
Why you should or should not get a co-founder - jacquesm
http://jacquesmattheij.com/Why+you+should+or+should+not+get+a+co-founder
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For me the biggest advantage to having is a co-founder is the psychological
support it brings. Being a single-founder is a lonely, pressurised position to
be in, it can take its toll. The biggest problem is that there's no one there
to share the burden, even if you have the most supportive friends and family
and get the best business advice, nothing beats being able to have a frank,
detailed discussion about the company with someone who's in the exact same
position as you, whose goals and fate are intertwined.

For this reason, I think it really helps if the co founders are in a similar
position financially, for example, if one co founder is struggling to pay the
bills, can't afford to eat etc and the other is financially comfortable, this
might become a bone of contention between the two. The struggling co founder
might feel that the other isn't putting as much work in because they don't
have the same kind of pressure on their shoulders, the better off co founder
might feel obligated to support the other one, and that introduces possible
equity squabbles later on.

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jacquesm
That's an excellent point actually, I should have included that somehow. If
founders are of a very disproportionate level of wealth then that can create a
lot of friction.

One of the reasons is that for one co-founder the business is a life-or-death
matter, whereas for the other it may merely be a way to get through the day in
an interesting way.

I've seen one such situation up close and it caused a lot of trouble.

