🏗️ A Year of Building: BuidlGuidl 2024
Empowering developers, growing the Ethereum ecosystem & looking ahead to 2025
At BuidlGuidl, everything we do is about empowering developers through education. From building foundational tools to creating hands-on programs, we focus on helping developers learn, grow, and contribute to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on this year:
2024 - What We’ve Been Building
This year, we kept building! Here’s a look at what we accomplished:
1. SpeedRunEtherum
SpeedRunEthereum continues to be the go-to resource for onboarding new developers. It’s where many builders take their first steps toward deploying on Ethereum, and we’re constantly improving the experience.
2. Scaffold-ETH 2 & Extensions
We built on Scaffold-ETH 2 with some solid enhancements, including Foundry support. This year, we also launched Scaffold-ETH 2 Extensions—modular add-ons for Scaffold-ETH 2 that provide additional functionality or serve as starter-kits for specific features.
Check out available extensions and Hunter’s video on how to build your own extension.
We ran a hackathon to kick off extensions, There were 5 winners, 11 finalists & countless cool extensions to explore! You can see the winners and the runner ups here.
The BuidlGuidl will continue interviewing builders that have users and have built successful platforms or protocols on Ethereum. We want our tools and educational curriculum to lead new developers through this important path. We want to help enable the next wave of consumer crypto applications and protocols!
3. Capture the Flag & IRL Workshops
From Tokyo to Brussels to SF, we’ve been on the move, hosting free developer workshops. These sessions were all about getting hands-on with Ethereum and prepping for hackathons.
At Devcon Bangkok, we did something new: a Capture the Flag game with 12 challenges. It was our first time running it, and it was a hit—96 teams played the challenge.
4. The Batches Program
We created a new educational program specialized for new developers. If you’ve finished SpeedRunEthereum, the Batches Program is your next step. It’s where builders take on new challenges, learn open-source etiquette, and gain real-world building experience.
This year, we ran 12 batches—a big shoutout to all the builders who leveled up through the program!
5. BuidlGuidl Cohorts
We launched the BuidlGuidl cohorts, an experiment that funds open-source builders for their work towards specific missions. The focus is on high-quality contributions to both BuidlGuidl and the Ethereum ecosystem. Builders working on active projects submit their work, claim grants, and showcase their contributions onchain.
Cohorts include: Sand Garden, Nodes, Batches, ShipYard, Media, Workshops, NiftyInk, Owners, Mercenaries.
One big goal of the BuidlGuidl is to bring more intention to our process and have less mercenaries and more owners. The things we are shipping must get users and have impact.
6. The Builder Podcast
Austin and Eda kicked off The Builder Podcast, chatting with founders and builders across the Ethereum ecosystem. You can catch it on YouTube or Spotify—a great place for staying inspired and informed.
7. BG Grants
This year, we retired BG Simple Streams and introduced BG Grants alongside BG cohorts, to fund the development and support of the Ethereum ecosystem. Builders who’ve completed SpeedRunEthereum or a batch are encouraged to apply and keep building with us.
8. BuidlGuidl Client
We developed the BG Client, one-line command to deploy and monitor an Ethereum Node. Node runners have the ability to opt in to our distributed RPC system, serving our dapps and rewarding clients. We’re also sending fully synced nodes to underserved areas all over the world.
You can see a live map of clients that have opted in to making BuidlGuidl apps more decentralized:
9. ENS Public Goods Grant Platform
We collaborated with the ENS team to build a grants platform to support foundational public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem. Empowering high-impact projects that make Web3 better for everyone. You can check it out here!
Here’s to an Even Better Year Ahead!
2025 - SneakPeak
Education remains our top priority. Next year, we’re focused on tackling medium-to-hard challenges to help developers push their limits and level up their skills.
Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming:
Capture the Flag 2.0: Building on the success of Devcon Bangkok, we’ll bring CTF challenges to more events.
ETH Tech Tree: An exciting new resource to help developers navigate and master the Ethereum ecosystem.
SpeedRunEthereum & Scaffold-ETH 2: We’ll continue to improve and expand on our these tools and educational resources.
Agent Based Simulation Game: The best way to learn how to build a protocol or product is to experience 100s/1000s of agents trying to interact with your smart contracts. We plan to gamify this experience and provide multiple challenges to prepare a builder for real-world use cases.
StartEthereum: We are uniquely qualified to build the “landing page for getting started with Ethereum”. Our instinct is that Ethereum.org is a fantastic resource but has to remain neutral. We will provide an opinionated guide for getting a wallet, getting an ENS, getting an NFT, getting ETH, bridging, and interacting with L2s. It will be a one-page, shareable resource that shepherds noobs onchain.
BuidlGuidl leads by example: Through programs like BG Grants and Sand Garden, we’ll keep supporting open-source builders creating impactful projects, while also empowering and connecting developers through workshops and hackathons worldwide. The ethos of Ethereum is alive within the BuidlGuidl.
The BuidlGuidl remains uncaptured by VCs. We do what is best for Ethereum. This is only possible thanks to unwavering support from ecosystem heroes: A huge thank you to Ethereum Foundation, Optimism, ENS, Gitcoin, and Octant for supporting us in 2024! Your help made a big difference.
Stay tuned for even more tools, programs, and collaborations in 2025. Let’s keep building together! 🚀