Polis Labs Business Plan (Nonprofit Research Institute)

Video Pitch

Project summary

Polis Labs is a nonprofit independent research institute founded at the Network School that conducts deep governance research and provides advisory services to extant and emergent network states and startup societies. Its vision is to provide a central resource for network state founders and practitioners to gain knowledge and guidance on best practices that will promote harmonious communities that prevent coordination failures, reduce the risk of Moloch dynamics, and inform stable, enduring decentralized governance standards optimized for the success of startup societies. By leveraging data-driven, quantitative and qualitative research and a boots-on-the-ground, experimental approach, the lab will evolve to be a trusted partner ensuring long-term success and favorable incentives-based development for network states. Polis Labs aims to be an incubator of policies and practices that ensure wisdom and restraint in governance.

2. Vision and Mission

• Vision: Polis Labs aims to help build a resilient ecosystem of prosperous network states by defending against the coordination breakdowns that imperil legacy governance architectures. 

• Mission: Polis Labs provides data-driven research, strategic insights, and governance frameworks to network states, ensuring they thrive and grow synergistically without falling into harmful competitive dynamics and Moloch traps. 

3. Market Opportunity

3.1 Network States - parallel poleis - virtual territory - tech popup city - cloud community - cloud city: Novel, decentralized forms of political and social organization enabled by virtual communities with value alignment. New technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, biotech, and artificial intelligence also enable the spontaneous development of these organizations. Network states will continuously emerge with distinct cultural, economic, or ideological objectives. Polis Labs will serve as a magnet, pulling these disparate but related ecosystems to a center where common governance challenges and solutions can be absorbed, analyzed, and disseminated as research outputs. 

Current examples: Network School, Zuvillages, Prospera/Vitalia, Cul de Sac, Edge Esmeralda/Lana, Liberland, Praxis, Epoch Island, Afropolitan, etc

3.2 Challenges: As network states evolve, they may experience governance instability, particularly in their competition for resources or influence (leading to arms races), or falling prey to Moloch traps, where self-interested behaviors and tech implementations degrade collective welfare.

3.3 Polis Labs' Role: The research institute will fill a niche by providing data-driven governance advisory tailored specifically to the unique challenges of network states. This includes helping prevent destructive power competition and fostering effective sensemaking frameworks, which will encourage the stability of the network state while satisfying netizen interests.

4. Services, Products, Programs Offered

4.1 Governance Framework Development and Advisory:

4.1.1 Offer governance recommendations and considerations derived from the crypto ecosystem, consensus mechanism models, and data based on all current models and structures.

a. Balaji's Technodemocracy/neo-monarchy vision: Does it work? Will his netizens be satisfied? Should research surveys (qualitative) or on-chain data be used for voting? Comparative analysis with other startup societies? 

b. Prospera’s for-profit model, ZEDE, and self-regulatory regime with tech governance? What does the data say? (Current concerns from locals over expropriation - is a recipe for a Moloch trap). 

c. Zuzalu’s governance is nonexistent, as the Zuvillages are short-term popups. Vitalik says he has no clue how to do the governance. A recent presentation slide of his had this caption: “Governance is not solved? It is really hard.” Polis Labs exists to help solve this problem.

d. Work with network state founders to craft custom frameworks, constitutions, contracts, bylaws, tokenomics, and governance charters. Do startup societies consider governance holistically and optmize for their netizens?

e. Advise on preventing zero-sum competition and destructive dynamics, promoting long-term sustainability. Ensure game-theoretic scenarios make sense, cultivating win-win dynamics. Education in game theory and the work of the Consilience Project and Civilization Research Institute should be mandatory. 

4.2 Research and Project Analysis:

4.2.1 Data-driven analysis of governance strategies for network states, using simulations and models. Also, research past governance structures, such as Gaelic Ireland’s Brehon law, and integrate relevant models.

4.2.2 Procedure recommendations are grounded in evidence and aim to promote cooperation, quality of life, and conflict mitigation while also providing effective conflict resolution and arbitration mechanisms.

4.2.3 Recommendations include the newest learnings from cognitive neuroscience, game theory, counseling psychology, behavioral economics, market capitalism, and Austrian economic school theory.

4.3 Scenario Planning and Risk Mitigation:

4.3.1 Develop strategic plans to mitigate risks of arms races and races to the bottom. Ensure cross-pollination and cooperation between network states. Educate on working in concert, forming alliances, learning from one another, and not engaging in zero-sum athletics.

