Solo.io CEO reflects on hard lessons behind Billion-dollar journey

Idit Levine, founder and CEO of Solo.io, openly acknowledges that she kicked off the company with what she refers to as a “stupidly optimistic” mindset. Since 2017, the cloud connectivity startup has grown into a major player with products like Gloo Gateway and Gloo Mesh, earning a billion-dollar valuation after a $135 million funding round in 2021. But Levine is quick to point out that the road has been anything but smooth.

Speaking at KubeCon 2025, she recalled early mistakes that forced her to rethink how the business was structured. “I hired the wrong people in leadership. I didn’t understand what would fit the company I wanted to build,” she said, noting that she had to rebuild the organization piece by piece, beginning with sales. The experience, she admits, was humbling, yet it turned her into a stronger leader.

Much of the company’s early strategy revolved around open source projects, but Levine soon realized that enthusiasm from the community did not always translate into sustainable growth. “We thought we’d put out a good project and everyone would adopt it. Oh boy, was I wrong,” she said with a laugh. Instead, she learned that real success comes when customers pay to use a product and push it to evolve. “We learned enterprise through them,” she explained, pointing to how customer requests shaped Gloo into what it is today.

Her reflections also extend to the wider Kubernetes ecosystem, where she acknowledged the complexity of networking solutions and how Solo.io had to simplify its approach. Now, with AI rapidly entering the picture, Levine believes orchestration will play the same central role it once did in cloud networking.

For founders looking to replicate her trajectory, Levine offers simple advice: listen to customers, expect setbacks, and accept that hard work extends far beyond the technology. “It’s not what it looks like from the outside. You succeed, but the reality is full of mistakes and course corrections,” she said.