

Are Single Founder Startups that Bad? - DJN

A lot has been written about the "merits" and "demerits" of single founder startups.<p>Many of the arguments against it are perfectly legitimate. The common theme is that it is more risky.<p>My question is:<p>If against the odds, the single founder can 
1) implement a working, post-beta product and 
2) gains some market traction (i.e. can demonstrate some actual dollar sales, even if they are just a handful)<p>At this point,the company and its business model have been derisked to a large degree.<p>Should we still discriminate against that startup in comparison to 3 founders with no product (or an alpha stage product) and no sales?
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mrduncan
_Are single startups that bad?_ Not necessarily.

Single founder startups are inherently riskier than startups with multiple
founders. That isn't to say that risks can't be overcome though - there are
plenty of of single founder startups doing very well.

Odds are though, if you can't find a cofounder who believes in you and your
idea, you are going to have a tough time finding customers to do the same.

The comparison of 3 founders with no product to a single founder with a
successful product sounds a lot like comparing Tiger Woods to a team of
golfers. Sure the team has some advantages, but winning is what counts and I'd
put my money on Tiger in that case.

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_pius
_Single founder startups are inherently riskier than startups with multiple
founders._

That's stated without proof, but it sounds pretty controversial. What's your
argument for why that's true?

In my opinion, it's hard for a startup to die when it consists of one
determined founder working without salary and with practically zero startup
costs or commitments to payroll. As a matter of fact, it's practically
impossible to kill such a business without literally killing the single
founder. :)

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mrduncan
Right you are. I should have used a different word than "riskier" there as it
doesn't really fit my intention. More precisely, I would say that single
founder startups are less likely to succeed (therefore riskier to fund if you
are funding them). I don't think that there is a coincidence that YC looks at
single founder companies more carefully, or that pg listed being a single
founder as the #1 mistake that kills startups [1].

Again though, there are plenty of success stories for single founders. I would
posture that the ratio of companies which are ramen-profitible to those which
aren't is higher for multiple founder startups however.

1\. <http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html>

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_pius
_More precisely, I would say that single founder startups are less likely to
succeed (therefore riskier to fund if you are funding them)._

I'd agree with that.

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cullenking
I would have a hard time imagining your chances of success would be even close
to equal as having two founders. From what Zack and I have found when working
on our site, we have peaks and valleys of output. Both of us have other
responsibilities (meaning we are not funded and have other income we have to
bring in), and life just happens: when I am in a lull, usually Zack is pushing
stuff out and vice-versa. Very occasionally we both lull at the same time and
user interaction suffers, traffic drops and we get a swift kick in the ass to
get moving again :)

Not to be saying it can't be done, but, be prepared to do nothing but the
startup (get some funding, live off savings etc).

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DJN
Good comments all round.

Consider this scenario:

Against all odds, a working, stable product has been built, the business has
modest traction but yet to really hit the ball out of the park, the business
needs external funding.

How does the single founder overcome the "one founder is too risky" stigma?

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Mz
I would say if you want to go it alone, do so. Just plan on funding it some
way other than venture capital. If you can get venture capital, great! But I
don't see why that should be a central concern. If it is a concern for you,
then do a comparison of the type of business that VC works for and the type
(model) of business you are trying to create. See how closely they line up. If
they don't line up at all, then it's a moot point anyway and you are free to
do as you please because they don't want you anyway.

