Ephemera

Ephemera helps build private and decentralized messaging.
We are the developers building @xmtp_ and @converseapp_

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

https://t.co/kH4mZ7f5Y3

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

Come build the future of onchain messaging with us 🚀

We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer (React Native App) who will play a critical role in designing, building, and optimizing our React Native iOS and Android mobile applications. 👀

[XMTP @xmtp_]

Since we began, our mission has never changed:
Build the world's largest & most secure, decentralized messaging network.

Today, with support from @CoinbaseWallet, @circle, @ensdomains, @Alchemy, @a16zcrypto, @masknetwork & @FactionVC we're launching the XMTP testnet.

1/7

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

We’re hiring a Staff Blockchain Protocol Engineer to design the economic models, token incentives, & system architecture to power a sustainable decentralized messaging network

We're offering $5k for any hired referral 💰
https://t.co/Yzk7hSyqMS

[XMTP @xmtp_]

"Imagine if the Internet was not open? We'd be stuck in AOL" 💽

The reality is that messaging platforms have never opened up, which is why we've seen so little innovation from the apps we use the most in our lives.

With XMTP, @converseapp_ & MessageKit... Messaging Is Now Open.

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

Calling all Data engineers! 📢
We need your skills for a quick and important project. Help us build our data pipelines and get paid while working with the team behind XMTP! 💻🚀
Send us a DM!

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

We’re excited to share that the Ephemera team participated in @Consensys Web3 Workforce study! The future is decentralization, the ability to own our communication is everything we are building towards.

[Consensys.eth @Consensys]

Consensys, together with global data research firm @YouGov, has conducted a first-of-its-kind workforce survey about the web3 industry that aims to learn more about the skills, motivations, and concerns of web3 professionals all around the world.

We’ve collaborated with 30 web3 organizations to help circulate the survey and better understand what drives web3 talent to work in our ecosystem.

📝 Here are a few of the interesting insights that were gathered:

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

Ephemera is excited to join the @metabasedorg community of 20+ organizations leading the development and decentralization of a truly community-owned Internet.

[Metabased @metabasedorg]

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Metabased, a growing community of 20+ organizations leading the development and decentralization of the next layer of Ethereum to build a truly community-owned internet.

https://t.co/zoHUQ7LNmS

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

✨Here is the latest link to jobs at Ephemera: https://t.co/Q9DjJxNrCL

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

We're open-sourcing everything at Ephemera to build trust and create the most secure developer ecosystem in the world. We’re hiring a cryptography-minded Rust engineer, a design-minded React Native engineer, and a blockchain-minded distributed systems engineer. Staff level and above. We operate like owners, and believe passion combined with grit, talent, and drive can change the world. If you are inspired by solving hard problems alongside the best in the space, join us https://t.co/e1mwc2vAIx.

[Shane Mac @ShaneMac]

We changed our entire company culture with this one decision...

Last month, I made an offer to everyone at our company: $25,000 to quit.

6 people took it.

Here's a story about how we paid 20% of our employees $25,000 to quit

But, why?

Because I fucked up. I'm sharing the story to be open about what happened, why I did it, and maybe it can be helpful to others going through a similar situation. We did this at a time when things are really starting to happen. We just passed 2m identities on XMTP, bought the biggest consumer app on top of the protocol, have raised $50m in total, and the world needs a decentralized and secure messaging protocol more than ever.

This happened because I changed the deal after people joined. I tried to lure people from Big Tech, promising a better place to work. A more sane startup. A startup more like your big tech job. I wasn't clear enough up front on the values and expectations that we needed to win. If anything, I oversold people on a culture that wasn’t the reality.

We had to change it, or we wouldn’t be here to take care of anyone in the future. We were on a road to failure—a long, slow, winding road. So…

- We rewrote our values and codified our culture. I needed to be way more clear on why to be here. Here's a specific update we made to our culture guide:

-- XMTP is built for everyone, so we can’t exclude anyone. We are here because we believe everyone in the world deserves a secure way to communicate - one that is free from control, surveillance or ownership by any single entity. For that to be possible, we cannot impose our ideologies or beliefs onto our global community. People work here because they believe in secure communication for everyone in the world. We focus on what unites us, rather than our differences. We champion causes directly aligned with our core goals and mission and steer clear of those that do not.

