I came here as a DRep because I want to vote for businesses.
I want Cardano´s Treasury to support companies; but the voting around PRIME is ... interesting.
The Inconsistency
Some of the same DReps who rejected of criticised proposals such as $Cash and Strike argued that the Treasury was constrained, that the NCL had to be respected and that there might not be enough room in the current budget period.
Those were not unreasonable concerns.
But it is difficult to take those concerns seriously when the same people are now prepared to approve a request of 120M ADA ($19.2M)
Treating proposals with comparatively small ,clearly defined business proposal as an unacceptable Treasury risk and than support a program asking 12-24x the amount. That´s peak inconsistency.
Why I Vote Yes
I vote yes on AlphaGrowth´s Cardano PRIME, because it´s business and they have proven to invest in the right companys. I understand what they do and that work will be valuable for the Cardano Ecosystem.
But I do not believe Cardano should automatically prefer funding an intermediary that decides where money should go over funding individual businesses that already know what they need the money for. Alpha gets a vote of confidence from me; still -
I actually would like to know beforhand: Which businesses/protocols will receive it? How much will be spent on research, management, administration and incentives? How much capital is expected to remain on Cardano after the incentive period ends?
The Infrastructure Problem
Cardano has already invested enormous amounts of time, capital and intellectual energy into infrastructure. We have repeatedly been told that once the infrastructure exists, users, businesses and liquidity will follow.
But they have not followed at the scale required. "If we build it, they wil come" has not worked. Building more of the same thing and expecting a different result is not a strat. It is institutional stubborness. (insert chicken trying to push its head through a fence analogy here)
For the Future
For the future: Fund companies with identifiable teams, defined budgets, commercial plans and measurable milestones. Welcome to Finance 101.
Not every business proposal will succeed. Some will fail. Some DReps will dislike how a company intends to use the funds. That is part of investing in businesses.
Many DReps come from technical backgrounds rather than a business background. That is not an insult, but it creates a blind spot. A technically elegant plan is not automatically a commercially successful one, and a business does not become unworthy of funding merely because a DRep would have implemented a product differently.
In software development, there is almost never only one valid solution. The same applys in funding businesses.
Bottom Line
A Treasury that never invests is useless. I am voting yes because Cardano needs liquidity, distribution and economic growth.