by Tunecrew on 7/27/17, 5:31 PM with 60 comments
by got2surf on 7/27/17, 6:34 PM
Without knowing the distribution of startups with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5+ etc founders, it's hard to tell how much more/less likely each group is to succeed.
by lettergram on 7/27/17, 7:15 PM
Personally, I've started projects alone and with others, but by far all my most successful businesses/projects (one of which I'm applying to YC with) have been initialized by myself, and then I brought in others as needed.
Unfortunately, that creates some issues. For example, my most recent partner had to step back for personal reasons. Now, the question is - does that look bad? Now, I'm in an even weaker position because it looks like I failed to convince them the project was worth it, or we had a falling out. Neither of which was the case, we're still good friends, we just had different priorities and risk / reward levels.
Now I'm again a solo founder, searching for another partner. I know I could use one, which is why I'm doing it. There's a lot of work, and I'd move faster with help. I feel that's the only time I'd search for a co-founder going forward.
I kind of doubt people can bring people in just to increase fundability. They still have to be convinced and provide value.
by bdcravens on 7/27/17, 8:10 PM
by bitL on 7/27/17, 9:35 PM
by Hasknewbie on 7/27/17, 7:19 PM
by jedberg on 7/27/17, 11:32 PM
To me, a cofounder is someone who has enough equity to veto your decisions if they don't like them. Everyone else is an employee, whether compensated in cash, equity, or thank yous.
Most of the objections I see here are, "well, they had a support group of X and Y".
No one does it alone. The issue is whether you have ultimate authority (and therefore responsibility) for the success or failure of the company.
I'd say everyone on the list of solo founders was personally responsible for the success of their company.
by jliptzin on 7/27/17, 6:17 PM
by sebleon on 7/27/17, 6:16 PM
by arikr on 7/27/17, 7:17 PM
by adventured on 7/27/17, 10:52 PM
For example: Henry Ford
He had half a dozen people building his first vehicle for him, most of them contributing their time to help at no cost, while he directed the implementation/vision/ideas. This is the first version of his quadricycle vehicle [1] he built in his little shed. Ford did some early experimentation work on his own, it wasn't very long however before he invited some extremely talented specialists to join in helping him, just to basically see if they could all pull it off. Ford had a high talent for gathering skilled specialists to follow him (messianic leader, he managed to do it throughout his career), all of which were better at specific tasks than he was (whether blue print drafters, or metal workers). Solo founder? Ford Motor wouldn't exist without Ford and it wouldn't have existed without the critical day-one contributions of those particularly talented people (some of which stayed with him for many years). When Ford built the Model T, he pulled together a very small team of hyper talented people just like with the quadricycle, and they did the actual work / implementation, while he played general (to take nothing away from that role, it's at least as critical as the other roles).
Ford as a solo founder is a big stretch.
by nathan_f77 on 7/27/17, 10:00 PM
by uiri on 7/27/17, 7:32 PM
by tlogan on 7/28/17, 2:40 AM
If your plan to grow your company is thru business (actually making something) then having co-founder is not required: you can hire senior people since you are solving real problem.
by sage76 on 7/27/17, 7:32 PM
Aaron Patzer, on the other, was truly on his own.
by Grustaf on 7/27/17, 7:14 PM
In the end I would guess that the experience matters much more than the exact probability of success for most people.
by muzani on 7/28/17, 12:25 AM
It wouldn't end up even half the size if it wasn't two equally intelligent cofounders working together. That's a huge advantage of the co-founder system: you absorb your competitor instead of fighting them.
by Tunecrew on 7/27/17, 5:32 PM
by jmatthews on 7/27/17, 7:03 PM
by horsecaptin on 7/27/17, 11:07 PM
Switching from "if you don't have cofounders" to "if you have cofounders".
Done. 180 degree about face. Commence frenzy!
by Danihan on 7/27/17, 6:18 PM
by mankash666 on 7/27/17, 8:30 PM
Ironic for all the AI, machine learning, data-science toting startups to go in the exact opposite direction when it comes to canonizing obvious non-science.
by rokhayakebe on 7/27/17, 6:50 PM