Today I’m speaking with Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana, to trace his journey from a childhood in the Soviet Union to building one of the largest blockchain networks in the world. They discuss his years at Qualcomm, the eureka moment that led to Solana, surviving the FTX collapse, and how he uses AI to run multiple side projects. The conversation closes with reflections on stress, risk, parenting, and his definition of success.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Trailer
00:01:06 Intro
00:01:17 Growing up in the Soviet Union
00:04:02 Immigrating to the United States
00:07:34 Career dreams and studying computer science
00:09:47 First startup and early lessons
00:11:19 13 years at Qualcomm
00:22:32 Meeting Raj and founding Solana
00:26:44 Fundraising and early investors
00:28:41 Surviving the FTX collapse
00:40:19 Solana's mission and impact
00:43:54 Using AI to run side projects
00:49:39 Hardest decisions as a leader
00:52:51 Outlook on crypto and Solana's future
00:59:22 Twitter, being public, and politics
01:05:52 Beliefs on human nature and life philosophy
01:09:34 Outro
Links:
Anatoly Yakovenko
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solanafounder/?hl=en
X: https://x.com/toly?lang=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatoly-yakovenko
Luba Yudasina
Instagram: Luba Yudasina (@lifeoflubaa) • Instagram photos and videos
X: luba yudasina (@LubaYudasina) / X
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal
