share of power and then, you know, in the worst cases, steal a lot of money and then run away or maybe even at the lower end of the spectrum, which is still just bad, make decisions that are really not good for the community, using these loopholes and exploitation tactics. So what we discussed there is that you really need strong governance systems and really good fundamental processes to guard against bad actors. Is that you really need strong governance systems and really good fundamental processes to guard against bad actors? So we're not living in a utopia. We're not saying a DAO is a utopia. We're not saying that decentralization is a utopia. These things need to be again shaped and managed so that they work really well and we get those amazing benefits for everyone in our community.

Daniel: 35:21

Absolutely. And I can already feel that some of you right now may be thinking wait a minute, what's a DAO? And yes, you can go back to the episode. But, more importantly, the previous episode addresses this exact question what's a DAO? So if you don't know what a DAO is, before learning why they fail and how to fix it, find out more about what a DAO is in the previous episode.

Daniel: 35:46

And a DAO is a Decentralized, autonomous Organization. And what's really important about that is that they really represent the shift from Web 2 to Web 3, meaning going from a static web not just static, but let's say, the web one we consider completely static web, but the web two was no longer static, it was social but still very centralized. So having a version of the World Wide Web where people can interact, sure, but they don't own any of that, they don't own any platforms, they don't own their share in any of that, even the content. Sometimes there might be some copyrights around that, but they don't really have control over the interactions themselves. So the DAO is something that really changes the game. It's an opportunity for people to make decisions collectively and to collectively own platforms, tools, companies, you name it organizations right, it could be different types of organizations, so definitely fascinating concept.

Daniel: 36:55

We went more in depth in the episode, so by all means go back and check it out. And because we talk a lot about governance, then DAOs are extremely important. It's part of our name, at the end of the day co-living DAO, so it couldn't be more important than this right.

Gareth: 37:13

Yeah, that's right, and we addressed that directly in the episode just before that, dan, where we spoke about the benefits of Web3 and how that works versus Web2. And again, in a nutshell for those who didn't catch that episode, maybe not so familiar with Web3, web3 enables a democratization of ownership where every member in the community's contribution is valued and it's a real value, it's not just words. They typically have some sort of share in how funds are spent, some share in any profits made, if that's the way it's constructed, and also legal governance rights, so it's a really true democratization of ownership that Web3 enables. Enables. Imagine being on a social media platform and when you post something that is really popular, people enhance your reputation and maybe you get paid for it. That's one possible way that Web3 enables the community to be empowered and every member to be valued, and so that was really cool, dan.

Daniel: 38:19

Absolutely, and, speaking of value, let's talk about money or, more precisely, monetization. That was the central topic of the podcast that we had just before that, and monetization of co-living spaces is really a critical aspect of running a co-living or, more in general, a business. Any organization needs to survive and thrive, and the difference between failing or thriving can sometimes purely be monetization strategies. So if you're running a co-living, or you've been thinking to run your own community, a co-living space, you definitely don't want to overlook this aspect. A lot of spaces fail purely because they're unable to monetize.

Daniel: 39:03

The main takeaway here, though, is when we talk about monetization, we don't see that as a way to extract financial resources from the underlying community. No monetization should happen at the expense of a community. However, monetization can happen by adding value to the community, so you don't want to create a system that is extractive, because that's usually not very sustainable. It might generate some short-term profits, but when you see a lot of spaces failing, they probably had very short-sighted monetization strategies. So the good news is, yes, it is possible to establish long-term, empowering, value-based monetization strategies where you add the value, and the more value you add, the more money generates, and therefore it becomes a virtual circle where things get better and better for everyone. It is possible. You want to find out how? Check out the episode that we did on monetization, right, gareth?

Gareth: 40:06

Yeah, and without spoiling it. But one of my highlights there was the modular nature of spaces. So, like, a member's social space can be converted into an event space and then rented out to an events company that come in and provide something for the residents. So you get that double benefit and that amazing value that's unlocked for the community and for the co-living operators. So check out that episode. Really good insights there.

Daniel: 40:33

Awesome. And Gareth, speaking of good insights, the episode before that one, I know that this is one of your favorite topics green living. Tell us more about that.

Gareth: 40:44

I'm going to try and be brief here, Dan, because I love this topic so much. And sustainability, yeah. So green living, right. So people talk about people, planet and profit. Companies talk about people, planet and profit all the time and say, yes, we're doing business and we're protecting nature. And some companies are, they're doing good stuff, they're doing some great contributory work to helping enhance nature. But really, if you want to do it properly, you want to get deep and embed protections and enhancements of nature and get it right into the legal foundation. And what we do at Co-Living DAO is we do exactly that for each co-living community, which then enables every co-living to contribute to the enhancement of blue and green spaces in and around the community for the benefit of not just the residents but also the locals and for everyone else, because more green and blue spaces equals cleaner air. Fresher air, nicer places to hang out, and it contributes to biodiversity and all these other amazing benefits.

