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Stop Looking for a Cofounder

dontscale.com

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Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#61

Post by MCRed »

jcrubino wrote: post #43
MCRed wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

True, I am not trying to provide the exact definitions for what qualifies as a PG or YC startup per se. But I believe you can quote PG as saying the "ideal exit" for any startup YC incubates is a public offering. Additionally the idea of "lifestyle" startups is well known in SV and the concept is also well known to be frowned upon by the VC's who make the most noise who are looking for a big exit one way or the other…

> Additionally the idea of "lifestyle" startups is well known in SV and the concept is also well known to be frowned upon by the VC's

You're confusing hacker news with "silicon valley". That's a mistake. And VCs are irrelevant, really, in this age of angels. Thank god they are going away, though of course they don't realize it yet.

VCs are the enemy. If you want to have a successful company, never deal with them, except at the very latest stages where you give them a bond like return in exchange for them getting to claim they invested in your company.

Angels are generally your friend, though.

Your thinking will be better off if you just don't think of the term "lifestyle" business. It's a pejorative used to manipulate you into wasting your life in service to someone else's narrative.

I'm not some kid with a keyboard- I've spent nearly 30 years in the trenches dealing with VCs and helping startups.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#62

Post by MCRed »

latishsehgal wrote: post #55

I 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.

You're making a good point- you never found the right person.

Alas, PG's essay has come to be takend as "you must have a cofounder or you aren't serious" with little attention paid to finding the right person.

The right person is damn hard to find.

And when "not having a co founder means nobody believed in you" (the converse of what he actually said) then any co founder becomes the right cofounder.

This is the problem with HN, and even YC to a lesser extent-it's become cargo cultism based on PGs essays, propagated by people who have little to no experience in Startups.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#63

Post by rcarrigan87 »

MCRed wrote: post #53
jchendy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

There is truly a place for VCs and yes some businesses definitely need that kind of funding. But right now it seems VC is so available things are getting funded that will never be able to hit that 10x mark.

So businesses that could have been great bootstrap businesses will grow too fast with too high a burn rate and flame out at a series A or B crunch.

Meanwhile, if the business could have taken it slower they could have built something really valuable for themselves.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#64

Post by MCRed »

T-A wrote: post #60
MCRed wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. b…

"only ones that matter financially"

Who are you serving? Investors or yourself? The SV model is that this is all that matters but a 50M business is still a damn good business and not a "lifestyle" business.

Also, read the rest of the quite-- lifestyle business was only one of the options.

It's quite possible to build a fast growing business that you never sell, that's not a "lifestyle" business.

The either/or dichotomy is disproven by your quote.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#66

Post by latishsehgal »

MCRed wrote: post #62
latishsehgal wrote: post #55

I 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.

You're making a good point- you never found the right person. Alas, PG's essay has come to be takend as "you must have a cofounder or you aren't serious" with little attention paid to finding the right person. The right person is damn hard to find. And when "not having a co founder means nobody believed in you" (the converse of what he actually said) then any co founder becomes the right cofounder. This is the proble…

I am guessing his intentions were "You must have a cofounder to have better odds of surviving"?. I always use the marriage analogy for finding a cofounder. I love being married and would recommend it to other folks if they find the right person, but wouldn't recommend it just for the heck of it.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#67

Post by jlarocco »

bengali3 wrote: post #37
jlarocco wrote: post #31

I'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?

If I were starting a company, I would do it by myself or possibly with some friends. I'm very weary of the VC based startup bubble and don't have much interest in starting a company.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#68

Post by BerislavLopac »

jchendy wrote: post #48
rcarrigan87 wrote: post #22

Too 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?

I strongly recommend patio11's blog, http://www.kalzumeus.com/blog/ -- he's always been a proponent of that approach.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#69

Post by dontscale »

brightball wrote: post #41

He'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…

This is really insightful. The psychological factor you mention bears the most weight in terms of getting started. So, people should change the way they think about starting. Building an app by yourself isn't cap intensive like building a railroad. The beauty is: you're not even going to waste time if you give up since you gain wisdom that carries over onto future projects. +1 for the knowledge worker. Open source developers work in peace and reap those rewards because they don't self-impose the same psychological barriers.

Re: Stop Looking for a Cofounder

#70

Post by afarrell »

rcarrigan87 wrote: post #63
MCRed wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

There is truly a place for VCs and yes some businesses definitely need that kind of funding. But right now it seems VC is so available things are getting funded that will never be able to hit that 10x mark. So businesses that could have been great bootstrap businesses will grow too fast with too high a burn rate and flame out at a series A or B crunch. Meanwhile, if the business could have taken it slower they could…

This is a way that fixing income inequality would help certain entrepreneurs. If more money can come from customers (poor/middle class/small business) rather than investors, then early revenue will be more attainable than early fundraising.

Decentralizing economic power would shift our economy away from capital-intensive moonshots and toward consumer products though.

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