4 ms·

So before this, was Notifo a one-man YC-funded startup?

by rjett 16y ago

geezgod 16y ago
this is what i want to know. I'm not sure and I'm not trying to thread crap but is the title Co-Founder the proper word to use? I'm curious because wouldn't a "founder" be someone who started the company from the beginning? From what I understand Paul joined afterwards (after the angel investing).
- robfitz 16y ago
  Being a founder is about what you do and how much of yourself you are able to put into the company, not when you join. If Chad had hired someone with Paul's skillset and then told him what to do, that is an employer-employee relationship. That doesn't look like what's happening here. They're entering into a partnership as equals to discover and build something new together.
  - philwelch 16y ago
    I suppose "partner" is a tempting word to use in this situation, but there may be legal connotations to designating higher-ups as "partners"--in particular, the connotation of being something like an LLP or law firm.
jazzychad 16y ago
yes, it was... YC definitely set me up on several "cofounder dates" during the course of YC... some of them looked promising, but ultimately none worked out. Eventually I had to just bear down and prepare for launch/demo day. As soon as I stopped looking, the right person came along :)
- rjett 16y ago
  Cool! I'd be interested to hear your experience with 1) getting into YC as a single founder and 2) working alone in the ensuing months. That's quite a feat.
  - jazzychad 16y ago
    I've been considering writing a post about my experience to this effect. Basically it boiled down to sheer ignorance. I didn't know that being a single-founder was such a big deal (in a negative sense), so I didn't know I should have been worried/nervous about it when applying/interviewing. As for working alone... I had done so many personal projects at nights/weekends after work at my day job that working alone was just natural (again, ignorance was bliss). I was also able to draw from each of the previous projects to piece together what I needed to build Notifo very quickly. This is the advantage of working on a bunch of different small projects all the time. The criteria I used for starting a new project was that I had to do at least one thing I had never done before which required me to learn a new language/technology/framework/API/etc.... after a dozen projects or so, this built up to a huge arsenal of skills to throw at new projects. Never stop learning. That said, having had a co-founder for about a week, there has been an obvious increase in productivity, so for that I am truly thankful.
- christonog 16y ago
  You weren't able to find someone in your personal network first? I'm surprised, especially since you already got YC funding.

So before this, was Notifo a one-man YC-funded startup?

by rjett 16y ago

So before this, was Notifo a one-man YC-funded startup?

this is what i want to know. I'm not sure and I'm not trying to thread crap but is the title Co-Founder the proper word to use? I'm curious because wouldn't a "founder" be someone who started the company from the beginning? From what I understand Paul joined afterwards (after the angel investing).

robfitz 16y ago
Being a founder is about what you do and how much of yourself you are able to put into the company, not when you join. If Chad had hired someone with Paul's skillset and then told him what to do, that is an employer-employee relationship. That doesn't look like what's happening here. They're entering into a partnership as equals to discover and build something new together.
- philwelch 16y ago
  I suppose "partner" is a tempting word to use in this situation, but there may be legal connotations to designating higher-ups as "partners"--in particular, the connotation of being something like an LLP or law firm.

jazzychad 16y ago

yes, it was... YC definitely set me up on several "cofounder dates" during the course of YC... some of them looked promising, but ultimately none worked out. Eventually I had to just bear down and prepare for launch/demo day. As soon as I stopped looking, the right person came along :)

rjett 16y ago
Cool! I'd be interested to hear your experience with 1) getting into YC as a single founder and 2) working alone in the ensuing months. That's quite a feat.
- jazzychad 16y ago
  I've been considering writing a post about my experience to this effect. Basically it boiled down to sheer ignorance. I didn't know that being a single-founder was such a big deal (in a negative sense), so I didn't know I should have been worried/nervous about it when applying/interviewing. As for working alone... I had done so many personal projects at nights/weekends after work at my day job that working alone was just natural (again, ignorance was bliss). I was also able to draw from each of the previous projects to piece together what I needed to build Notifo very quickly. This is the advantage of working on a bunch of different small projects all the time. The criteria I used for starting a new project was that I had to do at least one thing I had never done before which required me to learn a new language/technology/framework/API/etc.... after a dozen projects or so, this built up to a huge arsenal of skills to throw at new projects. Never stop learning. That said, having had a co-founder for about a week, there has been an obvious increase in productivity, so for that I am truly thankful.
christonog 16y ago
You weren't able to find someone in your personal network first? I'm surprised, especially since you already got YC funding.