The Zeitgeist Season Two Expo

*If you’re an engineer, designer, or operator who’d like to learn about and/or contribute to Zeitgeist season two teams — consider getting in touch to join for our closing expo on June 1! [airtable.com/shr4dgrnBhGuR0uB3](http://airtable.com/shr4dgrnBhGuR0uB3)*

*You can also find Zeitgeist on Twitter: [twitter.com/zeitgeist_xyz](https://twitter.com/zeitgeist_xyz)*


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Zeitgeist season two is coming to a close. We’ve spent the last weeks building together with a talented/thoughtful group of people:

* [Mark](https://markdawson.io/) and [Daniel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstrat/) are building [Quixotic](https://twitter.com/quixotic_io) - an onchain NFT marketplace on Optimism + an L1/L2 NFT bridge.
* [Stephen](https://twitter.com/StSongz), [Ayush](https://twitter.com/vali_eth), and [Mehran](https://twitter.com/mehranhydary) are building Castle - a smart wallet that provides multi-factor auth for individuals/groups without compromising on UX.
* [Joey](https://twitter.com/joey_debruin) and [Rapha](https://twitter.com/raphacaixeta) are building [Backdrop](https://twitter.com/withBackdrop) - a platform to help people launch and grow community-owned projects.
* [Ronan](https://twitter.com/wighawag) is building [Conquest](https://conquest.eth.limo/) - a fully permissionless, persistent and interoperable onchain game.
* [Brenner](https://twitter.com/BrennerSpear) is building the [Metagame](https://twitter.com/the_metagame) - infrastructure for earned NFTs based on onchain/offchain activity.
* [Peter](https://twitter.com/weterpoo), [Matt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen-18445a77/), and [Amit](https://twitter.com/bloopmit) are building Yuzu - a protocol for creating composable derivatives and structured products.
* [Jake](https://twitter.com/Jake_Nyquist) and [Regy](https://twitter.com/negroprogrammer) are building Hook - a protocol for creating NFT-backed derivatives, starting with covered call options.
* [Raymond](https://raymondzhong.com/), [Joel](https://twitter.com/gustafjt), and [David](https://twitter.com/ghosttyped) are building Canvas - a zero-fee P2P backend for web3 applications.

To mark the end of season two, we’re hosting an informal expo on **June 1st 9-10am PT on Gather**.

We’re using this occasion to bring together a small group of engineers, designers, and operators who are interested in learning about and/or contributing to season two teams as they move forward.

We will share light materials in advance of the event — including a short Notion doc and Loom demo by each team which outlines their project in more detail, and also shares where they’re looking for collaborators/contributors.

![New Gather space for the expo is under construction 👷](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/0it_6nwf9sYimHg_e6xAp.png?height=2542&width=3914)

These will be shared async before the expo. The event itself will not include any presentations and will instead be focused on small group conversations and meeting each other.

Given the conversational focus of the event - we will be bringing together a rather small group (this is partially enforced by the physics of the virtual Gather space 🤓). Please fill out the form here to let us know you’d like to participate — we will be extending invites on a rolling basis, ending on Sunday (May 29): <https://airtable.com/shr4dgrnBhGuR0uB3>

Lastly, we will follow up after the event to help facilitate double opt-in intro’s between expo attendees and teams. We hope that the conversations here form the basis of longer term relationships.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Zeitgeist season two - an update

Hello friends and fellow travelers —

We're a couple weeks into season two, taking this opportunity to share a brief update.

