Farcaster

Farcaster doesn’t have a growth problem. It has an identity problem.

The users are already here: builders, artists, indie hackers, founders, and creators. Not future users—present ones. They’re casting, tipping, building, shipping, connecting. The challenge isn’t how to attract them. It’s how to see them.

I wasn’t onboarded. I wasn’t converted. I found Farcaster through Discord. Inceptionally invited me to co-host /itookaphoto. I had a role. I made friends. I built. I earned. I stayed. That’s the story. And I’m not unique. The platform didn’t onboard me. The network did.

The network is the onboarding team. The network is the sales team. Every friend invite, channel discovery, and moment of recognition is where conversion happens. Farcaster doesn’t need a better funnel. It needs to empower the people who are already doing the work of onboarding.

That’s Farcaster’s strength—and its blind spot. The team still hasn’t clearly said who this platform is for. If they had, more of us would’ve heard it. “Make money, make friends” is directionally right—but spiritually flat.

If Merkle knew how to tell the world what Farcaster is with clarity, they’d already be doing it. And if the message isn’t for innovators and adventurous early adopters, who is it for?

People don’t just use social networks. They identify with them. Farcaster is edgy. Crypto-native. Experimental. Weird. It’s not mainstream, and that’s the point. The people here are opting into a scene. A vibe. A frontier. And that posture attracts the right kinds of early users. This isn’t Twitter, TikTok, or LinkedIn with a wallet. It’s something new.

The myth is already being written. The team ships features. But the network is building the narrative. The most powerful rituals and culture didn’t come from a product brief. They emerged. And they’re spreading. That’s not roadmap work. That’s recognition work.

Meanwhile, channels—arguably the most important surface for community, identity, and belonging—have been given less direct attention from the core team. They’ve largely been supported by external contributors and passionate builders like @cura. That may have made sense operationally, but strategically, it’s risky. Channels are how users onboard each other. How people discover relevance. How culture gets sticky. If you want retention, channels aren’t optional—they’re foundational.

And yes, monetization matters. It’s a key draw. It’s a functional job. But people don’t stay for features. They stay for feeling.

Let me be seen.
Let me find my people.
Let me make friends.
Let me matter.

These are emotional jobs. They’re the difference between checking in and buying in.

Farcaster isn’t sticky. It’s selective. It takes effort. It takes intent. That’s what makes it work—for now. But you can’t scale selectivity without understanding what’s already working for the people who are here.

There are over 1 million FIDs. But real engagement lives with fewer than 10,000. According to one Dune dashboard, roughly 7,000 users—VIPs, influencers, stars, and active casters—drive the majority of platform activity. That’s not a sample. That’s the source code.

These aren’t casuals. They’re believers. Builders. Super early adopters. Innovators with skin in the game. Many paid for Pro memberships. They fund the culture. They shape the tone. They are the Farcaster experience. You don’t grow by looking past them. You grow by starting with them.

But here’s the miss: the people closest to the product don’t always know what the product feels like to use. The community does. Yet the insights—the why behind the usage, the meaning behind the behavior—often stay siloed inside Merkle. And when that knowledge doesn’t circulate, the network can’t sell what it doesn’t fully understand.

Imagine a company where the people closest to the customer never share insights with sales or marketing.
Would you expect them to succeed?
Of course not. Yet that’s what’s happening here.

Farcaster doesn’t need a better story. It needs to tell the story the community is already living.

⸻

Stop chasing more.
Start recognizing who’s already here.
Support them. Reflect them. Speak to them.

Farcaster is already working. It just doesn’t know it yet.

👇 If you’re building here, show yourself.
If you’re watching from the outside, the door’s open.
But this isn’t a mass-market product.
It’s a movement in motion.

Too much I love about this post to do it justice, so give it a read!

CTO @beelinesai, CPO @snickerdoodle, CEO Zealous. YC/TS Alum & Mentor