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Ask HN: is single founder startup really frown upon / despised?
I applied to couple of accelerators and got shot down.
I am pretty sure the startup idea got their attention (I have shown my startup here and generally it is a positive feedback), however I think why I got denied is probably due to single founder.
Why is that single founder frown upon in the industry? While I understand single founder has twice as much work, but I also think if they can build the startup from ground up to launch, it shows that they are capable of running the business.
A bit about me. I am a business founder with Product Management background. I do have engineering background, but not in web coding. I build the startup myself by writing requirement, testing, everything that a tech co founder (CTO) can do except writing codes. I outsource the development using freelancers. I have few marketing strategies on how to spread the words out. As people usually say, Product Manager is like a mini CEO. I understand the mechanics of how it works, why it works, and how to run it.
The other reason I am a single founder now is because I want to prove to my future CTO (tech co founder) that I have what it takes to run the startup. Without a web background, it is hard to attract or gather interests from a savvy web programmer, so I think it is necessary for me to show them that I understand it.
what is your take on this?
- steveklabnik 13y agoBusiness is hard. Programming is hard. Good at both programming and business? More than twice as hard. Also, from a scalability perspective, one founder means that everything blocks on you. Going from one to two people significantly increases throughput.
- nonickyet 13y agoI understand that, but being a PM, I outsource my development to freelancer. If you see it from the outside, it's like two people startup. I am in charge in everything else, the freelancer is in charge of coding and build the site based on my requirement
- gus_massa 13y agoIn what language(s) can you program? How many LOC has the biggest program you have written?
- nonickyet 13y agomy background is in EE, so HW coding, VHDL, Verilog, which is totally different area than web programming. But for the last few years, I have not done programming as I moved from engr to Product Management
- steveklabnik 13y ago"I outsource one of my core competencies" doesn't give a lot of confidence.
- nonickyet 13y agoin this scenario, what would you do? As a business co founder with just idea and no product build yet, how would you attract someone technical (CTO) to cofound with you?
- steveklabnik 13y agoI have no idea, because I've been programming all my life. :/ I'm not even saying this perspective is correct, I'm just saying that's what people think when they hear stories like yours.
- nonickyet 13y ago:) Since you are technical, lets say you have been approach by someone with an idea (business person). How could he convinced you that you would want to build the product with him? Assume this guy is no Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, just a guy with no reputation to flaunt. This question is not to attack your statement. This insight could be important as my next step in getting someone aboard. I am genuinely curious to know your answer as it could give me insights on how technical people thinks.