We have a group of talented builders coming together for this sprint:

* [Mark](https://markdawson.io/) and [Daniel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstrat/) are building [Quixotic](https://twitter.com/quixotic_io) - an onchain NFT marketplace on Optimism
* [Stephen](https://twitter.com/StSongz), [Ayush](https://twitter.com/vali_eth), and [Mehran](https://twitter.com/mehranhydary) are building Castle - a shared crypto wallet for groups to collect NFTs.
* [Joey](https://twitter.com/joey_debruin) and [Rapha](https://twitter.com/raphacaixeta) are building [Backdrop](https://twitter.com/withBackdrop) - facilitating participation in tokenized web3 communities.
* [Ronan](https://twitter.com/wighawag) is building [Conquest](https://conquest.eth.limo/) - an onchain game of strategy and diplomacy.
* [Brenner](https://twitter.com/BrennerSpear) is building the [MetaGame](https://twitter.com/the_metagame) - infrastructure for earned NFTs based on onchain behavior.
* [Peter](https://twitter.com/weterpoo), [Matt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen-18445a77/), and [Amit](https://twitter.com/bloopmit) are building Yuzu - a protocol for structured financial products.
* [Jake](https://twitter.com/Jake_Nyquist) and [Regy](https://twitter.com/negroprogrammer) are building Hook - an options protocol for NFTs
* [Raymond](https://raymondzhong.com/) and [Joel](https://twitter.com/gustafjt) are building Canvas - a new P2P architecture for decentralized applications.

We believe crypto is going to expand from here to have foundational impact on the world - shaping how internet-native communities coordinate and communicate, impacting finance and culture, funding public goods, and in too many other ways to name. We hope for Zeitgeist to be a gathering place for those pushing on the edges of the known territory & building the next generation of crypto-native products/protocols.

![](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/BVG4o34cufxBS4ZxY_w6s.png?height=482&width=2306)

![](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/CrTm7l0WEPXu_MHQEEUk2.png?height=604&width=2256)

![](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/8BZdmzygxle1UGiVvzchY.png?height=560&width=2262)

If this resonates with you, keep an eye out — we’ll be doing more in the near future and would love to hear from you.

*Subscribe for future updates at [zeitgeist.xyz](https://zeitgeist.xyz).*

Zeitgeist - Season Two.

*We’re excited to kick off the second season of Zeitgeist. If you're building a new crypto-native product/protocol and working towards launch - please consider getting in touch by Sunday (March 6) to participate:* *[airtable.com/shrYcBanqizoOPVCE](https://airtable.com/shrYcBanqizoOPVCE)*


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Zeitgeist is a community of builders working on crypto-native products and protocols. We [kicked off last year](https://www.zeitgeist.xyz/p/introducing-zeitgeist?utm_source=url) with a group of [10 early-stage teams](https://www.zeitgeist.xyz/p/zeitgeist-an-update?utm_source=url) coming together to do a collective sprint. We setup a community Discord, had weekly calls to unpack the biggest obstacles coming up across the group, and got support from some of the most effective engineers/operators in the space who ran workshops and office hours.

Since then, teams have continued to make progress:

* [David](https://twitter.com/dgreenstein1), [Matt](https://twitter.com/Gigamesh), and [Vignesh](https://twitter.com/vigneshka) launched [Sound.xyz](http://Sound.xyz), a platform to help artists make a living off their music. They’ve run 60+ sold out drops at this point generating $600k+ for musicians in the process.
* [Abram](https://anabram.com/) and [Will](https://twitter.com/wminshew) launched [0xSplits](https://www.0xsplits.xyz/), a protocol for trustlessly sharing onchain income. The smart contracts are immutable and take zero fees. Moreover, they’ve setup a donations stream using the Splits contract that retroactively funds public goods they’ve relied on to get to this point.
* [Tracheopetryx](https://twitter.com/tracheopteryx), [Zach](https://twitter.com/fifthworldzach), and [Zemm](https://twitter.com/Zemm_NFT) continue to evolve [Coordinape](https://twitter.com/coordinape), a platform for decentralized compensation being used in Yearn, Gitcoin, and Bankless — and are in the process helping shape an [operating philosophy](https://youtu.be/anDAtWrhDnE) for DAOs.
* [Shreyas](https://twitter.com/HelloShreyas) and [Austin](https://twitter.com/AustinGreen) continue to build [Llama](https://twitter.com/llamacommunity_) - and have contributed to treasury diversification proposals across Aave, Gitcoin, and other DAOs.
* [Harsh](https://twitter.com/harshoninternet) and [David](https://twitter.com/idavidgoldberg?lang=en) continue to build [Shipyard](https://www.shipyard.xyz/) - they have run multiple cohorts in the Shipyard web2 to web3 school, and done security audits for major DeFi protocols.
* [Wei Jie](https://twitter.com/weijie_eth?lang=en) launched [Scalic](https://twitter.com/weijie_eth/status/1488591547016744963), a cross-chain NFT bridge using ZKPs under the hood. The first implementation connected Polygon and Arbitrum One.
* [Tarun](https://twitter.com/tarunsachdeva) has launched [Aikido](https://www.aikido.work/) in beta, a product for managing bounties as the atomic unit of work in open communities.
* [Gail](https://twitter.com/gaildewilson) and [Carlos](https://twitter.com/the_carlosdp) continue to make progress on Metaphor, a tool for unlocking participation in DAOs.
* [Faraaz](http://twitter.com/faraaz) and [Jonny](https://twitter.com/jonathanmcai) are building [Ape Monitor](http://apemonitor.com), a platform for tracking NFTs.
* [Jason](https://twitter.com/jasonkimvc) and [Nikita](https://github.com/backmeupplz) are building Streetcred, a pseudonymous social network using ZKPs.

