Good work on trying to evolve AGD and getting it to this point @0xbilll ! It’s not an easy job (mostly a thank-less job!) that a lot of people don’t understand / have visibility on.
As the OG Aave grants instigator, I’m happy to see the grants program continue to evolve. It is a good time to revisit the entire design of AGD, see how it can fit into the wider ecosystem, what funding mechanisms are now available, and what tooling can help in making a more effective grants program.
I believe the DAO would benefit from a type of grants program ‘service provider’, both in terms of accountability and independence. It needs to align with the direction of other service providers and at the same time have the independence to actively steer/influence funding priorities. There have been many experiments in the wider web3 ecosystem with quite effective grant programs that the future AGD could learn from - Optimism, Arbitrum, Gitcoin, etc (to name a few).
I’m looking forward to seeing how this evolves!
P.S. I was previously against grant tooling such as Questbook, however i’ve since changed my mind after using them to apply for other grant programs. It’s a really smooth experience from the applicant’s perspective! I believe tooling such as Questbook, Gitcoin infra etc should be looked at again, since they have all progressed significantly from a few years ago.