More resilient and user-controlled than the AWS: Colin Evran's vision for Filecoin

cointelegraph.com:

In the beginning of 2021, Filecoin was a relatively unknown decentralized peer-to-peer storage service with a total network capacity barely making a dent in the digital storage space. Less than two years later, the Filecoin team claimsthe blockchain has grown to eclipse 10% of the storage capacity of Amazon Web Service, the most popular vendor in the cloud infrastructure services market. This includes use of the storage — by well known blockchain firms such as OpenSea and Magic Eden — of some 239.03 terabytes of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) worth an estimated $26.6 billion as of early September.

NFT storage on Filecoin | Source: NFT.Storage

How did Filecoin become so successful;? And what motivates its developers to grow the ecosystem? Colin Evran, ecosystem lead at Protocol Labs, the creator of Filecoi says a big factor in his desire to join Filecoin was his disillusionment with how things operate in Web 2.0. 

"I fundamentally believe if you zoom out 40 years from now, the answer is not like AWS storing 100% of the world's data. I don't think that's good for society. I don't think that's what users really want," he said. 

Evran took some lateral steps in his path towards the blockchain sector. Having finished Ivey Business School at Western University in 2006, he first became an analyst for McKinsey before venturing into the field of private equity. Then he returned to the academic world to get his Masters from Stanford Business School and then for his Master's. 

Colin Evran of Filecoin | Source: Twitter 

After graduation, Evran founded a startup in the construction tech space called "Yard Club." Four years later the firm was sold to Caterpillar, the world's largest construction equipment designer. 

As told by Evan, the