

How much more difficult is it to build a startup with a single founder? - rpsubhub
http://www.quora.com/How-much-more-difficult-is-it-to-build-a-startup-with-a-single-founder-versus-having-two-founders

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Androsynth
My biggest problem with Quora is that the answers tend to be from people that
aren't relevant. If you are asking about single-founder startups, why are the
top answers from 2-founder startups? There is lots of information out there on
2-founder startups, written by co-founders. I went to that thread looking for
first-hand accounts from a single-founder, someone who the question was
actually intended for.

This problem also came up the other day in the 'what skills do self-taught
programmers lack'. I am a self-taught programmer and I don't care how many
engineers you have managed, you can never actually understand what skills I
lack. That thread should have been a bunch of auto-didacts explaining what
they've had problems with over the years. Instead it read as a bunch of cs
majors listing out the cs curricula from their schools.

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Androsynth
After reading through all the answers, I've come to the conclusion that Quora
is the most vapid, rockstar oriented community ever. To everyone who claims
the HN community is dying, go read quora. It's all about me-too posts (which
is evidenced by the fact that this post consists of 40 PG regurgitations and
~5 great answers), where the biggest rockstars get voted up the highest. At
least HN still has deep, contextual discussion.

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algoshift
I wonder if age and experience might be a component here. A lot of the
internet startups quoted as examples of two founders being ideal were founded
by really young people. In that context having support might be an absolute
necessity. How does that compare with more experienced individuals in their
30's?

Having been a solo founder all my life I know just how hard it can be. I would
not wish some of the lows I have had to navigate on my worst enemy.

If you are unfortunate enough to be in really difficult situations you really
need the intestinal fortitude and mental stability to deal with life-changing
problems. Few people in their early 20's have had enough life experience to
have developed these qualities.

The problem with the co-founder model is that when life is peachy everyone is
working hard and having a good time. However, when things turn ugly if all
founders are not equipped to manage the situation it can easily turn in to a
nightmare. Things like not being able to make payroll, facing lawsuits, facing
bankruptcy, catastrophic supply chain problems (manufacturing), etc. can
easily create a set of conditions that can break apart a partnership that was
great during good times.

While I will not dispute that having like-minded co-founders can be an
advantage, I am of the opinion that --for a certain type of businesses-- I'd
rather go solo than run the risk of partnering with someone who might become
my worst enemy when things become difficult. The right partner, however, can
be an incredible asset, no question about it.

I don't think there's an easy universal answer to this question.

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Maro
So, when people submit these Quora links, do we answer the Quora question here
on HN, or answer on Quora and have a meta-discussion about Quora here on HN?
(LOL)

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yolesaber
AS OF APRIL 7TH 2011 3:25 AM EST

Percentage of singe-founder startup discussion: 59.5%

Percentage of meta Quora / question format discussion: 40.5%

The people have spoken.

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keiferski
Am I the only one that really doesn't like Quora's answer summary? Especially
for a question like this, because some (somewhat contrary) valuable opinions
are essentially ignored in favor of a catchy one liner.

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marcomonteiro
No. I don't like it either. Primary because I'm a single founder and secondly
because it does ignore the other opinions posted. Also I'm not going to give
up or stop working on my product because I don't have a co-founder. Not to say
I wouldn't take one or two on later if they can be a valuable asset to the
company, just that this work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed
up for work today.

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alexqgb
"This work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work
today." Ergo, JFDI. That's a valuable outlook for anyone. Among single
founders, it's baseline.

And I agree with the earlier posters - age is a big factor here, and not just
because of the additional self-discipline and knowledge that it tends to
produce. Assuming that you're starting something in a field you already know
well, you probably have a lot of people you can call on for advice, help,
resources, etc., not to mention more than a few credits in the favor bank. In
other words, you're really not as solo as you were in your early 20's. Nor are
you as likely to spend as much time trying to define your market, identify
your customers, and work out your acquisition costs.

In other words, your need to iterate is probably a lot lower, since and older
founder is more likely to be operating with a measure of specialized or
otherwise hard-to-get insight, and are aiming for something specific that
isn't low-hanging fruit, and that may depend - critically - on well
established relationships.

From what I understand, the tech world is one of the few places where founders
are commonly so young. I've lost the citation, but I believe the average age
for start-up founders in the broader economy is 38.

~~~
marcomonteiro
Agreed. I'm 29 and have been doing real estate sales and mortgage origination
for the past five years. I've always been a hacker, though admittedly much
less so over the past few years. I'm scratching my own itch. Turns out it's a
common itch in the real estate industry.

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evanjacobs
It appears that the strong bias against single founders (at least from the
investment community) may be softening a bit. In a recent talk at DogPatch
Labs, Mark Suster advised starting a company on your own and then hiring a
cofounder: [http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-suster-entrepreneur-
advi...](http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-suster-entrepreneur-
advice-2011-4)

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tribeofone
Its not. Start on your own, keep the equity, and in 6 months you can hire the
same person for just a salary and only 1 or 2%

~~~
lux
Doing that worked well for me in my first company, which lasted 10 years. But
I didn't get to that point on the second one and I burnt out working on it
completely on my own. It was working, but still too early to hire and a
cofounder would have definitely helped push on.

