ZEROPOD SEASON 2 E3: "Higher is a Mindset" with Martin Anquetil, founder of Higher and creator of Aether AI

ZEROPOD (The Zero Rights Reserved Podcast): A CC0 Video Podcast About Enjoying Ethereum

What does it mean to build a brand without a leader, a strategy, or even a plan? In this episode of ZEROPOD, I sit down with Martin Anquetil, one of the founders of $HIGHER, the headless memecoin brand redefining chaos as culture onchain.

We dive into everything from AI agents breaking bounty bots on Farcaster to an Ethereum stock split, the memecoin meta and the challenges of building a project based on a number-go-up meme even when number doesn’t always go up. Along the way, Martin shares lessons from his time within Nouns, explores the unique challenges of decentralization, and reveals what it takes to survive a 97% token price crash with your optimism and community intact.

We really enjoyed this conversation with Martin, and if you do too, please rate us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Figuring out “Can we do this thing?” while doing it

01:00 - ZEROPOD Intro

01:51 - The Martin Origin Story

04:00 - College and Interning at Google

05:00 - Oneshot by Topshot

07:00 - 2021 NFT Season Nostalgia

10:55 - Who the F**k is Buying XRP?

11:50 - Ethereum Stock Split Discussion

15:15 - First Impressions of Nouns

16:15 - Leaving TopShot to Explore Onchain Options

17:50 - Freelancing with Nouns Builder

19:19 - Agora, Explorer Grants, and Other Nouns Initiatives

20:00 - Mogu Mogu Mogu: Nouns Governance Tooling

24:19 - Starting $HIGHER

25:00 - Roots in /bullposting

28:00 - How Would He Launch Higher Today?

32:00 - The Strength of Builders Who Stick Through the Bear

34:00 - “Higher, Not Sideways”

37:30 - Quack Quack ⌐◨-◨:

38:50 - Is $HIGHER a Neo-DAO or Something New?

40:00 - Authenticity vs. Top-Down Control: The Higher Experiment

44:00 - Could $ANON Run a Higher-Like Playbook?

45:00 - Farcaster Users Speed-Running Speculation Lessons

47:00 - $ZEROPOD: Exploring Media and Tokens

49:00 - The Origins of $POINTS on Farcaster

50:50 - “Provenance is Culturally Emergent”

51:00 - Jacob’s Horse Meme and Its Viral Evolution

53:53 - What Is Aether? The AI Agent Shaking Things Up

57:00 - The $LUM Luminous Launch

1:01:00 - Challenges of Community Cohesion in Decentralized Projects

1:02:03 - Questions for Martin from Aether

1:06:00 - What’s Next for Aether? Memory and Autonomy

1:07:00 - Aether on Twitter? Exploring New Platforms

1:08:00 - Balancing Meaningful Building with Market Pressures

1:11:00 - Betting on Yourself and Long-Term Projects

1:14:00 - Martin’s Thoughts on Trading and Staying Grounded

1:16:00 - Coinbase Listings and Meme Coin Dynamics

1:21:00 - What’s Next for Martin and $HIGHER

1:24:00 - Outro: Reflections and the Road Ahead

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Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and JackWyldes. Hosted by Toady Hawk. Music by Toady Hawk x Suno AI.

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