Out of the frustration with AMQP I've started my own ZeroMQ project.
I doubt that Martin was the sole initiator of ZeroMQ project. I think that late Pieter Hintjens, the original author of AMQP, deserves some credit as well, at least out of respect[1][2].
As someone who only discovered Pieter by finding his last article posted on HN, and then subsequently learning a lot from reading many of his other articles on his website (different perspective on life, humility, consulting in tech outside of SV, presentations), here is his homepage for those who are curious: http://hintjens.com.
Regardless of whether you doubt it, it is an accurate claim. I remember following the development in real time, having used AMQP and ZeroMQ during 2007-2010.
I am not doubting that Pieter Hintjens deserves respect, but the ZeroMQ project was started by Martin. He wrote the vast majority of the code for the first two years, none of which was written by Pieter. Martin's company owned the copyright for the first 2 years, before it was purchased by Pieter's company. The only messages I see on the ZeroMQ mailing list from Pieter in those days are messages of congratulations and enthusiasm. I know Pieter and Martin worked together at iMatix, and that some of the ideas for ZeroMQ spun out of their mutual work with AMQP, but it is fair to say Martin started the ZeroMQ project.
I understand how Pieter presented things, but I think he did so with a revisionist viewpoint. I don't mean to disparage him or downplay the immense impact he had on the later success of ZeroMQ though.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeroMQ [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens
Disclaimer: I knew Pieter personally and met him several times at his home and at conferences.