

Ask HN: Finding cofounder: did you just end up going solo? - a_lifters_life

I&#x27;m wondering for those really into starting a company, but lacking a complementary cofounder - did you end up just starting out yourself? How did it turn out?<p>Thanks.
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jeffmould
Been down this route with my current company. Sorry if this answer is long
winded, but I want to give a full description of why being a single co-founder
worked for me personally. I am currently finishing up my first year in
business and am only now in the process of bringing on a co-founder. There
were some benefits and pitfalls to this approach, but looking back I would not
have done it any differently and I couldn't be happier about the decision to
proceed alone. I should note that a lot of this had to do with complete luck
as I will explain below.

First, I am building a niche, taboo startup (helping ex-offenders through re-
entry). When I first started many of my friends, and people I considered
potential co-founders, found the idea a little too risky or crazy for their
liking. Many didn't understand the market and were skeptical that a market
even existed. I was not going to give up though and was bound and determined
to get a business model built and launched, so I pressed forward. Bringing on
a co-founder just to say you have a co-founder is a the perfect recipe for
disaster in my opinion.

Out of luck I got accepted into an accelerator program for social impact
startups. The overall value of the program is a blog post in itself, but the
one enormous benefit that came from it was the connections within city
government and other startups. It is through this that I ended up meeting my
co-founder. We are still hashing out the exact details of our agreement, but
our skill sets compliment each other and we get along good. He also
understands the market, has experience in it, and knows the business side of
building this type of business. I could not be happier for the way it worked
out. The whole process has allowed me to essentially do a "co-founder dating"
period without giving up equity or IP secrets, and it allowed each of us to
work together and see how we got along before getting into a relationship.

Now to give you the flip side and why I believe this approach worked for me
personally. I had a previous startup where I partnered with individuals I
considered friends. We ended up having an ugly falling out over money and
development of the product. The fallout was devastating personally and
financially for me, and while I take a considerable amount of the blame for
the initial fallout, their actions after the fallout are what made the
situation even worse (they divulged company data, were highly vocal to
potential customers and investors, etc..). They essentially made it impossible
for me to succeed even if I wanted to. While I probably could have sued, I
ultimately felt it was easier to lick my wounds and walk away. I also felt
that suing would just take me down to their level, and wasn't worth the battle
(no matter what side you are on, lawsuits are not pretty or fun).

Long story short, the experience made me extremely skeptical going into my new
venture of who I would bring on as a co-founder. When you hear the horror
stories of co-founder breakups or that they are one of the leading causes of
potentially good ideas failing as a business, I can attest to the outcomes.
Ironically, the only reason I had taken on co-founders in the first place was
because of outside pressure from potential investors that I needed to have at
least one other person. Investments we didn't even end up getting.

Having a co-founder has its benefits and pitfalls in my opinion. Nobody can
deny that the right co-founder is the ultimate blessing. They are someone who
is right there in the battle with you through the good and the bad. They are
someone you can call at 4am with a whimsical idea and know they completely
understand why you called and get equally excited. They are someone that is in
the ring fighting with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The problem arises
though when one of you can no longer afford to stay in the ring and continue
to fight. Whether that is due to financial or personal reasons is irrelevant.
When the frustration from one side grows so much that communication between
the parties diminishes or does not occur at all, the fallout will begin. Each
party will begin to blame the other, regardless of who is at fault. When this
starts to happen, how it is ultimately handled by both sides together will
determine whether the business comes out intact or fails. Best advice I can
say here is to have a neutral third-party that can mediate the fallout. This
is probably why you see funded companies navigate co-founder breakups easier
than un-funded companies. Good investors know breakups happen and are ready to
step in and help you navigate that breakup. Without that third-party though it
is difficult and the chances of making through successfully are not in your
favor.

While the building of my current startup has taken a little longer without a
co-founder, it gave me some advantages. First, I had no one to blame but
myself if the business fails. This gave me great incentive to succeed. Second
it allowed me to be in the fight without having to be in the ring. Meaning
that I while I was determined to build a business, if at anytime I wanted to
quit the decision was fully mine and I could walk away without losing
friendships or future business partners. Finally, it is giving me an enormous
advantage as I prepare to finally enter the ring with my new co-founder. I
have a product developed, it works, and I have people using the service daily.
I don't have to sell anyone on the idea or business. Is the business 100% or
completely finished, absolutely not. But one of the biggest hurdles has been
jumped and by bringing on the co-founder now, it is more like tag-team
wrestling where I can hand off the product and let him go sell. This doesn't
mean I don't have to do anything from here on, it just pulls an enormous
amount of pressure off me. It gives me time now to focus on fixing bugs,
adding new features, cleaning up rushed portions of code (don't deny it we all
do it), etc...

I should note that there were a few key items that I think made a big
difference for me along the way. First, while I lean towards being an
introvert, I consider myself fairly good at networking and making connections.
As I was flushing out my business model, I reached out to a lot of people in
the industry and made some great connections along the way. I also applied to
several accelerator programs. Two of the programs that I applied to, while I
was not accepted, have gone above and beyond in helping me. From introductions
to answering emails at 3am providing design input/advice for my
website/product. Neither of these teams had to do this for me, yet they
believed in me and my idea enough that they go out of their way to answer my
emails directly and provide feedback. I also have a good core group of friends
that I can ping ideas off of and support me, and while they may think I am
crazy at times they are there for me if I need them. I don't think without
these pieces that I would have (a) survived the first year by myself, (b) made
it to where I am today with the product.

So to answer your original question, by all means go for it! The right person
will come along, and when they do, you will know it immediately.

