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Friends With Builders is our R&D engine for the cultural internet—where emerging technology becomes intuitive, durable, and meaningful in people’s lives. Partners help shape not just what gets built, but how it’s built and why it matters. Join here.
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Friends With Builders is a quarterly cohort program from Friends With Benefits, designed to support creative technologists building novel applications at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and emerging tools. These are not just technically novel projects—they are tools that feel intuitive, solve real problems, and are built with long-term cultural relevance in mind.
We focus on backing a new archetype of builder: individuals who combine engineering rigor with cultural fluency. They prototype tools that prioritize usability, trust, and resonance. Partners help shape this work by providing infrastructure, mentorship, insight, or capital.
Friends With Benefits is a 5,500+ member global DAO bringing together technologists, artists, and founders obsessed with the converge of culture and emerging tech.
We produce creative campaigns, and experimental programs—including FWB FEST, our flagship music + technology festival.
The Problem
The tools are here. The challenge is making them matter.
Most programs optimize for execution—shipping fast, scaling early—but too often, the result is software that misses the mark with users, culture, or real-world context. It also only speaks to a certain type of developer, missing a class of creators that need a little extra time to dream & build.
Our Thesis
We believe real progress happens when builders focus not just on how to build, but why.
The best tools aren’t just technically sound—they’re rooted in context, shaped by intention, and built by people who understand the systems they’re contributing to.
FWBuilders exists to support this kind of builder: a hybrid of developer, designer, and cultural thinker. Often described as creative technologists, they bring together engineering skill, design literacy, and cultural fluency to build tools that resonate.
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🧪 This is the Alpha cohort**.**
Before our full Q4 launch, we’re running a six-week pilot to test, learn, and build in real time. It’s intentionally smaller, faster, and more flexible, with 50 hand-picked participants and a limited number of partners.
As an early partner, this is your chance to shape the foundation:
Each cohort follows a structured, three-phase arc:
1. Frame (Weeks 1–2)