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Why I'll be a solo founder next time

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Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#141

Post by bobbles »

wrath wrote: post #134

In my experience the bottom line is that you need good people around you in order to succeed. It doesn't matter if that's a co-founder, a CEO, developers, etc.. If you don't have good people around you helping you in your journey of success you won't have any. For example, in my first startup I had a very good co-founder but we were both very young and inexperienced. We didn't hire the right people to surround us and…

This makes me wonder if two solo-founders working together (on their own projects) but bouncing ideas off each other would be more successful than going it alone.

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#142

Post by kibibu »

001sky wrote: post #135
psycr wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whiddershins' comment has nothing to do with political correctness, but rather with actual historical correctness. The comment is polite, sincere, and provides a further source of information for those who seek it.

actual historical correctness This is silly and trivial. Two reasons: [1] The phrase is the analog of an idiom. It is shorthand for "hierarchy" and used as such. The parent is explaining its use. [2] There are many tribal organizations. This cuts both ways. Provided there is a single one that was historically rank-hierachical, the data is not even a counterfactual. [3] Provided [2] is ok, so is [1]. We know [2] is ok…

Besides, my Grandma used to say it all the time! I'm bringing it back!

---

I don't think the correct response when called out the use of a racist stereotype is to claim it's silly and trivial.

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#143

Post by joeblau »

All of this stuff is spot on. I especially like the bit about lack of commitment. Lack of commitment can even be expressed through things like someone addicted to gaming or watching to much TV. A friend of mine called those activities "Time-Stealers."

I also tried to co-found a company with someone that had all of the boxes checked. At first I was part of the vision, but as the project grew I was slowly removed from the project. Afterwards, I felt like I was trying to force the co-founder issue because "PG said you need a co-founder." After that experience, my formula is: bad cofounder < solo founder < good cofounder.

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#144

Post by skrish »

robomartin wrote: post #136

You really have to make a distinction between who the subject of a lot of these studies are. It is mostly young fresh-out-of-school (or still in school) guys (and gals). They generally have very little life and business experience. They are full of ideas and passion. But few have had to endure difficult situations in their lives --personal or business. If you take that profile and suggest that success as a solo found…

Great points. Somedays I do tend to wonder what makes founders stick through rough times and as you rightly pointed out having been through life experiences where they stick it out is a definite advantage. You tend to see through the period instead of knee jerk reactions.

I come from a family where both my grand parents & uncles used to run a small restaurant as a family business, starting all the way from the bottom. And they used to do it together for 35+ years through various family situations, sticking together. I just can't complain having seen what they went through and accomplished.

For a lot of people out there that is just life. Only in software startup world we plan for compatibility in lots of different ways. Example, there are lot of people who want to know the plan for an 'exit' even before starting up. Not wrong. Just different.

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#145

Post by jacques_chester »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #89
jmaskell wrote: post #46

I believe that being a solo founder contributed to the failure of my startup. In short, it puts a lot of pressure on yourself, that can't be split with other members of the team. If the ship is sinking, you have to go down with it. Other friends and mentors can offer support, but they're not in the same boat as you. When times are tough, founders can help pull each other through. I think the reasons described in the…

Don't take this the wrong way, but your entire rationale for having co-founders seems to be based on fear and negativity. Your comment implies that you're most interested in providing yourself with the comfort that somebody else is taking risk too and will be there to drown with you when the ship sinks. Per my other comment, this is simply the wrong reason to bring on a co-founder. If you truly aren't confident in th…

Given the base rate of failure for all startups, simply not failing places you in a high percentile for overall success.

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#146

Post by amerika_blog »

Having done this wrong, how I look at it now:

You cannot expect anyone else to share your dream.

You can either hire them, or find commonality in a dream.

But at the end of the day, if it's your idea, it's going to have your name on it and thus, will be what you work on the most out of all the people who touch it.

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#147

Post by [deleted] »

jmngomes wrote: post #32

I'm a single founder and can only say the experience is rather grinding. I'm all up for the "If you don't help, at least don't get in the way" motto. I decided to pursue my current venture without a cofounder precisaly because I didn't find enough people that had both the skills and (understandably) the willingness to quit their nice paying jobs. For me, it doesn't really make sense to have people aboard unless they…

[deleted]

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#148

Post by kylebrown »

auvrw wrote: post #126
ChuckMcM wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is a key insight. There is a colloquialism for a company of people all trying to be 'the boss' called "Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians" (in reference to the tribal organization of Native American tribes, where in fact there was exactly one Chief who was the final arbiter) but another spin on this is "Too many Medicine men, not enough Indians." The "fantasy" life of a startup founder is that they se…

"Folks who are visionary in their thinking but can't break that down into actionable steps toward that vision, and then break those steps into problem assignments, aren't really going to be an asset for your startup until you already have a product and a revenue stream." silent weeping

The actionable steps are actually part of the vision, usually the more important part. For example, suppose there might exist some fantastical amazing place full of unicorns and rainbows. What's more important: having detailed visions of what this paradise will look like once you get there? Or actually knowing how to get there?

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#149

Post by pnathan »

beat wrote: post #112
w0rd-driven wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An extrovert is typically better at marketing and sales, namely for the social aspect. For someone like me that's an introvert and extremely shy around new people, I gain XP by tackling technical problems. That doesn't mean technical people can't be a visionary too because you'll definitely need it. Someone that can get a complete grasp of the scope to tell you when a decision will lead you into more or less technica…

I think I'm a visionary technical person. The problem I'm addressing is based on two decades of experience in enterprise configuration management - solving the forest/trees problem of seeing small technical changes in the context of bigger business changes, and/or drilling down from the big business tasks to the technical details that implement them. It's a boundary-crossing technical issue that's near and dear to my…

Hey, configuration management is something really interesting to me. I don't suppose you'd mind emailing me with a link to your startup (email in profile)?

Re: Why I'll be a solo founder next time

#150

Post by ballard »

OP: Business is hard, stop whining.

There's not much rhyme/reason for landing a hit, just don't fuck it up too much.

Get your meta game together and fucking hustle. If you can't work with people and (hack or hustle), you are better off doing something besides startups.

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