Applying to YC as a Single Founder • Hacker News Board

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#21

Post by johnrob » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 1:31 AM UTC

fletchowns wrote: post #5

johnrob wrote: post #2

It would be great if someone started an incubator devoted to single founders, specifically tailoring the program to address some of the associated shortcomings. Perhaps it could also be a fertile ground to merge any compatible founders into teams. If any angel(s) are looking for a niche in the incubator "market", this would be a pretty good one. Real value can be created if someone can increase the chances of success…

Who is the poster child for the single founder success story?

This just showed up today (mailchimp buys tinyletter): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2947625

The single founder was Philip Kaplan (although he's not you're average single founder).

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#22

Post by epi0Bauqu » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 1:52 AM UTC

johnrob wrote: post #2

It would be great if someone started an incubator devoted to single founders, specifically tailoring the program to address some of the associated shortcomings. Perhaps it could also be a fertile ground to merge any compatible founders into teams. If any angel(s) are looking for a niche in the incubator "market", this would be a pretty good one. Real value can be created if someone can increase the chances of success…

I don't have the time or funds for an incubator yet, but I have helped fund two single founders so far, and am open to doing more.

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#23

Post by jpdoctor » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 2:05 AM UTC

jazzychad wrote: post #19

jpdoctor wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would be great if someone started an incubator devoted to single founders But then how would the VCs play the founders off one another?

What? VCs don't play founders off one another... not reputable ones, anyway.

> not reputable ones, anyway.

You're either a VC or under 30.

Edit: There is clearly not a lot of gray hair on this site.

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#24

Post by jazzychad » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 2:10 AM UTC

jpdoctor wrote: post #23

jazzychad wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? VCs don't play founders off one another... not reputable ones, anyway.

> not reputable ones, anyway. You're either a VC or under 30. Edit: There is clearly not a lot of gray hair on this site.

Your comment history indicates that you like to be contrary and/or snarky, so I'm not replying to you, but for others reading this thread... there are actually good VCs out there (and yes, there are a lot of bad ones).

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#25

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 2:26 AM UTC

jazzychad wrote: post #24

jpdoctor wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not reputable ones, anyway. You're either a VC or under 30. Edit: There is clearly not a lot of gray hair on this site.

Your comment history indicates that you like to be contrary and/or snarky, so I'm not replying to you, but for others reading this thread... there are actually good VCs out there (and yes, there are a lot of bad ones).

[deleted]

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#26

Post by byoung2 » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 2:32 AM UTC

molecularbutter wrote: post #16

byoung2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pierre Omidyar was a single founder when he started eBay in 1995. He brought in employee #1 (Jeffrey Skoll), in 1996, and Meg Whitman in 1998. Jeff Bezos was a solo founder when he started Amazon in 1994. Employee #1 (Shel Kaphan) was brought on before incorporation, but says Jeff was the founder ( http://www.geekwire.com/2011/meet-shel-kaphan-amazoncom-empl... )

Brilliant, I was not aware of these facts.

More recently, Omar Hamoui was a solo founder of AdMob, which sold to Google for $750 million

Andrew Mason was a solo founder of Groupon, started with $1 million seed money from a former employer.

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#27

Post by rdl » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 3:07 AM UTC

jpdoctor wrote: post #23

jazzychad wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? VCs don't play founders off one another... not reputable ones, anyway.

> not reputable ones, anyway. You're either a VC or under 30. Edit: There is clearly not a lot of gray hair on this site.

There are definitely investors who do this kind of thing to business partners, but they are usually non silicon valley, non tech investors (like a local car dealership owner who is investing in a restaurant). It is really rare among professional investors. It might happen again at the private equity level, where established businesses are being restructured, but there you could argue the value is not with the founders in all cases, or with management. I have little experience at that scale though.

In a startup, the founders, and their relationship with each other and the company, is probably the biggest asset. If an investor doesn't like the team, he just won't invest at all.

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#28

Post by rhizome » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 3:15 AM UTC

Vincentmb wrote: post #10

If you don't have the confidence to go after something solo, maybe you shouldn't be in charge in the first place. Having said that, personal experiences have taught me that a great partner can help innovation through the checks and balances that occur during brainstorming.

Hey "Vincent," are you professionally affiliated with AT&T?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2946472

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#29

Post by mmahemoff » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 3:31 AM UTC

Mark Suster on "the co-founder mythology": http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/09/the-co-founder...

IMO the question is more nuanced than "how many founders is best", e.g. at the Google IO funding panel, it was stated 4 is statistically optimal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15iWltPLuPY). But really, we should be asking what is right for a given type of industry/business, and what is right for different types of people.

Re: Applying to YC as a Single Founder

#30

Post by pitdesi » Thu, Sep 01, 2011, 4:12 AM UTC

I don't yet know enough about the single founder bit, but there is one unrelated sentence that you write that gives me great pause in the way you chose to write it:

"But, if you want to do something big in the tech sector, you absolutely must be in SV for the connections, money, talent, etc."

Really? You "absolutely must" be in SV? Seems like Groupon, Foursquare, Groupme, Bitly, Grubhub, Gawker, Gilt, Kickstarter, Amazon, Tumblr etc etc etc are doing just fine not in SV.

Great companies can be started in many places. A critical mass is helpful, as is money. You can get money from anywhere. I'm from Pittsburgh. A company there (Dynamics) just raised a $35 million series B. They are doing great on "connections, money, talent, etc" in Pittsburgh. Several of your YC batchmates will leave SV for other places. They will be just fine on all those things too. You might not have been fine in NC, but there are many places you would be able to raise money, find talent, etc. We ended up rejecting some VC's that wanted us to be in Cali but ended up with terms we liked from investors we like. (We're in Chicago) I have occasionally given thought to going back to SF/SV but for our business there wouldn't be any impact other than we'd have to pay higher salaries and rent.