Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#91

Post by fabricexpert » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

kowdermeister wrote: post #89

sonnyblarney wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes, VAT, compliance are mundane. Marketing/Selling, and building the right thing ... this is the hard part. If you can do the later, most of the ops becomes ... just ops. It's just work. It can be done.

So what do you suggest if the ops thing freaks me out to the extent of stress? I'd be happy to take on a cofounder to handle that.

Ops isn't a problem until you're successful, the taxman won't come after you if you have 10k in revenue, customers won't complain if you haven't sold things to them. It really isn't something to worry about now, at all. Get stressed over not getting any sales, that's what should be freaking you out.

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#92

Post by ljf » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

ChefboyOG wrote: post #81

warent wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this except switch the order. First, start selling. Then start building. It is so easy to waste so much time building something nobody wants, and you won't know until it's too late if you try to sell it afterward. Selling first will inform your decisions on what to build.

This is completely rational and works well for some people, but speaking from experience, there is another side to this coin. If you are the sort of person who enjoys the making side of things, and aren't naturally gifted at selling, this can be a trap. I've seen so many solo founders try to validate a product by selling before building, only to get talked into different features and use cases until they're stuck bui…

If you can't sell - should you really attempt to be a solo founder? If you aren't strong enough to 'own the feature-set' and work with potential clients now, will you be the right person to run the company later?

This is a provocation/question - not a statement of fact btw!

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#93

Post by pthreads » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

Other commentators have touched upon topics like building, selling, networking etc.. So I won't repeat those.

My advice is to first and foremost firewall your personal assets. It will save you a ton of regret and headache later if things go wrong.

- If you are in the US then start by forming an LLC (or Delaware C corp if you have the funds) with a separate bank account.

- If you are in the services business then get business insurance (quite affordable actually).

- Buy domain names. Also set up a time line for when you may want to register a trademark if that applies in your case.

- Create all necessary document templates ahead of time, for e.g. NDA, contracts, IP assignment etc. depending on what is applicable in your case.

Some additional advice :

- Never make verbal promises or handshake deals especially when you are scouting for a co-founder, contractors, or employees. It doesn't matter how well you know them.

- Avoid, to the extent you can, offering equity for services or deferred compensation. In the early stages it is quite possible that you will be using contractors. If you do then make sure the written agreement terms are solid and unambiguous.

- Read books like Deal Terms, Term Sheets and Valuations, Venture Deals, High Tech Startup, Founder's Dilemma, Fools Gold etc.. and become very familiar with the concepts and terms. I can't stress this enough -- be well informed! - Thoroughly understand cap tables and how they change over time/events.

- Read Getting To Yes (Harvard publication, if I remember correctly). Will help you with your negotiation skills.

- Consider startup incubators if that helps in your particular case. But be careful and understand the terms carefully. Some incubators will take a non-trivial amount of stock in exchange for very little.

About co-founders :

If you are passionate and/or good at selling your idea it is quite likely you will attract co-founders. Do not rush. Take your time to get to know them within the context of your startup regardless of how well you have known them personally.

- If you can try to work out a try-out phase with potential co-founders. But be very careful and make sure both parties sign proper agreements and are very clear about what they are getting from each other.

- Personally I am not a fan of part-time co-founders. If someone wants to join they are either all in or out.

- Please read Founder's Dilemma (Noam Wasserman).

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#94

Post by metafunctor » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

ChefboyOG wrote: post #81

warent wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this except switch the order. First, start selling. Then start building. It is so easy to waste so much time building something nobody wants, and you won't know until it's too late if you try to sell it afterward. Selling first will inform your decisions on what to build.

This is completely rational and works well for some people, but speaking from experience, there is another side to this coin. If you are the sort of person who enjoys the making side of things, and aren't naturally gifted at selling, this can be a trap. I've seen so many solo founders try to validate a product by selling before building, only to get talked into different features and use cases until they're stuck bui…

Selling/customer development is a skill you can learn—and absolutely must learn if you want to hack it as a single founder. The real trap is staying in your comfort zone.

