Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception • Hacker News Board

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#11

Post by pg » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 5:41 AM UTC

sandee wrote: post #9

ghshephard wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" I know it increases the chances that the startup will succeed, but sometimes it's unnecessary. " Simply knowing that it increases the chances that the startup will succeed should be sufficient to understand where the fixation for multiple founders stems from. True, it's not required 100% of the time, but, a-priori, how can anyone know whether this is one of those times. There are a hundred well defined things that…

Is there really a YC list of 100 things that can kill a startup so they can be avoided ? Very interested to know

There's one of 18: http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#12

Post by marvin » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 5:47 AM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #6

"Dropbox being the biggest home run YC has had to date" That's still Heroku in my book

Economically, that only makes sense if you believe that Dropbox is overvalued by 95%. That would be a huge mistake by the investors.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#13

Post by callmeed » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 5:52 AM UTC

davetong wrote: post #7

callmeed wrote: post #6

"Dropbox being the biggest home run YC has had to date" That's still Heroku in my book

Interesting... Are you measuring by the number of users or revenue?

Not measuring. A "home run" to me is an exit, not a huge round at a huge valuation. But maybe it was an exit for YC/early investors, I don't know.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#14

Post by bradhe » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 5:55 AM UTC

The people who are most upset about the single founder rule are the people who were rejected by YC because they couldn't find a co-founder.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#15

Post by abbasmehdi » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6:02 AM UTC

pg wrote: post #11

sandee wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there really a YC list of 100 things that can kill a startup so they can be avoided ? Very interested to know

There's one of 18: http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

Any updates to this list since Oct '06?

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#16

Post by abbasmehdi » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6:03 AM UTC

geoffschmidt wrote: post #10

craze3 wrote: post #3

I don't understand where the fixation for multiple founders stems from. I know it increases the chances that the startup will succeed, but sometimes it's unnecessary. I'm starting to think that it's more of a power struggle issue- If YC can't get one founder to agree with or sign off on something, then they want to be able to approach the other founder and convince them instead.

Startups are just so much work. You need some help. For example, if you have two founders, then one can go out and do fundraising for a month while the other keeps the company running. If you had only one founder, you'd be dead in the water for that month. (Even if you have employees -- things are going to decay if all of the founders are distracted.) Also, I've never known YC to play founders against each other.

Great point, I'd also add emotional support in the darkest hours.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#17

Post by Shenglong » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6:06 AM UTC

aston wrote: post #2

From Forbes to Hacker News back to Forbes back to Hacker News. Definition of an echo chamber. In case a Forbes reporter wants to quote me, this comment is not for attribution.

Maybe if pg responds here, someone will write a story about it too.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#18

Post by wumi » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6:23 AM UTC

aston wrote: post #2

From Forbes to Hacker News back to Forbes back to Hacker News. Definition of an echo chamber. In case a Forbes reporter wants to quote me, this comment is not for attribution.

Although they could -- and should -- write a story about the unsung hero of Dropbox.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#19

Post by staunch » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6:29 AM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #13

davetong wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting... Are you measuring by the number of users or revenue?

Not measuring. A "home run" to me is an exit, not a huge round at a huge valuation. But maybe it was an exit for YC/early investors, I don't know.

Dropbox took in $250 million cash for 6% of the company. Heroku took in $240 million cash for 100%.

Re: Paul Graham, Dropbox and The Single Founder Exception

#20

Post by pg » Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6:36 AM UTC

staunch wrote: post #8

What if Arash had turned out to be a bad match? They didn't know each other, so it was a pretty big gamble. I suppose if Drew retained control he could prevent it destroying the company, but then he doesn't really have an equal co-founder to keep him in check. Seems like a really tough problem. Kind of amazing it worked out so well.

Oddly enough Drew and I talked about this question tonight on a panel at the Computer History Museum. It was a big risk to recruit someone as a cofounder that he didn't know before (and I've seen a lot of cases where it didn't work out) but in this case the risk was mitigated by how much they had in common.

One thing they had in common was Kyle Vogt of Justin.tv, who introduced them. So in retrospect the YC alumni network was having a big effect even back then.