building on base for almost a year. previously, i’ve worked with many different projects across different chains and regions and i clearly felt cultural differences between east and west when it comes to building.
i haven’t seen a place quite like base. it really aims to be for everyone. at the same time, that doesn’t mean everything has worked perfectly. there have been many experimental efforts where most people already knew outcome would be uncertain, from the beginning.
yes, volumes are lower compared to solana. but that also signals there is still meaningful work to do on base side. one important area could be revisiting overall priorities for this year. "focusing on trading" is a broad statement and it might benefit from being more concrete and well-defined.
in my opinion, people trade "new" and "speculative" assets. for base, speculative assets should increasingly mean appcoins so far. that implies more apps being shipped on base and stronger, more targeted support for builders from both base and ecosystem. as a flywheel, this makes sense in theory and it can also work in practice, with some adjustments to builder programs.
some thoughts for base batch 003 - if it'll happen:
- early-stage products should definitely be supported, but without spreading attention too thin. for example, supporting a larger number with smaller checks, such as $5k x 20
- there should be a clear separation between projects that already have a token and those that don't yet, since their needs and required support can differ significantly.
- for projects/startups with solid traction, support amounts should be higher than $1k - $5k. for example, $25k x 10 projects would allow selected teams to do something genuinely meaningful, such as hiring an intern or junior developer for 6+ months or marketing.
- batch 002 workshops were very valuable. it would be great to see more of them, with a more structured format and fewer "finalists". selecting 50 people doesn’t help much in practice; more focused groups and increased 1-1 time could be more impactful.
everyone says we need trenches back, but only a few are willing to build them in practice. i’m betting on builders who think long term here and i’m happy to support as much i can do 🫡
cc
@jesse.base.eth