

Ask HN: Go it alone or try and find a partner? - kaolinite

I currently work as a programmer but wish to leave and set up a company. I have an idea and I'm confident that I have a reasonable chance at making it work, however I'd be doing it alone.<p>Apart from work and some people online many miles away, I know 0 other programmers. I can't go into business with anyone from work due to my contract and, even if I could (perhaps they couldn't enforce that?), I don't think I'd want to. I don't know anyone here well enough.<p>To make matters worse, I a small city with very few technology companies and a lack of programmers. It may be quite hard to find someone locally who would be interested.<p>I believe it is harder to get VC when going it alone - is this true and does anyone have any experience with this?<p>Has anyone else been in a similar position?
======
trevelyan
As a single founder you can write off funding until you're actually making
money, at which point you'll start getting unsolicited offers you'll reject
because you no longer need the money. The downside is poverty while you're
bootstrapping and emotional issues like depression and isolation.

Regardless, if you think you can get revenue without funding I'd say go it
alone because you don't NEED anyone else and you can always bring people on
board (even as employees) later. A business that can get a few thousand a
month within a year should be able to scale up into hundreds of thousands in
annual revenue through word-of-mouth alone. At that point you can live without
answering to anyone else. The other route of taking investment and cofounders
means you get locked down and need a much larger exit to have the same level
of freedom.

If you can afford to spend $5 to $10k over the next six to ten months, you
might want to look at something like Start-Up Chile. They don't take equity so
don't have the anti-single-founder bias that seems prevalent elsewhere, but
the social nature of the program makes the startup experience less alienating
because it makes you part of a cohort, and the funding can be useful for
experimenting with different approaches to distribution and marketing you
wouldn't be able to afford as a bootstrapper otherwise.

~~~
jturly
I would definitely recommend Startup Chile. There is a 'sole founders' group
within Startup Chile that meets weekly. I got into Startup Chile as a solo
founder. Since then I have brought on two partners. I am having a great
experience in the program.

~~~
pwhelan
Could you please elaborate on your experience with them as a solo founder?

Also, how would the US market being the almost sole target impact things?

~~~
jturly
Sure! I can say that my acceptance into the program allowed me to attract
significantly better cofounder candidates than I was able to before. I know
that they do not discriminate against solo founders in the application
process. What else would you like to know? Happy to answer your questions :).

~~~
pwhelan
Sorry for the delay, things got away from me for a while.

How little Spanish could one speak and realistically get by? Yo sé un poquito,
solamente un poquito. The website says they work in English but the general
Chileans?

If the idea is a web & mobile service that focuses (almost) exclusively on the
US & UK, would that be feasible?

Can you talk about what type of talks and events are required for founders to
give / attend and how demanding on your time this is?

At the end of that time period, what happens to your work visa and whatnot?
Can you stay to work there, are you expected to work there, etc...

Sorry for the delay again & thanks.

~~~
jturly
I spoke no Spanish when I got here and have survived so far. Seems you know
more than me! Chileans don't speak much English - maybe 5% of them are
bilingual?

They want to see startups that will target the world eventually...could say
US/UK are starting points.

No talks are mandatory to attend, but you need to give or organize a bunch.
Maybe 5-10% of my time.

You get a work visa for 1 year. Expected to stay for 7 months. You can try to
get a permanent residency after 1 year

------
bap
I'm going to talk about geography because other people are giving good advice
in other regards:

Can you move to a startup friendlier environment? Even by taking another job
and working nights/weekends/lunch hours on your startup?

Tony Hsieh is doing awesome things in Vegas and it's not nearly as expensive
to live there as Silicon Valley, San Francisco, LA, NYC, etc.

Create a really good plan, come up with a simple proof of concept and reach
out to the incubators? Hell, Reach out to Tony to see if it's worth the move.

You'll want to have something concrete to reach out with before you do so.
Execution is everything, ideas are just vaporware. Once you've shown
commitment by building/executing, your inquiries will get a lot more respect
and attention.

Being in a place where people value and are enthusiastic about startups will
make a huge difference to you.

If you can't move DO NOT GIVE UP. I totally understand having a family or a
mortgage or a spouse who isn't into moving, etc.

Building your product is more instructive and can be more entertaining than
watching TV or going to a movie or whatever else you do to pass free time.
You're making yourself better at what you do by expanding your horizons in
this way.

I have been very successful working with distributed teams. Take a look at
Automattic (wordpress.com) a company that has zero requirement on where you
are geographically, provided you can do your job well.

Start building, launch a minimum viable product. If you feel the need for more
help use what you've built to inspire collaborators. Don't be afraid to
bootstrap if that is your only recourse:

<http://37signals.com/bootstrapped>

Email me (check my profile) if there's anything I can do to help. ;)

------
thejteam
I'm about to do the same thing. I live in a semi-rural area. It has a pretty
large tech presense due to a fairly large R&D naval base, but everybody around
here is only interested in government contracting, which I am looking to get
out of.

So long as you have all of the skills necessary to make the business work then
it shouldn't be a problem. You have the added benefit in that you don't have
to split the profits with other founders or investors. You don't have to swing
for the fences and can be happy with a single or a double so long as you like
the business. And you can always change what you work on without interferring
with somebody else's plans.

~~~
kaolinite
Are you planning to get funding? I'm concerned that going alone will go
against me.

~~~
thejteam
Not immediately. I have a year and a half to two years living expenses saved
up. I hope to start generating at least some revenue in month 4-5. I won't
need funding until I want to "take it to the next level" at which point I'll
be an established business and could probably even get a bank loan.

The other part of being in an area that's not really in the "startup" world is
that rules of thumb like needing a cofounder do not really apply. You do need
to be able to find the "local money" though, the successful local businesses
whose owners are looking for investments beyond the usual index funds.

------
ig1
Move.

Even if it wasn't for the sole founder issue, it's much harder to get VC
funding when you're in the middle of nowhere. Not just because of connections,
but also how are you planning to grow and hire more staff if you're in a
technology wasteland ?

------
paulhauggis
As an entrepreneur, you have a high chance of failure with our without a
partner. Go it alone until you absolutely need a partner.

~~~
kaolinite
Of course. I believe that starting with someone else however definitely
increases your chances of being successful. Going alone also seems to make it
harder to get funding from VC.

