

Fleaflicker (solo founder) Acquired by AOL - fleaflicker
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/25/aol-acquires-fleaflicker/

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ericb
Solo Founder? I demand you scuttle the acquisition and stop violating pg's pet
theories.

congrats!!!

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

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hacklite
Ironically, he got an invite from YC despite being a single founder -- and
then turned them down.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=173759>

Apparently they will "take a chance" on you as a solo founder if you have an
already-established profitable business you've built up over several years to
the point where an M&A event is imminent.

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vlad
I very reluctantly (reluctantly because pg is very kind to have any kind of
seed funding program or startup school at all) have to agree with your post. A
nicer way of putting it is, "we're not going to go against our #1 rule about
not having startups because that would make us look bad, unless rejecting a
single founder would make us look even worse." In other words, YCombinator
doesn't want to prove themselves wrong except when the case is such that
rejecting a clear super-star would make them look even more wrong. But that
doesn't mean there aren't good reasons.

I think the idealistic idea that people should move to Silicon Valley, meet
other smart people, live near smart VC's, and then start with some funding and
multiple founders is excellent advice; however, it doesn't seem fair to reject
those 20 year old single founders who already started as single founders, and
who are fine having users instead of cofounders, because they feel they're
months away from success, don't know anybody who is a worthy programmer and
don't have time to look, and don't know any good VC's and don't have time to
look. In fact, the whole reason single founders apply to YC _is_ so they could
move to Silicon Valley, meet other smart people, live near smart VC's, and
more...

However, being a solo founder for a long time could mean the founder may not
take YCombinator advice as well as multiple founders might (in which case,
neither of whom may have much of a leg up or time invested in the project, and
would be willing to do whatever pg says, making pg's job easier.) In general,
I believe that having multiple founders makes lives better for the startup,
for the users, and for investors.

I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done differently, except to take those
hackers who've tried doing a startup for years without the benefit of the
Valley, put them together in a room, and try to do new projects together. But
if you're going to do that, you might as well take some people who apply as a
group and have some experience working with each other already, versus a bunch
of people used to doing things on their own and their own way.

And the bigger question would be, why would solo founders want to work on a
different project, anyway? And if they were to do the same project they're
already working on, where would they get a founder or employee, or would they
be willing to?

I guess that's where Startup School comes in--to put a bunch of people
interested in starting up together in one room, in Silicon Valley, with VC's
presenting, to show them that there are definitely others out there who they
could work together with, regardless of their luck finding such people back
home, and that Silicon Valley is as nice to live in as it is famed for new
technology.

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jsjenkins168
Congratulations. You're an inspiration to all of us.

If you dont mind me asking, did you take on investment money or was the
decision to sell solely yours?

~~~
fleaflicker
Zero outside investment. Zero other employees (I've been doing this full-time
for ~3.5 years). I hired an artist for the illustrations. And used a lot of
open source projects.

~~~
coglethorpe
Congrats. That is so awsome! I love hearing about someone "making it."

I think I remember a post you made on Reddit about not having a co-founder. If
I recall you wanted one. Guess it turned out anyway.

I have a deadbeat co-founder. :-( Going solo would be better.

~~~
fleaflicker
That's true. Nobody took me up on it. I got one applicant and it went nowhere.

~~~
jsrn
Just for nostalgia, here is the reddit comment thread:

<http://reddit.com/info/p8nv/comments/>

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mkull
ha! yep I remember that post, and remember being really dissapointed when you
said it was in Java.

Congrats

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axod
Congrats :) Nice to know that single founders can make it as well.

Any hint about the sale price?

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abless
Great job. Doing something for 3.5 years on your own requires a lot of
confidence and perseverance. Congratulations!

~~~
bigbang
He definitely deserves it for that alone. Much more inspirational than
already-reach-from-paypal youtube guys selling for 1.6B

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mattmaroon
Congrats man! Good to see someone in the space cashing out.

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citris
founders bio <http://www.fleaflicker.com/images/bu_profile.pdf>

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wallflower
Congratulations! Looking forward to your _next_ adventure/venture

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wave
Congratulations.

how does the acquisition process initially start?

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edw519
Looks like you just got drafted in the "Reality Hackers League".
Congratulations!

You are inspiriation to the rest of us fellow single founders.

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vikas5678
Could you tell us some technical details about the project? What did you use
to make it? How the website handles the huge increase in traffic during
football season? I'd be interested to know about any technical information you
would be willing to share.

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mosburger
Many congrats! You are an inspiration to all of us!

So, who is your favorite NFL team? :)

~~~
fleaflicker
Unfortunately, the Jets.

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mosburger
I'm so sorry. Maybe with your newfound wealth you could buy them? :)

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Fuca
Congratulations Dude, I picture you in Cancun with a margarita now, but hope
you have the chance to answer: How much of your success do you think is thanks
to good SEO?

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sfalbo
How did you go about getting the word out about your site? Did you purchase
advertising or was it all word of mouth? Congrats!

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jrockway
Wait, but now you have to work for AOL :)

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eposts
Congrats! Looking forward to details...

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immad
Are you the founder?

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fleaflicker
Yes, thanks everyone.

~~~
immad
congrats. Can you share the acquisition value? :P

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rockstar9
wow solo founder! definitely an inspiration.

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rob
What programming language did you use?

