The Improbable Journey to Solara6: From Corporate Bankruptcy to Entrepreneurial Opportunity

By Boris Wexler
Co-Founder & CEO, Solara6

In September 2024, I found myself in a surreal situation: sitting in a Hudson Yards conference room, bidding against five massive corporations to buy back the business unit I had built. This is the story of how that moment came to be, and how it led to something even better - the creation of a new 50-person company in just three months.

The journey began in 2019 when I left my comfortable consulting role for what seemed like a straightforward opportunity: leading professional services at a promising startup called Moovweb. What followed was a five-year roller coaster through multiple acquisitions, a corporate bankruptcy, and ultimately, an unexpected shot at entrepreneurship.

Building Momentum

When I joined Moovweb in 2019, I found exactly what I'd been looking for: a stable yet ambitious company ready to scale. Our platform, initially called RDN (React Delivery Network), specialized in headless frontend web applications. While we could only support React applications on our proprietary ReactStoreFront framework at first, we were pushing boundaries and growing rapidly.

Despite the pandemic's challenges, we thrived. RDN evolved into XDN, expanding to support any headless frontend. Moovweb rebranded as Layer0, and my professional services team more than tripled in size. We were building something special, a best-in-class team delivering cutting-edge and lightning fast web solutions for prestigious customers.

The Acquisition and Aftermath

Our success caught attention. In September 2021, Limelight Networks, a public CDN company, acquired Layer0 to enter the web applications market. The deal included a potentially lucrative three-year earnout tied to stock performance. Initially, everything looked promising - Limelight's stock doubled from $3 to $6 in six months, exceeding our expectations.

Then came the turning point. Limelight acquired Edgecast, a similarly-sized CDN company, and rebranded as Edgio. What seemed like a strategic move revealed itself as a perfect storm: hidden customer attrition, underestimated network costs, and complex merger challenges. A buried accounting error forced earnings restatements, halting financial reporting for multiple quarters.

The decline was steep. Six rounds of layoffs in 2023 and early 2024 decimated morale. The stock price spiraled—from $6 to $3, to $1, to $0.25, to under $0.05. By September 2024, Edgio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and I was laid off along with dozens of colleagues.

A New Opportunity

That dark day held an unexpected opportunity. Hours after the layoff call, as I was saying goodbyes to my colleagues before my access would get cut off at the end of the day I received an unexpected text from the CEO that would change everything: "If you want to spin off your business, there may be a path—let's talk."

Over the next few days, I learned that the bankruptcy process included an auction in November. If I chose to, I could bid on my business unit. Our team, focused on composable commerce and performance optimization, had become peripheral to Edgio's security-centric strategy. There was a strong chance that the acquirer for the larger business would have no interest in retaining it and wouldn’t challenge our offer.

Energized by the possibility, I reached out to my closest colleagues - Rob Wakerly, Joe Krasko, and Howie Ross. Within three weeks, we had established a new company. Six weeks in, we had secured capital for a competitive bid. And ten weeks later, Howie and I were attending the auction in New York City.

The Bankruptcy Auction

The day felt like a scene from a movie. Howie and I sat in an oversized conference room overlooking the Hudson River, unable to communicate with other buyers. The 10 AM start time kept getting pushed back, half an hour at a time, for reasons unknown. By 8 PM, we finally began - six companies, five corporate giants and us.

The auction went quickly - Akamai secured two-thirds of the business without competition - contracts only, which meant virtually all employees were being let go. The remaining third went through a brief bidding war and was sold within 20 minutes. My bid wasn’t even considered. It seemed like the end of the journey.

As I prepared to leave for the airport, Edgio’s CEO introduced me to the Akamai team. They had heard of my bid but hadn’t realized they were acquiring development agency contracts alongside other assets. Their transition lead suggested meeting the next morning, so I canceled my flight, walked over in the middle of the night to an overpriced hotel, and hoped for a breakthrough.

The meeting went well. It seemed like there was a desire to let me take my business, prioritizing customer satisfaction over asset retention. I flew home optimistic, only to receive a disappointing text two days later: “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to make this work at this time.”

Finding Support in Our Customers

Meanwhile, Edgio employees were being notified of layoffs or temporary transition roles. My biggest fear was losing my team—without them, saving the business was impossible. But something remarkable happened in the following weeks. Our customers, aware of our efforts, began stepping forward one by one, expressing their preference to continue working with our team rather than exploring alternatives. In the midst of deep uncertainty, this show of faith became one of the most rewarding moments of my career.

By early December, we had something viable. The final piece fell into place when Akamai, rather than blocking our path, graciously proposed a partnership. They would support our independence while we could help service their retained customers.

As I reached out to my partners to share this unexpected yet hopeful outcome and informed the 50 or so employees who had been anxiously awaiting clarity on their future, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the journey that had gotten us to this point. 

Launching Solara6: The 40-Day Sprint

With surprising speed, our vision became reality. We had just 40 days to build everything needed to run a 50+ person company while maintaining seamless service for our customers. The challenge was immense, but after everything we'd been through, we were ready.

Solara6 emerged from this whirlwind - a testament to resilience, team loyalty, and customer relationships that transcend corporate boundaries. While the journey to get here was improbable, it has positioned us to build something truly special: a company founded on proven partnerships and shared success.

The real work is just beginning, but we're excited about the road ahead. We're taking the best of what we've built over the years and combining it with the agility and focus of a fresh start. If you're interested in following our journey or working with us, follow us on LinkedIn, visit solara6.com or feel free to reach out and connect with me.

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*This post was written in February 2025. Follow our journey as we build the next chapter in composable commerce, digital experience development, and web performance optimization.*