7 ms·

The single founder dilemma

10 points by alexshye 13y ago

infogaufire 13y ago
I have been a single founder 2 times (one of the companies got sold and other one is doing good) and 2 times with co-founders. And I personally find starting up a single founder. You mentioned you have good ideas more than 2 times i guess, you will have to take that thing out of your mind. When you are onto something, burn rest of the ideas for atleast 6 months. If you can't find co-founder, surround yourself with team members, start with hiring people remotely china,india,bangladesh. Build prototype, no full fledged product. Try to fail fast if things doesn't pick after few months to save some time and fatigue. By prototype I mean, that one feature that separates you from others. Learn to delegate work. As a programmer first, founder second - I used to micro manage things which gave me really bad time with my first startup. But as you start delegating work to your remote workers / employees, you will start feeling better. I would advice you to build something with atleast some business model. Its tough to create instagrams or tumblrs of the world. Hope this helps.
- alexshye 13y ago
  Yeah, the biggest thing I’ve been trying to do is minimize the prototyping, and try to fail fast. It is difficult to tell the difference between failing, and not trying hard enough.I feel it is a gut decision that should get better with time.
  - taktix 13y ago
    Most business ideas will work eventually, if given enough time. Good ideas, on the other hand, tend to get traction quickly. For me, I test a lot of ideas. Most of the stuff I do takes minimal time and resources so that if it fails, it doesn't hurt too bad. I'm always testing.
    - alexshye 13y ago
      In your experience, how quickly is "quickly"?
      - taktix 13y ago
        Quickly is unscientific but very intuitive. It's determined by things like my energy levels, my finances, how well the launch is going, any new information I've received since launch - many factors. I can always go back and revisit the project later if I want.
- Sealy 13y ago
  Its good to hear from another single founder. I'm at a stage now where I have a product running and I'm looking to grow and/or seek VC help. What puts me off is the fact that they are less interested if you do not have a co-founder. But surely I should be in a good position if my site is already monetizing itself??? It means that my business model is working. @infogaufire, how did you manage accounting and marketing? Did you delegate that too?
  - alexshye 13y ago
    "@infogaufire, how did you manage accounting and marketing? Did you delegate that too?" I would love to hear about this too. One of my other biggest challenges, as a tech guy, has been figuring out how to go about all the non-tech stuff.
    - Sealy 13y ago
      Exactly how I feel. I've coded like a headless chicken for the last 9 months, its what I enjoy and what I'm good at. When I show the product to VC's and tell them I need help with marketing, accounting, establishing as a [already profitable] company. They brush me off and almost laugh. "Thats the easy stuff" they say.
    - infogaufire 13y ago
      I actually managed that myself for sometime. Accounting can easily be managed if you can dedicate just one night on building a simple app for that with even a bad UI. All you have to do is: 1. Create a table Money with id, name, money, credit/debit (1 or 0), date&time 2. Create a form to enter these values Below the form, just print values from database order by date&time This simple thing will take you very long - believe me. Its that easy. For marketing @ very early stage, you just have to be a hustler. This is something what I do whenever I float some random new project (just posted this comment on HN) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5836395 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5836395
    - OafTobark 13y ago
      Alex, what's your email. I can try to help best I can.
mswen 13y ago
I also am single founder with 3 products built. The 3 products share a technological base but address very different markets and somewhat different expressions of the underlying idea. I haven't sought any funding, but I am often in a quandary whether to spend more of my long-term financial reserves and stay focused on building the business around the products, or seek short term income through consulting. Or, possibly get a full-time job and think of these three as pre-built side projects. I have also thought that if I could find the right salesperson/business development person as a partner that would be ideal. But like you that takes time that feels highly unproductive. No easy decisions when those first (B2B) sales take so long.
gmays 13y ago
I’ve developed an affinity for single founders because I am one. I'm working on my first product now and I don't have any experience working with a cofounder (or even in the tech space), but knowing how I am and how I work, so I prefer to primarily working alone until can't (i.e. when I need full-time support). So far, I've only outsourced a few minor development tasks to start building relationships with developers I’d want to work with down the road. I've been working on this for about 1.5yrs part time, put $15,000 into it so far (mostly infrastructure), and it's finally releasable. Though I haven't started marketing yet, I've put in to leave my current career in two months and do this full-time. I’m prepared for it to take a few years to get going, but that’s OK. Thankfully, due to past investments and zero debt I'll even be able to continue contributing to savings even if my revenue is $0, which essentially means I could do this indefinitely. I should also mention that my recurring costs including CA LLC tax and all services are under $300/mo., which contributes to my sustainability. I’ve found that single founders with a bit of patience can significantly minimize costs without sacrificing quality; we want to be smart, not cheap. My infrastructure costs scale with my users and I don’t have a free trial or free plan (B2B), so cost increases here are a non-issue. I took a month of leave recently to get a feel for how working alone full-time on this project would be. It was awesome because all of my habits were magnified. My wife was out of town for this month (she travels a lot) so it was just me. I found myself working on the project all day, every day except to go to the gym twice a day, pick up groceries, or go to Costco for a $3.76 pizza and hot dog lunch every once in a while. While working out I'd either listen to Mixergy and similar startup podcasts or read business books if I was on the bike. I loved it. It was ultra-productive, but also sustainable, not some unhealthy sprint. Over the past year I've been considering the advice of validating assumptions with customers and getting traction before pursuing it full-time, but I've decided to mostly ignore that advice. Additionally, I've only asked for feedback on the design of the sales site, not on how the product works. I have a clear vision of the company I want to build, how I want the product to work, and what my customers actually need (I'm familiar with the market). I've had difficulty explaining the idea because there isn't anything similar enough to compare it to, but I’m getting better at relating it to existing solutions that it combines. I look forward to working with paying customers in the next few months and further improving based on their recommendations. If I had a cofounder, I doubt my vision could be as pure as it is. I'm building the company I want, how I want, and a product I believe needs to exist, something I see as the future of this market and I’ve decided to go all in. It’s weird because I read how often startups fail, how difficult it is, and how being a single founder makes it even more difficult. For some reason, I feel like this isn’t risky, but maybe it’s because I’ve built it that way. As long as I put time into the right things, I know it will work out. I have pangs of doubt from time to time, but that’s all they are. I feel a bit silly because I’ve never worked in tech (military background), this is my first startup, and I think I should feel more worried than I am, but whatever. I love it and I love being a single founder. It'll be interesting to see whether or not I pick up a cofounder down the road once I get traction and become much busier.
cardine 13y ago
Being a single founder is awesome. You have complete creative control, no concerns about later disagreements, a lot more equity, and you don't have to go it alone because you can always hire your co-founder as an employee.

