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My Journey Through Basecamp 12

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My Journey Through Basecamp 12

It was mid-March. Samuel and I were filled with energy, adrenaline still pumping from finishing Sukura, a decentralized privacy mixer on Solana. You might be wondering: What is Sukura? What does it do? How was it built? That deserves its own post. But in short, Sukura is a zero-knowledge-powered privacy mixer for Solana.

Solana's transactions are public. Anyone can trace who sent what to whom. Sukura was our attempt to disrupt that transparency by introducing anonymity. It breaks the link between sender and recipient, giving users privacy. If you want to give it a spin, it’s live on Solana devnet: https://sukura.vercel.app

After finishing Sukura, we submitted it to the Solana Superteam Nigeria grant. We were hopeful. But our optimism was quickly extinguished. The rejection came in with the usual template: "We regret to inform you that your project is not currently a good fit for..." You know how those messages go.

Disappointed but not defeated, I began brainstorming my next project. One thing was certain, it had to involve ZK, but this time, not on Solana.

Discovering Starknet

One day, in a casual chat with Temi, he said something that stuck: "Why don’t you try Starknet?" He went on to explain how Starknet is extremely developer-friendly and backed by pioneers of ZK tech. That night, I slept on it. The next morning, the first thing I did was follow the Starknet and Starknet Foundation Twitter accounts. Not long after, I stumbled on a link to Basecamp 12.

I registered immediately.

On March 19, I got an email from Szutung:

Hello hello.

Thank you for joining Starknet Basecamp 12!...

Those in Basecamp 12 know how the rest of the email goes. At that point, I wasn’t paying much attention. My mind was still deep in studying ZK protocols.

The Spark of ZKApril

In late March, I started a study group called ZKApril for like-minded folks interested in learning about zero knowledge. The plan is to study ZK for the whole of April and grow together.

On April 3, I received a reminder email about Basecamp 12 starting that very day. I had prior plans, but I didn’t want to miss out entirely, so I joined the session and left my laptop running while I stepped out, hoping it would log my attendance. When I returned, the session was over, and I had missed a quiz, costing me 5 points.

Watching the recording the next day, I realized that there were requirements for graduation, and a stricter one for honors. At first, I didn’t care. I’ve never really been the "grades" type. But lying in bed that night, I couldn’t shake the thought: "You gotta do this right. Graduate with honors."

I started asking questions in Discord. Szutung, ever so kind and patient, explained that the lost points couldn’t be regained. But she encouraged me to stay sharp for future quizzes.

Getting into Cairo

That day, I started the Starklings Cairo exercise, and I was flying through them. Knowing Rust gave me a huge head start. Cairo felt familiar. Though some syntax differences annoyed me (like no support for casting using as and you always have to do .into), I was hooked.

By the next day, I had finished Starklings and found myself deeply interested in Cairo.

The Remaining Weekly Sessions in Basecamp 12

  • Thursday, May 10: Charlotte walked us through building a simple counter program in Cairo. It was basic, but foundational.
  • Thursday, May 17: David taught us how to test Cairo programs using snforge. This felt natural to me, thanks to my prior Foundry experience.
  • Thursday, May 24: Carlos introduced us to building frontends for our Cairo contracts. This session also marked the beginning of Odhack, a platform that helps developers contribute to open source efficiently and rewards them.

That night, I started applying for issues on OnlyDust.

In the days that followed, I found myself knee-deep in OnlyDust issues, contributing to projects across the stack: frontend, backend, and smart contracts. This hands-on work sharpened my skills, especially in Cairo. It gave me confidence. No more skill issue when tackling Cairo-related problems.

A Story That Inspired Me

Then came Thursday, May 1. Glihm, yes, the Glihm taught us how to build provable applications using Dojo.

What shocked me most was learning that two years ago he was a Basecamp student himself! Now here he was, teaching us, having built amazing things and contributing massively to the ecosystem.

That lit a fire in me. I reached out to Sir David, the developer advocate at Starknet Foundation and Basecamp lead. I asked him how Glihm made such incredible progress.

David, being the generous soul he is, set up a call with me. Our conversation was deep, enlightening, and incredibly motivating. His words stuck with me, the kind that doesn’t just hype you up, but reorients your path.

Honestly, I don’t know who’s nicer. Szutung or David. Both are gems.

The Outcomes of Basecamp 12

Here’s what I gained from this journey:

  1. 13 merged PRs on OnlyDust for Odhack 13
  2. Recognition as one of the most active students in Basecamp
  3. A strong working knowledge of Cairo and the Starknet ecosystem
  4. Building a real product that will launch on Starknet
  5. Mentorship and guidance from some of the best minds in the Starknet Foundation

These are huge wins. But if I had one regret, it’s this:

I didn’t make friends during the Basecamp.

In a program like this, connections are as valuable as knowledge. I missed out on that, and I won’t make that mistake again.

What’s Next?

Basecamp may be over, but the journey is far from done. Here’s what’s next for me:

  • Continue contributing to open source projects on Odhack
  • Finalize and submit our product to the Reignite Hackathon
  • Deepen my knowledge of Cairo and Starknet

This journey through Basecamp 12 has been transformative. From rejection to revival, from curiosity to contribution. I feel more ready than ever to build in public, help others, and shape the Starknet ecosystem.

To those coming after: lean in, stay curious, ask questions, build in the open, and don’t skip quizzes.

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