Builders leave open source projects when they need to pay rent.

herocast is two years old. Open source with no funding. ~20 contributors. I paid bounties whenever possible and received some small grants. I want an ongoing revenue structure so contributors can keep working.

The product works. 1,600+ users signed up. People want herocast, especially as Farcaster pivots to wallet-first - they want alternatives. The path to keep it going is unclear. I want to fix that.

Constraints

Any funding approach has to fit what herocast is. I wrote down what I believe herocast will always be and what we can change (herocast values). Short version:

  • Build on open protocols and respect user sovereignty
  • Stay curious, ship early

A token has to fit these. Most token launches optimize for a quick pump and dump. I want to optimize for people who actually use and build herocast. I want to give people ownership, not build a casino. No governance theater.

The token offers patronage with upside - ownership for users and alignment for builders. I like @deodad's take on app coins: "supporting, patronage sense and sports fanatic sense, with a speculation twist. Bearish on investment and governance." (thread)

Distribution

Current draft of the token supply:

  • Initial contributors (~20%) - me + early builders, longest vesting
  • Treasury (~25%) - grants, bounties, future hires, contingency
  • Public launch (~35%) - Clanker one-sided pool, anyone can buy
  • Presale (~10%) - early supporters, ETH goes to runway
  • Airdrop (~5%) - early users, real activity filter
  • Advisors (~5%)

Presale happens before public launch. Target: 20 ETH for 6 months of runway. Tokens vest over 2 months.

Open questions on distribution:

  1. Is 35% public launch enough liquidity, or should we shift more from treasury?
  2. Is 2-month vest for presale too short/long compared to other recent launches?

Vesting

Tokens unlock over time to align incentives:

  • Initial contributors: 12-month cliff, 36-month linear vest
  • Presale: 2-month vest
  • Advisors: 6-month cliff, 18-month vest
  • Small bounties: immediate payment

If a core contributor stops contributing, unvested tokens return to treasury.

Compensation

Core contributors get 80% stables, 20% tokens (vested). The token portion vests - no dump pressure from payroll.

Long-term goal: build revenue (subscriptions, trading fees) to sustain compensation. If revenue covers costs, keep paying in stables. If it falls short, adapt - higher token mix or reduced scope.

Who's involved

Two groups: people who use the product (and pay), people who contribute to the product (and earn).

I want a clear path for contributors to grow with the project:

  • Bug fix or quality issue → small immediate bounty
  • Feature PR → bounty + small allocation, short vest
  • Multi-week project → larger allocation, longer vest
  • Ongoing contributor → regular allocation, 1-year vest
  • Core → compensation + largest allocation, longest vest

No DAO theater. Do work, get paid. Do more work over time, earn more.

Retroactive Rewards

There is short list of up to 50 people with early contributions to herocast. Everyone who wrote code, provided feedback, designed UX flows or sold herocast to companies should get rewarded.

Early users get a small airdrop, filtered by real usage - who actually casted from herocast, scheduled casts, etc. 1,600+ registered users, most won't qualify. Reward actual users, not farmers.

Revenue

Revenue flows into treasury to fund ongoing work:

  • Trading fees
  • Subscription revenue

Treasury → Work

Treasury funds product development:

  • Product development (primary focus)
  • Project-based hires (design, UX, engineering)
  • Bounties for contributors
  • Contingency reserves

Focus is shipping product and talking to users. I don’t want to waste time on financial engineering or DAO structure.

Utility

The token should be useful inside the product, not just speculation:

  • Users can hold tokens for power user features
  • Llamapay streaming for subscriptions
  • Pre-fund annual access (20% discount)

Help me improve this early draft

  • What's missing? What should be dropped?
  • Forward this to people who I should talk

FC → hellno.eth
mail → hellnomail@proton.me
call → https://cal.com/hellno/herocast-chat