10 points by alexshye 13y ago

I have been a single founder 2 times (one of the companies got sold and other one is doing good) and 2 times with co-founders. And I personally find starting up a single founder. You mentioned you have good ideas more than 2 times i guess, you will have to take that thing out of your mind. When you are onto something, burn rest of the ideas for atleast 6 months. If you can't find co-founder, surround yourself with team members, start with hiring people remotely china,india,bangladesh. Build prototype, no full fledged product. Try to fail fast if things doesn't pick after few months to save some time and fatigue. By prototype I mean, that one feature that separates you from others. Learn to delegate work. As a programmer first, founder second - I used to micro manage things which gave me really bad time with my first startup. But as you start delegating work to your remote workers / employees, you will start feeling better. I would advice you to build something with atleast some business model. Its tough to create instagrams or tumblrs of the world. Hope this helps.

alexshye 13y ago
Yeah, the biggest thing I’ve been trying to do is minimize the prototyping, and try to fail fast. It is difficult to tell the difference between failing, and not trying hard enough.I feel it is a gut decision that should get better with time.
- taktix 13y ago
  Most business ideas will work eventually, if given enough time. Good ideas, on the other hand, tend to get traction quickly. For me, I test a lot of ideas. Most of the stuff I do takes minimal time and resources so that if it fails, it doesn't hurt too bad. I'm always testing.
  - alexshye 13y ago
    In your experience, how quickly is "quickly"?
    - taktix 13y ago
      Quickly is unscientific but very intuitive. It's determined by things like my energy levels, my finances, how well the launch is going, any new information I've received since launch - many factors. I can always go back and revisit the project later if I want.
Sealy 13y ago
Its good to hear from another single founder. I'm at a stage now where I have a product running and I'm looking to grow and/or seek VC help. What puts me off is the fact that they are less interested if you do not have a co-founder. But surely I should be in a good position if my site is already monetizing itself??? It means that my business model is working. @infogaufire, how did you manage accounting and marketing? Did you delegate that too?
- alexshye 13y ago
  "@infogaufire, how did you manage accounting and marketing? Did you delegate that too?" I would love to hear about this too. One of my other biggest challenges, as a tech guy, has been figuring out how to go about all the non-tech stuff.
  - Sealy 13y ago
    Exactly how I feel. I've coded like a headless chicken for the last 9 months, its what I enjoy and what I'm good at. When I show the product to VC's and tell them I need help with marketing, accounting, establishing as a [already profitable] company. They brush me off and almost laugh. "Thats the easy stuff" they say.
  - infogaufire 13y ago
    I actually managed that myself for sometime. Accounting can easily be managed if you can dedicate just one night on building a simple app for that with even a bad UI. All you have to do is: 1. Create a table Money with id, name, money, credit/debit (1 or 0), date&time 2. Create a form to enter these values Below the form, just print values from database order by date&time This simple thing will take you very long - believe me. Its that easy. For marketing @ very early stage, you just have to be a hustler. This is something what I do whenever I float some random new project (just posted this comment on HN) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5836395 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5836395
  - OafTobark 13y ago
    Alex, what's your email. I can try to help best I can.

