AutoPGF Episode 1 - Funding the Future: Optimism, AutoPGF, & the Rise of Deep Funding
For today’s episode, we’re excited to kick off a brand-new series - AutoPGF: Funding Impact with Glo Dollar.
Public goods funding has long been an unsolved challenge in both traditional and Web3 ecosystems. But Glo Dollar is pioneering a new model, using stablecoin yields to generate impact funding—without any extra cost or effort from users. This concept, known as Automatic Public Goods Funding (AutoPGF), has the potential to unlock a scalable and sustainable funding mechanism for global causes, Web3 public goods, and beyond.
Through this series, we’ll spotlight the organizations receiving funding through Glo, explore the broader landscape of Web3 public goods funding, and dive into the innovations shaping the future of funding. A huge thank you to Glo Dollar for supporting this series and helping bring these important conversations to life!
For episode one, I’m honored to welcome LauNaMu, Founder of Metrics Garden and a true leader in the Web3 public goods funding space. She’s played a pivotal role in Optimism’s governance, RetroPGF, and decentralized funding mechanisms, and her expertise makes her the perfect guest to lay the foundation for this series.
We discuss:
How Automatic Public Goods Funding (AutoPGF) is transforming impact funding
How the Optimism ecosystem is laying the groundwork for sustainable, scalable funding models
The biggest emerging trends in decentralized funding, from deep funding to pluralistic programs
Key Takeaways
💸 Sustainable public goods funding requires automation & pluralism: Web3 has the potential to create automated funding streams that allow impact makers to focus on creating change rather than chasing grants. By combining pluralistic funding approaches like AutoPGF and deep funding, we can build a future where public goods are sustainably funded with minimal manual intervention.
🔎 The rise of deep funding: To truly scale public goods funding, we need to understand how projects rely on each other. Deep Funding utilizes dependency graphs that help visualize these relationships, and AI agents can analyze data to optimize funding distribution. The challenge? Collecting high-quality data to make these mechanisms more effective.
🧪 Optimism’s ecosystem is a hub for Web3 public goods innovation: Optimism has led the charge in experimentation with public goods funding, ensuring that builders, educators, and contributors receive meaningful support. Its governance model, commitment to retroactive funding, and embrace of bold new ideas make it one of the most exciting spaces for public goods development in Web3.
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Thank you to Glo their support in bringing this series to life!
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Episode Time Stamps:
04:20 - Your journey into Web3 public goods funding has been fascinating. Can you share what first drew you to this space? Was there a single spark or “Aha moment”?
06:55 - Your work in Web3 public goods funding is complex—full of data, code, protocols, and governance mechanisms. When you're talking to friends outside of Web3, how do you explain what you do in a way that makes sense to them? Any go-to analogies or fun ways you break it down?
09:55 - Before diving into the details, let’s lay some groundwork—how would you define Automatic Public Goods Funding (AutoPGF)?
13:00 - Sustainable funding models for public goods remains an open challenge. What do you think are the key ingredients to making funding mechanisms like Glo truly sustainable in the long run?
16:05 - You are a leader in the Web3 PGF space, so I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to pick your brain on some of the emerging trends in the space, one of which is Deep Funding. What is Deep Funding, and how do you see mechanisms like AutoPGF fitting in and supporting the vision of deep funding?
19:40 - How do you see AutoPGF fitting in to deep funding mechanisms?
24:15 - Decentralized public goods funding has seen incredible innovation, but scaling these models remains a challenge. What do you see as the biggest roadblocks, and how do we overcome them?
28:40 - How do we incorporate qualitative data into deep funding models?
30:30 - You've been deeply involved in Optimism both through it’s governance, and through partnerships with Metrics Garden. What is it about the Optimism ecosystem specifically that drew you in?
33:00 - Optimism was selected as a recipient of Glo funding - what are your thoughts on the alignment between Optimism’s vision for public goods funding and Glo’s AutoPGF model?
36:10 - Are there any innovations in the Optimism ecosystem that you are particularly excited about when looking forward to the future?
38:50 - You’ve played a pivotal role in shaping the Web3 public goods funding landscape, from your work with Optimism to Metrics Garden and beyond. When you look back on your contribution’s years from now, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave in this space?
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While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, please do not take any of this as investment advice, and please make sure to do your own research on potential investment opportunities, or any opportunity. We host a variety of guests on this podcast with the sole purpose of highlighting the social impact use cases of this technology. That being said, Crypto Altruism does not endorse any of these projects, and we recognize that, since this is an emerging sector, some may be operating in regulatory grey areas, and as such, we cannot confirm their legality in the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially as it pertains to decentralized finance protocols. So, before getting involved with any project, it’s important that you do your own research and confirm the legality of the project. More available HERE.
