Hey builders! 👋
Spring is upon us, and as the first quarter of 2025 comes to a close, I thought I'd share some personal reflections on the past three months. It's been a period of rebuilding, reimagining, and pushing boundaries – both professionally and personally.
TL;DR
Rebuilt Talent Protocol's infrastructure from the ground up, launching Talent Vault, Builder Score V2, and our Base partnership with Builder Rewards
Made $BUILD a fully decentralized public good with 163B tokens airdropped to 40K+ community members and no more treasury or gatekeepers
Started Builders Table dinners for high-signal connections and I'll be in New York for the whole spring
Work Hard, Train Hard
The first 3 months of the year were defined by two primary focuses: intense, under the hood building at Talent Protocol and an equally intense commitment to physical activity. I won't lie – there wasn't much room for anything else.
After falling in love with Muay Thai in Thailand late last year, I brought that passion back to Lisbon in January, then continued practicing in New York, where I'm now based until the summer. Between Muay Thai sessions, basketball games, and gym workouts, physical training became almost as much a priority as work itself.
This "work hard, train hard" rhythm has been demanding but energizing. The physical discipline enhances my mental focus, while the professional intensity drives me to push harder physically. I'm learning that consistency in one area of life tends to reinforce discipline in others.
The New York Effect
Moving to New York has profoundly impacted both my personal outlook and our direction at Talent Protocol. The city's relentless energy perfectly complements my "intensity mindset." When everyone around you is operating at high frequency, it naturally elevates your own pace.
What I find most fulfilling about New York is the constant stream of ideas, inspiration, and opportunities. Being surrounded by this energy makes work feel less like work – it's more like surfing a perpetual wave of creativity and ambition. I feel excited to be here.
Rebuilding the Engine Mid-Flight
Q1 was our most ambitious engineering quarter yet. We essentially redesigned Talent Protocol's entire infrastructure from the ground up – from how we index and store reputation data to our Builder Score calculation engine. Migrating 10 million builder accounts was no small feat – it felt a lot like rebuilding a plane while flying it.
Rebuilding a system of this scale taught me several lessons:
It's hard to get the community excited about infrastructure upgrades when benefits aren't immediately visible
No matter how much you plan, you'll face unexpected challenges
Progressive releases worked better than big-bang launches
But the results speak for themselves. Our co-founder Pedro even shaved his head to celebrate reaching 10 million indexed accounts (immortalized as an NFT on Zora!), showing the kind of passionate commitment that fueled our team through this rebuild.
Talent Protocol: The Cornerstones of Q1
This infrastructure revamp enabled several key launches:
Builder Score V2
Builder Score has become our north star - a simple number that measures impact based on verified data, not marketing or self-promotion. The feedback validated our direction - builders love having objective proof of their work, projects use it to find talent, and protocols (like Base) use it to distribute rewards fairly. So we completely rebuilt it from the ground up with faster updates, more integrations, and a simpler interface. Building a great product isn't about doing everything. It's about doing one thing really well. For us, that's Builder Score.
We're tired of seeing the loudest voices get all the credit while quiet builders get overlooked.
That's why we're building @TalentProtocol and the Builder Score. So that data can speak louder than words.
That's why we're building @TalentProtocol and the Builder Score. So that data can speak louder than words.
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Builder Rewards
Yesterday marked the official launch of our biggest collaboration with Base to date! Together we're distributing 2 ETH to 100 developers each week. This automated, merit-based rewards system completes our protocol flywheel by automatically rewarding builders based on verifiable work rather than social clout.
We just announced one of the things I'm most proud of shipping: Builder Rewards
I'm tired of seeing the loudest voices get rewarded while the best builders go unnoticed.
But for @Base builders, that ends today.
Be rewarded based on what you ship, not what you shill.
I'm tired of seeing the loudest voices get rewarded while the best builders go unnoticed.
But for @Base builders, that ends today.
Be rewarded based on what you ship, not what you shill.
Talent Vault
Staking $TALENT will become a critical piece of our token economy. Stake your tokens to earn protocol rewards. After some technical hurdles pushed back our launch timeline (smart contracts are no joke!), seeing thousands of tokens flow into the Vault during the first week was a deeply satisfying moment.
It began with personal tokens.
Now we’re building a flywheel where builder actions create data, unlock value, and drive reputation.
Here’s how @TalentProtocol works
Now we’re building a flywheel where builder actions create data, unlock value, and drive reputation.