4.3.2 Provide scenario modeling to network states, helping them anticipate and navigate governance crises.

4.4 Network Building:

4.4.1 Facilitate connections between network states and other governance experts to create a collaborative ecosystem. This will be achieved online and through personal interactions, the latter, with Polis Labs executive, management, and research teams' attendance at decentralization-themed conferences, workshops, and pop-up cities. 

4.4.2 Host workshops, panels, forums, and conferences on governance challenges and solutions for network states.

5. Target Audience

5.1 Emerging Network States, parallel societies, startup societies, cloud communities: Founders and stakeholders of communities building or recently launched network states.

5.2 Investors and Stakeholders: Individuals and organizations backing and funding network state projects, whose goals are to achieve long-term sustainability.

5.3 Governance Experts and Consultants: Academics, policymakers, and subject-matter experts in decentralized governance who can partner with Polis Labs to further incubate best practices and know-how. 

6. Business Model

6.1 Membership: Develop a remunerative membership program offered to donors (network states [cloud communities, popup cities, etc.]) to access regular advice, guidance updates, and governance-building tools, which will include but will not be limited to: 

• High-quality reports and research papers; 

• Lessons-learned (L2) reports; 

• Routine online panels with Polis Labs and guest speakers. 

6.2 Research Grants: Pursue funding streams from individuals, investors, tech and blockchain companies, and/or philanthropies with vested interests in governance solutions research for decentralized states.

6.2 Content Monetization: Leverage Substack and similar social media protocol audio-visual platforms to monetize the research institute's content over the long-term. 

7. Competitive Advantage

7.1 Specialization in Network States (Cloud Cities, Startup Societies, etc): Polis Labs will be one of the first organizations dedicated to the specific governance needs of network states, emerging as a market leader in this nascent ecosystem.

7.2 Evidence-Based Approach: By utilizing data and rigorous research, Polis Labs will offer solutions that are not only theoretical, but grounded in empirical evidence and real-world applicability.

7.3 Prevention of Conflict/Risk Mitigation: Polis Labs will be unique in its focus on preventing “races to the bottom” and "destructive game-theoretic scenarios," offering unique future-centric approaches to forward-thinking network state founders and stakeholders.

Polis Labs will offer face-to-face technical expertise in diverse, related fields such as decentralized finance, threat/risk management, and blockchain technology, etc, especially as it relates to good governance.

8. Marketing and Outreach Strategy

8.1 Thought Leadership: Publish papers, research findings, blogs, and lessons-learned (L2) on network state governance challenges and solutions. Organize and participate in key network state, technology, blockchain, decentralization, and governance panels and conferences.

8.2 Partnerships: Establish partnerships with organizations involved in decentralization approaches, specifically selected universities, Web3 organizations, and other governance think tanks/research organizations.

8.3 Direct Outreach: Approach founders and stakeholders of emerging network states to offer involvement in the Polis Labs Membership Program. 

8.4 Public Relations: Build a strong cloud presence by speaking on governance issues for decentralized communities on centralized and decentralized social media protocols. 

9. Operational Structure

9.1 Polis Labs Core Team:

a. The executive team is comprised of governance/communication professionals with experience in decentralized organizations, game theory, risk management, psychology, and conflict resolution.

b. The administrative team is comprised of professionals from finance, blockchain, and legal fields. 

c. The research division will be comprised of fellow and non-fellow professionals from the blockchain/network state fields, with experience in tokeneconomic models, governance, and threat analysis; data scientists will also model governance systems and analyze outcomes.

d. The research division will also be supported by in-house and non-fellow advisors with a background in blockchain, state-building initiatives, conflict resolution, risk management, global governance, legal frameworks, and emergent networks.

9.2 Headquarters: The research institute's founders and executives plan to incorporate as a nonprofit or foundation and establish a presence in Malta.

9.3 Technology and Tools: To support research and guidance development, the research institute will utilize modeling software, Chat GPT, research databases, qualitative surveys, and data analytics platforms.

10. Start-Up Costs, First Year Operating Costs & Anticipated Revenue:

• $1.3M initial setup including 12-month operations budget [$99,750.00 P/M] - organization, incorporation, organizational legal and financial support, personnel remuneration, travel, hardware, software); 

• Anticipated $500,000.00 in Research Grants from DAOs, foundations, and philanthropies focused on decentralized and network state governance.

11. Risk Management

11.1 Market Maturity: The concept of network states is still nascent. To mitigate this, Polis Labs will be positioned as a pioneer of the network state frontier, focusing on shaping the dialogue around governance in decentralized virtual, and physical territories.

11.2 Member Dependence: Polis Labs will diversify its members in the membership program by targeting sufficiently-funded network states and smaller, more experimental projects.

11.3 Technological Shifts: Polis Labs will be highly adaptable by keeping pace with developments in blockchain governance and decentralized governance technological trends.

12. Conclusion

Our vision is for Polis Labs to play a critical role in shaping the future of governance for decentralized territories and communities. With a unique focus on preventing arms races and Moloch dynamics, Polis Labs will provide vital governance frameworks to help network states thrive in a complex and rapidly evolving world.

Notes: 

* Polis Labs is working to get incrporated as a nonprofit or private foundation in Malta. This is an ongoing WIP. 

Project Assets and Roadmap:

https://polis-labs.com
https://x.com/Polis_Labs

https://wiki.polis-labs.com
https://polislabs.substack.com

Roadmap

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Our overarching goal is to prevent multipolar traps (Moloch dynamics) and coordination failures from occurring and undermining the nascent network state movement (Examples of network states include Balaji's Network School in Malaysia and Prospera in Honduras).

Currently, major organizations are analyzing possibilities for catastrophic global risk, including threats from artificial intelligence, biotech, environmental destruction, and climatological change. This is where Polis Labs comes in: our research retains a deep and abiding understanding of Moloch dynamics in game theory, which we believe is needed to prevent catastrophic failures in emergent governance systems. In our view, governance is an overlooked conduit for incurring incalcuable damage to humanity on a global scale. This threat is especially true with the under-explored risk of AI being implemented in governance deployments in network states, allowing for a potential hostile takeover, and commandeering of human governance and resource allocation capacities.

We will achieve the aforesaid goals by influencing and guiding network states by ingesting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data from nascent network states. This data will be used to produce rigorously honed research outputs, which will provide network states with guidlenes, dos and donts for implementing and operating novel governance models.

The pinnacle of our work will be the deployment of a "governance menu," which we can offer to network states and parallel societies as they emerge. The "menu" will contain governance frameworks that have been coldforged and battle tested. In other words, they are models that have been shown to maintain sustainable communities and not result in coordination breakdowns and Moloch traps. These models will also highlight governance arrangements that keep the "netizens" healthy, happy, and liberated. We call this kind of governance focus the "humanware" of a given network state. For more on Moloch dynamics and humanware, read our latest article: https://polislabs.substack.com/p/from-moloch-to-humanware.

For more on what we do, see this page: https://polis-labs.com/about

How will this funding be used?

The following is a high-level overview of how Polis Labs funding for: 1. start-up fixed costs, and 2. fiscal year-1 (12-month) operating costs ($1,354,880.00). They will be distributed as follows:

1. Start-Up Fixed Costs: $98,880.00 (7%)

2. Key Funding Categories – Fiscal Year-1 Operating Costs:

2.1 Executive Team Salaries: $680,000.00 (48%)

• Development and implementation of the institute’s vision and strategy

• Representation of the institute to stakeholders and investors

• Ensure the organization meets its goals and objectives

• Oversight of high-level decision-making and resource allocation

• Optimization of operational processes and systems

• Alignment of operations with strategic goals

• Supervision of research and analysis to ensure efficiency and productivity

• Implementation of organizational policies and procedures

• Support retention and benefits for long-term growth

• Early research, analysis, and output creation

2.2 Research and Analysis Team Salaries: $380,000.00 (27%)

• Senior Fellow

• Senior Research Analyst

• Research Associate

• Research Assistant

3. Product Development, Marketing, and Partner Acquisition: $150,000.00 (11%) 

• Executed via travel to pop-up cities and other relevant communities and conferences

  • Partnerships

  • PR strategies

4. Operations and Infrastructure: $54,000.00 (4%)

• Travel Insurance 

• Communications

• Postage/shipping costs

• Supplies

• Legal/accounting/administrative fees

5. Miscellaneous/Contingencies: $50,000.00 (3%)

• Unexpected costs and risks

• Emergency buffer fund

Note: If only the minimum amount of funding is reached, the funds will be used to pay the founders back for their personal investments into the project, which includes development of the website, the service stack for the website, maintenance costs, and legal/consulting fees for incorporation as a nonprofit or foundation in Malta. Any addtional funds will go toward the needs and requirements for business mentioned above in the budgeting allocation breakdown. The team is going to be heavily focused on producing the first research output in Q1, which will be an in-depth literary review of current network states and their governance experiments. Funding will go toward making this happen and sustaining the founding team's efforts.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Sterlin Lujan, founder and president of Polis Labs
Lujan has over a decade of experience as a professional communicator, marketer, and researcher in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector. He has worked with and consulted some of the top blockchain and network state organizations, such as bitcoin.com and Logos.co. Lujan was a member of the first Network School (ns.com) cohort started by Balaji Srinivasan, and he is the author of the book, "Dignity & Decency: Rhapsodic Musings of a Modern Anarchist." He also worked as a risk manager and data analyst with Cryptospace, a peer-to-peer boutique cryptocurrency exchange in the US for 4 years.

Lujan has a bachelor's degree in psychology, and has conducted academic research while working on a Master's degree in counseling. Sterlin was published in the journal of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. View the academic paper Here.

Lujan has also spoken at dozens of technology events on topics ranging from governance, panarchy, voluntaryism, communication, cryptocurrency, agorism, cypherpunks, and the future of technology. These events include Parallel Society Congress, Decentralized Data Summit, Blockshow, the Texas Bitcoin Conference, Anarchapulco, and the Greater Reset.

Rafal Przemyslaw, cofounder and Vice President of Polis Labs
Przemyslaw Rafal has extensive executive experience in mid- to senior-level management roles in the corporate sector, including leading two field-specific consultancies with a combined turnover exceeding $15 million.

He has worked on a wide range of international projects, particularly in conflict and post-conflict environments, supporting government initiatives. Some of his key highlights include:

• Human Terrain Quantification Lead (2008–2021):
  Przemyslaw was instrumental in building and maintaining relationships between provincial and local governance stakeholders and international partner organizations in Northern, Eastern, and Southern Afghanistan.

  • As the lead for human terrain analysis, he oversaw data collection and facilitated communication between local and provincial governance entities.

  • His work supported humanitarian assistance, local governance, and community development efforts by fostering collaboration among key stakeholders.

• Re-establishing Governmental Operations in Somalia (2012–2018):

• Przemyslaw played a key role in the return of two G7 nation organizations to Somalia after a 25-year absence.

• He led efforts to rebuild relationships with national, state, and local governments while managing comprehensive analyses in human terrain, governance, and risk management.

• His strategic recommendations enabled the successful re-entry of these organizations, paving the way for renewed activities that strengthened local governance and supported community development.

E. Suzanne Steele, cofounder and Chief of Operations
Steele is a seasoned expert in Enterprise Risk Management, with a proven track record of designing and implementing risk management systems that enable safe, secure, and efficient operations in conflict and post-conflict environments.  

She has collaborated with government agencies, international organizations, and commercial entities to develop tailored solutions that address the unique challenges of operating in high-risk settings.

With over two decades of experience, Suzanne has served as a trusted advisor to senior-level decision-makers, providing critical insights on cultural, linguistic, political, economic, and institutional dynamics. Her expertise spans the planning, coordination, and execution phases of complex operations in Afghanistan and other combat and post-combat zones.

Steele's ability to navigate multifaceted challenges in volatile environments has made her a valued partner in advancing mission success while safeguarding stakeholders. Her strategic acumen and commitment to excellence continue to drive impactful outcomes in the most demanding operational contexts.

See about page here: https://polis-labs.com/about

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

If the project fails, it will likely be due to the fact that the network state movement did not come to fruition. We are hedging our bets that the parallel society and network state movement will see a surge in funding and activity, resulting in a wide range of governance experimentation. If somehow this does not pan out, then we would not be able to conduct our work at scale. However, there are already a number well-funded parallel society projects under way (example, Praxis was just funded $525 million). See the risk management section in the business plan above for details about market risks and our analysis.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

n/a, we bootsrapped ourselves and founded the nonprofit in October while all of the cofounders were in Balaji's Network School. Pending application with Morosnet.com and one individual angel donor.