GM Neonauts!

October wasn’t exactly Uptober, but it was definitely one for the record.

Solana took over Wall Street (and yes, we had to check out the Internet Capital Popup with our own eyes), while Neon kept making moves across the ecosystem.

Let’s rewind - starting with the big one.

💥 A New CEO for Neon Labs

We’re really excited to welcome Ivan Bjelajac as the new CEO of Neon Labs, a strategic partner of Neon EVM.

Engineer turned serial entrepreneur - six exits, 20+ years in tech, and over a decade building Web3 infrastructure from the ground up. Ivan now joins to lead Neon into its next chapter, accelerating dev adoption on Solana and exploring new ways for Ethereum assets to thrive here.

• Read the full announcement
• Listen to the AMA recording

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⚒️ Product

New month, new guides for builders:

• Technical Writing with AI: Core Principles -Everyone’s using AI, but when it comes to doing it right, most articles stop at “prompt better.” This one goes further: a complete, hands-on workflow for using LLMs effectively. From builders, for builders.
• The New Generation of Web3 Frontend Frameworks - The default stacks for building Ethereum and Solana dApps are evolving: viem for Ethereum and gill for Solana. This piece breaks down how these frameworks differ — and what that means for frontend devs building across ecosystems.
• Vibe coding experiments - What happens if you try vibe coding a working UI for a smart contract? Our DevRel Jules Gallen went full builder mode, creating a front-end prototype for our Aave V3 Flashloan POC on Solana via Neon.

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🌍 Events

No warm-up needed - Ivan Bjelajac, CEO of Neon Labs, took part as a jury member at Superteam Balkans’ Buildstation Demo Day in Belgrade, marking the conclusion of the official prep track for Colosseum’s Cypherpunk Hackathon.

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🏎️ Builders & Community

Solana moves fast - maybe too fast. Staying up to date can be a full-time job, which is why we launched The Sol Street Journal, your new bi-weekly catch-up:

• Subscribe for free at Solstreetjournal.com
• Watch the first LIVE discussion - Soltober Roundup

The conversation kept rolling - check out this month’s panels and discussions:

• Next-gen DeFi liquidity models, featuring speakers from Bancor and Blocksense
• MEV: the Good, the Bad, and the BOT, featuring speakers from Solana Foundation and Alchemy
• How to Adapt Fast in Startup-Building Without Losing Focus, a Space from VerticalAI, featuring our DevRel Jules Gallen

The Neon Dev Playbook just leveled up - builders can now publish their own content and get it seen. Learn more here.

Creators talked about Neon - shoutout to Star Jessei and Fave for breaking down Neon in their latest videos.

And that was October at Neon. Before you go, have a (mean) crypto fortune cookie! 🥠

Thanks for reading through, see you next month.

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The Neon EVM Team,
‍Whatever you’re building, bring it to Solana.

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