mswen 13y ago

I also am single founder with 3 products built. The 3 products share a technological base but address very different markets and somewhat different expressions of the underlying idea. I haven't sought any funding, but I am often in a quandary whether to spend more of my long-term financial reserves and stay focused on building the business around the products, or seek short term income through consulting. Or, possibly get a full-time job and think of these three as pre-built side projects. I have also thought that if I could find the right salesperson/business development person as a partner that would be ideal. But like you that takes time that feels highly unproductive. No easy decisions when those first (B2B) sales take so long.

gmays 13y ago

I’ve developed an affinity for single founders because I am one. I'm working on my first product now and I don't have any experience working with a cofounder (or even in the tech space), but knowing how I am and how I work, so I prefer to primarily working alone until can't (i.e. when I need full-time support). So far, I've only outsourced a few minor development tasks to start building relationships with developers I’d want to work with down the road. I've been working on this for about 1.5yrs part time, put $15,000 into it so far (mostly infrastructure), and it's finally releasable. Though I haven't started marketing yet, I've put in to leave my current career in two months and do this full-time. I’m prepared for it to take a few years to get going, but that’s OK. Thankfully, due to past investments and zero debt I'll even be able to continue contributing to savings even if my revenue is $0, which essentially means I could do this indefinitely. I should also mention that my recurring costs including CA LLC tax and all services are under $300/mo., which contributes to my sustainability. I’ve found that single founders with a bit of patience can significantly minimize costs without sacrificing quality; we want to be smart, not cheap. My infrastructure costs scale with my users and I don’t have a free trial or free plan (B2B), so cost increases here are a non-issue. I took a month of leave recently to get a feel for how working alone full-time on this project would be. It was awesome because all of my habits were magnified. My wife was out of town for this month (she travels a lot) so it was just me. I found myself working on the project all day, every day except to go to the gym twice a day, pick up groceries, or go to Costco for a $3.76 pizza and hot dog lunch every once in a while. While working out I'd either listen to Mixergy and similar startup podcasts or read business books if I was on the bike. I loved it. It was ultra-productive, but also sustainable, not some unhealthy sprint. Over the past year I've been considering the advice of validating assumptions with customers and getting traction before pursuing it full-time, but I've decided to mostly ignore that advice. Additionally, I've only asked for feedback on the design of the sales site, not on how the product works. I have a clear vision of the company I want to build, how I want the product to work, and what my customers actually need (I'm familiar with the market). I've had difficulty explaining the idea because there isn't anything similar enough to compare it to, but I’m getting better at relating it to existing solutions that it combines. I look forward to working with paying customers in the next few months and further improving based on their recommendations. If I had a cofounder, I doubt my vision could be as pure as it is. I'm building the company I want, how I want, and a product I believe needs to exist, something I see as the future of this market and I’ve decided to go all in. It’s weird because I read how often startups fail, how difficult it is, and how being a single founder makes it even more difficult. For some reason, I feel like this isn’t risky, but maybe it’s because I’ve built it that way. As long as I put time into the right things, I know it will work out. I have pangs of doubt from time to time, but that’s all they are. I feel a bit silly because I’ve never worked in tech (military background), this is my first startup, and I think I should feel more worried than I am, but whatever. I love it and I love being a single founder. It'll be interesting to see whether or not I pick up a cofounder down the road once I get traction and become much busier.

cardine 13y ago

Being a single founder is awesome. You have complete creative control, no concerns about later disagreements, a lot more equity, and you don't have to go it alone because you can always hire your co-founder as an employee.