Pairwise is an open-source, fun snapshot-style voting dapp that streamlines community voting by letting users select between just two options and then aggregating those votes into quantitative recommendations.

Pairwise is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, like a dating app, allowing users to choose between pairs of options to signal their preferences as opposed to having to read endless forum posts and vote within a set time period. The system converts these simple subjective inputs into objective, measurable outputs, minimizing the cost and cognitive burden of voting.

How does it work?

Pairwise started as a seed of an idea from the big brain algorithm research out of Colony back in 2018. Pairwise is a decentralized voting dapp that aims to make it easier for Web3 communities to signal their preferences and make informed decisions. Pairwise is implemented as a website with its own front end and an open-source backend. Pairwise voting will be compatible with all EVM chains and development is fully open source.

One of the biggest problems in DAOs is lack of engagement in governance processes. The goal of the project is to improve the decision-making process by providing a valuable alternative to traditional voting systems and promoting community engagement in the decision-making process. We are confident that this project has the potential to make a significant impact as a public good and we look forward to the opportunity to bring Pairwise voting to life with your support.

How does it support Public Goods?

The mission of Pairwise is to be a public good itself (by being free & open source), and by supporting decision making within public good DAOs and projects. It is non-excludable (anyone can use it for free) and non rivalrous (it can work alongside any other governance tool).

Here are a few practical use case studies and specific examples of how Pairwise could benefit public goods in the web3 space:

Grant Proposals: Pairwise comparison helps organizations prioritize grant proposals by systematically comparing their potential impact and feasibility, ensuring more effective funding distribution. This is especially useful in cases where there are many projects or initiatives that are requesting funding (retroactive public goods, Gitcoin grants etc.).

Decentralized Curation and Ranking: Pairwise can be used to compare, rank and curate projects, content, products, or services, and can serve as a “decentralized suggestion algorithm”. One use case being explored is with Giveth, where users can vote on projects that they are passionate about, which would then feed into the website ranking. This not only allows the community to vote on what projects are important for them, but it also opens the door for new projects to surface that otherwise would have not received the same exposure.

User research: A fun use case is user research, where the community can be polled on what their subjective preferences are. For example, this can be used within any DAO to decide on features as kind of a “hot or not” game, where users can vote on specific designs or traits, to determine which ones are most valued by the community.

Video Demo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIn0jQZlLFQ&ab_channel=Zeptimus

What the Funds Are For

Right now the product is in a pre-Alpha stage and is not usable. 1 ETH would move us closer to getting us to the first Alpha version of our product! With this grant, we'll continue our work to upgrade our UX design, revamp the Pairwise sorting algorithm (including the way we use "abstain" in voting) and create a usable open-sourced new voting primitive for the DAO community.

Milestone 1, would be a fully open-sourced Alpha version of our product and would also include:

1. An Interface for creating spaces, votes and projects.
2. An Interface for voting through allowlists.
3. An Interface for viewing pairwise rankings.

We really believe that Pairwise is an incredible tool in the way that it breaks up one large decision into many micro decisions. This is very needed in the DAO space and will greatly reduce voter apathy. We can't thank the ENS community enough for supporting this project in its early stage! 🙏

Grants received so far

• ENS Small grant Public Goods round 5 ( 1 ETH )
• ENS Small grant Public Goods round 7 ( 1 ETH )
• Optimisms RPGF ( 7805.18 OP )

Differentiation (from other projects)

Pairwise is similar to Snapshot, but with a specific type of UX and its own sorting algorithm. Offchain Snapshot style votes are built around the expectation that users will go do research in forums and read long-form discussions. Our approach leans into the fact that most of the community isn’t even going to skim the forum posts and will vote with their gut. The goal is to give a clearer signal of what the community wants through more engagement with fun and simple micro-decisions.

Team

Pairwise is a project built by General Magic with a lot of support from rockstar DAO OGs. @VitorMarthendal is the project lead with design by @markoprljic and @thegrifft as the product owner. @mathsguy, @kronosapiens, @gichiba @AAbugosh, @ZeptimusQ, and the Giveth community are all supporting the effort as well.

Additional Resources, Links, Portfolio

General Magic provides solution services and product development to Impact DAO’s.

We support commons-based organizations and public good projects. We build digital products, governance tools, and economic systems, General Magic has a proven track record and high success rate.

Our team of designers, developers, system architects, researchers, writers, and seasoned Web3 professionals have the knowledge and insights to support the ever growing demands of Impact DAOs — both by integrating with existing teams and creating resources from scratch.

Learn more

Website - https://generalmagic.io/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/generalmagicio