I spent a few years trying to go that route. It's death. Death. If you can't sell someone else on joining up, how on earth are you going to sell someone in giving you money?
Solo founder here. YC S10. We have 8 people now, are well funded and making good revenues. It might not have worked for you but that doesn't mean it can't be done.
That doesn't change my advice to folks to find a co-founder.
Right, but you're not advocating the "stop the world" and do nothing until they do find a co-founder, are you? I guess that's my point: a solo-founder isn't necessarily somebody who intends to stay a solo-founder, but are likely someone who just hasn't found their co-founder(s) yet. And I, for one, would not advocate stopping everything until you find that person (or persons).
If you can't sell someone else on joining up, how on earth are you going to sell someone in giving you money?
That's dramatically over-simplifying things. It's not just about selling "somebody" on the idea, it's about finding the right "somebody" AND then selling them on the idea, AND them being in a position where they're able to jump on it.
If you're willing to just take anybody on as a co-founder, you can easily have 5, 10, 15, 20, 372, or 14000 co-founders. But if you're discriminating and looking for the right match of interests, skills, experience, enthusiasm, personality, etc., it can take a long time to find somebody who's right.
I don't think you can make a blanket statement that easily. For some people, being a solo founder is a decision and can be best suited for them. If they have a great skillset to do it on their own, I don't they need to depend on a co-founder.
I can see two ways of finding partners:
1) Your existing social circle
2) Networking with like-minded strangers at meetups/community
Regarding, 1, not everyone in a social circle can A) add unique value, B) be in a position to take on the risks, or C) desire entrepreneurship, perhaps being a better first employee
As far as networking approach, having a good partnership surely would increase % of success. But a partnership made in haste with someone you might hardly know will surely increase the chance of failure even more so.
The 3 months of YC will be some of the hardest you work and you'll be working in extreme close proximity to your co-founders. If you don't go the solo route, just keep in mind that when looking for a co-founder you want someone who will happily go through that with you.
i applied as a solo founder for S11, and didn't get a single hit to my app's demo. since then, i've been lucky enough to join a team (we met through a yc reject hacker dating event at the hacker dojo!) and we're pumped to apply with a new idea for W12 :)
solo is hard, not just on yourself, but also in terms of statistics. it can be done, but it's probably easier to find at least another person to tilt the odds slightly in your favor.
Comments
Solution: Don't be a solo founder.
I spent a few years trying to go that route. It's death. Death. If you can't sell someone else on joining up, how on earth are you going to sell someone in giving you money?
Solo founder here. YC S10. We have 8 people now, are well funded and making good revenues. It might not have worked for you but that doesn't mean it can't be done.
Congrats! Absolutely it can be done. And absolutely I failed to pull it off by myself. That doesn't change my advice to folks to find a co-founder.
That doesn't change my advice to folks to find a co-founder.
Right, but you're not advocating the "stop the world" and do nothing until they do find a co-founder, are you? I guess that's my point: a solo-founder isn't necessarily somebody who intends to stay a solo-founder, but are likely someone who just hasn't found their co-founder(s) yet. And I, for one, would not advocate stopping everything until you find that person (or persons).
If you can't sell someone else on joining up, how on earth are you going to sell someone in giving you money?
That's dramatically over-simplifying things. It's not just about selling "somebody" on the idea, it's about finding the right "somebody" AND then selling them on the idea, AND them being in a position where they're able to jump on it.
If you're willing to just take anybody on as a co-founder, you can easily have 5, 10, 15, 20, 372, or 14000 co-founders. But if you're discriminating and looking for the right match of interests, skills, experience, enthusiasm, personality, etc., it can take a long time to find somebody who's right.
I don't think you can make a blanket statement that easily. For some people, being a solo founder is a decision and can be best suited for them. If they have a great skillset to do it on their own, I don't they need to depend on a co-founder.
I can see two ways of finding partners: 1) Your existing social circle 2) Networking with like-minded strangers at meetups/community
Regarding, 1, not everyone in a social circle can A) add unique value, B) be in a position to take on the risks, or C) desire entrepreneurship, perhaps being a better first employee
As far as networking approach, having a good partnership surely would increase % of success. But a partnership made in haste with someone you might hardly know will surely increase the chance of failure even more so.
The 3 months of YC will be some of the hardest you work and you'll be working in extreme close proximity to your co-founders. If you don't go the solo route, just keep in mind that when looking for a co-founder you want someone who will happily go through that with you.
i applied as a solo founder for S11, and didn't get a single hit to my app's demo. since then, i've been lucky enough to join a team (we met through a yc reject hacker dating event at the hacker dojo!) and we're pumped to apply with a new idea for W12 :)
solo is hard, not just on yourself, but also in terms of statistics. it can be done, but it's probably easier to find at least another person to tilt the odds slightly in your favor.
Solo founder can be done, but indeed it is hard. Odds are really against you but not impossible.