No. I don't like it either. Primary because I'm a single founder and secondly because it does ignore the other opinions posted. Also I'm not going to give up or stop working on my product because I don't have a co-founder. Not to say I wouldn't take one or two on later if they can be a valuable asset to the company, just that this work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work today.
"This work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work today." Ergo, JFDI. That's a valuable outlook for anyone. Among single founders, it's baseline.
And I agree with the earlier posters - age is a big factor here, and not just because of the additional self-discipline and knowledge that it tends to produce. Assuming that you're starting something in a field you already know well, you probably have a lot of people you can call on for advice, help, resources, etc., not to mention more than a few credits in the favor bank. In other words, you're really not as solo as you were in your early 20's. Nor are you as likely to spend as much time trying to define your market, identify your customers, and work out your acquisition costs.
In other words, your need to iterate is probably a lot lower, since and older founder is more likely to be operating with a measure of specialized or otherwise hard-to-get insight, and are aiming for something specific that isn't low-hanging fruit, and that may depend - critically - on well established relationships.
From what I understand, the tech world is one of the few places where founders are commonly so young. I've lost the citation, but I believe the average age for start-up founders in the broader economy is 38.
Agreed. I'm 29 and have been doing real estate sales and mortgage origination for the past five years. I've always been a hacker, though admittedly much less so over the past few years. I'm scratching my own itch. Turns out it's a common itch in the real estate industry.
Not to say I wouldn't take one or two on later if they can be a valuable asset to the company, just that this work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work today.
Same here, basically. I'm not opposed to joining up with a co-founder or two (in fact, I'm actively seeking them) but I'm not going to stop working just because it's only me at-the-moment. F%!# that.
How are you actively seeking them? I'm just curious because I'm sure I could be doing more.
Posting here on HN; tweeting; emailing old friends, former co-workers and asking them; standing up at meetings like TriJUG, TriLUG, etc. and announcing that I'm looking for a co-founder; hitting up the recruiters who call trying to recruit me; asking other local entrepreneurs; running a "Hackers & Founders" meetup, etc., etc.
And I do have a couple of irons in the fire, including one acquaintance I've known for a while, who is in graduate school and is interested in possibly joining me once he graduates in a month or so. Also one former co-worker who may be interested. It's been a slow process, but I'm not eager to jump in bed (so to speak) with just anybody either. I'm looking for somebody who's passionate about startup-life, willing to go "balls-out" to succeed, and - ideally - has a complementary skill-set to my own.
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No. I don't like it either. Primary because I'm a single founder and secondly because it does ignore the other opinions posted. Also I'm not going to give up or stop working on my product because I don't have a co-founder. Not to say I wouldn't take one or two on later if they can be a valuable asset to the company, just that this work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work today.
"This work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work today." Ergo, JFDI. That's a valuable outlook for anyone. Among single founders, it's baseline.
And I agree with the earlier posters - age is a big factor here, and not just because of the additional self-discipline and knowledge that it tends to produce. Assuming that you're starting something in a field you already know well, you probably have a lot of people you can call on for advice, help, resources, etc., not to mention more than a few credits in the favor bank. In other words, you're really not as solo as you were in your early 20's. Nor are you as likely to spend as much time trying to define your market, identify your customers, and work out your acquisition costs.
In other words, your need to iterate is probably a lot lower, since and older founder is more likely to be operating with a measure of specialized or otherwise hard-to-get insight, and are aiming for something specific that isn't low-hanging fruit, and that may depend - critically - on well established relationships.
From what I understand, the tech world is one of the few places where founders are commonly so young. I've lost the citation, but I believe the average age for start-up founders in the broader economy is 38.
Agreed. I'm 29 and have been doing real estate sales and mortgage origination for the past five years. I've always been a hacker, though admittedly much less so over the past few years. I'm scratching my own itch. Turns out it's a common itch in the real estate industry.
Not to say I wouldn't take one or two on later if they can be a valuable asset to the company, just that this work must be done now and I'm the only one who showed up for work today.
Same here, basically. I'm not opposed to joining up with a co-founder or two (in fact, I'm actively seeking them) but I'm not going to stop working just because it's only me at-the-moment. F%!# that.
How are you actively seeking them? I'm just curious because I'm sure I could be doing more.
How are you actively seeking them? I'm just curious because I'm sure I could be doing more.
Posting here on HN; tweeting; emailing old friends, former co-workers and asking them; standing up at meetings like TriJUG, TriLUG, etc. and announcing that I'm looking for a co-founder; hitting up the recruiters who call trying to recruit me; asking other local entrepreneurs; running a "Hackers & Founders" meetup, etc., etc.
And I do have a couple of irons in the fire, including one acquaintance I've known for a while, who is in graduate school and is interested in possibly joining me once he graduates in a month or so. Also one former co-worker who may be interested. It's been a slow process, but I'm not eager to jump in bed (so to speak) with just anybody either. I'm looking for somebody who's passionate about startup-life, willing to go "balls-out" to succeed, and - ideally - has a complementary skill-set to my own.