If I were a single founder... • Hacker News Board

Re: If I were a single founder...

#41

Post by thomasgerbe » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 6:09 AM UTC

deniz wrote: post #37

I keep hearing the same story of how most people meet their co-founder "x and y met in school". I'm a few years out of university and have moved around a lot. Most of my trusted friends now days are non technical which makes my candidate pool near empty. I agree completely that getting on board with someone you don't know well is a bad idea. It seems to me that all the rules placed around how you must have a team to…

"I agree completely that getting on board with someone you don't know well is a bad idea."

Eh I kind of disagree about this.

I ended up working on a project through a friend of a friend. A guy was doing some work on his own and needed some pro-bono help for his project. We have very different personalities but our skills complemented one another perfectly. We ended up moving out to the Bay Area together to work on our own projects. A year later, we've meshed extremely well given some tough circumstances.

There's absolutely no way we would've met back in Uni, as we frequented different circles.

Re: If I were a single founder...

#42

Post by jc123 » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 7:33 AM UTC

idlewords wrote: post #21

I'd be curious to see any actual data about relative success rates with single and multiple founders (where success is measured as 'business profitable or sold after N years' rather than 'got funded'). Like in so many things, it's best to minimize the hand-wringing and make a decision based on your personal working style, who's available to join you, and how badly you want to be funded by an entity with a strong bias…

Here a little 'data' here from Ron Conway and David Lee video: http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/23/david-lee-and-ron-conway-bu...

Re: If I were a single founder...

#43

Post by alexro » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 9:33 AM UTC

jazzychad wrote: post #15

As someone who went through YC as a single-founder, then got a co-founder, then became a single-founder again after a year I've been on both sides of this fence. I've been meaning to write an article about this experience, and I guess this post has given me motivation to actually do it. There are so many misconceptions from both sides about the other. Hopefully I can find time in the next few weeks to write it all do…

I'd like these areas touched in the article:

0) Not important, just interesting. On the moral side: did you reason going solo as to avoid loosing money/control and generally didn't bother or was it just that you didn't find someone acceptable.

1) For the skills you lacked: did you hire someone or tried to learn the skills and figure out how to lessen the importance of this part of the product.

2) Money wise: did you originally planned to bootstrap or wanted to bring in the investors. And how your reasoning about convincing the investors went.

3) Investors: when you finally met real people with money how you convinced them to trust in you

4) Co-founder: What was the primary reason of parting ways with your co-founder

5) Sum up: do you believe that there are 'single-minded' people and they will be better of not trying to find a co-founder at all. That said, it means such people should reasonably adjust their expectations about the product they can pull off alone.

Thanks!

Re: If I were a single founder...

#44

Post by bignoggins » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 10:05 AM UTC

I'm a single founder with a fairly profitable business (low-mid six figure profits after 1 year). I guess out of ignorance, I never even considered getting a cofounder. I can't say I regret my decision. Having 100% control over the course of my company is something I wouldn't easily give up. In terms of workload, what does a cofounder give you that you can't get for much cheaper with contractors or employees? In terms of emotional support, I think being married actually helps quite a bit. Even though my wife is not actively involved in the company, I bounce ideas off of her all the time.

Perhaps a cofounder is more useful for startups that want to grow very fast (the type YC likes to invest in). But for the organic/bootstrapped style startups (ie 37Signals / FogCreek) is having a cofounder really necessary? Everyone likes to quote PG on this, but consider the source. His experience is with fast growth, VC funded, shoot for the moon style companies. So it may not necessarily apply to everyone's situation.

Re: If I were a single founder...

#45

Post by chriseidhof » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 10:17 AM UTC

jazzychad wrote: post #15

As someone who went through YC as a single-founder, then got a co-founder, then became a single-founder again after a year I've been on both sides of this fence. I've been meaning to write an article about this experience, and I guess this post has given me motivation to actually do it. There are so many misconceptions from both sides about the other. Hopefully I can find time in the next few weeks to write it all do…

Even though you're back at being a single founder, what do yo miss? What's more difficult compared two being together? What are the pittfalls? How do you get feedback? Will you consider ever getting a co-founder again?

I would love to read about your experiences!

Re: If I were a single founder...