Had the wrong cofounder on the third one though, and I can't stress enough how
important having the right cofounder is after that experience. It wasn't all
bad, and could have been much worse, but enough to know how important a choice
that is.

~~~
Killah911
I've been in both situations. I've had cofounders, who weren't quite as
motivated as me, at which point I felt, "I might as well have done this
alone". Then I tried doing it myself and found myself overwhelmed and thinking
"wouldn't it be nice to have some support". Wonder if there are any articles
on how one could go about finding a good co-founder that you would "jive"
with. BTW, which one is worse, going it alone or bad co-founder(s)?

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lux
I'd say bad cofounder, because you can find someone as a solo founder, but you
have to first get rid of a bad cofounder (or put up with it).

I'd break it down into 3 things to look for in a cofounder: proof that they're
hard-working, that they have complementary skills, and that you really gel
with each other. Kinda gotta feel the last one out, but the others should show
up in their past work and their work ethic.

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CoachRufus87
If a single person builds the 1st version of the application and gets the
first 20 or so paying customers, is the 2nd person to work with the 1st person
considered a founder?

I guess I'm just not sure where the line is drawn between a founder and the
1st employee

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marcomonteiro
The line is drawn by agreement. The relationship is explicitly specified. It
would be foolish on the part of either of them to not be clear on this point.

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malux85
Being the technical co-founder I found it really helpful to get the manager /
sales person onside.

He does all of the "help me understand" when things need clarity. He also keep
me on track and not mucking around on the internet ( except the occasional
hacker-news comment ;] )

Another bonus I have found is that having a non-technical mind allows him to
put a unique perspective. One example is he wanted a list of all of the new
pages on the internet every day ... I initially laughed at this, but after
talking to him and going backwards and forwards his query turned back into a
product that we ended up selling. I never would have thought of it had there
not been his zany idea.

Coming from somebody who was the single founder for 5 months, I would say,
much more difficult doing it yourself.

~~~
anonymouscowrd
I'm in the same situation but am growing more unhappy with it as time passes.
A close friend is CEO/Idea Person/Sales Person with myself doing the
development. A few big challenges I'm running into are:

\- rudimentary stuff like web copy updates inevitably have to be done by me
making it feel like I'm a glorified gopher

\- a total lack of understanding on their part about the technology we're
using (web apps, Facebook apps, UX, etc.) and lack of willingness to
learn/contribute somewhere there

\- a fixation with networking and building relationships as opposed to
contributing _directly_ to the product. Not one of these contacts has
significantly impacted our product or bottom line despite numerous meetings,
coffees, etc.

\- big disagreements over our financial model. I advocated pursuing revenue
immediately from day one vs. the "let's grow a big audience and figure out how
to monetize later." This was a big source of tension. It took over a year for
this person to realize our acquisition/monetization ratio was completely FUBAR
before we "pivoted" to an actual revenue model. Now we're playing catch up.

\- serious damage to our friendship. Now we only talk during the work week,
never outside of it.

I give this person credit for raising the initial funding, however, I can't
help but wonder if I'd be better off solo and trying to find a cofounder later
as Mark Suster's article mentions. Part of me wants to walk, but another part
feels like I should just suck it up and see it through until the end.

~~~
marcomonteiro
I'm sorry. That's a really hard position to be in.

On another note what does "sucking it up until the end" entail? Where is the
end? What happens when you get there? Lastly, what's the worst thing that
would happen if you were to walk away?

Just some questions that popped into my mind. Hopefully you find them useful.
Best of luck.

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erikpukinskis
Good cofounders are better than no cofounders is better than bad cofounders.

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Vmabuza
It depends on the type of startup, your own skills and stress tolerance
level.I would support going at it alone ,if its possible to do so and
circumstances permit. Whats the point of trying to get people on board as
cofounders is you the only one who has the vision.Those people will not be
motivated as you are and wont be so passionate.

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jdp23
At the meta-level, this thread's an example of the potential of a system like
Quora. It's been open for nine months and still attracts good new responses
that get voted up. The brief bios add a lot, and so do the pictures. If you
just want a quick answer, the top answer (or the top three) are fine; if you
want to delve in more, all the different perspectives and experiences add a
lot of value. Impressive.

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Apocryphon
How many are there, anyways? It's always been Gates and Allen, the two Steves,
Sergei and Larry, Yang and Filo, even Zuckerberg and Saverin(?) Are there any
renown tech startups that had a single founder?

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sid6376
Amazon?

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bdclimber14
Thought experiment: "How much more difficult is it to build a startup with
someone else than just by yourself?"

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bdclimber14
PG describes that the emotional lows of a startup are dulled with the support
of a cofounder. Having very supportive and interested friends helps this as
well, although probably not as much.

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nickevans
Wow, really good answers. Glad we got to hear from Drew Houston.

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swah
More than 2x.

