# Talent.app: Bet on Builders *Building the largest builder network, owned by $TALENT holders.* By [talent](https://paragraph.com/@talent) · 2025-12-22 $talent, builders, network, talent, app --- Talent is a builder network. We rank builders, make their work visible, and help ecosystems support the best ones. Right now, we're focused on making [talent.app](http://talent.app) sticky and turning that engagement into revenue. **If we win, $TALENT holders win with us.** LinkedIn might be the world's largest professional network, but it runs mostly on self-reported credentials. Talent works differently. We curate and index real building activity and turn it into reputation you can't fake. The builders at the top of our leaderboards aren't there because they posted "What running a marathon taught me about B2B sales." They're there because they shipped. This post covers three things: 1. What Talent is today 2. What's next 3. How $TALENT holders win if we win Let's get into it. * * * What's Talent Today =================== We're building a builder network -------------------------------- Our mission is simple: **give builders the recognition they deserve**. Builder recognition is broken. The loudest voices on Twitter aren't always the best builders. The most-followed accounts aren't necessarily shipping the most important work. And when ecosystems want to find and reward their top contributors, they're often flying blind, relying on "InfoFi", or whoever shows up in their Discord. We fix that. **Talent is a builder network that ranks and rewards the best builders**. Not based on follower counts or self-promotion, but based on verified activity. What you build, where you contribute, how consistently you ship. Without a real reputation layer, the merit promise stays hollow. Ecosystems can't find their best builders. Builders can't prove their track record. And liquidity flows to the loudest, not the best. [![](https://paragraph.com/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6M4jCaoB0) How the builder network works ----------------------------- Talent is a system with two layers. **Talent Protocol** is the engine under the hood. It indexes and verifies builder activity across 100+ data points (GitHub commits, onchain deployments, ecosystem rewards) and turns that into programmable reputation: scores, rankings, and credentials. The protocol powers discovery and search, and exposes reputation data via the Talent API to external apps like [Basenames](https://x.com/TalentProtocol/status/1825995151275434439) or [Etherscan](https://x.com/TalentProtocol/status/1830974248363622607). **Talent App** is our interface on top of the protocol. Builders showcase verified activity. Ecosystems run growth campaigns to reward their top contributors. Leaderboards surface who's shipping the most. Project pages give context to what builders are working on. And search tools let anyone find proven builders filtered by skills, activity, and reputation. How we got here --------------- The path to building a builder network took us through several phases, each with its own hard lessons. ### **Phase 1 — Diverge (2021–2023)** We tried many things: career tokens, betting on goals, Talent Houses. The market wasn't ready. We learned, survived, and became better builders because of it. Two hard lessons from this phase. First, when the market isn't there, product barely matters. Second, token incentives created an illusion of product-market fit. [![](https://paragraph.com/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQPVjLo20kk) ### **Phase 2 — Converge (2024–2025)** We narrowed our focus to one idea: programmable reputation. We built the Builder Score, the Creator Score, the Talent API. Not flashy products, but primitives. The fundamental building blocks for everything that would come later. This phase taught us patience. B2B sales cycles are long, and product-market fit isn't a single moment. We're still learning what resonates most with customers. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d27689f8bf2b0f4a9784517b9028c7e997aab8c8de4c0c7b929ec2440dcaa795.jpg)](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol) [Talent Protocol](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol) [@TalentProtocol](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol) [](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol/status/1846244726418092278) Talent Passport goes onchain ![🔵](https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f535.png) Mint yours to: ![📈](https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f4c8.png) Boost your Builder Score by 3 points ![🎁](https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f381.png) Unlock exclusive perks coming soon ![🌐](https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f310.png) Make your reputation verifiable & accessible to everyone [passport.talentprotocol.com](https://t.co/oxKb93tHdL) ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1846243302829371392/pu/img/43Y1okhkNwDWNpcM.jpg) [278](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol/status/1846244726418092278)[ 6:40 PM • Oct 15, 2024 ](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol/status/1846244726418092278) ### **Phase 3 — Grow (2025–present)** Initial traction arrived. We closed our first B2B deals with Base, Celo, WalletConnect, and Stacks. And we [distributed almost 600K USD to builders](https://dune.com/talent_protocol/talentprotocol) since Q2 2025. We’ve also simplified our domain from [talentprotocol.com](http://talentprotocol.com) to [talent.app](http://talent.app). Simpler name, mainstream positioning, same values. We're building for builders anywhere, not just the CT bubble. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/37b4f81d8ae0becb3f8b8da21055632f1f6cf575ef8fe1fcd734f7f4b427dfae.png) * * * What's Coming Next ================== We're long-term focused but we don't publish long roadmaps full of features we might never build. We've learned our lesson the hard way. Instead, we're sharing our short-term priorities for the coming months. This is what we're actually working on. Primary focus: Connecting builders and ecosystems ------------------------------------------------- ### **Priority 1: Make the builder network sticky** We want builders checking Talent regularly because it's useful, but not just because there's money on the table. That means increasing weekly active users (WAU) and creating habit loops that don't depend solely on external incentives. How we're doing it: investing in a flawless user experience, building shareable campaigns and leaderboards driven by the builder score, and adding gamification and progression systems that make engagement feel rewarding even without token rewards. We're also exploring open standards like [ERC-8021](https://www.erc8021.com/) and [ERC-8092](https://www.erc8092.xyz/) to make builder reputation interoperable. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/50b3786c6eef672262e106a16e9703b5f41d539c5c0f5f935fee4740ad6adb8a.jpg)](https://twitter.com/torok_tomi) [Thomas🛡️](https://twitter.com/torok_tomi) [@torok\_tomi](https://twitter.com/torok_tomi) [](https://twitter.com/torok_tomi/status/2000564752230002868) A year ago, I wouldn’t have imagined this even in my wildest dreams: I’m now in the top 100 builders on Talent Protocol. Currently sitting at #73, which honestly feels a bit unreal. 2025 was challenging in the best possible way. Building continues. [talent.app/tamastorok.eth](https://t.co/VgIUsvOJA0) ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/658c8e00c271e4f23344955913988f2e00fd2f6259f190bb2e34c7fee35ba8d3.png) [18](https://twitter.com/torok_tomi/status/2000564752230002868)[ 1:53 PM • Dec 15, 2025 ](https://twitter.com/torok_tomi/status/2000564752230002868) ### **Priority 2: Turn engagement into revenue** Engagement without revenue is a vanity metric. On the ecosystem side, we're helping teams deliver a clear “why build with us.” to a quality builder audience. On the builder side, we're growing Talent+ subscriptions by adding real value for subscribers: increased visibility in search results, access to exclusive reward campaigns, and detailed profile analytics. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d27689f8bf2b0f4a9784517b9028c7e997aab8c8de4c0c7b929ec2440dcaa795.jpg)](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol) [Talent Protocol](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol) [@TalentProtocol](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol) [](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol/status/1994042620801372640) Builders are the core of every chain, infra, or tool. Watch how to get qBuilder attention on the example of [@WalletConnect](https://twitter.com/WalletConnect). ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/amplify_video_thumb/1994040082550960128/img/bpVdP1wys0XBT5xV.jpg) [113](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol/status/1994042620801372640)[ 1:56 PM • Nov 27, 2025 ](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol/status/1994042620801372640) Parallel bets: traders + professionals -------------------------------------- These are smaller explorations running alongside our main focus. ### **Bet #1: Betting on builders** We're exploring cool new ways for traders to discover and bet on builder tokens directly within [talent.app](http://talent.app). The revenue potential seems significant, but it only works if we have engaged builders first. You can't build a market around people no one's paying attention to, right? So we're making sure we have a strong builder network under the trading layer. