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Ask HN: Single founder startup, is it possible?
So the story goes like this.
I've created a product. But!
The problem is that I'm the only founder. In most cases this is a "BIG NO" to investors
Is it really that important to have co-founders?
Should I try to submit my project to startup incubators or force and try to find co-founders?
- passfree 14y agoOf course it is possible. People do it all the time. Don't stress about your co-founder. Just make a good/valuable product/service and everything else will together by itself.
- codegeek 14y agoThink of it this way. You should not get a co-founder just because you are worried about investors etc. You should get a co-founder when you need if at all. Get started and see how it goes. You will have your answer when you have the need for a co-founder.
- czbond 14y agoI think it's the best way, personally, at first. Investors don't care how many founders you have if there is traction. Noah Kagan and Mark Suster seem to think so as well: http://www.founderly.com/2011/08/noah-kagan-appsumo-1-of-2/ http://www.founderly.com/2011/08/noah-kagan-appsumo-1-of-2/ Can't find link to Mark Suster, but i recall it from avc.com
- keiferski 14y agoI post this all the time; Having no cofounder is better than having a bad one, and starting a company solo is better than not starting one at all. Don't get too hung up on the latest startup / incubator trends; plenty of companies have been started with one founder. Just go out and do it.
- bmelton 14y agoIt's harder to garner investment funds, but there's nothing to stop you from building a business as a single founder. In my case, I've started a number of products that have languished and died because I was lacking skillsets that weren't as easy for me to acquire as it was to find somebody who had them. Long and short of it, it is often easier to supplement what you don't know with somebody that does know those things than it is to find more time in the day to learn it all and do it all yourself. Even if you know everything yourself, finding the time to do marketing / promotion / split-testing the site copy / crafting emails / handling user support, etc., are time-intensive tasks, and if you are like me, you'd rather be building new features than doing those things. If you can find somebody passionate that can take approximately half of the workload, it's a life saver. It's also handy to have another smart* individual that can take that work off of you, then it's a lifesaver. If you've never launched a product, then it's really hard to know how much work is involved post-launch. Launch is really just the beginning, and as hard as it is to launch, getting your product to succeed at market is many times harder.
- Goranek 14y agoI agree 100% with you. It's not that I don't want to have a co-founder, I just currently didn't need any. It's weird that this should be a minus and thanks to your comments i will not force to find a co-founder just to be able to say, yey we're team.. screw it
- staunch 14y agoYes. You absolutely need a co-founder. It's just too hard to do alone.
- Goranek 14y agoI must admit, I expected bunch of answers like yours.
- peacemaker 14y agoForget co-founders, investors and incubators. Acquire customers that will pay for your product and the rest will follow if you want it to.