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#95

Post by ljf » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

gooftop wrote: post #33

warent wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this except switch the order. First, start selling. Then start building. It is so easy to waste so much time building something nobody wants, and you won't know until it's too late if you try to sell it afterward. Selling first will inform your decisions on what to build.

The advice makes sense, but isnt it a bit of chicken-and-egg? How do you sell something you haven't built? (or is it really .. build a little, or enough to illustrate; then 'sell' to validate and seek market fit; and then finally truly build?)

In the brief period I was running my own company (with a friend, not solo) the product we sold was largely unbuilt, or were selling features we hadn't yet built.

We were the 'technical creatives' and with an idea and a cost, and went out to find people who we could sell it to to enable us to build it and make it better for all the users. As our product was video crossover - this was a little easier as people are used to paying for a video before you've made it, but video was actually a very small part of what we were offering - and sometimes not at all.

But selling things that have been bukt yet shouldn't be impossible, or even hard - as long as you can show a track record of delivery.

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#96

Post by NicoJuicy » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:11 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #43

orasis wrote: post #2

Serial single founder here. Start building and start selling. If you can’t deliver a product to a paying customer solo then you’re not cut out to be a sole founder.

If you can’t deliver a product to a paying customer solo then you’re not cut out to be a sole founder. I really dislike the tone and content of this advice. I am a solo founder. My first venture (as part of a team) failed - even though we had a product, we had no paying customers and there were other issues. It would have been terrible had someone given advice like this right after that happened - "you're not cut out…

It's not personal, everyone can grow in it.

But a good salesman can even sell a mediocre product to more people than someone with a good product. And he'll grab more money to, because he isn't afraid to raise the price

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#97

Post by brianwawok » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:11 PM UTC

azhenley wrote: post #58

jelling wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solo founder here. Same advice with the caveat that 98% of people should never be solo founders - you must be able to code and sell - but even if you can you should still get a partner if they double your speed.

Even if they only increase your speed by 50%, it seems like a worthwhile gain. Anything to get to that escape velocity.

Partners increase failure cases too. Arguments, differing visions, different commitments.

Pros and cons to both paths.

I think the biggest reason not to go solo, is not many people are good at both the tech AND talking to customers and thinking big picture.

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#98

Post by brianwawok » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:12 PM UTC

CalChris wrote: post #86

kristiandupont wrote: post #19

It's still too early to declare my new project a success but compared to several failures, it seems like I've finally cracked the code. There are a number of things I am doing differently this time, but the most significant seems to be that I am now using a coach. This would have made me laugh earlier but it's been great value to me. As a single founder, it can be very hard to stick to commitments and keep a clear vi…

All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection.

A coach finding coach?

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#99

Post by solarized » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

connect to a friends or team who decent at marketing. so you can focusing the energy to build the product. while friends spend their energy to supply the market demand. mutualism simbiotic.

we have done this for two years since 2016. our product has installed in 12 hospital accross the country.

Re: Ask HN: How to found a company as a single founder?

#100

Post by coder543 » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:18 PM UTC

drenvuk wrote: post #77

gooftop wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advice makes sense, but isnt it a bit of chicken-and-egg? How do you sell something you haven't built? (or is it really .. build a little, or enough to illustrate; then 'sell' to validate and seek market fit; and then finally truly build?)

MVP or fake page with credit card info or email information that says you're sold out. If you can convert random users to paying customers then you're on to something. Otherwise your project is most likely going to flounder. Some people may think it's dishonest but without verifying you're going to spend weeks to months working on something that will never be used.

That might work for physical product, but when you claim your software download is sold out, people tend to give you funny looks.

You can definitely put up a product page where users can enter an email address and start building up a mailing list, but obviously mailing list recipients are not guaranteed to pay you money.