I've founded two companies by myself, both "exited". The first resulted in maybe 2X return on the opportunity cost of taking no salary for a year. It was a 1 m

I've founded two companies by myself, both "exited". The first resulted in maybe 2X return on the opportunity cost of taking no salary for a year. It was a 1 man shop the entire time until Gomez (now Compuware) saved my butt :) The second was far from something that would make TechCrunch, but life changing nonetheless. At the time of acquisition (by Neustar), the company was break-even and there were 3 people in total. I don't regret doing either of them by any means, but I will never again start a company by myself. While there are certainly many examples of success like these (and even my own) to point to, it was incredibly stressful and lonely most of the time. I will do another startup, but I want there to be 2-3 cofounders next time or I won't do it. Having someone else to ride out the highs and lows with you is really, really helpful.