Re:Building Together EP 268 — The Future of Building

Host: CEELOS (@CEELOSFIGG) · co-host Baked (@Bakedmetax) · Tue, 21 Jul 2026 · ~1h02m · 4 active voices

TL;DR

• A low-key, largely solo episode: CEELOS ran a long, unscripted meditation on what "building in Web3" looks like going forward, with Baked chiming in and a co-host handling the close.
• Central thesis: no sell-shaming. Your assets are yours; it's the project's job to build something that keeps buys and sells flowing, not to police who exits.
• CEELOS argued the space's biggest need is maturity — accepting that trading, opportunists, and shiny new chains are permanent features of the game, not bugs to whine about.
• A genuinely warm stretch on how Web3 acquaintances checked in on him through his father's death and a layoff when personal friends didn't.
• His long-view take: crypto becomes part of the future alongside the dollar and Web2, not a replacement — and the real prize is fusing Web3 IP into Web2 reach (games, merch, brands).
• Housekeeping and banter: a punishing 26,000-step Disneyland day, a Peter Parker (Spider-Man) appointment Thursday, and solo dolo's 26-mile marathon this Sunday.

Highlights

[02:09] Flying solo (again). CEELOS opened to no co-hosts in the room, cued the intro song, and set the day's topic — the future of building in Web3 — framing the whole thing as opinion, not alpha.

[07:38] The Disneyland report. Checking in, CEELOS detailed a 26,828-step day, a Space Mountain line that wrecked his back and hip, a 2 a.m. bedtime, a 5 a.m. alarm, and the emotional labor of chaperoning his newly-16-year-old daughter and her boyfriend without going full overbearing dad.

[12:23] The thesis begins. CEELOS opened the main topic by acknowledging the space has changed — builders have come and gone — but he's hopeful the right founders and community leaders are finally aligning to push things forward.

[19:35] Baked on sell-shaming. Fresh from a Jed and Liz space on the same subject, Baked added the one nuance he agreed with: sell freely, but if you loudly preach a piece as the best art one day, maybe don't dump it the next.

[23:28] "They're mine." CEELOS's core stance — nobody tells him what to do with assets he paid for. A project shouldn't obsess over who's selling; it should build something enticing enough that a listing gets scooped by someone who's been eyeing it.

[32:24 → 35:09] The relationships that showed up. The episode's most sincere turn: the people who checked on him when his father died and when he was laid off after ~20 years weren't his personal friends — they were people he'd met in Web3. Baked echoed the exact same experience.

[45:35] "I'm not a crypto guy." CEELOS reframed his whole participation — he buys crypto to buy JPEGs, likes owning the IP, and treats the endgame as fusing Web3 into Web2 (games, merch, brands) rather than crypto overtaking the dollar.

[52:34 → 54:03] Laurels vs. work. He made his sharpest observation without naming names: some five-year-old projects still coast on old clout while newer projects out-build them, and founders returning from long absences get high-fives partly because holders don't want to admit they were wrong.

[56:46] "Grow some nuts." The closing philosophy — accept your L's, own your decisions, stop letting emotion and FOMO run you — delivered with a self-aware search for a polite way to say it.

Topic timeline

Notable quotes

• "You don't make my money for me, you don't walk in my shoes just like I don't walk in yours. And this is part of building." — CEELOS [23:28]
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  0:38
• "If you get something and you post about it and you preach about it… don't turn around and sell it the next day, maybe. But definitely no cell shaming in this space." — Baked [19:35]
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  0:38
• "When my dad died, did my personal friends call me to check in on me? No, not a single one. The people in web 3 checked in on me." — CEELOS [33:52]
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  0:38
• "I'm not a crypto guy… I buy crypto to buy JPEGs." — CEELOS [45:35]
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  0:38
• "Crypto is going to be part of the future, not overtake it." — CEELOS (paraphrased from [49:04])
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  0:38
• "How do I say this politely? Grow some nuts." — CEELOS [56:46]
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  0:38

Who said what

• CEELOS (@CEELOSFIGG), host — Carried the entire episode: the thesis on maturity, anti-sell-shaming, the value of Web3 relationships, and the Web2/Web3 fusion argument. Also the burnt-out narrator of the Disneyland saga.
• Baked (@Bakedmetax), co-host — Joined mid-workday, reinforced the no-sell-shaming point via a Jed & Liz space, and seconded that Web3 people show up when your offline circle doesn't.
• solo dolo, speaker — Brief presence; the target of the Sunday marathon banter ("26 miles, baby") — he'll finish, just not first.
• Closing co-host (SLICK RIC, @richj530)^* — Handled the send-off: shout to the Builditron, support-the-spaces reminders, and the affectionate "as the late great CeeLo said, grow some nuts."

Worth a full listen

• [32:24 → 35:09] — The relationships stretch. The recap can flag it, but hearing CEELOS lay out the father's-death and layoff moments, and Baked quietly agreeing, is the emotional heart of the episode.
• [52:34 → 54:03] — The "laurels vs. work" run. His most pointed read on founder clout, comebacks, and holder ego lands better in his own cadence than in summary.
• [59:56 → 1:01:19] — The wrap and week ahead: Way Back Wednesday, Thursday's Spider-Man/AI-news day, Friday's People Over Pictures, Saturday's comic/magazine-cover Creation Corner, and Sunday collectibles.

* some voices are identified from context; those names are marked as likely.