Summary: A founder-focused, 90‑day roadmap to stand up a production‑grade DAO: legal wrapper selection (Utah LLD, Wyoming DAO LLC, Marshall Islands DAO LLC), technical stack (OpenZeppelin Governor v5.x, Safe + Zodiac SafeSnap, Snapshot/Snapshot X, Tally/Agora), treasury controls, delegation and grants, plus 2025‑ready practices like multichain voting, EAS attestations, and OpenZeppelin Defender sunset planning.

Build a DAO in 90 Days: A Practical Roadmap for Founders

Decision‑makers don’t need another DAO think‑piece—they need a concrete plan, with tooling choices that actually work in 2025. This guide is a step‑by‑step implementation plan we use at 7Block Labs to launch compliant, secure, upgradeable DAOs in 90 days on an L2 like Arbitrum or Base. It bakes in legal realities (Utah’s new DAO entity, updated Wyoming options, Marshall Islands DAO LLC), modern governance frameworks (OpenZeppelin Governor v5.x with Flexible Voting), treasury execution (Safe + Zodiac SafeSnap), identity and sybil resistance (EAS attestations, Gitcoin Passport), grants operations after Gitcoin’s Grants Stack wind‑down, and multichain governance patterns that are actually shipping in production. (commerce.utah.gov)

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Executive decisions you should make on Day 0

• Chain and fee profile: pick an EVM L2 with low, predictable fees and mature ecosystem tooling. Arbitrum’s post‑Dencun/ArbOS Atlas updates lowered fee floors; Optimism‑stack L2s like Base also run efficiently. You’ll keep voting and treasury ops sub‑dollar and elastic under load. (tradingview.com)

• Legal wrapper: if you’re U.S.‑centric and need limited liability + entity continuity, evaluate:

  • Utah Limited Liability Decentralized Organization (LLD/DAO): live since Jan 1, 2024; first U.S. law to recognize a DAO as its own entity type, not just an LLC variant. Registration handled by the Utah Dept. of Commerce. (commerce.utah.gov)
  • Wyoming: DAO LLC supplement; plus (from July 1, 2024) DUNA framework for decentralized nonprofit associations if your org is public‑goods oriented with 100+ members. (law.justia.com)
  • Marshall Islands: DAO LLC with series sub‑DAO support, streamlined ≤30‑day registration, token guidance, and safe harbor around open‑source software liability. (coindesk.com)

• Governance architecture: standardize on OpenZeppelin Governor v5.x + Timelock + ERC20Votes (or ERC721Votes) with optional Flexible Voting (fractional vote splits and rolling votes). It’s the most actively maintained path with deep vendor/tooling support (Tally/Agora) and a shared roadmap among leading maintainers. (openzeppelin.com)

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The 90‑day plan (week‑by‑week)

Weeks 1–2: Scope, chain, wrapper, and risk envelope

• Finalize the mission, assets in scope, decision rights (what goes on‑chain vs. off‑chain), and your “change budget” (how often you can safely upgrade).
• Choose L2 (we recommend Arbitrum One or Base for fee/infra maturity). Validate expected fee behavior under surges; Arbitrum’s Atlas/Phase‑2 update lowered average fees; Base inherits OP‑Stack fee dynamics. (tradingview.com)
• Pick entity wrapper and start filing:
  • Utah LLD (DAO Act, Title 48‑5): name requirements (LLD/DAO), smart‑contract identifier, perpetual duration; the Division now accepts registrations. (commerce.utah.gov)
  • Wyoming DAO LLC or DUNA (nonprofit) if you prefer Wyoming’s courts and want nonprofit status. (law.justia.com)
  • Marshall Islands DAO LLC if you need series sub‑DAO liability segregation and fast remote registration via MIDAO. (coindesk.com)

Deliverables:

• One‑pager with chain/legal rationale.
• Draft charter (scope of proposals, spending limits, emergency powers).
• Risk register (key custody, governance attack vectors, operational SLAs).

Weeks 3–4: Treasury base and execution path

• Create the primary treasury in Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe) with 3/5 or 4/7 threshold, diverse signers, and hardware‑wallet requirements. Safe is the de‑facto standard for DAO custody with massive adoption and multi‑network support. (chaincatcher.com)
• Add execution automation: install Zodiac Reality Module (aka SafeSnap) to trustlessly execute Safe transactions approved by off‑chain votes (Snapshot) via Reality.eth—configuring oracle, minimum bond, cooldown, and answer expiration. (zodiac.wiki)
• Stand up monitoring and incident playbooks. If you rely on OpenZeppelin Defender today, note the June 30, 2025 announcement: no new sign‑ups; hosted Defender sunsets July 1, 2026. Plan a migration to their open‑source Relayer/Monitor before then. (blog.openzeppelin.com)

