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> Cofounders rarely have experience managing anyone or anything. This might be true if you're talking about a startup run by a bunch of 20-somethings with no e

> Cofounders rarely have experience managing anyone or anything. This might be true if you're talking about a startup run by a bunch of 20-somethings with no experience. These are certainly en vogue in Silicon Valley today, but hardly represent all startups. > Cofounders often think they don't need management because they're all on the same team, working towards the same goals. This is a sign of an inexperienced, naive founder. No entrepreneur worth teaming up with believes management is unnecessary. > Startups are high pressure, and pressure makes people make bad decisions and lose their tempers. Notwithstanding the fact that if your startup is a pressure cooker, you're doing it wrong, it's dangerous to believe that all people react the same way to pressure and stress. Pressure and stress lead some people to anger and poor decision making. Start a company with these people at your own risk. > Deciding to start a company from scratch with the goal of building a billion dollar business takes ego. Most successful businesses aren't started by people who are focused on building a billion-dollar company. If that's your overriding goal, clashing egos will hardly be your biggest problem. Incidentally, while it obviously wasn't the intent, this post demonstrates some of the advantages of founding a company solo. It worked for Sam Walton, Ralph Lauren, Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Jeff Bezos, Pierre Omidyar, Michael Dell, Ross Perot and countless others. Investors like YC don't look on solo founders favorably and have helped create a narrative that has deterred some entrepreneurs from taking this path (and created the inane "seeking co-founder" environment), but entrepreneurs should understand that investors have motives for wanting multiple founders that are not necessarily aligned with their interests. For seed stage investors particularly, multiple founders is a derisking mechanism. For instance, there are a lot of smart, talented folks out there, but it's still hard to find exceptional founders capable of competently wearing multiple hats. On the flip side, hiring exceptional employees is expensive. A company with just $120,000 in funding can't hire a good developer, product manager and sales or bizdev person. This creates significant risks for seed stage investors. The solution: seek companies with multiple founders who split key roles. Since founders at this stage essentially work for ramen and equity, having multiple founders is like a cheap insurance policy for resource risk.

jndsn402 12y ago
Agreed, much of the startup advice from YC and other outlets is geared toward 20-somethings, and thus may come across as simplistic to people who have: a) worked in a professional setting (e.g. a large corporation) b) managed other people c) been married d) been alive since before 1980
- adanto6840 12y ago
  I find C to be interesting -- my gut suspects it's probably correct & accurate, but not having ever been married I'd be interested in hearing you elaborate further on that point specifically.
  - jndsn402 12y ago
    I just mean that married people have experience partnering closely with another person to achieve shared goals, and will have hopefully developed some strategies to do that effectively.
    - simonebrunozzi 12y ago
      And dealing with young kids, which sometimes is the same as dealing with some founders :)
  - leesalminen 12y ago
    Marriage is not the only way to acquire the skills mentioned. At 15, I was living in a small village in Chile, without parents. There were 2 English speakers in this town, and we learned to work together to learn a new language, adopt a new culture, reconcile differences, and more. Those experiences have shaped my outlook on everything from relationship management to problem solving to effective communications. IMHO, a great way to become an effective entrepreneur is to immerse yourself in high stress, difficult situations that require on-the-fly problem solving over and over again.
  - danielweber 12y ago
    I'll say this: a start-up experience is excellent preparation for marriage. Your marriage is more important to your long-term success than your start-up is, too.

jndsn402 12y ago

Agreed, much of the startup advice from YC and other outlets is geared toward 20-somethings, and thus may come across as simplistic to people who have: a) worked in a professional setting (e.g. a large corporation) b) managed other people c) been married d) been alive since before 1980

adanto6840 12y ago
I find C to be interesting -- my gut suspects it's probably correct & accurate, but not having ever been married I'd be interested in hearing you elaborate further on that point specifically.
- jndsn402 12y ago
  I just mean that married people have experience partnering closely with another person to achieve shared goals, and will have hopefully developed some strategies to do that effectively.
  - simonebrunozzi 12y ago
    And dealing with young kids, which sometimes is the same as dealing with some founders :)
- leesalminen 12y ago
  Marriage is not the only way to acquire the skills mentioned. At 15, I was living in a small village in Chile, without parents. There were 2 English speakers in this town, and we learned to work together to learn a new language, adopt a new culture, reconcile differences, and more. Those experiences have shaped my outlook on everything from relationship management to problem solving to effective communications. IMHO, a great way to become an effective entrepreneur is to immerse yourself in high stress, difficult situations that require on-the-fly problem solving over and over again.
- danielweber 12y ago
  I'll say this: a start-up experience is excellent preparation for marriage. Your marriage is more important to your long-term success than your start-up is, too.