ZEROPOD SPOTLIGHT #3: "Obsessed with the Craft of Content" feat. Cameron Armstrong of Seemore.tv
If the internet decides what’s funny, Cameron Armstrong (@cameron on farcaster) has spent his career listening closely to find out. In this edition of our popular ZEROPOD Spotlight series, the Seemore.tv founder shares how he’s helping creators escape the “content algorithm lottery” and why our completionist instinct is one of humanity’s most underrated traits. We explore Farcaster’s journey from tight-knit weirdo haven to high-value creator launchpad, the challenge of minting new platform stars, and the magic of Mandarin oranges on sticks (what?) Whether you’re trying to build a personal brand, a community, or create content like his “OK Banger” podcast, Cameron’s got plenty of advice and anecdotes and you won’t want to miss this conversation. — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - “Content Quality Arms Race” 00:47 - ZEROPOD Intro 02:05 - Crypto space needs more video content 04:15 - The Right Kind of Cringe 05:31 - The thing you can consistently do the longest is what you’ll be the best at 07:04 - The Cameron Origin Story: Military beginnings 08:32 - Harvard Business School 09:32 - E-commerce startup 10:35 - Illicit Farcaster Beginnings 11:50 - “A Bunch of Weirdos in a Room” 12:26 - Farcaster, then and now 15:09 - What is seemore.tv 17:58 - “If Linktree and Google Analytics had a baby” 20:55 - Badges for pod collectors 21:27 - Minting is a patronage behaviour for podcasts 23:00 - A minted episode is a creator tip with a lindy receipt 25:00 - The future promise of Ethereum Attestations 26:22 - The Seemore Story (pivot! pivot!) 30:00 - Problems with current business models for creators 32:00 - Conflicts of interest risk with advertising partnerships 34:00 - The advantage to bad actors in crypto 36:00 - The Seemore List 37:00 - The importance of finding values aligned sponsors for content 38:00 - Does Farcaster have enough interesting people? 40:00 - Rewarding creators is baked into the system on Farcaster 41:50 - The Content Valley of Death 43:00 - Problems with spam filters and dopamine triggers 45:18 - Cam’s got alts 46:00 - You don’t get to decide what’s funny on the internet 47:24 - Why is he bullish on Farcaster? 49:00 - OK Banger 50:53 - From Band Kid to Bangers 51:52 - Outro --- Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk x Suno AI. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like!
"Higher is a Mindset" with Martin Anquetil, founder of Higher and creator of Aether AI | ZEROPOD SEASON 2 E3
What does it mean to build a brand without a leader, a strategy, or even a plan? In this episode of ZEROPOD, I sit down with Martin Anquetil, one of the founders of $HIGHER, the headless memecoin brand redefining chaos as culture onchain. We dive into everything from AI agents breaking bounty bots on Farcaster to an Ethereum stock split, the memecoin meta and the challenges of building a project based on a number-go-up meme even when number doesn’t always go up. Along the way, Martin shares lessons from his time within Nouns, explores the unique challenges of decentralization, and reveals what it takes to survive a 97% token price crash with your optimism and community intact. We really enjoyed this conversation with Martin, and we hope you do too! — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Figuring out “Can we do this thing?” while doing it 01:00 - ZEROPOD Intro 01:51 - The Martin Origin Story 04:00 - College and Interning at Google 05:00 - Oneshot by Topshot 07:00 - 2021 NFT Season Nostalgia 10:55 - Who the F**k is Buying XRP? 11:50 - Ethereum Stock Split Discussion 15:15 - First Impressions of Nouns 16:15 - Leaving TopShot to Explore Onchain Options 17:50 - Freelancing with Nouns Builder 19:19 - Agora, Explorer Grants, and Other Nouns Initiatives 20:00 - Mogu Mogu Mogu: Nouns Governance Tooling 24:19 - Starting $HIGHER 25:00 - Roots in /bullposting 28:00 - How Would He Launch Higher Today? 32:00 - The Strength of Builders Who Stick Through the Bear 34:00 - “Higher, Not Sideways” 37:30 - Quack Quack ⌐◨-◨: 38:50 - Is $HIGHER a Neo-DAO or Something New? 40:00 - Authenticity vs. Top-Down Control: The Higher Experiment 44:00 - Could $ANON Run a Higher-Like Playbook? 