Great article, but I'd like to write a few words in support of the frustrated developers.
How could you know that in 2023-2024 I received grants from Optimism, Base Summer, Arbitrum, and other ecosystems?
Back in 2023, it was enough to create analytical tools to make decent money from it and continue developing further. But in 2024, I realized that every chain now needs on-chain metrics, volumes, and revenue for the chain itself to get any money at all.
For example, my team and I created FrameMaker when Frames first appeared on Farcaster. Our tool allowed anyone to create any Frames for free. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to attract the first users at all, because Farcaster in its early stages didn't have a critical mass of liquid audience (IMHO).
In the end, we participated in programs from Syndicate, Base Summer, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
Over a few months, we received grants totaling $6-7k. The least we got was from Base Summer. For Optimism, I even had to write an appeal explaining why the product fits the criteria and deserves at least the minimum reward.
I spent half a year on this product, and that money was only enough to cover development and the designer's work.
I saw the potential for growth and understood how we could monetize what we were building. But we received absolutely no support from Farcaster, Base, or OP. I can't separate these three "brands" because they are interconnected technically, financially, and through team members.
In short, I'd like you to see an example not just of those who are simply trying to milk money from the Base community through their products, but also to hear the story of those of us who wanted to improve the user experience by investing our own funds - only to find out the ecosystem didn't actually need it.
Though, if it really wasn't needed, they wouldn't have given us any grants at all.