#46

Post by notahacker » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 10:50 AM UTC

limedaring wrote: post #5

This mirrors a lot of my own feelings (being a single founder myself). I originally applied for YC for the W11 round, and I rushed to find a cofounder before applying (even wrote this for HN: http://www.limedaring.com/technical-co-founder-wanted-for-di... ) I spent a few weeks "interviewing" cofounders and working with a few, before choosing one and starting to build a product and applied (and scored an interview) fo…

There seems to be a misconception here that the observation most successful large startups have more than one founder implies if I were to add another person to my startup it would be more likely to succeed. It doesn't, unless that person is addressing a particular deficiency to the extent that they deserve ~50% equity.

If a complimentary skillset, alternative perspectives and/or shared workload isn't worth that to you then don't look. However important it may be to an external investor betting on you, you don't need to signal to yourself you're committed enough not to drop startup life in favour of that dream job at Google or pivot towards a "lifestyle business". People looking for cofounders solely to improve their chances of getting into incubators probably ought to reassess their priorities.

Re: If I were a single founder...

#47

Post by sreitshamer » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 11:04 AM UTC

bignoggins wrote: post #44

I'm a single founder with a fairly profitable business (low-mid six figure profits after 1 year). I guess out of ignorance, I never even considered getting a cofounder. I can't say I regret my decision. Having 100% control over the course of my company is something I wouldn't easily give up. In terms of workload, what does a cofounder give you that you can't get for much cheaper with contractors or employees? In term…

I'm also a single founder with a fairly profitable organic/bootstrapped style business. Having a supportive wife has been huge for me as well.

I imagine it can feel better to have a cofounder, to feel like you're not in it all alone. But if you want to make something great, there needs to be one person with a vision and the power to make it reality. Nothing really great was ever designed by committee.

Re: If I were a single founder...

#48

Post by dirkdeman » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 2:12 PM UTC

dmitri1981 wrote: post #22

foysavas wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startup founders get tired now-and-again. Knowing a co-founder is working while you're resting is a source of invaluable relief against the pressure to get things done. Long-term, this kind of emotional stability prevents burn-out. That's important because startups don't die, founders quit.

A very valid point. If you are a solo founder, nothing happens unless you make it happen and as you experience the downs it becomes very easy to lose momentum. Co-founders can provide a good counter balance and keep progress steadier.

It has been my experience that, while working in a group, it's actually harder to get things done. You have to reach a consensus first before you can act. The progress may be steadier, but in the long term slower.

Maybe I'm suffering from a bad college trauma. During college, we were forced to work in project groups. This was always a disaster, I remember calling group members at 2AM to email their contributions to the project, only to find it full of mistakes and largely copied/pasted from the internet. I'd spend the rest of the night editing the piece 'cause I sure as hell wasn't going to flunk on their behalf. When I would do a project on my own (my Thesis, for example) I'd get substantially higher grades with less hassle in less time.

Re: If I were a single founder...

#49

Post by rick888 » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 4:09 PM UTC

DenisM wrote: post #35

bigsassy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I read articles railing against single founders, I usually assume the person writing the article doesn't have a meaningful amount of single-founder experience. This makes me question their reasons given to not be a single founder. I'm sure some of these reasons should actually be carefully considered before deciding to go it alone, but I feel that many of them can be safely ignored given one's appetite for r…

>the person writing the article doesn't have a meaningful amount of single-founder experience Yes, that... or his name is Paul Graham! :) From investors point of view second founder is social proof of the idea and the first person, a much lower chance of entire team getting hit by a bus, and a demonstrable ability to work in teams. They have no downside in modest increase in the number of founders, unlike the first f…

I think it also keeps you focused and on track. A single founder can easily just keep changing directions (which I've done myself) when they should be focusing on one idea.

Re: If I were a single founder...

#50

Post by studiofellow » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 4:59 PM UTC

I'm a single founder, and while I haven't found success with my first app, I've definitely noticed some unique challenges.

First, designing and building an app by myself is different than anything else I've done in my career. It's incredibly exhilarating. Also a bit scary. Everything is on me. It can be stressful, but I don't think I could go back to the old way.

Second, when people realize it's just me behind the scenes, they don't take the app as seriously. I don't try to hide it. Kind of similar to how tech bloggers don't take you seriously unless you have funding. (But that's a different topic.)

Third, it's tough to get context or a neutral perspective. You're so close to it that seeing where you go wrong can be difficult. This is why I disagree with point #2 in the post. I worked on an app for a year and didn't realize it was a lost cause. (Dumb, I know.)

By and large, I think the pluses outweigh the minuses. Especially since I had cofounders bail on 4 projects before I went solo.