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I feel like there is a general sentiment around my question which says "you shouldn't bring him on as co-founder but an employee". Why is that? Paul Graham adv

• JasonSage 9y ago
  I do not feel like you convince somebody to be a cofounder, they convince you they must be one. If you're talking him into it and it turns out he just doesn't have the capacity or passion for it which you'd like him to have, you're in for a huge disappointment. Look at it another way—you're trying to seal a larger commitment on paper so you're buying into risk without getting anything tangible back on that investment compared to investing in him as employee #1. Fallout from a bad first employee will never be as bad as fallout from a cofounder you want to remove.
• taneq 9y ago
  Because co-founders cost you equity and even a few % of the next Facebook is still many millions of dollars. Or so the thinking goes. PG says to get a co-founder because (I'd assume) from what he's seen sole founders are much less likely to end up with the next hotdog stand, much less the next Facebook.