# Level up auction UX with Nouns Terminal

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1c6777ec-0929-41f3-9bb6-279f20933af3)

**TLDR:** 224,000 USDC to launch a bid-bot network for Nouns + 3 auction-incentive experiments.

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a7dc1d23-fcf8-4d15-bed0-e9d08d43c93f)

- The Nouns auction, the primary source of income for the DAO, is declining    
- Arbitragers have an advantage over Nouns-aligned bidders because they use bots to scoop cheap Nouns to flip (or worse)
  - Bidding bots are expensive and hard to set up for non-technical bidders  
- The daily auction requires active participation
  - DAOs looking to acquire a Noun have either a painful UX (approve each bid) or trustful solutions (send max bid to a delegate)    
  - Folks outside auction time zones must stay up late and manually place bids  

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e1847fb0-fed8-4993-bad7-b01c18279780)

Nouns.sh vibes *was* Blur-for-Nouns, but we're reimagining it as a launchpad for bid bots, empowering nouns-aligned bidders with a mech that competes for the daily Noun. It’s an autopilot that fights on your behalf, securing your grail Nouns at the last second for the lowest price.

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/60104e47-5cdc-408c-9de4-c30cdb3f30ef)

Our new brand draws inspiration from classic anime, big robots and space travel. We’ll make it fun to participate in the auctions and create room to expand Nouns lore.

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/acdf5463-e8ce-4c87-a52b-1c4bf575790b)
![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/25f603df-0ccd-42f6-b0fd-1cf27e38325b)

Over 6 months we will:

- **Launch a bid-bot network for nontechnical users**
  - Folks in other timezones and DAOs will be able to participate more easily in the auction's final minutes and have a higher possibility of acquiring a Noun    
  - Infra will be open-sourced, meaning anyone can self-host, or use our service to run their bid bot    
  - We will not be making changes to the core AuctionHouse smart contract. The bots will fit into the existing auction rules and will innovate within its constraints  
- **Dogfood the product and align our incentives to NounsDAO**
  - [Nouns.sh](http://Nouns.sh)‘s survival should be tied to NounsDAO’s health    
  - We’ll launch a community-powered PartyDAO. The PartyDAO members will get early beta access, vote on Nouns.sh features, and share Nouns our DAO wins  
- **Launch 3-5 Bid Incentive experiments to drive higher auction prices**
  - We have \~15 experiment ideas in distribution, bid-pooling, reimbursements, and collectibles   
  - We’ll launch 3-5 of the most compelling, and potentially move down the list as [Nouns.sh](http://Nouns.sh) grows  
- **Iterate with simple KPIs as our north star**
  - The majority (60%+) of top 3 bids for Nouns should original from bots in our network    
  - Nouns auction price goes up over time (30-day trailing average)  

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2f424cd4-e5eb-45b7-b690-32b74cf252a6)

224,000 USDC to fund 6 months of product, development, design, and growth work.

- USDC 120,000 for 6 months of active engineering work (2 part-time eng @ 10K/mo)  
- USDC 50,000 autobidder bot development and audit budget  
- USDC 36,000 user research, design, and branding  
- USDC 12,000 marketing and incentives budget  
- USDC 6,000 in server and infrastructure costs 

**How about client incentives?** We believe the [Protocol Rewards](https://mirror.xyz/verbsteam.eth/vyhDmS56XvnIBFUQ65n_KgmYzkD88-UHxUitxRGw08o) is a great initiative and will help keep Nouns Terminal sustainable for the long run. The innovations we are proposing here require a [bigger investment](https://warpcast.com/zherring/0x039adb19), and will allow us to experiment.

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4d712f2b-406b-4a5b-9feb-637b3488311e)

- [w1nt3r.eth](https://warpcast.com/w1nt3r) — web2/web3 builder with 20 years of software development and product leadership experience. The original author of the Nouns Terminal, and co-founder of [BasePaint](https://basepaint.xyz/). w1nt3r will provide direction, mentorship, support, and engineering.    
- [zherring.eth](https://warpcast.com/zherring) — long-term crypto-designer, former Consensys, and a co-founder of [BasePaint](https://basepaint.xyz/) and [Nifty Apes](https://www.niftyapes.money/). Zach will help with the brand identity and the design of the new features.    
- [yukigesho.eth](https://warpcast.com/yukigesho) — web2 fullstack engineer onboarding to web3, w1nt3r’s most talented intern. Yukigesho is very excited about Nouns and has already been making improvements to [nouns.sh](https://nouns.sh/). 

## 

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/05051fdf-0d10-4687-befe-a9fbabf03ae2)

2 years ago Nouns Terminal was funded by the [Nouns Clients Proof of Concepts](https://offchain.prop.house/nouns/nouns-clients-proof-of-concepts) round with 25 ETH. We focused on making a great-looking client packed with data and exploring auction bots.

[nouns.sh](http://nouns.sh) has driven 8 sales (237 ETH) via autobidder bot prototype ([1](https://etherscan.io/address/0xab04e02792d86c522a07b19548a928d01fee2fc2#nfttransfers) & [2](https://etherscan.io/address/0xab039fda276a54f11ed57b47019efd75603c6966#nfttransfers)), been used by [~200 unique users/month](https://stats.nouns.sh/share/iNRTi5xKcW5QJRAM/nouns.sh), and maintained by w1nt3r.eth and yukigesho.eth as a side project.

![](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f62d5592-36e6-4b6f-ac34-0c8eddf9bbbd)

- Innovating in the long-neglected Nouns auction space will bring more eyes and money to the Nouns DAO    
- Value-aligned bidders will get more tools to win auctions    
- Established team with a track record of shipping impactful projects, that’s also onboarding an experienced web2 dev into the Nouns ecosystem    
- Just as [nouns.camp](http://nouns.camp) improved the governance experience and became the default governance tool for nouns, [nouns.sh](http://nouns.sh) can do the same for auction UX

Outcome: DEFEATED