There have also been multiple meaningful collaborations based on the relationships built through Zeitgeist. Sound.xyz recently used the 0xSplits protocol to launch [Song Splits](https://twitter.com/soundxyz_/status/1495443379676717059) - a major feature which enables artists to set on-chain splits/credits for their tracks. Shipyard has done security audits for two Zeitgeist teams, and placed a developer on a third. And Coordinape, Llama, Metaphor, and Aikido have collaborated in various ways in building for DAOs as users.

## Season Two

Building on this expe

Zeitgeist - an update

*This post was [published on Nov 15, 2021](https://www.zeitgeist.xyz/p/zeitgeist-an-update?utm_source=url).*

We're about three weeks into [Zeitgeist](https://zeitgeistxyz.substack.com/p/introducing-zeitgeist) - a small group of early-stage teams working on crypto-native products/protocols who have come together to do a sprint until the end of the year.

We'd like to take a moment and share an update on our journey with you.


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Communities grow to become what they are based on the people involved. And so we're grateful to have 10 uniquely thoughtful and talented teams coming together:

* [Abram](https://anabram.com/) and [Will](https://twitter.com/wminshew) are building [Splits](https://www.0xsplits.xyz/) - a protocol for trustlessly sharing income streams.
* [Harsh](https://twitter.com/harshoninternet) and [David](https://twitter.com/idavidgoldberg?lang=en) are building HackerDAO - a school that takes in senior Web2 talent and trains them for Web3.
* [Tarun](https://twitter.com/tarunsachdeva) is building Aikido - a product for managing bounties, the atomic unit of work in open communities.
* [Tracheopetryx](https://twitter.com/tracheopteryx), [Zach](https://twitter.com/fifthworldzach), and [Zemm](https://twitter.com/Zemm_NFT) are building [Coordinape](https://twitter.com/coordinape) - a protocol for decentralized compensation.
* [Shreyas](https://twitter.com/HelloShreyas) and [Austin](https://twitter.com/AustinGreen) are building Llama - economic infrastructure for DAOs.
* [Gail](https://twitter.com/gaildewilson) and [Carlos](https://twitter.com/the_carlosdp) are building Metaphor - a tool for unlocking participation in DAOs.
* [Jason](https://twitter.com/jasonkimvc) and [Nikita](https://github.com/backmeupplz) are building Dosu - a pseudonymous social network.
* [Faraaz](https://twitter.com/faraaznishtar) and [Jonny](https://twitter.com/jonathanmcai) are doing a series of product drops, starting with [squidarena.com](https://squidarena.com/)
* [Wei Jie](https://twitter.com/weijie_eth?lang=en) is working on a cross-chain bridge architecture using ZKPs.
* [David](https://twitter.com/dgreenstein1), [Matt](https://twitter.com/Gigamesh), and [Vignesh](https://twitter.com/vigneshka) are building [Sound.xyz](http://sound.xyz/) - a platform to help artists make a living off their music.

