Building on Solana was initially challenging, but developers willing to tackle those difficulties were able to create innovative solutions that attracted users.

The early struggles of Solana, including a small team and limited runway, ultimately helped in building a strong community and onboarding developers during tough times.

Our vision for Solana has remained remarkably consistent, which is surprising given the amount of uncertainty and luck involved in the startup journey.

During the FTX crisis, many believed Solana was dead, but the teams building on Solana were resilient and managed to keep their funds safe, allowing for continued development.

The platform's design reduced developer optionality, making it harder to code but ultimately lowering business risk, which contributed to the success of memecoins on Solana.

We attracted developers who were looking for new capacity and were willing to endure the challenges of building on Solana, which ultimately led to successful projects.

The launch of Binance Smart Chain led to many low-effort projects that crowded the market, but those unable to overcome the friction of building on Solana were filtered out, allowing for more capable developers to thrive.

The rise of digital currencies and improved hardware infrastructure are key factors that differentiate today's decentralized projects from those in the past.

Standards developed from hackathons should unblock products and address common concerns across different industries, enhancing overall utility. The number one priority is solving problems for the end user of the blockchain, followed by developers, validators, and internal engineers.