- We raised the hiring bar for skill, passion, and execution - radically focusing on the specific expertise needed to win.
- We sharpened our strategy to be even more ambitious and require more velocity.
We worked hard to be clear on our expectations going forward.

Radical Ownership
We also focused on the radical ownership needed within our team.

I shared this on the all-hands with our team to make sure I was very clear on what ownership looks like:

> If you're sitting here wondering what you should work on, this probably isn't the right company for you.

I knew it sounded harsh. But I needed people to hear the reality of what it takes to be successful here. Both as an individual and for our company. There are many great companies for people who want to develop in their careers and go slower with more guidance. We don't have the privilege to do that at this stage, and being unclear about this was causing pain to both the company and our team members.

I knew some people didn't sign up for this, and we needed a way to take care of the people who didn't want to be here anymore.

That’s why we offered everyone $25,000 to quit and our full support to move on.

It will get harder before it gets easier - conviction is required to be successful here.

Building the world's most secure and decentralized messaging network is a massive mission. Our mission matters, and you must care about it to work here. The work is too important to be just another stop in someone's career. Be here because you deeply care and give a shit, or don't be here.

This also must be a dream team, playing at a world-class level.

What Did We Do?
Our goal was to make people feel supported to move on if this is no longer the mission, company, or team that they want to be on. And take care of them if they decide to move on.

We offered $25,000 to anyone who wanted to leave and another $25,000 for each subsequent year of tenure.

We wanted people to feel supported to move on and ensure no one stays at the company who doesn't want to be here. We also wanted to be fair and generous to everyone.

What surprised me most were the messages I received from both the people who quit and the people who stayed. The people who quit sent me the nicest messages I'd ever received. The people who stayed were more fired up than ever.

The only regret I have is that I didn't do this sooner.

How We Quit Matters
I've always believed how people quit matters, both for the company and the employee. It doesn't have to be a bad situation, and when it's done with respect and honesty, you end up with champions who want to support you and lifelong friendships that transcend any company.

I'm grateful for the work and courage of everyone who decided to accept the offer. I hope that each one of them finds their dream job next. I'll always be here for anything. I'm sorry for getting to this point. This was my fault.

A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
For everyone staying... we have the opportunity of a lifetime and one of the most difficult yet rewarding challenges ahead of us. This can be the place that defines your entire career. That’s why to be here. That's why I'm here.

We are more focused than ever. We just raised another $25m in capital, $50m total. We know what we do and what we don't do. We are a team working on the world's most challenging, ambitious, and technical problems.

Our mission is simple: To create an open and secure messaging network that will last forever.

- That exists for all of humanity.
- That is decentralized.
- That is private and secure.

The world needs an open, secure, and decentralized communication platform. One that everyone can trust to build on and use. We need to make using crypto as easy as sending a message.

If you want to work alongside people doing the best work of their careers, this team could be for you.

The “Mature Startup” Fallacy
I used to say we were building a "mature startup," but my definition of what that means has changed over the past couple of years:

Building a "mature startup" is probably more about having people who are aware of how hard it is to build a startup and the sacrifice it takes to win versus the idea that a startup should be more sane or similar to a regular corporate job. Only do a startup because you deeply care about the problem. And you want to win.

Let's win and build a team that can win.

We are always looking to build our bench of phenomenal talent, so check out our job openings or tell us why you are the right person for this challenge.
- Check out our job site and apply: Ephemera | Careers https://t.co/Ci5r1JO7JJ
- DM me and say hi!
- Or message me on Converse, I’d love to hear from you: https://t.co/k8jvcf4JQp

Here's the original post: https://t.co/NwIxLlOTVy

[Shane Mac @ShaneMac]

Wanna see a sneak peek of ideas we are working on for the #AllNewConverse? @converseapp_

@Polymarket with close friends, mint anything in the chat on protocols like @zora, tip anyone with any token like @degentokenbase, #USDC to anyone, anywhere.

So much more #secure #onchain

[NPlasterer @NaomiPlasterer]

Big day for Ephemera, XMTP, and Converse!