45:00 - Farcaster Users Speed-Running Speculation Lessons 47:00 - $ZEROPOD: Exploring Media and Tokens 49:00 - The Origins of $POINTS on Farcaster 50:50 - “Provenance is Culturally Emergent” 51:00 - Jacob’s Horse Meme and Its Viral Evolution 53:53 - What Is Aether? The AI Agent Shaking Things Up 57:00 - The $LUM Luminous Launch 1:01:00 - Challenges of Community Cohesion in Decentralized Projects 1:02:03 - Questions for Martin from Aether 1:06:00 - What’s Next for Aether? Memory and Autonomy 1:07:00 - Aether on Twitter? Exploring New Platforms 1:08:00 - Balancing Meaningful Building with Market Pressures 1:11:00 - Betting on Yourself and Long-Term Projects 1:14:00 - Martin’s Thoughts on Trading and Staying Grounded 1:16:00 - Coinbase Listings and Meme Coin Dynamics 1:21:00 - What’s Next for Martin and $HIGHER 1:24:00 - Outro: Reflections and the Road Ahead — Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and JackWyldes. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk x Suno AI. This content is zero rights reserved (cc0), please remix and reuse it in any way you like!
ZEROPOD SEASON 2 E2: "Positive-Sum Gamer" with Optimism's Chief Growth Officer Ryan Wyatt aka @fwiz
In Episode 2 of ZEROPOD Season 2, we dig in with Ryan Wyatt aka @fwiz about his first full year in the role of Optimism's Chief Growth Officer. Ryan shares how his leadership has helped to drive adoption of Optimism’s open source OP Stack and has attracted some S-tier partners for the so-called Superchain.We also learn about Ryan's interesting background as a lifelong gamer and esports streaming trailblazer, first with Machinima and later at Google as the head of gaming at YouTube. We discuss Optimism’s journey to becoming a powerhouse in Layer 2 solutions, what makes it the platform of choice for top companies, and the groundbreaking plans for seamless interoperability across the Superchain. Tune in for an inside look at what’s next for Optimism and the ambitious roadmap Ryan and his team have set for 2024 and beyond. And as always, if you enjoy this podcast, please mint and share it with your friends! --- Timestamps: 0:00 - The Bitcoin Millionaire Story: Ryan’s early experience paying creators in Bitcoin and its surprising outcomes 1:37 - A Swagged-Out Superchain Welcome: Introduction and Ryan’s first impressions of Optimism 2:15 - From Gamer to Growth Officer: How Ryan’s love for gaming launched his career in tech 4:00 - Navigating a Career in Gaming: The challenges and rewards of working in the gaming industry 6:36 - Early Days in Onchain Video Content: Ryan’s journey from Machinima to YouTube Gaming 9:03 - YouTube, Gaming, and the Crypto Transition: Moving from Web2 to onchain with optimism 11:06 - The Crypto Skepticism of Gamers: Ryan’s perspective on why gamers resist blockchain 12:50 - Memorable Moments at Google: Key lessons learned at YouTube and Google 13:50 - Why Ryan Jumped Into Crypto: Career shifts and finding inspiration in the onchain space 15:10 - Joining Polygon and Scaling Crypto: Early roles at Polygon and the vision for onchain scaling 17:57 - The Shift to Optimism and the Superchain: New challenges and the road to a collaborative L2 ecosystem 19:03 - What Does a Chief Growth Officer Do?: Ryan explains the role and responsibilities 21:01 - Unique Governance at Optimism: How collective governance shapes Optimism’s vision 23:01 - Retroactive Public Goods Funding: Exploring funding models that reward impact 25:05 - One Year of Superchain Growth: A recap of Ryan’s first year with Optimism and the ecosystem’s growth 29:33 - Coinbase’s Role in OP Stack Adoption: How Base helped drive the Superchain’s momentum 31:27 - Navigating Competitors on the Superchain: Collaboration and competition in the onchain world 33:50 - Solving Liquidity Fragmentation: Why interoperability is key to Optimism’s future 36:30 - The Future of Onchain Interoperability: Ryan’s vision for seamless cross-chain transactions 39:54 - Challenges of User Experience: Bridging, liquidity, and simplifying the user journey 43:16 - The Value of Open Source: How Optimism’s open-source approach benefits the ecosystem 46:13 - Looking Forward: 2025 Intentions: Ryan’s goals for the Superchain in the coming year 47:50 - Final Thoughts: How community and innovation drive onchain growth
