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I’m very excited about today’s edition, which has been weeks in the making:

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

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.

— Jack Kubinec