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/89562990728243b98edb3b10d302319c7b2d0febb71ef90d1eaa113f8cd202d6.jpg)](https://twitter.com/HooCrypto) [Juampi.eth](https://twitter.com/HooCrypto) [@HooCrypto](https://twitter.com/HooCrypto) [](https://twitter.com/HooCrypto/status/1999507465331724498) Want to find the next gem creator coin? The new Talent app lets you search a database of +12M accounts to spot the best builders and creators with multiple filters, and buy their [@zora](https://twitter.com/zora) coin. Powered by [@Uniswap](https://twitter.com/Uniswap). ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/amplify_video_thumb/1999507304127823874/img/ORgkjzl7S4mSZffn.jpg) [15](https://twitter.com/HooCrypto/status/1999507465331724498)[ 3:51 PM • Dec 12, 2025 ](https://twitter.com/HooCrypto/status/1999507465331724498) ### **Bet #2: Best builder search tool** We have the largest network of verified builders. That's valuable for recruiters and teams trying to hire. We're exploring advanced search tools like AI-powered queries and granular filtering, to let professionals tap into this supply. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/9ba2a9f214652339847618fbfaa3be8698b53f1f4e36b0be3409ed23002b1763.jpg)](https://twitter.com/simao_etc) [Simão](https://twitter.com/simao_etc) [@simao\_etc](https://twitter.com/simao_etc) [](https://twitter.com/simao_etc/status/2001028292065866011) Find the builder you NEED to hire. Powered by AI. Launching soon on Talent. ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/amplify_video_thumb/2001028192409092101/img/kr9XtPioUddvYgKy.jpg) [1](https://twitter.com/simao_etc/status/2001028292065866011)[ 8:34 PM • Dec 16, 2025 ](https://twitter.com/simao_etc/status/2001028292065866011) * * * Our Commitment to $TALENT Holders ================================= We're in this together ---------------------- In most onchain businesses, token holders are treated as second-class citizens. Tokens exist mostly for liquidity and marketing, but when it comes to actual ownership, equity holders come first. We made a different choice. Talent is a DAO LLC and has no equity. $TALENT holders are the real owners of the ecosystem. We made a structural decision on the day we were born: May 1st, 2021. When Talent wins, $TALENT holders win. There's no one else in line ahead of you. Token utility today ------------------- Holding $TALENT already gets you: * Earning boosts in selected reward campaigns * Heavy discounts on Talent+ subscriptions * Access to Vault V1, with Vault V2 coming soon [![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/41448549524940430068be48bac7df20596ed8b334279b14947d545271d15d26.png)](https://www.token.talent.app/) [token.talent.app](https://www.token.talent.app/) Profit first ------------ No hype or fake promises. We get profitable first. Then we share value back with long-term holders. Until then: full focus on building a builder network that makes us net positive. * * * Bet on Builders =============== Four years of building. Countless pivots, hard lessons, and moments where it would have been easier to quit. But we didn't. And now, something feels different. The pieces are falling into place. We have a product that builders and ecosystems actually use. We have a token structure that means when we win, our token holders win with us. The core team is energized, focused, and more confident than we've ever been. Not because we've figured everything out, but because we've survived long enough to know we can handle whatever comes next. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4e4448f0e848e18bd59fb570bedcc30b90bc7d7ead439d2f8cb77e2de9ef4e43.jpg)](https://twitter.com/0xmacedo) [macedo.eth](https://twitter.com/0xmacedo) [@0xmacedo](https://twitter.com/0xmacedo) [](https://twitter.com/0xmacedo/status/1993328310726570097) historic week for [@TalentProtocol](https://twitter.com/TalentProtocol): we shipped a new [talent.app](https://t.co/zoueIbeGMJ) and all 9 core team members met IRL for the first time in buenos aires we spent the week learning from top onchain builders, closing new partnerships and hacking together on new ideas the best team ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/68f342375bd89c8c7d9d2f339dcba6c7bfd519a3312793c14c2de22689fcc81f.jpg) [62](https://twitter.com/0xmacedo/status/1993328310726570097)[ 2:37 PM • Nov 25, 2025 ](https://twitter.com/0xmacedo/status/1993328310726570097) If you believe in us and our mission, here's how you can help: * Tell your builder friends about [talent.app](http://talent.app) * Refer [ecosystems](https://talent.app/~/ecosystems) that want to grow their builder community * Build with the [Talent API](https://docs.talentprotocol.com/docs/developers/get-started) to integrate reputation data in your app Bet on builders. If we win, you win with us. Let's do this 🫡 --- *Originally published on [talent](https://paragraph.com/@talent/bet-on-builders)*