Mindset Lessons from Solana’s Raj Gokal: Grit, Co-Founders, and Scaling Culture

“If it takes me 100 companies until I’m 90 years old, I will start the next company.”

That’s not bravado. That’s the quiet resolve of Raj Gokal — co-founder of Solana — whose journey through failure, founder breakups, and brutal market cycles forged one of the fastest-growing blockchain platforms on earth.

In a revealing interview on Silicon Valley Girl, Gokal lays bare the mindset shifts and founder philosophies that helped him go from nine false starts to co-building a decentralized ecosystem used by Visa, Stripe, and thousands of developers around the world.

For wantrepreneurs and early-stage founders, Gokal’s story is more than a case study in perseverance — it’s a framework for playing the long game when the world seems to be collapsing around you.

1. “I Decided I Would Just Keep Starting Until Something Worked”

Before Solana, Gokal spent a year launching nine different startups in health tech. None stuck. But the relentless experimentation wasn’t failure — it was filtering.

“I probably worked with 30 different people. Got into co-founder negotiations. A few times I thought, I can’t do this for 10 years with this person.”

He didn’t chase the “perfect idea.” Instead, he optimized for founder fit and long-term potential. The most powerful filter? Would I want to keep showing up for the next decade with this team?

2. Bet on the Best People First, Then the Idea

When Gokal met Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko — a former Qualcomm engineer obsessed with blockchain scalability — he wasn’t immediately sold on the mission.

But the conviction was unmistakable.

“Anatoly couldn’t stop thinking about it. I said, I’ll give him six months. I’ll help him hire the right people, raise money, get it off the ground.”

That six-month commitment turned into six years — and counting.

3. Crypto as a Career Roller Coaster (and Why That’s the Point)

Gokal admits that crypto isn’t for the faint of heart. “Solana is dead” has trended on social media more than once.

“Thousands of people were saying it should’ve died. But that level of attention — it’s energy. I tell myself, this is why I got into it. I love the highs and lows.”

If you’re building anything transformative, he argues, expect volatility. If no one’s talking about you — that’s the real danger.

4. Your First 10 Hires Write the DNA of Your Future

For Solana Labs, Gokal didn’t just hire engineers — he architected an organism.

“Your first 10 people hire the next 10. They each hire 10 more. You’re designing the DNA of the 1,000-person company from day one.”

The lesson: Hire slowly. Be brutally honest about whether you’d follow this person into a 10-year storm.

5. When In Doubt, Focus on Builders Not Comments

Despite market crashes, blockchain skepticism, and Solana getting dragged through crypto Twitter more times than he can count, Gokal’s focus has sharpened with time.

“Most of the builders in the Solana ecosystem are grittier than I am. They keep me going.”

Founders — take note: Community isn’t just customers. It’s your psychological support system. Invest in the people building alongside you.

6. Think Infrastructure, Not Hype

Gokal and Yakovenko didn’t build Solana to chase hype coins or NFT fads. They built infrastructure — a blockchain with speed and scalability that could rival centralized systems.

“We didn’t know what the killer app would be. We just knew it had to scale from 30,000 users to 3 million to 3 billion — fast.”

Whether you’re building a tech product or a coaching business, the insight applies: Build for long-term utility, not short-term buzz.

7. You Only Lose If You Quit

Every founder hits that wall. Gokal admits: “I wanted to quit all the time.” But he kept moving — not by willpower, but by choosing the right people to weather the storm with.

“Even if the whole world collapses, would I be happy just to show up and build with this team? If yes, I can make it another day.”

Sometimes grit isn’t about grinding harder. It’s about finding the team that makes staying the default.

🔑 Key Takeaways for Founders

• Optimize for founder fit, not idea sexiness. You can pivot a product. You can’t fix a toxic co-founder.
• Think like an investor: is this a 10-year bet you’d fund with your life?
• Design your first 10 hires like a geneticist — they determine the future culture.
• Your resilience lives in your ecosystem. Build with builders.
• Ignore the noise. Focus on the people who care enough to build.