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?

#121

Post by mimixco » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:45 PM UTC

jelling wrote: post #16

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.

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.

Agree completely. I've never heard of a major company founded by someone who couldn't sell. Those people make products, not businesses, as Mark Cuban says a lot on Shark Tank.

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

#122

Post by mimixco » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:46 PM UTC

bsvalley wrote: post #7

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.

This pretty much sums up everything. I had a similar problem trying to sell my products. If you're a solo founder learn how to sell first. Finding cool marketing strategies is great, but people need to see real faces before buying your products. It is not always true, but in general that is what I've seen so far.

As someone who has been selling all my life, I'm not sure it's a teachable skill. Yes, everyone can learn to improve, but some part of salesmanship has to be in your blood.

With developers routinely making over $200k in Silicon Valley now, if you're a "product person" and not a salesperson, you can probably earn more as an employee than an entrepreneur.

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

#123

Post by nicodjimenez » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:48 PM UTC

gameguy43 wrote: post #103

You don't have to have superpowers. You just have to have some product sense, some engineering chops, and the ability to take 6 months off (not everyone can afford this, and that sucks) to build the thing and see if you can get people to look at it and buy it. You'll learn all the other stuff along the way (taxes, marketing, and eventually: hiring). Just give it a shot. If you run out of savings and have to go back t…

^ that my guy!

Very good point about the "sell first" idea. It's important to try to de-risk ideas as much as possible, and to some extent it's doable for B2B startups, but you really can never completely de-risk a startup concept without actually building a product or service and making it succeed.

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

#124

Post by ramtatatam » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:50 PM UTC

iscrewyou wrote: post #112

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.

Can I ask an honest question respectfully? I don’t have a company or a startup. But I’ve always wanted to start one. So I’m always curious when I see a response like yours. How do you sell first? There isn’t a product to show. How do you find Customers? Is it the philosophy that the customer doesn’t know better and you have to tell them what they need, all the while understanding what your capabilities are. Like unde…

I joined a startup a few years ago and I did see this in action. The founder was such a believer in his vision he would go to whatever door he managed to get through and was selling them his mock-ups. He is not technical but he has go a good eye to UI and also had great idea. When I joined him (I'm technical with no eye to UI and not very good at human relations) he already had customers aligned (no product yet) and also won 4 desks in local incubator (big brand's incubator...) I found this astonishing and to date I am under impression trying to learn from him where I lack.

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

#125

Post by mimixco » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:51 PM UTC

viach wrote: post #61

It is very hard to honestly evaluate your own idea, because it's, well, your idea. You get to tell about it to someone. And when you tell and ask for feedback and help - voila, you are not a pure solo founder anymore.

Not sure I agree. Most revolutionary ideas are unappealing when first presented. The world thought Walt Disney was crazy for making a feature cartoon (Snow White) that went on to be one of the most profitable movies in history. Even after that, they thought he was nuts for starting a theme park.

Henry Ford once quipped, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said, 'A faster horse.'"

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

#126

Post by loandigger » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC

900 hours. That's my rule. It takes 900 hours of concentrated effort in brainstorming, building, tweaking, disillusionment, trashing it all, starting over, brainstorming some more, building, tweaking, demoing, networking and THEN selling before you'll even have the faintest idea as whether this can be a viable company. Put in the time and you'll see.

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

#127

Post by mimixco » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:54 PM UTC

kishansagathiya wrote: post #31

Are there really any single founders? In most successful single founder companies, there are few people who effectively does cofounder like stuff. In this case initial recruits would just not have the cofounder title, but the same work. Also initial recruits will stick around and will give their best only if they have enough incentive, which is equity(a cofounder thing)

Thomas Edison was a solo founder. So was Edwin Land (Polaroid). You could make the case that Thomas Watson Sr. (IBM) was also a solo founder, and they all did just fine. :-)

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

#128

Post by mimixco » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC

loandigger wrote: post #126

900 hours. That's my rule. It takes 900 hours of concentrated effort in brainstorming, building, tweaking, disillusionment, trashing it all, starting over, brainstorming some more, building, tweaking, demoing, networking and THEN selling before you'll even have the faintest idea as whether this can be a viable company. Put in the time and you'll see.

Fred Brooks (author of The Mythical Man Month -- highly recommended -- and the director of IBM's System/360 project) said, "Build one you're going to throw away because you're going to throw it away anyway."

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

#129

Post by joaomacp » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:57 PM UTC

iscrewyou wrote: post #112

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.

Can I ask an honest question respectfully? I don’t have a company or a startup. But I’ve always wanted to start one. So I’m always curious when I see a response like yours. How do you sell first? There isn’t a product to show. How do you find Customers? Is it the philosophy that the customer doesn’t know better and you have to tell them what they need, all the while understanding what your capabilities are. Like unde…

> How do you sell first?

In a podcast [1] a mattress company tells a story about how they got started: they just built a one-page site where you could buy a mattress, but the company didn't actually exist: after a certain point it failed and you couldn't buy it.

They publicized the site and soon enough they found that someone had clicked to buy a mattress: a potential customer.

So they effectively "sold" before building. Since the test was good and they found that people were willing to buy mattresses with the features they offered, they then built the company (and are now successful).

[1] https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/061-jt-marino-of-tuft-&...

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

#130

Post by aerovistae » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 5:57 PM UTC

loandigger wrote: post #126

900 hours. That's my rule. It takes 900 hours of concentrated effort in brainstorming, building, tweaking, disillusionment, trashing it all, starting over, brainstorming some more, building, tweaking, demoing, networking and THEN selling before you'll even have the faintest idea as whether this can be a viable company. Put in the time and you'll see.

Have you formed some viable companies after 900 hours?