C1O
Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
71–80 of 98 posts
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#72You should look for both a CTO and a COO.
Whatever you cannot find a person for, you do yourself.
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#73Just want to add, I followed pretty much the same path with Windmill [1], which is also in the developer tool space, and also open-source. Built everything solo for 5 months. I thought it would be impossible to get into YC, it is not and I was fortunate enough to join YC on the latest batch, on my first try [2]. Getting into YC changed the course of the company, increased many orders of magnitude my ambition and made…
There are a lot of tech incubators in the Paris area.
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#74Just want to add, I followed pretty much the same path with Windmill [1], which is also in the developer tool space, and also open-source. Built everything solo for 5 months. I thought it would be impossible to get into YC, it is not and I was fortunate enough to join YC on the latest batch, on my first try [2]. Getting into YC changed the course of the company, increased many orders of magnitude my ambition and made…
There are a lot of tech incubators in the Paris area.
And VCs, but as much as I'd like it to not be the case, the US and the bay area in particular play at another level. The french ecosystem is getting really good at some forms of deep tech, but developer tools is not one of them, yet. The current government and station F have done wonders, we were 8 french startups at YC this year, the most populous of any other EU countries. Things are starting to change in the right direction and french engineers don't lack the drive and talent.
On the other hand, French people/VCs will wonder what can go wrong whereas in the US they look at what can go right. There are enough hurdles to face when trying to build a global tech companies as a solo founder and it can definitely make a difference.
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#75Doesn't matter. You need product market fit and focus on your customers.
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#76Just want to add, I followed pretty much the same path with Windmill [1], which is also in the developer tool space, and also open-source. Built everything solo for 5 months. I thought it would be impossible to get into YC, it is not and I was fortunate enough to join YC on the latest batch, on my first try [2]. Getting into YC changed the course of the company, increased many orders of magnitude my ambition and made…
There are a lot of tech incubators in the Paris area.
Sure but they'll bring you some croissants and half a desk for 3 months for your seed round.
If you're a startup in Europe you can forget about the scale you can experience in the US and you should dedicate someone in your team to apply to every European grant out there to survive.
The successful European founders I know invested the equivalent of a Silicon Valley round of their own money (or friends / family / great contacts from networking) before seeing VCs
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#77CEO all the time. CTO only if you absolutely trust your CEO. But as the saying goes, the optimal number of co-founders is an odd number and three is too much.
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#78My first startup was founded with a non-technical co-founder; they had no vast experience in what we were founding, but was a good salesman.
In the end, they were useless, and I walked away from the company.
Make sure everything is in writing, and if you're a technical co-founder, make sure your co-founder is someone you can respect.
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#79Just want to add, I followed pretty much the same path with Windmill [1], which is also in the developer tool space, and also open-source. Built everything solo for 5 months. I thought it would be impossible to get into YC, it is not and I was fortunate enough to join YC on the latest batch, on my first try [2]. Getting into YC changed the course of the company, increased many orders of magnitude my ambition and made…
how did you get your first customers?
Re: Solo founder dilemma; CEO or CTO?
#80how did you get your first customers?