Engineer · Builder · Connector · Ecosystem Architect
Tell me what you're building. I'll bring the right people to the table — including myself — to build, grow, and ship.
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About
For too long, middlemen have extracted from artists — their revenue, their data, their audiences. I build the infrastructure that gives it back.
I'm Zaal — electrical engineer turned ecosystem architect, based in Maine. BS Electrical Engineering from RIT (2022). Led a $1.5M robotics project at PCC Structurals. Building automation work at The Jackson Laboratory. Founder of The ZAO.
I also connect builders, artists, and communities with the right people to make things happen. Whether you need infrastructure built or the right introduction made — that's what I do.
Receipts, not vanity. Every number below ties to a public source you can verify.
Home patrol started here
Rank earned
Led automation project, 7x throughput. Entered Web3 in the bear market. Started ZTalent Agency.
Pivoted from ZTalent Agency to the ZAO (ZTalent Artist Organization) — creator infrastructure for independent artists
Two ZAO festivals. ZAO-Chella hosted the first IRL WaveWarZ battle + ZAO HOUSE residency
First BCZ YapZ episode with Deepa (GrantOrb) drops Aug 22. Back to Maine; new home mountain.
Won the Snap category at FarHack 2026 with Zlank ($1,000). Fractal governance hits week 100 (May). ZABAL Games June-Aug. Riverside Group + FarmDrop client builds. ZAOstock planned for October.
Portfolio
Curated current work up top. Full project list (everything I am running, advising, or have shipped) lives in the dropdown below.
Tier 1 - Front Line
The umbrella org I founded. Impact community bringing ownership back to independent artists. 250+ participants, 100+ governance meetings, MIT licensed.
FounderOnchain artist prediction markets on Solana. 7.8 SOL paid out to artists - instant + automatic settlement. Artists battle, fans trade.
Long-form interviews with builders, artists, and operators across the ZAO + Farcaster ecosystem. Episodes, transcripts, RSS.
A ZAO festival in early planning. Telegram-first ops; public site coming.
Pre-publicTier 2 - Also Building
Daily Twitch streaming with a co-host - crypto education for an audience already comfortable with internet money. Interviews + onboarding.
In flightLocal project management + builds for Maine clients. Cameron / Riverside Group construction PM, FarmDrop, hospitality websites.
Client workBS Electrical Engineering (RIT 2022). Led a $1.5M robotics project at PCC Structurals. Building automation work at The Jackson Laboratory.
No-code Farcaster Snap builder. Stack blocks, hit Deploy, share to feed. Won the Snap category at FarHack 2026 ($1,000 prize). Open source.
FarHack winnerThe umbrella org. Impact community bringing ownership back to independent artists. 1,000+ participants, 90+ governance meetings, MIT licensed.
Farcaster social client for music communities. Encrypted messaging, 9-platform music player, governance tools.
Farcaster Vibe-Coding Challenge - Season 1. June prep / July ship / August finals. Open build-a-thon onboarding builders into ZAO.
IRL events at crypto conferences. ZAO-Palooza (NYC), ZAO-Chella (Miami). 22 artists across 2 festivals.
Weekly podcast on the Ethereum ecosystem. Three seasons as Let's Talk About Web3 first.
400+ editions of build-in-public documentation across the ZAO ecosystem.
Every brand in the ZABAL umbrella — what it is, status, audience, monetization, and exactly how to sponsor, collab, customer, or contribute. 25 brands, 8 categories, machine-readable JSON.
Every brand, site, social, repo, and contract across the ZAO ecosystem in one place.
On-chain bounty submission tracker for ZABAL clipping + content bounties. Pulls from POIDH contracts directly.
Eagle Scout (2016). National Ski Patroller (2014-present): Blue Hills MA, Mt Hood OR, Hermon Mountain ME.
Farcaster music mini app. AI music generation, Audius discovery, Zora NFT minting on Base, attention markets on Solana.
Concert promotion + virtual venue community in the ZAO ecosystem.
Testimonials
Zaal helped build and scale WaveWarZ to over $60k+ in volume with a completely new music model, over 1.2k followers on X in a few months, and organized and hosted our first in real life WaveWarZ battle. Without Zaal WaveWarZ would not be dominating Web 3 Music the way it is now. This is your GUY.
I have been connecting with Zaal since 2022 and he has been creating spaces for communications where to coordinate which has helped me to share my journey at the same time I learn from others, which has created positive weekly bridges where to align and give and receive information and opportunities.
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Contact
Two ways to reach me. Farcaster DMs are fastest. Email for anything that needs a paper trail - drop a Calendly link in the form if you want to book a call and I'll grab a slot.
Cast at me, DM me, or tag me on /zao.
@bettercallzaalzaalp99@gmail.com - personal + Maine work.
info@thezao.com - ZAO ecosystem inquiries.
I'll be in touch soon.