Deliverables:

• Safe deployed; signer policy (rotation cadence, revocation procedure).
• Zodiac Reality Module configured; Snapshot space created.
• Monitoring SLOs + Defender/open‑source migration plan. (docs.openzeppelin.com)

Weeks 5–6: On‑chain governor MVP

• Implement OpenZeppelin Governor v5.x with:
  • GovernorSettings (voting delay/period, proposal threshold), Timelock (TimelockController or AccessManager‑based), ERC20Votes (or ERC721Votes), and optionally GovernorCountingFractional (Flexible Voting) to support fractional/rolling vote patterns and multichain aggregation later. (docs.openzeppelin.com)
• Use Contracts 5.x for modernized access control via AccessManager and improved gas efficiency; 5.1/5.2 extend cryptography and AA utilities. (openzeppelin.com)
• Frontends:
  • Tally supports OZ Governor and provides proposal creation, voting, delegate dashboards, plus the new MultiGov hub‑and‑spoke model for multichain voting (Wormhole DAO uses it). (docs.openzeppelin.com)
  • Agora powers advanced delegation (per‑function role controls, delegate races) across ecosystems (Uniswap, Optimism) and is expanding after acquiring Boardroom. (gov.uniswap.org)

Deliverables:

• Governor contracts on testnet (plus deployment scripts).
• Timelock TTLs (e.g., 24–72h for routine actions; 5–7d for parameter changes).
• UI integration plan (Tally and/or Agora) with delegation landing pages. (docs.tally.xyz)

Weeks 7–8: Identity, sybil resistance, and participation UX

• For token‑holder votes:
  • Keep Snapshot for gasless polling; wire SafeSnap (Reality + Zodiac) so community approvals execute on‑chain without relying on multisig signers. (zodiac.wiki)
  • Evaluate Snapshot X (Starknet) when you need “zero‑gas on‑chain” voting (rollup‑secured) across EVMs. (chaincatcher.com)
• For sybil‑resistant community programs and reputation:
  • Gitcoin Passport remains active with model‑based detection and stamp re‑weighting; it’s used in production to filter sybils in rewards/airdrops. (gov.gitcoin.co)
  • Add EAS (Ethereum Attestation Service) for portable, attestable eligibility, KYC proofs, contribution badges, and vote credits; EAS runs on mainnet/L2s with explorer and SDK. (attest.org)
  • For one‑person‑one‑vote experiments, test World ID’s World Vote app for verified‑human ballots (pilot‑grade). (world.org)

Deliverables:

• Snapshot space plugins (quadratic, weighted, delegation).
• Passport gates for grants/airdrops; EAS schemas for credentials.
• Participation SLAs: outreach, signer reimbursements, and turnout targets.

Weeks 9–10: Treasury policy and risk controls

• Draft a treasury policy with thresholds and rails (operational spend, strategic investments, RWAs/stables mix, emergency pause).
• Codify execution safety:
  • Stage high‑risk ops through Timelock; use AccessManager to scope who can schedule vs. execute; enable guardian cancellation on queued ops. (blog.openzeppelin.com)
  • Configure Zodiac Reality Module “min bond” and “cooldown” to rate‑limit execution and allow arbitration if needed. (zodiac.wiki)
• Consider professional treasury management (karpatkey, others) if assets > mid‑eight figures, or pursue domain‑allocator programs (e.g., Arbitrum has used Questbook‑style domain allocators). (forum.safe.global)

Deliverables:

• Written investment policy statement (IPS) + emergency runbook.
• Multisig signer rotation calendar and audit checklist.
• Monitoring alerts on treasury addresses and governance contracts.

Weeks 11–12: Delegation, comms, and launch sequence

• Launch a “delegate race” to recruit credible delegates; ship public profiles and voting statements via Agora/Tally. Incentivize with transparent metrics (attendance, discourse, research notes). (gov.uniswap.org)
• Publish the Constitution/Operating Manual; if on Optimism‑style bicameral model (token house + citizens’/grants house), define remit and veto paths. (community.optimism.io)
• Run a full testnet governance cycle, including:
  • A small budget transfer.
  • A parameter change with timelock delay.
  • A SafeSnap execution from Snapshot to Safe.

Deliverables:

• Delegation portal live; 10–20 seed delegates onboarded.
• Signed “go/no‑go” after testnet drills.

Weeks 13: Mainnet cutover

• Deploy production Governor + Timelock + token (if applicable), initialize roles, and publish verified addresses.
• Move operational spend to Safe; keep runway in stablecoins; stage longer‑term allocations behind timelock.
• Ship Proposal‑001 (constitution ratification + first quarter budget) and Proposal‑002 (delegate incentive framework, if used).

