Solana's Philosophy: Fast Network Without Clock Synchronization

with @aeyakovenko @alive_eth @guywuolletjr @smc90

This all-new deep-dive, hallway-style chat features a16z crypto general partner Ali Yahya and deal team partner Guy Wuollet, in conversation with Solana co-founder and Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko --  who also worked at Qualcomm for over a decade, where he was a senior engineer and engineering manager among other things. 

The first half of the episode is a discussion/ debate blockchain architectures -- including of course Solana & Ethereum, the themes of monolithic vs. modular, et cetera -- but really is about what are the tradeoffs, and what should one optimize for (or not!), depending on what you’re building, and to make crypto happen at scale (now and in the future). 

The second half of the episode covers company-, community-, and ecosystem-building -- including discussing the nuances of leadership in open source; and wherefore messiahs/ prophets?! -- as well as touching on engineering hiring, devrel (developer relations), governance; the Solana phone, and some of the Solana backstory as well. 

What are the differences between hardware and software innovation? And how does innovation play out, in theory versus practice? These are the throughlines of this episode... 

For more on some of the topics discussed, see also: 

• a high-level overview of topics including VDFs, defined (with Joe Bonneau)
• resources on all things VDFs /verifiable delay functions on a16zcrypto.com, including:
• an introduction to verifiable delay functions (from a16z crypto research partner Joe Bonneau)
• our episode on AI & crypto (with Ali Yahya)
• our discussion on the evolution of programming languages & crypto (including Move's Sam Blackshear)

As a reminder: none of this should be taken as investment, legal, business, or tax advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information -- including a link to a list of our investments.