

Applying to YC as a Single Founder - jazzychad
http://blog.jazzychad.net/2011/08/31/applying-to-yc-as-a-single-founder.html

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johnrob
It would be great if someone started an incubator devoted to single founders,
specifically tailoring the program to address some of the associated
shortcomings. Perhaps it could also be a fertile ground to merge any
compatible founders into teams.

If any angel(s) are looking for a niche in the incubator "market", this would
be a pretty good one. Real value can be created if someone can increase the
chances of success for single founders.

~~~
fletchowns
Who is the poster child for the single founder success story?

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byoung2
Pierre Omidyar was a single founder when he started eBay in 1995. He brought
in employee #1 (Jeffrey Skoll), in 1996, and Meg Whitman in 1998.

Jeff Bezos was a solo founder when he started Amazon in 1994. Employee #1
(Shel Kaphan) was brought on before incorporation, but says Jeff was the
founder ([http://www.geekwire.com/2011/meet-shel-kaphan-amazoncom-
empl...](http://www.geekwire.com/2011/meet-shel-kaphan-amazoncom-employee-1))

~~~
molecularbutter
Brilliant, I was not aware of these facts.

~~~
byoung2
More recently, Omar Hamoui was a solo founder of AdMob, which sold to Google
for $750 million

Andrew Mason was a solo founder of Groupon, started with $1 million seed money
from a former employer.

~~~
ethnomusicolog
Do we all realize that Mark Z... is actually a single founder ?!

~~~
byoung2
That's up for debate. Zuckerberg did early hacking on his own, but he started
the company with Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes.

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abbottry
jazzychad is clearly a smart guy, and capable of running things early - people
like pg know that he has what it takes to get the company to a certain point,
but also knows that jazzychad knows when he needs help, and isnt afraid to say
so, a very important trait for successful founders.

9 times out of 10 you've come up with this idea on the crapper, in the shower,
or at the bar with your friends - spend more time thinking at a high level,
who will use this (target market), how much money could i make (market size),
and what will it need (design, development[mobile, web], advertising, sales
team, support, infrastructure), and how long it will take. After running
through these things, the result is not likely to be you deciding to apply to
YC as a single founder. [see last paragraph of comment if you just can't find
a co-founder, it happens]

People who are capable of executing as a single founder will do so, and people
like pg can see this by looking at the individuals history, and talking with
them about their new idea.

Single founders that fail are founders who are overly confident, execute
badly, or are scared of 'big scary investors' and negative feedback (yea there
are more, these are just examples). Folks like pg can see these things in
people, and will deny your application, rightfully so.

If you have an idea, and you think that YOU as an individual are the perfect
'team' then apply to YC that way, if pg agrees you'll get in. I can't imagine
it happens very often that people who are humble and grounded think to
themselves "I don't need anyone else, I am a baus!", if you do, step back and
rethink things.

If its a matter of you just not being able to find a co-founder, why not just
disclose it, and ask for help rather than trying to manipulate your app, or
your idea to appear as though you don't need help?

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Vincentmb
If you don't have the confidence to go after something solo, maybe you
shouldn't be in charge in the first place. Having said that, personal
experiences have taught me that a great partner can help innovation through
the checks and balances that occur during brainstorming.

~~~
rhizome
Hey "Vincent," are you professionally affiliated with AT&T?

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2946472>

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mmahemoff
Mark Suster on "the co-founder mythology":
[http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/09/the-co-
founder...](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/09/the-co-founder-
mythology/)

IMO the question is more nuanced than "how many founders is best", e.g. at the
Google IO funding panel, it was stated 4 is statistically optimal
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15iWltPLuPY>). But really, we should be
asking what is right for a given type of industry/business, and what is right
for different types of people.

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flipside
I appreciate the post, I'm hoping to get my app in by tomorrow as a solo
founder (though I am interviewing a potential cofounder, hopefully we can work
something out within the next month).

I particularly loved the part where you asked pg why he let you in. If nothing
else, I understand my startup backwards, forewards, inside out and upside
down, and I'm getting closer to conveying all that in the app.

Life keeps getting crazier and crazier, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

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zbruhnke
Great post as usual Chad, keep plugging along man, you're too talented not to
do great things

~~~
jazzychad
Thank you! I hope you are right :)

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jmjerlecki
I would be interested to know with the odds already stacked against single
founders, what the likelihood of a non-technical single founder getting
accepted is. I can't imagine it is high. Has there ever been one in YC?

~~~
abbottry
There was one in the batch that just ended - Hamilton Chan, Paperlinks:
<http://mashable.com/author/hamilton-chan/>

~~~
rdl
Was it one of the publicly-launched companies?

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zbruhnke
here are my reasonings for applying as a single founder again, while it may
not be the only decision sometimes I think it is defintely the best one.

<http://www.zachbruhnke.com/going-solo-reasonings>

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pitdesi
I don't yet know enough about the single founder bit, but there is one
unrelated sentence that you write that gives me great pause in the way you
chose to write it:

"But, if you want to do something big in the tech sector, you absolutely must
be in SV for the connections, money, talent, etc."

Really? You "absolutely must" be in SV? Seems like Groupon, Foursquare,
Groupme, Bitly, Grubhub, Gawker, Gilt, Kickstarter, Amazon, Tumblr etc etc etc
are doing just fine not in SV.

Great companies can be started in many places. A critical mass is helpful, as
is money. You can get money from anywhere. I'm from Pittsburgh. A company
there (Dynamics) just raised a $35 million series B. They are doing great on
"connections, money, talent, etc" in Pittsburgh. Several of your YC batchmates
will leave SV for other places. They will be just fine on all those things
too. You might not have been fine in NC, but there are many places you would
be able to raise money, find talent, etc. We ended up rejecting some VC's that
wanted us to be in Cali but ended up with terms we liked from investors we
like. (We're in Chicago) I have occasionally given thought to going back to
SF/SV but for our business there wouldn't be any impact other than we'd have
to pay higher salaries and rent.

~~~
timsally
Sure, if you want to examine companies over 15 years (as in your list) you can
find companies with big VC in many different geographic locations. That
doesn't chance the fact that _most_ such companies are in the valley. I find
the idea that you should be in the valley if you want big VC relatively
straightforward and uncontroversial.

\--

Sidebar: Of course, if you're going to go for a different type of startup than
YC's particular brand, you can do it from anywhere (central Japan, for
instance). The article refers to such startups as a "lifestyle businesses". I
find this terminology hilarious considering the most prominent example of a
"lifestyle business" in our field has funded a racecar build by advanced
beings for one of its founders.

~~~
alapshah
You said "most," the article said "Absolutely must." Also apart from Amazon,
all of the companies on that list were funded in the last couple of years, so
your 15 year span is sort of ridiculous.

"you should be in the valley if you want big VC relatively straightforward and
uncontroversial."

The guy just gave you scores of examples of companies not in the valley that
raised big VC - controversy

