Doing that worked well for me in my first company, which lasted 10 years. But I didn't get to that point on the second one and I burnt out working on it completely on my own. It was working, but still too early to hire and a cofounder would have definitely helped push on.
Had the wrong cofounder on the third one though, and I can't stress enough how important having the right cofounder is after that experience. It wasn't all bad, and could have been much worse, but enough to know how important a choice that is.
I've been in both situations. I've had cofounders, who weren't quite as motivated as me, at which point I felt, "I might as well have done this alone". Then I tried doing it myself and found myself overwhelmed and thinking "wouldn't it be nice to have some support". Wonder if there are any articles on how one could go about finding a good co-founder that you would "jive" with. BTW, which one is worse, going it alone or bad co-founder(s)?
I'd say bad cofounder, because you can find someone as a solo founder, but you have to first get rid of a bad cofounder (or put up with it).
I'd break it down into 3 things to look for in a cofounder: proof that they're hard-working, that they have complementary skills, and that you really gel with each other. Kinda gotta feel the last one out, but the others should show up in their past work and their work ethic.
I agree with this. I'd love a co-founder who had the same passion, drive, work ethic and commitment to the company but I just haven't found them yet. It's also much easier to sever an employment relationship than one with a co-founder. On the other hand an employee collecting a salary is much more expensive than a co-founder working for equity.
For me, there is way too much to do. I think networking is about 2/3rds of a full-time job in itself. Hiring is a pain, even with the empirical approach of trying people out with contracting. I definitely could use a cofounder.
Comments
Its not. Start on your own, keep the equity, and in 6 months you can hire the same person for just a salary and only 1 or 2%
Doing that worked well for me in my first company, which lasted 10 years. But I didn't get to that point on the second one and I burnt out working on it completely on my own. It was working, but still too early to hire and a cofounder would have definitely helped push on.
Had the wrong cofounder on the third one though, and I can't stress enough how important having the right cofounder is after that experience. It wasn't all bad, and could have been much worse, but enough to know how important a choice that is.
I've been in both situations. I've had cofounders, who weren't quite as motivated as me, at which point I felt, "I might as well have done this alone". Then I tried doing it myself and found myself overwhelmed and thinking "wouldn't it be nice to have some support". Wonder if there are any articles on how one could go about finding a good co-founder that you would "jive" with. BTW, which one is worse, going it alone or bad co-founder(s)?
I'd say bad cofounder, because you can find someone as a solo founder, but you have to first get rid of a bad cofounder (or put up with it).
I'd break it down into 3 things to look for in a cofounder: proof that they're hard-working, that they have complementary skills, and that you really gel with each other. Kinda gotta feel the last one out, but the others should show up in their past work and their work ethic.
I agree with this. I'd love a co-founder who had the same passion, drive, work ethic and commitment to the company but I just haven't found them yet. It's also much easier to sever an employment relationship than one with a co-founder. On the other hand an employee collecting a salary is much more expensive than a co-founder working for equity.
For me, there is way too much to do. I think networking is about 2/3rds of a full-time job in itself. Hiring is a pain, even with the empirical approach of trying people out with contracting. I definitely could use a cofounder.