Here’s how @TalentProtocol works
$BUILD Goes Fully Decentralized
BUILD is Now a Public Good-Airdropping 163B $BUILD
BUILD is now a public good! 163B $BUILD airdropped to 40K+ members, no treasury, no gatekeepers-fully owned by the community. LFB!
In February, $BUILD reached a major milestone in decentralization. We airdropped 163B tokens to over 40,000 community members, added 16 ETH of liquidity on Uniswap, and burned the remaining 380B $BUILD in the treasury. The result is a 100% community-owned token, with me stepping back to a caretaker role. This transition embodies a core belief: the most powerful things we build are those we're willing to let go of. Sometimes the most impactful leadership move is stepping aside and trusting the community to take something further than you could alone.
This weekend marked a huge milestone for @buildtokenbase
$BUILD is now a fully decentralized token of appreciation. No treasury, no gatekeepers, 100% community-owned.
Buy it, hold it or use it to support onchain builders.
$BUILD is now a fully decentralized token of appreciation. No treasury, no gatekeepers, 100% community-owned.
Buy it, hold it or use it to support onchain builders.
Intensity with Intention
"Intensity" became my keyword for Q1. But I've learned that true intensity isn't about burnout or brute force. It's about deliberate focus and disciplined intention – channeling energy precisely where it matters most. It's about distinguishing between busy work and meaningful progress.
I think about this focused intensity like being in the final minutes of a close game. Every pass, every shot, every defensive move counts. You can't afford to relax, but neither can you afford to waste energy on the wrong plays. We're not racing against others, but against time, limited resources, and complexity – and that requires both energy and direction.
Lessons for Building Better
Through this intense quarter, I've embraced some core principles that will guide us moving forward:
Show, don't tell. The most powerful way to communicate our vision is through working products, not explanations.
Make action your default mode. Most of us overthink and underact. It's common to try thinking our way out of problems. But we often don't have a thinking problem; we have an action problem.
Ultra-intuitive UX mindset. If someone needs an FAQ, user guide, or tooltip... we've missed the mark. We're aiming for a clarity-first approach that embodies our redux value.
Looking Ahead to Q2
As I look toward Q2, I'm focused on two key evolutions:
Code is the ultimate output
With AI advancements, I've been building more of our product directly, reinforcing a key insight: the closer you are to code, the more efficient and impactful you become. Going from idea straight to implementation drastically reduces signal loss and accelerates shipping. This embodies the previous lesson of "making action your default mode" – instead of endless planning and design cycles, everyone (not just engineers) should be able to ship real, working solutions. The signal loss that happens when translating ideas to specs, specs to designs, and designs to code can be enormous. When everyone on the team can ship code (even if it's not perfect), we eliminate the middlemen between ideas and their implementation.
Connect more deeply with builders
Q1 was very heads-down, focused on product. For Q2, I've launched Builders Table – intimate dinners where 6-8 carefully selected builders bring one problem each to discuss together. I've hosted editions in Denver and NYC already, with another planned for April 30th in New York. The format is simple: small table, spicy conversations, hungry participants. It's my response to an industry drowning in surface-level networking – creating space for the meaningful connections and candid feedback we all actually need.
What happens when six onchain builders share a table in NYC?
Join the next Builders Table to find out.
Join the next Builders Table to find out.
Closing Thoughts
I'm embracing this quote from James Clear that perfectly captures my Q1 experience:
"You have to work hard to discover how to work smart. You won't know the best solutions until you've made nearly all the mistakes."
Building something new means making mistakes, learning from them, and constantly refining your approach. That's been the story of Q1 – intense, challenging, but ultimately rewarding.
As we move into Q2, I'm carrying these lessons forward, determined to build smarter, connect deeper, and create more value for our community of builders.
Keep building,
Filipe
P.S. If you're in New York this spring, let's play some basketball or grab coffee.
The past three months have been a period of rebuilding, reimagining, and pushing boundaries – both professionally and personally. - Rebuilt @talent's infrastructure mid-flight - Made $BUILD fully decentralized - Moved to /new-york - Launched Builder Rewards with @base - Started "Builders Table" dinners
Huge congrats with everything incl NYC
ty
"i'm learning that consistency in one area of life tends to reinforce discipline in others." this one hit me, i need to do better in other areas of my life 🫡
discipline is a muscle the more you exercise it, the easier it gets
Love this things man. Go back to your monthly recaps. I actually started doing them last year cause of yours
LFG
Let's gooo 💙 it was a great Q1, when you're in Lisbon we have to for some muay thai practice together
I want to become a sharpening builder, what do I need to do for this?