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Successful single founders are very rare. Agreed that the biggest cause of failure is issues between founders. One could say then that you should only start a

Successful single founders are very rare. Agreed that the biggest cause of failure is issues between founders. One could say then that you should only start a company when you have a cofounder, and one that is good. But in reality there's no way of knowing who will be good. The best proxy is choosing someone you have worked with before. A coworker for instance. Simply choosing a founder because you hang out with them is not a good idea. Try moonlighting with your founder dating buddy before making the leap.

felipap 7y ago
Aren't successful founders very rare, "period"?
nl 7y ago
Successful single founders are very rare. It's unclear they are remarkably more rare than other types. The data appears to show that single founders are the second most successful arrangement after pairs. https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/
- codesushi42 7y ago
  Second most doesn't mean anything when you're talking about three arrangements, realistically. I would like it to be true that solo founders have just as much chance of success. I have been unable to find a cofounder for years, and I am not biased against solo companies. People are unpredictable, and even wildly successful companies have some disheartening back stories. I've learned that from books like Idea Man (Microsoft) and Masters of Doom (id Software) where founding members got screwed by morally challenged cofounders. In the case of id, Tom Hall received nothing from id in the end, and forfeited all of his equity when he was fired. Because they decided he wasn't needed anymore, despite him being there from the beginning through the tough times. But it stands to reason that you are better off if you can find someone who is honest and is going to work hard with you, simply because two heads are better than one. When used together at least. Emphasis on honest, I would rank trust and ethics over experience and intelligence. If you can't find that person, and you are determined, then may as well go ahead and go it alone. You only live once. Just realize the odds are stacked even higher against you. You are only lying to yourself if you refuse to accept that truth. And you can be a cofounder of a successful company, but still fail miserably and have it all taken away by a bad cofounder.
  - eloff 7y ago
    You just dismissed the data and replaced it with nothing of substance. Forget your feelings and look at the data, single founders are successful especially when you're talking about smaller companies that might not go the VC route. VCs are really only interested in companies that have a shot at being unicorns.
    - codesushi42 7y ago
      What data? OP's link is a silly TC article without any negative examples (failure rates of single vs pairs).
      - eloff 7y ago
        That's still more than you offered to the contrary.
        codesushi42 7y ago
        Bad data isn't any more useful kid.
        eloff 7y ago
        It doesn't tell how many companies with single founders fail vs teams, but it shows that single founder companies comprise about half of successful startups on crunchbase. It's not perfect, but it's hardly bad either.
        codesushi42 7y ago
        >It doesn't tell how many companies with single founders fail vs teams Exactly, that missing information is what makes the data bad. Negative examples are needed to make any meaningful comparison between single vs team. You're missing an entire distribution showing success vs failure. You gave a perfect example of selection bias. You would make a terrible statistician, or maybe you're highly skilled in the art of How to Lie with Statistics.
tim333 7y ago
Some counter evidence: >Entrepreneurs Are Better Off Going It Alone, Study Says Startups founded by a single person are more likely to survive and succeed than those founded by a team (wsj article on paper by Jason Greenberg) https://www.wsj.com/articles/entrepreneurs-are-better-off-going-it-alone-study-says-11556503320?mod=rsswn https://www.wsj.com/articles/entrepreneurs-are-better-off-go...

felipap 7y ago

Aren't successful founders very rare, "period"?

nl 7y ago

Successful single founders are very rare. It's unclear they are remarkably more rare than other types. The data appears to show that single founders are the second most successful arrangement after pairs. https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/

codesushi42 7y ago
Second most doesn't mean anything when you're talking about three arrangements, realistically. I would like it to be true that solo founders have just as much chance of success. I have been unable to find a cofounder for years, and I am not biased against solo companies. People are unpredictable, and even wildly successful companies have some disheartening back stories. I've learned that from books like Idea Man (Microsoft) and Masters of Doom (id Software) where founding members got screwed by morally challenged cofounders. In the case of id, Tom Hall received nothing from id in the end, and forfeited all of his equity when he was fired. Because they decided he wasn't needed anymore, despite him being there from the beginning through the tough times. But it stands to reason that you are better off if you can find someone who is honest and is going to work hard with you, simply because two heads are better than one. When used together at least. Emphasis on honest, I would rank trust and ethics over experience and intelligence. If you can't find that person, and you are determined, then may as well go ahead and go it alone. You only live once. Just realize the odds are stacked even higher against you. You are only lying to yourself if you refuse to accept that truth. And you can be a cofounder of a successful company, but still fail miserably and have it all taken away by a bad cofounder.
- eloff 7y ago
  You just dismissed the data and replaced it with nothing of substance. Forget your feelings and look at the data, single founders are successful especially when you're talking about smaller companies that might not go the VC route. VCs are really only interested in companies that have a shot at being unicorns.
  - codesushi42 7y ago
    What data? OP's link is a silly TC article without any negative examples (failure rates of single vs pairs).
    - eloff 7y ago
      That's still more than you offered to the contrary.
      - codesushi42 7y ago
        Bad data isn't any more useful kid.
        eloff 7y ago
        It doesn't tell how many companies with single founders fail vs teams, but it shows that single founder companies comprise about half of successful startups on crunchbase. It's not perfect, but it's hardly bad either.
        codesushi42 7y ago
        >It doesn't tell how many companies with single founders fail vs teams Exactly, that missing information is what makes the data bad. Negative examples are needed to make any meaningful comparison between single vs team. You're missing an entire distribution showing success vs failure. You gave a perfect example of selection bias. You would make a terrible statistician, or maybe you're highly skilled in the art of How to Lie with Statistics.

tim333 7y ago

Some counter evidence: >Entrepreneurs Are Better Off Going It Alone, Study Says Startups founded by a single person are more likely to survive and succeed than those founded by a team (wsj article on paper by Jason Greenberg) https://www.wsj.com/articles/entrepreneurs-are-better-off-going-it-alone-study-says-11556503320?mod=rsswn https://www.wsj.com/articles/entrepreneurs-are-better-off-go...