Daniel: 41:58

So just by being a part of a co-living dial community, we will enhance nature and get that real people planet profit benefit done. Yeah, and for everyone who's listening, if you're into anything around nature, environment, sustainability, regeneration, you definitely want to go back into the archives and check out that episode that we did on green living. And, last but not least, in fact, the first episode of 2024, early January, we discussed self-managing teams. So when you speak about how to manage teams in an organization and obviously co-living space is an organization there will be people working for the co-living space to make sure residents have a fantastic experience. To make sure residents have a fantastic experience.

Daniel: 42:40

Yes, it's possible to run it top-down, just like it's the most common thing organizations do at the moment. However, we've explored alternative ways to run teams, in fact, moving away from the standard hierarchical structures, going towards flexible roles, flexible teams, and the key takeaway there was yes, it's possible to have dynamic structures, going towards flexible roles, flexible teams, and the key takeaway there was yes, it's possible to have dynamic structures when people don't even have necessarily a defined place in this hierarchy, sometimes not even a fixed role. Even roles can be fluid. However, what really matters is being able to trust, trust others, giving autonomy to other people to really empower them, Because empowerment is very difficult to achieve without trust and I understand that sometimes trusting involves letting go. So a bit of a mindset shift there, but it's definitely a very liberating one, right, gareth?

Gareth: 43:41

Yeah, dan, and what's fundamentally important here is that at CoLiving DAO we spoke a lot about we empower residents to shape their community and so effectively the residents are like a big self-managing team in their co-living spaces.

Gareth: 43:56

But it would be crazy to have a very decentralized self-managing team in the residence in a community and then have a very hierarchical control process through the employees and the co-living operators. And so it's really important that you match the decentralized self-managing community with a self-managing team of employees that are going to be running that co-living community. That's super important to us and we, of course. It's fundamental to what we do, and so giving not only residents trusting residents with decisions that are going to shape the community, but also, you know, the leaders of the co-living operator to really trust their employees to get things done, by giving them real authority and responsibility and letting them get on with it and enabling that structure to bring all the amazing value that will happen as a result of people being really fulfilled at work, as well as residents feeling really happy and connected to community. You know both are needed at the same time.

Daniel: 45:06

Yes, this is really central to what we do and with this year, 2024 is effectively concluded. Now, yes, we did a lot more in 2023. By all means, go and check out the archives, because there is so much that we shared in 2023 as well. So, what you want to do right now, if you find any of this interesting, by all means go back to the relevant episodes or check out what else there is. There's a lot and, yes, you can definitely let us know if there's anything in particular you'd like to hear more of. If there's a topic that we haven't discussed and you think is very relevant, very important to what we're doing here at Call of Endow, or maybe you're curious about something specific, then by all means reach out. Let us know and, as I said, there will be more and more opportunities to reach out as well.

Daniel: 46:03

We will have, effectively, more and more presence on social media. We'll be on YouTube, but not just that. We'll be pretty much on your favorite social media platforms. We're a medium already. We're on X, we're on Instagram, we are on LinkedInin, we're on facebook and very, very soon, whether you like it or not, uh, we may well be on tiktok, which is something that we refrained from for a while, but we realized that, yeah, some people, maybe they have a short attention span, they can't really stand the 45 minute conversations, but maybe a-second video or even a 15-second video sometimes gets the message across.

Daniel: 46:46

So, if you're the type of person that doesn't have a lot of time to listen to a long-form podcast, or maybe the attention span or maybe something else, really every way to consume content is valid.

Daniel: 46:58

Every way to consume content is valid. More importantly, you want to do what works best for you and we want to put you in a position to be able to enjoy the content that we create, regardless of your time commitments, obligations and preferences. So that is why you want to make sure that you follow us on all the main social media platforms, or at least your favorite, favorite platforms, because we want to be more connected with you and we want to hear from you more and more. So reach out and make sure you subscribe to this podcast, because this would not exist if it wasn't for each and every one of you. So right now, as we're celebrating the end of 2024 and the upcoming beginning of 2025, we definitely would like to thank everyone who's been listening and make sure that you are a subscriber, make sure that you follow us, because that's how we grow together, right, gareth?

Gareth: 47:56

Yeah, dan, and we'll see you all in 2025. Looking forward to it, happy.

Daniel: 48:01

New Year. Everyone Happy holidays. And if you're excited about 2025, let us know why. If you're not so excited, you're worried about something, let us know why as well, because you know what, together, we can address challenges and grow. So thank you, each and every one of you, for being with us in 2024. And see all of you literally see, because, yes, we will be on YouTube, so you'll be able to see our faces more and more, so we will come back even stronger in 2025. Looking forward to it. Outro Music you.