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It depends, if you are going after investor dollars from the traditional SV VC bunch then yes, they all talk fairly openly how they favor multi-founder companie

It depends, if you are going after investor dollars from the traditional SV VC bunch then yes, they all talk fairly openly how they favor multi-founder companies. At the same time, most of them have invested in solo founders as well if the plan is strong and the business already has traction. What is your goal? Do you want investment from a SV VC? Do you need it? Do you have enough traction to even get on their radar? Any connections you can use to get introduced? I personally think the co-founder thing is over blown, but don't underestimate that the many (if not most) investors prefer it. But frankly, if your business is solid, has traction and is growing an investor will still have interest. As a solo founder though, you will have more to prove and more to show that it is moving and you are capable of keeping up. And it doesn't meant that you may not meet someone along the way to bring into the venture. Also, remember having a co-founder doesn't necessarily mean that the split is equal, in fact rarely is it ever equal from what I have personally seen.

api 12y ago
Right now I'm thinking enough seed for a lean and mean run to increase the growth rate, increase the conversion rate by adding value to pro tier, build out into mobile (iOS/Android), and get into a position where a series A would make sense. I'm thinking 18 months of runway: 12 months to get into position, six for series A. (Assuming no revenue growth... revenue growth would stretch the runway of course and I'd be very, very focused on that.) That would be enough money to go full time myself, hire another employee, and secure the services of a serious PR firm to begin getting the brand and the message out there. It'd likely be in the $500k-ish neighborhood but I haven't made a real spreadsheet yet... still getting the message, basic pitch, and rough plan outline down. If it happens it'd be Feb-March 2015 in all likelihood. I'm not in SV, and that's too small for most VCs. It'd be an angel/seed round. I have spoken to one seed-stage VC who expressed a little bit of interest, and I told him I'd update him as things progressed (will probably do that soon). An alternative path I've been thinking about is going for a good incubator. There are two decent looking ones near me: http://k5launch.com http://k5launch.com http://launchpad.la http://launchpad.la That might provide a short runway from where I am now to seed, more or less. Just posted this for a bit of food for thought since I just keep hearing that refrain from all kinds of people, mostly from the SV orbit. I'm not totally alone BTW. I have assembled an advisory board that is really advising, and I do have some people I bounce ideas off.
- davismwfl 12y ago
  Yea, the HN crowd is always great for ideas and overall pretty needed brutal honesty. So my 2 cents, you are looking at angel money, which at 500k means you will likely be held to a salary of $50-70k for yourself and the hiring of a few people to meet your goals. I mention the salary only because you mention you aren't a young fresh out of college person, so I would guess you have some real bills and possibly a family. After about 6 months of work you will need to be on the track to raising your next round as well to get money in place at month 12-14. This all assumes you have never raised before and so have no proven track record using someone else's money, and of course is just my opinion. An incubator might be a good idea if you can find one that will take you as solo founder, again not impossible but they play to the VC's desires. Some other ideas/points, 1: look for traditional angel money outside of just the well known SV firms, people etc. High net worth people invest in companies fairly often and usually are more personally involved in the deal (not in a bad way) and many times are a little more flexible with founder salary if that is needed. 2: Bootstrap a little longer and pay a developer part time to help you meet the other goals. If you have a full time position now take $1,500-$2,500 of what you are making monthly and spend it on hiring part time help to get some of the stuff over the finish line before going after money. Either way this moves the ball further down the path so that if you go after money you are that much better off. 3: Definitely put it up on AngelList. 4: Don't focus on a PR firm, they generally are expensive and a waste of money for early traction. We worked with a startup this summer that spent well over $100k of their money on a PR firm that got them less exposure then did spending $2,500 on a 30 second video and spreading it through friends, family and social media sites. As well the founder figured out that by contacting reporters and bloggers directly the response he received was way better than having the PR firm do it, and all it cost him was a few hours every week talking to these people. 5: Update your website, right now it looks like a side project that isn't getting a lot of love. The website is the first impression people see of you and your service/product. If it looks poorly, so will your chances with converting the client. I speak here from great stupidity and experience for myself on this one. No matter what, good luck!
  - api 12y ago
    Thanks, especially for #4 and #5. #4 is really food for thought. I mean really. My gut instinct would be to agree with you wholeheartedly. Maybe PR is an area where "business advice" has wormed its way into my brain. Try as I might, I just can't ignore enough "business advice." :) If I cut that PR component the required raise drops substantially... at least in half. So far all my growth and conversion has been from viral, social, direct person-to-person, and other "organic" means, but I've also observed that blogs and press mentions drive traffic and prime the pump. My graphs look like this: a remarkably consistent exponential (straight line on log plot) 1.4% daily compounded growth, but every major press or blog hit just elevates the graph vertically a few ticks where it then continues its 1.4% march. The 1.4% number is so incredibly constant it's spooky... I've never seen anything like it. It just continues no matter what I do, for months and months. This is for active online users, which is the best metric for this system. Is a constant growth rate like that common? I always assumed growth rates would look "rocky" like most other real-world data. #5 is interesting too. It looks a lot better than it used to, but perhaps that isn't saying much. I might just use a professional web design hosted software suite like Squarespace or The Grid, since I've got better things to do than dink around with HTML/CSS minutia. It is up on AngelList: https://angel.co/zerotier-networks https://angel.co/zerotier-networks As far as salary goes you're right. I have a family and kids, so I can't afford a really big pay cut. That's another downside of not being a bachelor right out of college, and is a big part of why the startup scene is so biased toward early-twenty-somethings. But hey, I guess part of doing stuff like this is that you have to deal with what you have as intelligently as you can. You can't change your circumstances in these areas but you can hack around them.

