In episode 6 of the Backdrop podcast, we spoke to Jesse Pollak (Base), Dan Romero (Farcaster), and Rick Bhardwaj (Guru) — three prolific builders who shared timeless insights on how to find early traction for new products. We spoke about defining early users, maintaining quality and speed of product iterations; concluding with their thoughts on the future of crypto and AI.

This episode was recorded as a part of Backdrop Build V2, a four week program to support people building something new in crypto and AI.

Relevant Links:

• Backdrop - backdrop.so
• Backdrop on X - @withBackdrop
• Joey on X - @joey_debruin
• Rick on X - @BhardwajRick
• Dan on X - @dwr
• Jesse on X - @jessepollak
• Guru - getguru.ai
• Base - base.org
• Farcaster - farcaster.xyz

The Backdrop podcast is produced by the team at Spectral.

In episode 5 of the Backdrop podcast, we focussed on the art and craft of building at the frontiers. I spoke to Michael Dempsey (Compound), Will Papper (Syndicate) and Aaron McDonald (Futureverse) to explore how founders can toe that fine line between being too early and being too late.

We focussed on how builders can ship solutions to pressing problems today, but also keep an eye out for the unique opportunities presented by new breakthroughs in frontier tech. Unsurprisingly, there is no one right answer to this question. The right approach lies somewhere in the messy middle.

This episode was recorded as a part of Backdrop Build V2, a four week program to support people building something new in crypto and AI.

Relevant Links:

• Backdrop - backdrop.so
• Backdrop on X - twitter.com/withBackdrop
• Joey on X - twitter.com/joey_debruin
• Michael on X - @mhdempsey
• Will on X - @willpapper
• Compound - compound.vc
• Syndicate - syndicate.io
• Futureverse - futureverse.com

The Backdrop podcast is produced by the team at Spectral.

The AI space seems to have undergone a Cambrian explosion. From multi-million dollar GPT wrappers, to VC-backed behemoths building proprietary models and exploring new generative formats such as music and video, it's safe to say AI is the most exciting space to be building in right now. In this episode of the Backdrop podcast, Joey chats with three experienced builders with a unique vantage point on what's coming past the current horizon. Miguel Piedrafita is a prolific builder and developer working at Worldcoin. Steven Tey is a developer advocate at Vercel. Rick Bhardwaj is the cofounder of Guru—building video intelligence models for developers.

Besides their thoughts on the future, this conversation also touched on some perpetual problems that all builders face—keeping maintenance costs low, thinking from first principles about AI-native product development, and more. Hope you find this conversation as valuable as we did!

This episode was recorded as a part of 100.builders, a four week program to support people building open tech in crypto and AI.

Chapters | Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Cold open.
• 00:05:18 Building AI-native apps.
• 00:14:45 The opportunities in AI infrastructure development.
• 00:19:16 Building a profitable AI businesses.
• 00:24:15 The hidden potential of generative audio.
• 00:31:33 Leveraging AI to disrupt traditional domains.
• 00:35:11 The pros and cons of open source.
• 00:46:56 The criticality of user feedback.

Relevant Links:

• Backdrop - backdrop.so
• Backdrop on X - twitter.com/withBackdrop
• 100 Builders - 100.builders
• Joey on X - twitter.com/joey_debruin
• Rick on X - twitter.com/BhardwajRick
• Miguel on X - twitter.com/m1guelpf
• Steven on X - twitter.com/steventey
• Worldcoin - worldcoin.org
• Guru- getguru.ai

The Backdrop podcast is produced by the team at Spectral.