Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
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Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#2Not having a co-founder is worse. A short discussion with someone who understands what you are talking about can make ideas much clearer in your mind than days of thinking alone.
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#3Not having a co-founder is worse. A short discussion with someone who understands what you are talking about can make ideas much clearer in your mind than days of thinking alone.
There are other ways to have discussions with people who understand what you are talking about. Surronding yourself with people who share the same passion for entrepreneurship or finding a mentor.
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#4It's choosing between pest and cholera.
In early stages: With a cofounder you get started, carry on, have fun and soon an MVP. Without you quit days after having a first prototype (due to heavy procrastination, doubts, distractions).
In later stages: With a cofounder decision-making becomes a nightmare—every other discussion ends in dramas and in grueling deadlocks. Without a cofounder life is a breeze and you can close deals in 48h (i.e. buying a photo sharing app for 1 billion).
(edited first line: removed chicken and egg)
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#5I started off working on my startup as a single founder and found it enjoyable, especially the coding part. What I underestimated was the emotional challenge and that's where having a cofounder helps tremendously. I was fortunate enough to find a cofounder and while the level of stress is still high, its much easier to deal with having somebody in the trenches with you. As far as the later stages of a startup, very few startups even get to that point so I wouldn't worry so much.
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#6I started off working on my startup as a single founder and found it enjoyable, especially the coding part. What I underestimated was the emotional challenge and that's where having a cofounder helps tremendously. I was fortunate enough to find a cofounder and while the level of stress is still high, its much easier to deal with having somebody in the trenches with you. As far as the later stages of a startup, very f…
I did my first startup with a cofounder. Sold it. Starting 2012 I'm a single founder. Want the experience of doing both. For now I love it. Feels like much more freedom.
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#7It's choosing between pest and cholera. In early stages: With a cofounder you get started, carry on, have fun and soon an MVP. Without you quit days after having a first prototype (due to heavy procrastination, doubts, distractions). In later stages: With a cofounder decision-making becomes a nightmare—every other discussion ends in dramas and in grueling deadlocks. Without a cofounder life is a breeze and you can cl…
Well, first - what you described isn't a chicken and egg problem..it doesn't actually relate to this situation at all. Those are pros and cons of having a co-founder.
There are a ton of reasons why a co-founder is a pain. However, the positives far outweigh any negatives...the stage of the company doesn't matter. Disagreements are valuable. The workload is simply unmanageable on your own. The road to success / failure can get really lonely without a co-founder.
Building a successful company is unlikely. Building one without a co-founder...odds just got worse.
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#8It's choosing between pest and cholera. In early stages: With a cofounder you get started, carry on, have fun and soon an MVP. Without you quit days after having a first prototype (due to heavy procrastination, doubts, distractions). In later stages: With a cofounder decision-making becomes a nightmare—every other discussion ends in dramas and in grueling deadlocks. Without a cofounder life is a breeze and you can cl…
Well, first - what you described isn't a chicken and egg problem..it doesn't actually relate to this situation at all. Those are pros and cons of having a co-founder. There are a ton of reasons why a co-founder is a pain. However, the positives far outweigh any negatives...the stage of the company doesn't matter. Disagreements are valuable. The workload is simply unmanageable on your own. The road to success / failur…
You're right, it's not chicken and egg, it's choosing between pest and cholera, I'll edit. Thanks
In principle I agree with you on all your points but do not underestimate deadlocking situations in later stages. They will come, the overall situation will change a lot after time passed and thus the relation between the co-founders. And regarding successful single-founder companies: there are a lot, there just not welcome by VCs due to several reasons.
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#9If you're wondering why Google+ is suddenly in Estonian(?), it's because the submitter included ?hl=et on their link (remove it to get your normal language - this setting follows you around the site).
Re: Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
#10Not having a co-founder is worse. A short discussion with someone who understands what you are talking about can make ideas much clearer in your mind than days of thinking alone.
There are other ways to have discussions with people who understand what you are talking about. Surronding yourself with people who share the same passion for entrepreneurship or finding a mentor.
I've started to come to the same conclusion. After having just bought out my co-founder because he couldn't commit to the same extent as I have, I have gone back to look for a new technical "co-founder". But now I'm thinking it might just suit me better to hunker down, get stuff done and iterate the business a few pegs. That might give me enough traction to then decide to hire what's missing. I agree that surrounding yourself with good, responsive, thoughtful, and challenging mentors is a suitable alternative to a co-founder, but of course, they're not in the trenches with you, so there's no way they could truly have the same level of stress or have the same skin-in-the-game as you do. Maybe that's a plus, tho.
As you can see I am torn -- stay a single founder or add to the founding team?