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Yesterday was my first time attending a Farcaster Dev Day, and I’m leaving feeling deeply energized and excited for what’s to come.
My favorite thing about fc meetups is always the density of signal in the conversations, and yesterday was no exception. Every single person I spoke to was whip-smart and building something novel and interesting. It’s incredible to be surrounded by that kind of creative energy and optimism for the future of this network, even if only for a day.
Your keynote was excellent. I really resonated with the new mantra: “Discover. Trade. Create.” We’ve been working on new ways for creators and builders to find discovery and distribution through @betrmint, so it was validating to see that focus reflected at the protocol level. I also loved hearing about the reasoning behind the Clanker acquisition. (As an aside, I’m so happy for and proud of @dish and co, who have worked so hard and navigated the choppiest of waters to get to this point. Clank! clank!)
The emphasis on App Coins feels directionally correct, as I think it’s one of the most powerful metas to emerge from Farcaster, and it’s amazing to see so many teams bootstrap real businesses of all sizes by leveraging Clanker and this network... @bracky @bankr @likesdotfun.eth @tipn @noiceapp etc etc. I even made an index on @indexy called “Project Coin Summer”, which is full of exactly these types of apps and projects.
I think the creator coin experiments happening across the ecosystem are interesting too and worth pursuing, and TBA is clearly leaning into that meta, but it was bullish for me to hear that Farcaster plans to double down on App Coins instead. I can already imagine builders launching new mini apps and perhaps being prompted to spin up a native token via Clanker in the same flow. A potentially powerful new primitive for the network.
The lightning talks organized by @linda were also a highlight of the day; a great mix of builders of existing popular apps previewing new features, and new builders teasing upcoming launches. I was grateful for the chance to share a quick update on what we’ve been building with BETRMINT, and I really appreciated that you shared it out to the network too. Those kinds of small and compounding moments of recognition mean the world to those of us who love this place and are here to build for the longterm.
Overall, Dev Day was an energizing and inspiring day of listening, learning, and laughing with my internet friends. Also, dinner was delicious.
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I think the direction of “Discover. Trade. Create.” is a continuation of what was presented in May, which is a great sign that FC has been on the right track for the last few months.
The “come for the tool, stay for the network” paradigm resonates with me, although I do think that some clarity on what the “tool” actually is needs to emerge before doing paid acquisition: what are we calling people to?
A better wallet? Social trading? Some combination thereof?
To me, this is the most fundamental question that will need answering in the coming months.
Caught up with @deodad and @horsefacts.eth as well, and remain extraordinarily bullish as they navigate similar questions with a shared worldview.
I’m biased, but I love the Clanker acquisition for the “Create” part of the strategy and couldn’t think of a better team than @dish, @lobstermindset.eth, and co to figure out what launching inside of FC looks like.
There are some true differentiators (obviously the social aspects, multichain infra, etc) that I personally believe FC can lean into here.
I think FC will have some adjustment as it figures out what it means to have a de facto token, but that’s to be expected and generally bullish.
Increasingly, I think that FC could benefit from a true product person to help navigate these things. Not a product manager, btw.
Finally, the app coins take was refreshing and aligned with how I think about the space so forgive my bias.
For the record I think perps/prediction markets add “hours” to the timeline and that prediction markets are a perpendicular path to utilize tokens at the varying time slots.
Overall a fantastic event. I’m bullish and energized. Thanks to @linda and @esteez.eth for the day. 🙏 2 replies
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TL;DR: Thoughtful, consistent, growth-focused presentation from people that have earned my trust for doing what they say they'll do year after year after year. Engineer-y, serious, and warm vibes all around.
🫡🫡
My Notes:
The day was overwhelmingly positive but coming from me that should surprise no one.
On the Presentation:
- "I really like Dan and Varun" - at the end of the day I was telling Linda my thoughts; might as well share publicly. You're smart, logical, consistent. It comes through in your presentations. Was talking to Abram about how you can't build trust without lots of time. I know you're asking about feedback on a single presentation, but you've been at this for 5 years so when I'm at devday listening to you speak I'm bringing a sense of trust that you guys have earned.
- What I love most hearing you and V speak is your consistency in messaging. It's been almost 3 years since I first learned about Farcaster and here's what I keep hearing: a.) if you dont solve for growth nothing else matters, b.) growth needs to come in several orders of magnitude, c.) you will keep trying different things, with disciplined, maniacal focus until you figure it out. >> People can get upset when you change priorities or strategies (devs should build alt clients! no, just frames and miniapps! we're onboarding journalists and creators! channels is the key! investing in vertical video! crypto everywhere and everything!), but they can't ever accuse you of lying or being disingenuous.
- About the content of the presentation itself and the thinking behind the "Discover Trade Create" direction - all the logic and reasoning behind this direction make perfect sense. For now. So just GO GO GO. Get that growth.
- The presentation was entirely merkle focused, "here's what we are doing to drive growth" vs. developer-focused "here's what we are doing to make it easier for you to develop on Farcaster". As an indy dev, I would love if it was easier to develop on farcaster, if there was a dev rel team, if the miniapp SDK and documentation worked out of the box everytime etc etc. But, seeing things thru the lens of focus and growth I'm totally happy and understand.
On the day itself:
- Hanging out with farcaster devs is my happy place. It was awesome being in the room and getting face time with people.
- Loved meeting merkle team, horse, deodad, shane, linda, daniel - first class people, so kind, generous, hard working.
- Loved talking tech with people like grin and maxp, they both helped me unlock something about one of my projects I was struggling with. There's magic to being in the same place.
- massive kudos to linda and emma. Logistics were smooth as butter.
On the vibes:
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