Yehuda Katz had written a wonderful article on why he chose to start work on YARN. When did he first approach you, or did you approach him? While you’re at it, can we know the exact history of YARN?
I think Sebastian is way better equipped to answer this. However, we discussed this together with Yehuda on JavaScript Air ( javascriptair.com/episodes/2016-11-02-bonus ) so I recommend checking that out until he gets back to you.