

One person company - gdltec

YCombinator says: We're reluctant to accept one-person companies, though we have funded a couple.<p>I disagree with YC being reluctant to one-person companies, being a one-person start-up avoids all the time you waste trying to agree on ideas, deadlines, responsibilities, etc... I also understand the advantages of sharing ideas and work, however, you can actually have one or two other people help you with your ideas and giving you advice without them being founders... that is just my opinion. I hope YC will start to NOT being so reluctant to one-person companies... they should now more than anyone that human resources can be added at any time if necessary ;)
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mahmud
Solo "co-founding" is HELL. I am doing it until I can find another Arabic
speaking hacker who can switch between ar and en and able to travel 20% of the
year (emphasis on _hacker_.)

I am bleeding, man. Most days pass with me either not doing much of anything
but feeling sorry for myself, or going on 3 day streaks kicking, minor but
important, ass and taking pseudonyms. You could be the most skilled Jack of
all trades, but the moment you start solo you can count on spending 50% of
your time LEARNING on the job.

Just a list of things I have done since I woke up today:

1) responded to emails in 4 different languages. wrote some.

2) wrote CSS, for 5 different browsers until my arm hurt.

3) wrote html, javascript, postfix config, make files, shell, and C.

4) wrote excerpts for manual.

5) took phone calls, pausing between them as I switch my spoken language.

6) bitched about Internet Explorer.

7) found out I was benchmarking my fast object store on the wrong server; I
was ssh'ed to my fat box at home, not the deployment VPS.

8) made 1 pixel wide graphics with gradient for repeat-x; got RSI with it.

In between all this I read industry RSS feeds. Then talked to family, friends,
acquaintances and potential angels; adjusting my pitch for each, encouraging
some and scaring others.

All this time I'm drinking coffee, smoking and eating in my car with laptop.
Or I am crossing the street with notebook, gesturing wildly and modeling
interaction and snappy animated ajaxy stuff with my hands, oblivious to the
oncoming Ford Tauri.

You will talk with tens of people everyday and NONE will know how you truly
feel or where things really stand. You just can't; your loved ones wouldn't
understand, and the cognoscenti in your social circle couldn't be trusted.
There you are, a poet sworn to secrecy, a bard turned backup vocalist for
white noise.

It's draining. But it's GOOD :-)

~~~
ajju
What are you building?

~~~
mahmud
advertising-ng.

~~~
ajju
For the arab world? Or by outsourcing to the arab world?

~~~
mahmud
something like that. wait and see, or use the email in my profile :-)

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csbartus
It's all about the speed.

Once an idea for a startup is born, once an idea is getting to materialize
also others in different parts of the world will seize the same idea. (think
about scientific discoveries: a couple of teams are working on the same
subject unaware of each other)

And a race will begin. If you are an one person company you cannot compete
with a small team:

\- in the same time you'll deploy less code

\- you'll burn out faster

\- the clairvoyance to your business will be shaded by the lack of feedback
from your unexisting peers

Alone perhaps a successful open source project can be made, serious business
not.

~~~
gdltec
I agree with all of your points but this one: "- the clairvoyance to your
business will be shaded by the lack of feedback from your unexisting peers"
Are you kidding me? you don't need co-founders to get feedback of your
application, that is why you have friends, family, ex-co-workers, etc... :).
Also, are you saying that an open source project is not/cannot be a serious
business? that is wrong - 100%.

Thanks for the feedback!

Ricardo (gdltec).

~~~
csbartus
> you don't need co-founders to get feedback of your application, that is why
> you have friends, family, ex-co-workers, etc...

You need co-founders to _design_ your application, to come out with a release
to get feedback.

>Also, are you saying that an open source project is not/cannot be a serious
business? that is wrong - 100%.

I see many successful open source projects are backing up successful
businesses providing the infrastructure not the final product.

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yannis
A one person company is also an indication of the person not being able to do
the next step, being a manager and a team builder.

------
jganetsk
Apply and maybe you'll be part of the couple that get funded. They didn't say
that they wouldn't interview you.

