GG19 OSS Round Review: Reflections
Original Post by sejalrekhan and M0nkeyFl0wer
Timing and Participation Levels
The team reflected on whether scheduling GG19 concurrent with Devconnect and during American Thanksgiving impacted results. They acknowledged waiting for critical platform features before launch created timing trade-offs, though new features like matching fund estimates, search functionality, and collections were well-received.
This round saw fewer donors and less total funding than GG18. Contributing factors included: "donor fatigue, the simultaneous occurrence of other events, such as the Optimism round (RPGF 3)" and limited available funds.
Eligibility and Review
The team adopted a more open approach, using GitHub activity as quantitative measures rather than subjective quality assessments. They acknowledged confusion around the early bird deadline and applications submitted late in the round. The appeals process lacked sufficient clarity regarding deadlines and timing.
Passport
Approximately 24% of donors couldn't achieve scores over 15, and 50% didn't exceed 20. The team suggested coordinated identity-staking sessions between rounds as potential solutions to help new donors improve scores.
PGN
Technical limitations including lack of multisig, DEX availability, and bridging restrictions created challenges. The team questioned whether future rounds should use PGN until fundamental issues resolve.
Conclusions
Despite friction and market conditions, GG19 succeeded in raising over $600,000 from thousands of donors, meeting program goals.
