
Eliminating the Class of Cofounder Problems - davidbanham
https://blog.notbad.software/post/classes_of_error
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mooreds
This post is totally accurate. Not having a cofounder eliminates an entire
class of problems. Joint decision making, maintaining shared goals (especially
over time) communication and trust all are sources of difficulty on a co-
founder relationship. (Source, have been a co-founder and watched multiple
founding teams including some who split and some who exited.)

However, as the op points out, nothing is free (tanstaafl). Being a solo
founder provides a whole new set of problems as well.

The biggest one in my mind is emotional support. Building a business is hard,
and you have up and down days. I have had some miserable days as a company
founder and derived enormous comfort from my co-founder. Yes, other people can
help a bit, but they don't (and can't) have all the context.

The second biggest one is time. Depending on your business and runway and
skills, two or more people can get a business up and running more effectively
than one. Yes, as a software developer you can make sales calls. But when you
are doing so, no one is writing code.

Finally, all the communication, goal setting, trust building and joint
decision making that you get to skip when you are a solo founder? Eventually
you have to do all of that with your employees (even if you only grow to a
team of three or four). Not saying you should have a co-founder only to
practice that stuff (which is hard) but don't think you're going to avoid it
forever (unless you remain a solopreneur, in which case more power to you. You
either have an enviable business model or a job you can't leave).

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davidbanham
Very true! I think it's actually an interesting constraint to place on
business model ideation. When you restrict yourself to opportunities that you
could reasonably pursue solo it forces you to be more creative. The upside is
that your total addressable market doesn't need to be nearly as large.

~~~
brudgers
Large addressable markets are important to outside investors such as angels
and VC's of the startup world. The startup model is not the only model. It's
not the best model for every business. I only mention outside investment on
the startup model because it is not aligned with what you are saying and
expectations for capital infusion should be tailored to the difference in
model.

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Grustaf
What a coincidence, I’m working on an article called “Eliminating garden work
by not having a garden”.

