
Ask YC: Difference between two founders and single founder with full time employee? - wj
First of all, thanks to Sam for speaking at Washington University tonight. I really enjoyed the talk and like YC&#x27;s drive to &quot;increase the innovation output in the world.&quot;<p>The question I was going to ask during the talk was about co-founders vs. a single founder with a full time employee. I understand that YC prefers founding teams over a single founder but I&#x27;m curious to hear more of why. I am seeing first hand the amount of work a startup is (I know I had a productive day when I end it with more things to do than when I started it). But are there other reasons (company dynamic maybe?) why the same number of people would be more likely to succeed in a horizontal company structure (co-founders) vs. a vertical company structure (one founder with employees)?
======
brudgers
I am not YC.

I suspect that the disparity in economic incentives of a founder versus
employee creates a tension that correlates to issues further down the road if
both people are critical to the company's success. Conversely, if the employee
is not critical to the company's success then it raises a question of why
there is an employee at all.

That said, a company with an employee would probably be expected to be further
along the product/market fit curve than a solo founder since more resources
have been allocated. In other words, the bar might be higher in terms of
evaluation for YC.

Lastly, if there is hierarchy with just two people, that suggests a particular
approach to company culture and these days YC seems to devote a lot of
speaking time to company culture and how it is set by the founders.

But again, I am not YC.

Good luck.

