It's really difficult to be a solo founder. There's a lot of mental health stuff with starting a startup that someone might not realize outright. Flo is very d

It's really difficult to be a solo founder. There's a lot of mental health stuff with starting a startup that someone might not realize outright. Flo is very different from most founders, imo. He's a silicon valley veteran and knows what he's doing... he's not a "typical" founder in the sense of being new to the industry and building something big before learning the ways of silicon valley. I mention this to say, for him specifically, founding his company this way was the best way to be successful. Kyle Vogt from Cruise (and JTV / Twitch) also comes to mind as another SV veteran who started solo but added a close friend (Daniel Kan) later on. Flo's advice is pretty on point I'd argue. I was a solo founder who added 3 other cofounders (in terms of equity) later in our journey. We had worked together for multiple years by that point, and they were CRUCIAL to the business succeeding. If any of them left, our company simply wouldn't have worked at all. We didn't succeed in building a successful long term business, but our tech and team joined meta in 2018. I have never once regretted them as cofounders. Originally I had a part-time "cofounder" who really siphoned off equity, but did little else in the grand scheme of the product. He was useful in moving the company forward, turning it from a science project into a real company, but I didn't know him and mostly was just looking for a cofounder because it was the thing to do. I got into YC after firing him, and didn't add my "new cofounders" till 2 years after YC. There is no one solution. Trustworthy cofounders who feel like people you would go to war with are great. Mercenaries are terrible.