We surveyed 42 Solana founders. Here’s what they said.

Solana founders anonymously weigh in on other teams, VCs, and the alleged cabal

article-image

Solana and Adobe stock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


Lightspeed put together an anonymous survey and circulated it to Solana founders to get an honest peek into what they think of other ecosystems, VCs, startups and more.

The questions included a range of choices and a write-in slot that has been edited for grammar and clarity. 

The results from our 42-founder poll:

Founders also said:

None. If not solana, I wouldn’t be in crypto.”

Founders also said:

“Unfair to choose a single one”

Founders also said:

“Asia-based VCs who only ape in based off who the lead is”

Founders also said:

“I don’t know, either way, doesn’t really matter”

“Not a fan of this question, feels like it’s trying to provoke rather than inform”

“Exists, I am a part of it, but not “at the expense of non-cabal projects” because I invest a lot of time and money into “non-cabal projects” as well. It’s a two-way street — you give and you receive.”

“Does not exist and I am a part of it”

“There’s a network of personal relationships that have formed naturally during the early days and bear market. Folks who valued working together and helping solana over the years naturally have a tighter network now. Some of these people (individuals include folks from the OG solana labs team) have gone on to find a large voice and following. This is natural. Almost all of the surviving teams have also been funded by VCs and solana ventures money. Those are facts, but there’s no ill intent in my opinion. Solana Foundation is doing a great job at actively dispersing the resulting effects and supporting people throughout the wider ecosystem (see Superteam, etc). In my opinion, Toly specifically is doing a great job at shouting out builders without discrimination but rather based on 1) what they’re building being cool 2) earnestness”

Founders also said:

“Need much more blockspace ASAP. 5x demand + 2x price appreciation = need 10x bigger blocks to maintain the same cost for app builders!”

Founders also said:

“The one that does not accelerate”

Founders also said: 

“SocialFi, DeSci, and gaming are all equally terrible”

Founders also said:

“FTX was both the best in the early days and the worst lol.”


There’s a lot to dig into here, but there are a couple findings I found immediately interesting: Other founders don’t think highly of pump.fun, yet they think memecoins are mostly good for the ecosystem. And, Base and Sui appear to be by far the most alluring Solana competitors. 

As a journalist, it can be difficult to get founders to be candid with me on the record. This was a helpful exercise in learning what Solana founders really believe — at least in the aggregate.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (8).png

Research

Meta-aggregators like Titan and Kamino Swap improve price execution for users, making the Solana swapping landscape more competitive. Jupiter has incorporated meta-aggregation features into its latest routing engine to keep users on its front end (own the user, own the flow). At large, teams are treating swaps as a commoditized complement, offering incredibly cheap or free swaps to own the end-user and increase demand for high-margin product offerings (multi-product DeFi). On another note, the divergence in the concentration of aggregator volume between DEXs suggests increased specialization at the DEX layer by asset type.

article-image

Investors moved to safe assets like the US dollar and gold, but bonds faltered

article-image

The Amex offers up to 4% bitcoin back, but the deal is a bit ironic considering crypto’s goals

article-image

Short answer: Subnets are now cheaper to bootstrap than a Celestia rollup

article-image

Few things are more cypherpunk than keeping keys in your brain wallet

article-image

Many community banks and credit unions feel like they missed the fintech craze — and they don’t want to miss stablecoins

article-image

BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein noted that the firm had been looking into crypto since 2017