

Ask HN: Single founder startup, is it possible? - Goranek

So the story goes like this.
I've created a product. But!
The problem is that I'm the only founder. In most cases this is a "BIG NO" to investors<p>Is it really that important to have co-founders? 
Should I try to submit my project to startup incubators or force and try to find co-founders?
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keiferski
I post this all the time;

 _Having no cofounder is better than having a bad one, and starting a company
solo is better than not starting one at all.

Don't get too hung up on the latest startup / incubator trends; plenty of
companies have been started with one founder. Just go out and do it. _

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codegeek
Think of it this way. You should not get a co-founder just because you are
worried about investors etc. You should get a co-founder _when_ you need if at
all. Get started and see how it goes. You will have your answer when you have
the _need_ for a co-founder.

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passfree
Of course it is possible. People do it all the time. Don't stress about your
co-founder. Just make a good/valuable product/service and everything else will
together by itself.

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czbond

      I think it's the best way, personally, at first. 
    
      Investors don't care how many founders you have if there is traction.
    
      Noah Kagan and Mark Suster seem to think so as well:

<http://www.founderly.com/2011/08/noah-kagan-appsumo-1-of-2/> Can't find link
to Mark Suster, but i recall it from avc.com

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peacemaker
Forget co-founders, investors and incubators. Acquire customers that will pay
for your product and the rest will follow if you want it to.

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staunch
Yes. You absolutely need a co-founder. It's just too hard to do alone.

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Goranek
I must admit, I expected bunch of answers like yours.

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bmelton
It's harder to garner investment funds, but there's nothing to stop you from
building a business as a single founder.

In my case, I've started a number of products that have languished and died
because I was lacking skillsets that weren't as easy for me to acquire as it
was to find somebody who had them.

Long and short of it, it is often easier to supplement what you don't know
with somebody that does know those things than it is to find more time in the
day to learn it all and do it all yourself. Even if you know everything
yourself, finding the time to do marketing / promotion / split-testing the
site copy / crafting emails / handling user support, etc., are time-intensive
tasks, and if you are like me, you'd rather be building new features than
doing those things.

If you can find somebody passionate that can take approximately half of the
workload, it's a life saver. It's also handy to have another smart* individual
that can take that work off of you, then it's a lifesaver.

If you've never launched a product, then it's really hard to know how much
work is involved post-launch. Launch is really just the beginning, and as hard
as it is to launch, getting your product to succeed at market is many times
harder.

~~~
Goranek
I agree 100% with you. It's not that I don't want to have a co-founder, I just
currently didn't need any.

It's weird that this should be a minus and thanks to your comments i will not
force to find a co-founder just to be able to say, yey we're team.. screw it