Making an AI Anime with RŌHKI
We’re joined by RŌHKI to unpack their debut episode - Intersection - as we explore the evolution of AI animation in the group’s first podcast as an anonymous artist project. Available to collect on Zora - https://zora.co/collect/base:0x9cd98193f58eef7f78e89caa6cbbebbaf609ffe1/1
Artcoins on Zora
We’re joined by Andrei - the founder of ArtRun to chat about the debut of their new platform for secondary markets on Zora.
many such cases ep 14: blocks, boosts, rewards, mini-apps
Jonny and Ted share their reactions and thoughts on the potential impact of Warpcast’s newest features: blocks, boosts, and $5 USDC Warpcast rewards. For the hundredth time, they also explore specific ways in which channel could be a viable pathway to scale the best aspects of Farcaster that they remember from the early days: finding and building authentic community. Last, they visit the potential of mini apps and deep links as a richer UX and dev solution to the limitations of frames. Enjoy! 00:00 Introduction: rebrand and Jonny’s design process 03:30 Blocks: how can this enhance (or hurt) user control over conversations? 10:15: $5 USDC Warpcast Rewards and Boosts: will this actually result in quality content from new users? 20:00: Reply Culture: how can we recreate engagement from early days? 27:00: Channels: how can channels scale the network? 36:00: Channel Ecosystem: what are specific ideas to help improve channel content? 40:00: Mini-apps: could these be the next solution for a richer dev and user experience?
many such cases ep 13: explore, moxie, twitter crossposting, and channels
In this comeback conversation, Ted and Jonny discuss their takes on the new Explore page, the impact of the new Moxie protocol on the Warpcast experience, what it means for the Network School to be built “on Farcaster”, and the stagnant, yet promising nature of channels against the challenge of quality content. 00:00 Introduction and episode overview 01:14 How we’re feeling about the Explore Page and what we want to see next 11:14 Understanding Moxie and its impact on our Warpcast experience 21:20 Why experiments are important to Farcaster 26:50 Twitter celebrities cross-posting: good or bad? 36:23 What it means for the Network School to be built on Farcaster 37:20 Channel check-in (in lieu of a feelings check-in)
many such cases ep 12: building for high-quality content with @dwr
on this episode (recorded “like a year ago”), @dwr joins @ted and @nonlinear to discuss the number one priority for farcaster right now: the challenge in creating a sustainable supply of quality content. we cover user engagement metrics, the current state of channels and what they could become, and how the team is thinking about enabling high-quality content through new features. @dwr also shares some of his insights on the power of text-based content and cultures on social platforms like twitter and what the emergence of AI-generated content may mean for these platforms. 00:39 farcaster’s top priority 01:29 challenges and strategies for building communities 07:30 reducing the barrier to high-quality content 15:20 the dominance of text-based content 18:35 in-group culture, power of memes, and AI-generated content 25:25 the future of channels
many such cases 11: feet, frames, long casts, and a surprise guest
on this episode, @ted and @nonlinear.eth are joined by special guest, @v, to kick off a discussion about longer casts and frames — but not until after they cover the recent trend of [redacted] that is both a hysterical and mortifying case study in farcaster virality. after getting the rundown on longer cast intentions and current developer (and consumer) pain points on frames, we focus on exploring the potential for better content creation that enhances the entertainment value and social experience on farcaster. we share the frame experiences we love most as well as offer new ideas for more entertainment-driven, less utility-driven frames. last, we revisit the current zeitgeist on power badges and content discovery through the lens of marketplace dynamics. we could be midcurving it, but it made pretty good sense to us.