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Concrete architecture choices (what we’d implement today)

• Governance contracts: OpenZeppelin Contracts v5.x (Governor + Timelock + ERC20Votes/ERC721Votes + CountingFractional if you need flexible voting and multichain aggregation later). v5.x adds AccessManager and improved gas efficiency; 5.1/5.2 extend cryptography/AA modules. (openzeppelin.com)
• Frontend and orchestration:
  • Tally for on‑chain proposals, voting, delegation, analytics; enables MultiGov (hub‑and‑spoke) for multichain tokenholders (Wormhole DAO uses this pattern). (docs.tally.xyz)
  • Agora for delegate discovery/incentives and advanced delegation; now scaled further post‑Boardroom acquisition. (coindesk.com)
• Off‑chain voting with execution: Snapshot + Zodiac Reality Module (SafeSnap) to turn Snapshot approvals into Safe transactions via Reality.eth, with bonds, cooldowns, and expiries. (zodiac.wiki)
• Treasury: Safe smart accounts (multisig), signer hardware‑wallet policy, timelocks for sensitive ops; plan to integrate Safe{Core} modules as needed. (safe.global)
• Identity/sybil resistance: Gitcoin Passport scoring + EAS attestations (eligibility, achievements, KYC where necessary), optional World ID pilots. (attest.org)
• Monitoring and automation: OpenZeppelin Defender for existing users, with a migration path to the open‑source Relayer/Monitor ahead of July 1, 2026 sunset. (blog.openzeppelin.com)

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Parameters that work in practice (starting points)

• Proposal threshold: 0.10–0.25% of voting supply (or a delegate whitelist) for early months; lower threshold via “soft sponsor” in Agora if you want broad ideation but controlled proposal flow. (agora.xyz)
• Quorum: start 3–5% of circulating voting power; escalate via “super‑quorum” for constitutional or treasury‑risk proposals as OZ Governor adds support (guardrails for low turnout). (coingape.com)
• Voting period: 5–7 days; Voting delay: 1–2 days; Timelock delay: 24–72 hours for routine ops; 5–7 days for contract upgrades/large transfers.
• Delegation: run a quarterly delegate race; publish objective KPIs (participation %, authored analyses, conflict disclosures); consider Lido‑style delegate incentive pilots with tight eligibility thresholds. (research.lido.fi)
• Treasury controls: 3/5 or 4/7 Safe with signer diversity (jurisdiction, employer, time zone), quarterly rotation, and emergency break‑glass (pause guardians) staged via Timelock/AccessManager. (docs.openzeppelin.com)

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Grants and ecosystem funding in 2025 (post‑Grants Stack)

• Gitcoin is sunsetting Grants Stack/Grants Lab (EoL late May 2025) to refocus on the Gitcoin Grants Program; plan transitions accordingly and preserve data via Open Source Observer. (gitcoin.co)
• Alternatives you can deploy now:
  • CharmVerse for full‑cycle grants ops (spam check, milestone tracking, KYC, signatures) and applicant workflows. (charmverse.io)
  • Questbook for domain‑allocator programs (used across Arbitrum sub‑grants); strong fit for ecosystem growth funds. (arbitrumhub.io)
  • Jokerace for lightweight, competitive idea/prioritization contests (used by Arbitrum to shape grants frameworks). (forum.arbitrum.foundation)
• If you require quadratic mechanisms later, you can compose with Allo‑style strategies that remain available in community forks or alternative implementations, but treat Gitcoin’s official Grants Stack as EoL. (gitcoin.co)

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Multichain governance that actually works

• Use Tally’s MultiGov: keep a “hub” Governor and ERC20Votes token on your primary chain; deploy “spoke” Governors + bridged voting power on other chains; aggregate spoke tallies back to the hub for final execution. Wormhole’s DAO is the reference adopter. (docs.tally.xyz)
• Add Flexible Voting (ScopeLift) to support fractional votes from custodial/pooled positions and enable rolling votes; the counting extension is now in OZ v5.x. (github.com)

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“Enterprise‑grade” niceties you’ll be glad you added

• EAS‑backed working group credentials (e.g., “Security Council,” “Risk Committee,” “Grants Council”) with expiry; gate proposal sponsorship or add bonus weight to verified contributor cohorts without touching tokenomics. (attest.org)
• Snapshot X pilots for gasless on‑chain votes where user friction is unacceptable; you can graduate critical categories to full on‑chain Governor proposals over time. (chaincatcher.com)
• Proactive Defender sunset plan: if you rely on Defender Monitors/Relayers, start migrating CI/CD and alerting to the open‑source equivalents by H1 2026. (blog.openzeppelin.com)

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Example: Reference deployment spec (you can hand this to your engineers)

