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Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

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Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#51

Post by X4 »

seiji wrote: post #39
wildermuthn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any data to suggest that single founders who overcome the increased difficulty also have greater success than their peers? Or is it like running with rocks in your shoes — unnecessarily painful?

It's like being a paper tape Turing machine. Technically, you can do anything in the world. In reality, you're limited by how efficiently you, as an individual, can run back and forth writing zeros and ones. Being a single founder isn't like building up a muscle that'll make you bigger, faster, stronger—there are world-level parallelism problems you can't accomplish alone (work and fundraise, work and promote, sleep…

>> The single founder problem is more "Will you accept someone who is capable but hasn't found any smart friends yet?" and less "I can build a $50 million company all by myself. Just give me $100k. Please?"

Exactly!!

Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#52

Post by Cardeck1 »

6thSigma wrote: post #49
Cardeck1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the risk associated with people you barely know but IF you are smart enough you'll pick someone who is less likely to fail in your team.That is of course another very rare set of skills, to know what to pick and how, but we are assuming that the single founder has that ability. Perhaps I am too confident on this one because I almost never fail in hiring (no arrogance intended) but with the homework done…

Hiring an employee and finding a co-founder are distinctly different on multiple levels.

I agree but we are talking about cofounders.Maybe I missed a new message from yesterday.

Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#53

Post by Cardeck1 »

moron4hire wrote: post #24

I don't think lacking a partner should prevent you from working on a project, but lacking the right kind of partner can prevent your project from realizing its potential. I'm an engineer, I could sit in my house and work for months on end making amazing things that never see the light of day. It takes more effort than I have on half of the days out of the year to release things into the wild[1]. I need a co-founder t…

Yes, it's true but you need discipline also. Hit me up. I'll be happy to give you some tips about all these.

Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#54

Post by mssobhan »

6thSigma wrote: post #49
Cardeck1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the risk associated with people you barely know but IF you are smart enough you'll pick someone who is less likely to fail in your team.That is of course another very rare set of skills, to know what to pick and how, but we are assuming that the single founder has that ability. Perhaps I am too confident on this one because I almost never fail in hiring (no arrogance intended) but with the homework done…

Hiring an employee and finding a co-founder are distinctly different on multiple levels.

I agree on that. When something is already started it gets harder to sync to that same sort of idea.

Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#55

Post by elaineo »

I think we should differentiate between (i) single founders who can't find a cofounder and (ii) single founders who don't need a cofounder.

I think case (i) would be a red flag because it means the single founder sucks at selling herself, sucks at networking, or isn't resourceful enough to move to a location where there are more potential candidates.

In case (ii), where the single founder doesn't need a cofounder, that founder also probably doesn't need YC.

Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#56

Post by lauremerlin »

pg wrote: post #48
hunvreus wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that empirically it seems that having a co-founder decreases your chances of failure. Others have already done a great job at explaining why. I'd be interested however in understanding how, empirically, single founders with a couple talented contractors/employees compare to the potentially more risky duo founder relationship. Or is this simply not the kind of team YC would get behind?

Employees can't usually offer the moral support a cofounder can. Unless they become de facto cofounders, but that's pretty rare.

Yes, that is the underestimated main point. I'm still living in one of the rare tech hostile desert though. Trying to get through that single no tech founder karma, because I'm starting up precisely to sell an app for 'relationship skills' or 'efficient non-violent communication', so clear abilities, values, and training in this would prevail over 'rock-star programming talent'. Looking for ladies in tech too... Door wide open for them to become cofounders, but I can understand risk-adverse people, after all I am in need of a complementary skill set ;) Do you give me a chance?

Re: Ask PG: Any new thoughts on single founders + YC?

#57

Post by wuschel »

elaineo wrote: post #55

I think we should differentiate between (i) single founders who can't find a cofounder and (ii) single founders who don't need a cofounder. I think case (i) would be a red flag because it means the single founder sucks at selling herself, sucks at networking, or isn't resourceful enough to move to a location where there are more potential candidates. In case (ii), where the single founder doesn't need a cofounder, th…

Well, lets look at that from the perspective of a possible co-founder: I can not find any founder that would resonate with my technological background, skill set and desired professionalism.

When you live in a startup hub, matching people for startups this might be an easier thing to accomplish, but in the in which I live right now..

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