many such cases 10: nook shuts down, emerging cozy corners, and a new farcaster fight
In this episode, Ted and Jonny discuss the recent news about Nook shutting down and explore the explore different strategies @dwr recommended for building on (or alongside) farcaster as developers, creators, and potentially independent business owners. Ted and Jonny then cover some of the emerging cozy corners on Farcaster, such as FBI (Farcaster Builders India), First Draft, Tabletop, Lounge, Club Ted, and Higher Run Club. Last, Ted and Jonny wrap it up with a quick discussion about a recent controversy on Farcaster involving the authenticity of certain Instagram-like accounts.
many such cases 9: farcon debrief and farcaster’s real existential risk
We return to Many Such Cases with an inside look at FarCon (00:25), an in-depth discussion on the cast and tweet heard around the world (26:59), and our own POV on Warpcast’s current “existential risk” (57:53). We couldn’t be happier to be back at it again and we hope you can hear the joy and excitement and fulfillment in both our laughter and discussions. Links below: McBain’s post about FarCon: - https://warpcast.com/mcbain/0xc14d17b7 The Cast and Tweet heard around the world: - https://warpcast.com/0xdesigner/0x85ca56da - https://twitter.com/0xDesigner/status/1787182104696271135 Commentary re: First Time User Experience (FTUX): - https://warpcast.com/dwr.eth/0x1ac98056 - https://warpcast.com/smokingfrog.eth/0x51e82513 - https://x.com/papa_raw/status/1789743855622885519
Ep 57 - Higher
Ep 57 - Higher We’re joined by Martin - the founder of the HIGHER token to discuss the launch and building a FC-first community. We cover his backstory working at Topshot and Nouns and everything you need to know as a founder thinking of launching a memecoin in 2024.
many such cases 8: deploy on degen, farcaster CMO, farcon, and onchain media
welcome to many such cases, episode 8 that should be 9 but ted got nerdswiped by Crypto the Game and vows for it to never happen again. we chat what's special about farcaster, deploy on degen week, frames, degen, real vs fake engagement, hypersub churn, farcaster's existential risk, FarCon, and why we should put media onchain. 0:01:00 Crypto The Game - https://warpcast.com/matthewb/0x0dc0939a 0:10:40 Deploy on Degen - https://warpcast.com/jacek/0xb0f1dd27 - https://warpcast.com/syndicate/0x9a6cef16 - https://syndicate.io/blog/deploy-on-degen 0:16:00 Frames segue 0:19:00 Degen volume, bots, and new notifications 0:23:48 Fabric MRR and churn - https://warpcast.com/nonlinear.eth/0xa75e8192 0:32:33 FC client numbers (re: woj cast) - https://warpcast.com/woj.eth/0x41d3d1d5 - https://warpcast.com/deodad/0x31fcd632 0:36:10 Farcaster’s existential risk by Ben Roy - https://warpcast.com/benroy/0x277e7335 0:44:32 Farcon update - https://warpcast.com/ted/0xd59e2a5d - https://warpcast.com/aneri/0x2e3440e5 - https://warpcast.com/aneri/0x44ab0369 0:51:39 Onchain media / ads (why media onchain)