• Contracts:
  • GovernanceToken: ERC20Votes (OZ 5.x)
  • GovernorCore: OZ Governor + GovernorSettings + GovernorCountingSimple (or CountingFractional) + GovernorTimelockControl
  • Timelock: TimelockController (or AccessManager + GovernorTimelockAccess)
• Parameters (initial):
  • quorum = 4% (super‑quorum = 10% for upgrades/constitution)
  • proposalThreshold = 0.20% supply
  • votingDelay = 1 day; votingPeriod = 7 days
  • timelockDelay = 72h routine; 7d for upgrades/large transfers
• Off‑chain governance:
  • Snapshot with weighted/quadratic templates; SafeSnap via Zodiac Reality Module set with min bond (e.g., 500–1000 USDC), 24h cooldown, 7d expiry; arbitrator configured. (zodiac.wiki)
• Treasury:
  • Safe 4/7; signer geography split; quarterly key attestations; incident drills; monitoring to Slack/PagerDuty.
• Frontends:
  • Tally instance + Agora delegate hub; delegate race landing page. (docs.tally.xyz)

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Legal snapshots and what they imply for founders (2025)

• Utah’s DAO Act (HB 357) lets you register a DAO as an LLD entity with required on‑chain identifiers and clear limited liability—useful if you want the DAO to sign vendor contracts directly. Registration is live as of January 2024. (commerce.utah.gov)
• Wyoming still offers DAO LLC status; additionally, for nonprofit/public goods, Wyoming’s DUNA (July 1, 2024) may better fit; compare membership thresholds and reporting. (blockworks.co)
• Marshall Islands DAO LLC remains founder‑friendly when you need series sub‑DAOs and faster remote registration; most governance tokens without economic rights are explicitly not securities under their amended framework—confirm with counsel. (coindesk.com)

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Common failure modes we still see—and how to avoid them

• “Paper DAO” with multisig gatekeeping: wire Snapshot → Reality.eth → Safe so non‑signers can execute approved transactions; this is the most effective path off founder‑controlled multisigs. (zodiac.wiki)
• Low turnout: run delegate races; subsidize gas (or use signatures/relayers); offer role‑based recognition via EAS; ship better voting UX (Tally/Agora). (gov.uniswap.org)
• Grants operational sprawl post‑Grants Stack: pick one system of record (CharmVerse or Questbook) and standardize evaluation → milestones → payout; avoid fragmented spreadsheets and ad‑hoc multisig payments. (charmverse.io)
• Security/tooling drift: track OpenZeppelin roadmaps (Contracts 5.x, Governor WG) and Defender sunset. If you postpone the migration, capture it in your risk register with specific deadlines. (openzeppelin.com)

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Your 30/60/90‑day exit criteria

• Day 30:
  • Entity filed; Safe live; Snapshot + SafeSnap wired; runbook + monitoring online.
• Day 60:
  • Governor on testnet; delegation campaign running; treasury policy ratified; identity gates (Passport/EAS) in place.
• Day 90:
  • Governor mainnet; first budget executed; post‑mortem published; backlog of proposals and grant pipeline live.

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What’s next (and how we help)

At 7Block Labs we productize the above into 3 sprints: legal and treasury (Weeks 1–4), governance deployment (Weeks 5–8), and launch/operations (Weeks 9–13). If you want this turnkey, we’ll deliver contracts, deployments, runbooks, dashboards, and training for your stewards and delegates—plus a 6‑month support plan that covers the OpenZeppelin Defender migration and multichain rollout.

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Sources and further reading

• Utah DAO Act and registrations live Jan 2024; HB 357 text and 2024 cleanup bill. (commerce.utah.gov)
• Marshall Islands DAO LLC updates (Series DAO LLCs, registration ≤30 days, token guidance). (coindesk.com)
• OpenZeppelin Contracts v5.x (AccessManager; Governor improvements) and Governor WG with Tally/Agora/ScopeLift. (openzeppelin.com)
• Tally MultiGov and Wormhole DAO; OZ Governor support in Tally. (docs.tally.xyz)
• Snapshot X (Starknet) and Zodiac Reality Module (SafeSnap). (chaincatcher.com)
• Gitcoin Grants Stack wind‑down (May 2025) and paths forward. (gitcoin.co)
• EAS (attest.org) and Gitcoin Passport updates for sybil resistance. (attest.org)
• OpenZeppelin Defender sunset (June 30, 2025 notice; July 1, 2026 EoL). (blog.openzeppelin.com)

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If you want a day‑by‑day project plan, request our 7Block DAO Launch Workbook: it includes template proposals, Safe signer policies, EAS schema examples, and a migration checklist for Defender → open‑source Relayer/Monitor.