The post is saying that you don't need a cofounder for the subset of ventures that a very technical person can tackle alone. The types of ventures that YC funds are generally not plausible to tackle alone. There is no conflict between PG's ideas and this essay so long as you accept that there are ventures of differing scope, some need more than one founder and some don't, and YC generally invests in the latter.
Stop Looking for a Cofounder
51–60 of 159 posts
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#52I've always thought people desperately looking for cofounders on HN, or asking how to find them, are kind of goofy and lame. Has there ever been an even moderately successful company cofounded by strangers who met while slumming the internet for cofounders? It seems to me that PG almost certainly didn't mean people were better off starting companies with random strangers than they would be starting off alone. Looking…
agree, and I'll extend it to finding cofounders through hackathons too. It's a huge ask for both parties, especially since you'll be financially and mentally be in each other's pockets the whole time.
You don't do that to someone you've just met. That's akin to proposing after a one night hookup on Tinder.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#53Too many people who are new to entrepreneurship only see startups as their entry point. Part of this is media coverage, everyone is talking about funding mega rounds and the VC fueled entrepreneur world. I think many entrepreneurs are less interested in building Billion dollar companies and are more seeking freedom from suppressive corporate jobs. But when the only narrative you see is mega startups it starts to seem…
Do you know of any resources to learn about tech lifestyle businesses?
All of the "Startup" resources, like The Lean Startup, etc that aren't busy glorifying VCs or the SV model, are useful for these businesses.
The only difference between a "lifestyle" business and the "Silicon Valley" model is whether you are in control over your own destiny and focused on building a business, or whether you're selling out to people who want to increase your risk and their possible profits, with the expectation that you'll get a nice bonus in your acquihire.
In a way, YC and VCs have ruined startups, by making people think this SV model -- which is great for Facebook, google and yelp, but terrible for the billion other startups is the One True Way.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#54Too many people who are new to entrepreneurship only see startups as their entry point. Part of this is media coverage, everyone is talking about funding mega rounds and the VC fueled entrepreneur world. I think many entrepreneurs are less interested in building Billion dollar companies and are more seeking freedom from suppressive corporate jobs. But when the only narrative you see is mega startups it starts to seem…
Do you know of any resources to learn about tech lifestyle businesses?
The entrepreneur sub-reddit frequently has posts from guys who are starting or trying to start online lifestyle businesses. It's somewhat hit or miss. But if you check it every few days you can find some real gems. Some of the businesses really open your eyes to ways to make money online.
The narratives are much less about massively disruptive, world changing startups and much more about making a good living through mostly internet businesses.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#55I have been trying to bootstrap a one man software shop for the last 2 years and recently released v2 of the software. How I usually explain it to my "work" friends is that the highs are higher and the lows are lower while trying to do everything yourself.
I would have jumped at the opportunity of having a cofounder for that reason, but never found the right people interested.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#56The post is saying that you don't need a cofounder for the subset of ventures that a very technical person can tackle alone. The types of ventures that YC funds are generally not plausible to tackle alone. There is no conflict between PG's ideas and this essay so long as you accept that there are ventures of differing scope, some need more than one founder and some don't, and YC generally invests in the latter.
No serious venture is plausible to tackle alone. But every venture that YC has funded could be done with a single founder. There are other people in companies and they're called employees. You can get to demo day with one founder and employees.
How many YC companies have failed or split or reformed because the founders visions didn't align?
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#57I've always thought people desperately looking for cofounders on HN, or asking how to find them, are kind of goofy and lame. Has there ever been an even moderately successful company cofounded by strangers who met while slumming the internet for cofounders? It seems to me that PG almost certainly didn't mean people were better off starting companies with random strangers than they would be starting off alone. Looking…
how did you and your cofounder meet?
not the OP, but I met mine in grad school. We were working on different projects in a similar area. We really only decided to become cofounders after a year of graduating, because finishing one thesis and immediately hopping to another seemed like the fastest way to a burnout.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#58He's not wrong, but a lot of what he says is very dependent on self-discipline. Having a partner, in addition to all of the other perks, also gives you a point of accountability the forces prioritization and a real plan. It is entirely possible to start a business by yourself. People do it successfully every single day but there are a whole lot of complicated factors from financial, legal, technical and psychological…
Founding a startup with my spouse was very useful in a lot of ways, but unfortunately, despite enthusiasm my spouse lacked sufficient skills and experience, so unless your spouse has also been working at startups for a decade, it's not always ideal-- but you can count on loyalty there. Truth is, give me a cofounder who has been working for startups for 10 years and what you say makes sense. But co-founding with someo…
That's true.
It's not always going to be the same from an advice standpoint but at worst you will have the accountability factor from somebody who's equally vested.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#59Too many people who are new to entrepreneurship only see startups as their entry point. Part of this is media coverage, everyone is talking about funding mega rounds and the VC fueled entrepreneur world. I think many entrepreneurs are less interested in building Billion dollar companies and are more seeking freedom from suppressive corporate jobs. But when the only narrative you see is mega startups it starts to seem…
Do you know of any resources to learn about tech lifestyle businesses?
My advice is to just try stuff and see what sticks. The space of unexplored business models is much larger than what's covered in the typical self-help places.
Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder
#60PG context of a startup is a company that has the potential to make it into a leading stock market index. Anything else is considered a "life style" business and not within YC or most other VC's scope of interest for funding.
Uh, no. That's not what PG said, and if he ever used the term "lifestyle" he didn't mean it that way. Most companies YC funds do not have the potential to be on a stock market index, because they are features as much as products at that stage and often addressing smaller markets. They are still startups. YC and VC are very particular avenues for startups, but they are not what DEFINES a startup. YC and VC are the sil…
From Note #1, http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html :
"The biggest exits are the only ones that matter financially, and those are guaranteed in the sense that if a company becomes big enough, a market for its shares will inevitably arise. Since the remaining outcomes don't have a significant effect on returns, it's cool with us if the founders want to sell early for a small amount, or grow slowly and never sell (i.e. become a so-called lifestyle business), or even shut the company down."