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PG wrote that in 2006. Market forces and opportunities around startups have changed astronomically in the past 9 years. It was probably harder for 2 people to

PG wrote that in 2006. Market forces and opportunities around startups have changed astronomically in the past 9 years. It was probably harder for 2 people to start a "growth" business in 2006 than it is for 1 person today.

api 11y ago
Yes, the OP makes that point as well and it's also very relevant. PG's point on that issue is dated. Today we have a "stack" that automates a lot of the grunt work: ZenPayroll, Clerky, Stripe, etc. A single founder can just set up a business and run it using these services to do a lot of stuff that was once manual. I personally think the single-arity is near. (Title for a blog post I never wrote.) The single-arity will be when we have the first one person "unicorn." It won't stay one person forever, but pretty soon we will see an example of one founder -- working as the only full time employee -- building something with astronomical growth. On one hand it's pretty cool, and on the other hand it speaks to the degree to which we've created a winner take all economy with an insane hockey stick compensation distribution.
- nostrademons 11y ago
  We had that in 2003 with Marcus Frind & PlentyOfFish or Brad Fitzpatrick & Livejournal - or, arguably, in 1995 with Craig Newmark & Craigslist or Pierre Omidyar & E-bay. Multi-founder startups that took off like a rocketship before they took investment include HotOrNot, Google, Facebook, and SnapChat. It's been possible to do this since the web came out. The problem is that it very much is a lottery, and the median startup usually goes through significant tribulations before striking it big, struggles that make most single founders quit.
ianstallings 11y ago
It was. I did it with a partner in 2003 and we had to take time out and physically go to a lawyer, an accountant, etc. And the info on how to do it all was not as prevalent. A lot of it was new to us and we had to really dig to find it. These days I can do everything online, have a company rolling (incorporation pending approval of course), get payroll up, start advertising, and easily find others I can reach out to for help, in a single day.

api 11y ago

Yes, the OP makes that point as well and it's also very relevant. PG's point on that issue is dated. Today we have a "stack" that automates a lot of the grunt work: ZenPayroll, Clerky, Stripe, etc. A single founder can just set up a business and run it using these services to do a lot of stuff that was once manual. I personally think the single-arity is near. (Title for a blog post I never wrote.) The single-arity will be when we have the first one person "unicorn." It won't stay one person forever, but pretty soon we will see an example of one founder -- working as the only full time employee -- building something with astronomical growth. On one hand it's pretty cool, and on the other hand it speaks to the degree to which we've created a winner take all economy with an insane hockey stick compensation distribution.

nostrademons 11y ago
We had that in 2003 with Marcus Frind & PlentyOfFish or Brad Fitzpatrick & Livejournal - or, arguably, in 1995 with Craig Newmark & Craigslist or Pierre Omidyar & E-bay. Multi-founder startups that took off like a rocketship before they took investment include HotOrNot, Google, Facebook, and SnapChat. It's been possible to do this since the web came out. The problem is that it very much is a lottery, and the median startup usually goes through significant tribulations before striking it big, struggles that make most single founders quit.

ianstallings 11y ago

It was. I did it with a partner in 2003 and we had to take time out and physically go to a lawyer, an accountant, etc. And the info on how to do it all was not as prevalent. A lot of it was new to us and we had to really dig to find it. These days I can do everything online, have a company rolling (incorporation pending approval of course), get payroll up, start advertising, and easily find others I can reach out to for help, in a single day.