Mint Open Source Everything https://t.co/is9l9vrzpT

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

Welcome to the Ephemera Fam @converseapp_ let's make crypto as easy as sending a message 💌

[Shane Mac @ShaneMac]

Big day here...

Ephemera has acquired @converseapp_, and as of 9 am EST, we open-sourced it.

Converse is the simplest and fastest app built on XMTP. The Converse team has been building with XMTP since day one, and with the ability to reach over 2m+ identities on XMTP, we are excited to put more resources into building a better future together.

We need to make using crypto as easy as sending a message. We have already started implementing secure groups into Converse and we have so much more work to do so everyone in the world has a secure messaging application that is native to crypto.

Everything starts with trust.

The world needs an open, secure, and decentralized communication platform. One that everyone can trust to build on and use.

That’s why we are open-sourcing the application layer, which is also built on the open & secure XMTP network.

Let’s talk about why we believe in open-sourcing everything. Converse and XMTP.

We are building the most open and secure developer platform in the world—one that all developers can trust to build on, unlike the centralized platforms of the past, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Zynga, etc.

I spent the past 15 years of my career building on top of the Big Tech platforms. This means I spent the last 15 years of my career getting the rules changed, promises broken, and ultimately getting my businesses killed or forced to sell because I built on top of centralized platforms.

To protect global communication, we must create a more open and secure communication layer for the internet. We cannot risk building on top of protocols owned by a single company or, in some cases, a single person.

We deserve a messaging network that is more aligned with the entire crypto community and our core values of openness, security, and decentralization.

This isn’t a move about acquiring Converse; it’s about building trust with the best developers in the world and aligning XMTP with the values of the entire crypto community.

It’s a move that makes the application layer as open as the protocol layer. Developers don’t just build on protocols; they build on apps, too. Building on closed-source apps is like playing a game without knowing the rules.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here’s our not-so-secret plan for the next decade which has been the same since day one:

1. Build the most open, secure, and decentralized messaging protocol in the world (v3 upgrade to XMTP brought world-class privacy and security to our protocol)

2. Build amazing and secure messaging applications that are native to crypto - Converse will push the limits to show what’s possible and be open so all developers can benefit from it

3. Open source everything to create the most trusted developer ecosystem in the world

Join us, and let’s build:

We are working hard on an #AllNewConverse and we will be letting people in on an invite only basis starting today!.

This will include secure group messaging and on-chain native functionality.

If you want to try it, shoot me a DM on XMTP @ https://t.co/k8jvcf4c0R
Collect this post to jump ahead in the invite line

To build with us, check out the Converse or XMTP open-sourced repos below:
https://t.co/3c0JoqHGYC
https://t.co/Djav3EBDvl

[XMTP @xmtp_]

XMTP now has 2 million active identities! 💥

Building a secure messaging protocol and community of vibrant developers is just the beginning.

Dive in and build with us! @CoinbaseWallet @unstoppableweb @ensdomains @LensProtocol @farcaster_xyz

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

Great choice 😎

[Bello 🍄 @bellosights]

Introducing Blueprint mentor @ShaneMac!

His work building @EphemeraHQ and the @xmtp_ protocol are complimentary to our values of owning your audience, content, and distribution.

We're doubling down on teaching creators how to reach their web3 audience and XMTP is core to that.

[XMTP @xmtp_]

2M and counting 🚀

[XMTP @xmtp_]

Core dev @richardhua describes the authentication properties MLS enables for XMTP:
🤝 Works with EOAs and @farcaster_xyz, @ensdomains, @coinbasewallet, @LensProtocol, and @unstoppableweb names
📲 Works across XMTP apps
⚡️ Allows support for multi-wallet IDs and SCWs - coming soon

[Ephemera @EphemeraHQ]

We had an amazing time meeting builders & partners @EthCC! 🇧🇪🌍 Some key insights:
- EVM builders want better distro channels. What's missing?
- Better UX & AA are crucial to success. What's your plan?
- No game-changing crypto apps, yet. What's a 🚀use case?
Until next year! 🫡

[Shane Mac @ShaneMac]

I love watching our team create our culture.

Inspired by @molly_g’s “Give Away Your Legos” - it’s amazing to see our team give away our legos to AI.

It’s actually the sign of a more productive and aware team member.