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Get a cofounder. If your startup succeeds, you could spend 5 years or more working on it. It's rounding error to spend 6 months making a concerted effort to f

by pg 14y ago

Get a cofounder. If your startup succeeds, you could spend 5 years or more working on it. It's rounding error to spend 6 months making a concerted effort to find a cofounder first. And while it can be hard to find a cofounder, it's not as hard as starting a successful startup.

kaolinite 14y ago
Thanks for the reply. Based on your response and the responses of others, I think that I will in all likelihood apply with the intention of searching for someone to work with (perhaps local to SF) if my application progresses. If it does not, it will allow me to focus my search on my local area. Thanks again :-)
taytus 14y ago
For me has been extremely hard to find a cofounder. Hey there people from Dallas TX, do you want to create something awesome and needs a developer!? Please contact me.
- zlatan1 14y ago
  If you're not set on being in the same location, check out my entry in the co-founder spreadsheet and see if we could match.
mindcrime 14y ago
pg: Do you make a distinction between "solo founder who is and intends to remain solo" and "solo founder who just hasn't happened to meet the right co-founder(s) yet?" Just curious, as I see those as being pretty distinct cases. With Fogbeam Labs, I was a "solo founder" for a year or so, before our second founder came onboard, and then it was about 8 months after that when our 3 founder joined up. I imagine other people find themselves in that place where they are open to (even seeking) a co-founder, but just haven't met the right person yet. In any case, my thought, FWIW, is that a founder should keep working on advancing their vision, whether or not they have located (a) co-founder(s) yet. I wouldn't "stop the world" to do nothing but look for a co-founder.
- pg 14y ago
  The unfortunate fact is that there is not much difference between the two cases. Most people who are looking for a cofounder when they start YC are still looking for one 6 months later. Alarmingly often that's because they recruited one in the interim who's already gone.
  - vadimoss 14y ago
    hehe, has gone in 6 months after going through YC? those solo founders must be really priceless then:)
    - DanielRibeiro 14y ago
      Co-founder dynamics are extremely important and extremely fragile. You are choosing someone to go on long term journey, where you will no longer only be building something cool, but you'll be building a company, be responsible for hiring and, God forbid, firing people. You will be responsible for your employee's lives, and their families, you will be responsible for your investors time and effort to make all your promises come true. All of this becomes extremely harder after you've been traveling alone for a long time (which can often be a few months, as startups are that intense). Sharing all this responsibilities with someone who has not been there from day one is challenging for both parties: can you trust them to be with you in the long run, do you agree in fundamental things, how do you deal with different company stakes and vesting periods? And, if you ever pivot (as many successful startups have[1]), how will all of these pressures come to live? And it gets worse after you get investment (in the form of YC money, angel money, and progressively more) as your choice of co-founder will likely reflect on you, from your investor's idea. And it always add risk to the table, no matter how you put it. All of this while still working and growing your startup. Don't take this lightly. It may be harder to find a proper co-founder under these circumstances than founding a successful startup. But being able to have people you trust beside you building a company can be an invaluable thing. [1] http://www.fastcompany.com/1836238/how-eric-ries-coined-pivot-and-what-your-business-can-learn-it http://www.fastcompany.com/1836238/how-eric-ries-coined-pivo...
markmm 14y ago
A founder is someone who founds the company along with you, it seems you are saying people should just find a random person and call them a co-founder? Why can't there just be one founder?

by pg 14y ago

kaolinite 14y ago

Thanks for the reply. Based on your response and the responses of others, I think that I will in all likelihood apply with the intention of searching for someone to work with (perhaps local to SF) if my application progresses. If it does not, it will allow me to focus my search on my local area. Thanks again :-)

taytus 14y ago

For me has been extremely hard to find a cofounder. Hey there people from Dallas TX, do you want to create something awesome and needs a developer!? Please contact me.

zlatan1 14y ago
If you're not set on being in the same location, check out my entry in the co-founder spreadsheet and see if we could match.

mindcrime 14y ago

pg: Do you make a distinction between "solo founder who is and intends to remain solo" and "solo founder who just hasn't happened to meet the right co-founder(s) yet?" Just curious, as I see those as being pretty distinct cases. With Fogbeam Labs, I was a "solo founder" for a year or so, before our second founder came onboard, and then it was about 8 months after that when our 3 founder joined up. I imagine other people find themselves in that place where they are open to (even seeking) a co-founder, but just haven't met the right person yet. In any case, my thought, FWIW, is that a founder should keep working on advancing their vision, whether or not they have located (a) co-founder(s) yet. I wouldn't "stop the world" to do nothing but look for a co-founder.

pg 14y ago
The unfortunate fact is that there is not much difference between the two cases. Most people who are looking for a cofounder when they start YC are still looking for one 6 months later. Alarmingly often that's because they recruited one in the interim who's already gone.
- vadimoss 14y ago
  hehe, has gone in 6 months after going through YC? those solo founders must be really priceless then:)
  - DanielRibeiro 14y ago
    Co-founder dynamics are extremely important and extremely fragile. You are choosing someone to go on long term journey, where you will no longer only be building something cool, but you'll be building a company, be responsible for hiring and, God forbid, firing people. You will be responsible for your employee's lives, and their families, you will be responsible for your investors time and effort to make all your promises come true. All of this becomes extremely harder after you've been traveling alone for a long time (which can often be a few months, as startups are that intense). Sharing all this responsibilities with someone who has not been there from day one is challenging for both parties: can you trust them to be with you in the long run, do you agree in fundamental things, how do you deal with different company stakes and vesting periods? And, if you ever pivot (as many successful startups have[1]), how will all of these pressures come to live? And it gets worse after you get investment (in the form of YC money, angel money, and progressively more) as your choice of co-founder will likely reflect on you, from your investor's idea. And it always add risk to the table, no matter how you put it. All of this while still working and growing your startup. Don't take this lightly. It may be harder to find a proper co-founder under these circumstances than founding a successful startup. But being able to have people you trust beside you building a company can be an invaluable thing. [1] http://www.fastcompany.com/1836238/how-eric-ries-coined-pivot-and-what-your-business-can-learn-it http://www.fastcompany.com/1836238/how-eric-ries-coined-pivo...

markmm 14y ago

A founder is someone who founds the company along with you, it seems you are saying people should just find a random person and call them a co-founder? Why can't there just be one founder?