api 12y ago

Right now I'm thinking enough seed for a lean and mean run to increase the growth rate, increase the conversion rate by adding value to pro tier, build out into mobile (iOS/Android), and get into a position where a series A would make sense. I'm thinking 18 months of runway: 12 months to get into position, six for series A. (Assuming no revenue growth... revenue growth would stretch the runway of course and I'd be very, very focused on that.) That would be enough money to go full time myself, hire another employee, and secure the services of a serious PR firm to begin getting the brand and the message out there. It'd likely be in the $500k-ish neighborhood but I haven't made a real spreadsheet yet... still getting the message, basic pitch, and rough plan outline down. If it happens it'd be Feb-March 2015 in all likelihood. I'm not in SV, and that's too small for most VCs. It'd be an angel/seed round. I have spoken to one seed-stage VC who expressed a little bit of interest, and I told him I'd update him as things progressed (will probably do that soon). An alternative path I've been thinking about is going for a good incubator. There are two decent looking ones near me: http://k5launch.com http://k5launch.com http://launchpad.la http://launchpad.la That might provide a short runway from where I am now to seed, more or less. Just posted this for a bit of food for thought since I just keep hearing that refrain from all kinds of people, mostly from the SV orbit. I'm not totally alone BTW. I have assembled an advisory board that is really advising, and I do have some people I bounce ideas off.

davismwfl 12y ago
Yea, the HN crowd is always great for ideas and overall pretty needed brutal honesty. So my 2 cents, you are looking at angel money, which at 500k means you will likely be held to a salary of $50-70k for yourself and the hiring of a few people to meet your goals. I mention the salary only because you mention you aren't a young fresh out of college person, so I would guess you have some real bills and possibly a family. After about 6 months of work you will need to be on the track to raising your next round as well to get money in place at month 12-14. This all assumes you have never raised before and so have no proven track record using someone else's money, and of course is just my opinion. An incubator might be a good idea if you can find one that will take you as solo founder, again not impossible but they play to the VC's desires. Some other ideas/points, 1: look for traditional angel money outside of just the well known SV firms, people etc. High net worth people invest in companies fairly often and usually are more personally involved in the deal (not in a bad way) and many times are a little more flexible with founder salary if that is needed. 2: Bootstrap a little longer and pay a developer part time to help you meet the other goals. If you have a full time position now take $1,500-$2,500 of what you are making monthly and spend it on hiring part time help to get some of the stuff over the finish line before going after money. Either way this moves the ball further down the path so that if you go after money you are that much better off. 3: Definitely put it up on AngelList. 4: Don't focus on a PR firm, they generally are expensive and a waste of money for early traction. We worked with a startup this summer that spent well over $100k of their money on a PR firm that got them less exposure then did spending $2,500 on a 30 second video and spreading it through friends, family and social media sites. As well the founder figured out that by contacting reporters and bloggers directly the response he received was way better than having the PR firm do it, and all it cost him was a few hours every week talking to these people. 5: Update your website, right now it looks like a side project that isn't getting a lot of love. The website is the first impression people see of you and your service/product. If it looks poorly, so will your chances with converting the client. I speak here from great stupidity and experience for myself on this one. No matter what, good luck!
- api 12y ago
  Thanks, especially for #4 and #5. #4 is really food for thought. I mean really. My gut instinct would be to agree with you wholeheartedly. Maybe PR is an area where "business advice" has wormed its way into my brain. Try as I might, I just can't ignore enough "business advice." :) If I cut that PR component the required raise drops substantially... at least in half. So far all my growth and conversion has been from viral, social, direct person-to-person, and other "organic" means, but I've also observed that blogs and press mentions drive traffic and prime the pump. My graphs look like this: a remarkably consistent exponential (straight line on log plot) 1.4% daily compounded growth, but every major press or blog hit just elevates the graph vertically a few ticks where it then continues its 1.4% march. The 1.4% number is so incredibly constant it's spooky... I've never seen anything like it. It just continues no matter what I do, for months and months. This is for active online users, which is the best metric for this system. Is a constant growth rate like that common? I always assumed growth rates would look "rocky" like most other real-world data. #5 is interesting too. It looks a lot better than it used to, but perhaps that isn't saying much. I might just use a professional web design hosted software suite like Squarespace or The Grid, since I've got better things to do than dink around with HTML/CSS minutia. It is up on AngelList: https://angel.co/zerotier-networks https://angel.co/zerotier-networks As far as salary goes you're right. I have a family and kids, so I can't afford a really big pay cut. That's another downside of not being a bachelor right out of college, and is a big part of why the startup scene is so biased toward early-twenty-somethings. But hey, I guess part of doing stuff like this is that you have to deal with what you have as intelligently as you can. You can't change your circumstances in these areas but you can hack around them.