Our intention has been to create an environment where teams can be open with the real obstacles they're navigating. Questions like "how do we strike a balance between immutability & upgradability", "how do we structure our entities and DAO", "how do we think about security audits" have come up. We've been having weekly syncs, hosting discussions with experienced builders/operators, and experimenting with the form factor to unlock what's possible here.

We're excited by what has emerged in these early days - with people like [0age](https://twitter.com/z0age?lang=en) generously giving feedback on technical questions, and [Bethany](https://twitter.com/bethanymarz) sharing her perspective on community building.

We plan to begin sharing learnings where they might be helpful for the wider community. You can follow Zeitgeist on Twitter ([@zeitgeist_xyz](https://twitter.com/zeitgeist_xyz)) and subscribe to this newsletter for updates on this front.

### Reach out

If you'd like to help with Zeitgeist and the teams participating in the sprint - whether you're an engineer, designer, lawyer, community builder, or simply have an idea you'd like to share - please send a note to hi@zeitgeist.xyz. We'd love to hear from you.

✌️

Introducing Zeitgeist

*This post was [published on Oct 6, 2021](https://www.zeitgeist.xyz/p/introducing-zeitgeist?utm_source=url).*

*If you're working on an early-stage project on Ethereum, and would like to participate in Zeitgeist - please consider getting in touch by Sunday (Oct 10): <https://airtable.com/shrgJAfUHFzDsdbrv>*


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We're entering the golden age of crypto-native products and protocols. The possibilities are increasingly clear and only beginning to be explored. Growing numbers of talented builders are pushing forward on every front. And thanks to a lot of hard work, the infrastructure is finally ready to support this phase of growth - Layer 2s are here, the developer tooling has improved, and the Ethereum protocol itself continues to evolve with upgrades like EIP 1559 and the transition to PoS on the horizon.

But taking a new project from 0 to 1 is not easy. It requires that one navigates a terrain of non-trivial trade-offs and questions that are unique to crypto. Questions like those related to architecting a smart contract system and writing secure code that doesn't get exploited; structuring entities and taking legal into account in order to avoid difficulties further down the line; raising funds by working with grants programs, onchain mechanisms, and a meaningful community of operator/angels; and maybe most importantly, navigating the idea maze and building in a way that leans into what's uniquely enabled by crypto.

To answer these questions, we're coming together with a small group of talented teams building new projects on Ethereum, and doing a collective sprint until the end of the year. Codenamed Zeitgeist, we'll be running from Oct 18 to Dec 17, and will have a group Discord, weekly calls/demos, and support from some of the most effective builders/operators in the space.

The Ethereum ecosystem is young and evolving at a rapid pace. Consequently, we believe that the best way to navigate the early stages of a project is to learn from those who have gone through the journey themselves. These are the people who have built the current set of breakthrough products/protocols, and have learned what works and what doesn't work through direct experience. We're grateful to be relying on their input here.

We have a strong group participating in the sprint (shoutout to [Wei Jie](https://twitter.com/weijie_eth?lang=en), [Abram](https://anabram.com/), [Will](https://twitter.com/wminshew?lang=en), [Tarun](https://twitter.com/tarunsachdeva), [Faraaz](https://twitter.com/faraaznishtar), [Jonny](https://twitter.com/jonathanmcai), [Jason](http://twitter.com/jasonkimvc), [Nikita](http://github.com/backmeupplz)) and are looking to welcome more teams into the process. So if you're working on an early stage project on Ethereum, and would like to participate - please consider [getting in touch](https://airtable.com/shrgJAfUHFzDsdbrv).

Entrepreneurs and the projects they build are an archimedes lever for moving the space forward. They create value by getting to product/market fit; they recruit talented people into the space; and over time, they grow to contribute back to the public goods they depend on. We're inspired by those who've built the space into what it is today, and hope to play a small part in continuing this tradition. Join us for what promises to be a fun journey!


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*Subscribe to the newsletter to follow along: [zeitgeist.xyz](https://www.zeitgeist.xyz/)*