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How Solo Founders Beat The Odds and Get Into Top Accelerators

102 pointsby gbeloteabout 12 years ago

9 comments

graycatabout 12 years ago
On the need for more than one founder, I definitely don't 'get it'.<p>For a minute, let's set aside information technology startups and look at business startups: All across the US, border to border, from crossroads to the largest cities, the US is just awash in sole proprietorships. They mow grass, run 12 fast food restaurants, repair cars, run 10 gas stations with convenience stores, run Italian red sauce restaurants, are dentists, pediatricians, etc. One owner, zero to a few hundred employees. So, sole founder, one owner works fine, millions of times across the US, in business.<p>Now, for an information technology startup, that's just an advantage, at least through a business of similar size. If a guy running 10 pizza shops can be a solo founder, then a guy running a Web site or writing an app can also.<p>Technical knowledge? It takes a lot of technical knowledge to repair, correctly, efficiently any car that drives in to an auto repair shop or auto body shop or be up to date on dentistry, pediatrics, etc. Information technology is not nearly the only field that needs technical knowledge.<p>For an information technology startup, it stands to help if the founder, CEO actually understands the work. The best way for him to do this is to do the work. There actually doing the work may not take so much time and, instead, getting the background, say, 4000 Web pages of documentation from Microsoft's MSDN, can take more time. But if he is going to understand the work, then he needs the background. So, given the background, go ahead and do the work. Later, when there's plenty of revenue and more work to do, start hiring.<p>If the project grows well past a 'life style' business to a big thing, fine, but still I see no great reason to have more than one founder.<p>I can guess why some venture investors want more than one founder.
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technotonyabout 12 years ago
The comment at the end, about how co-founders can split a company if their vision diverges, is very true. Many companies go through pivots, and without a strong leader they struggle here. I'd rather be a single cofounder and work to bring on a team (being generous with equity) than force myself to bring on the wrong cofounder. Luckily I can code, as doing it without any technical chops would be very hard. The toughest thing I find is switching from a 'maker' mentality to 'manager' mentality as it's hard to get out of a coding mindset when a meeting or call is needed. I find splitting days into maker days and business days works well to balance this.
petewardenabout 12 years ago
I went through Techstars in 2010 as their first solo founder, and I failed pretty hard. The combination of talks, mentor sessions, wooing potential team members, and pitch practice left me almost no time to code and plan the product. For the final pitch, all I had was demo ware, and I felt an idiot getting up on stage.<p>It was a worthwhile failure for me, I made some great friends and learned a lot, but I'd counsel any lone founder to focus on growing some kind of support team around them as the first priority. I would never contemplate an accelerator as a solo founder, but I have nothing but admiration for those who have managed it.
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RawDataabout 12 years ago
It's nonsense to say that you must have co-founders...I've been building companies for 17 years as a single founder. People do it all the time...
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arbugeabout 12 years ago
The focus should really be on how solo founders beat the odds and start top companies.<p>I think there's way too much emphasis in the press &#38; in people's mindsets these days on getting funding, getting into incubators, etc. Those things may be sexy but they're not the point of the game - at best they're tools to help you get there.
ronyehabout 12 years ago
And of course, Drew from Dropbox: <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27532820/app.html" rel="nofollow">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27532820/app.html</a><p>But he notes that he had a team already working with him, even though technically he was a "solo founder."
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tonyedgecombeabout 12 years ago
This "single founder isn't optimal" idea has been doing the rounds for a while now. I wonder if there is some independent research that either backs it up or refutes it.
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brucebabout 12 years ago
While not as famous as Y Combinator, Xin Chen got in to the Bizdom (Cleveland) accelerator with <a href="http://www.queryly.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.queryly.com/</a> (powering site search with speed, beauty &#38; brains) as a solo founder.<p>For those who don't know Bizdom is part of the Rock Ventures family of companies. The office: <a href="http://bit.ly/WWfdhJ" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/WWfdhJ</a>
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jt2190about 12 years ago
tl;dr<p>It's difficult, not impossible, to be accepted to a startup accelerator if you're a solo founder.<p>wtads [What The Article Didn't Say]<p><pre><code> * Startups can't make it without an accelerator * Solo founders can't run successful startups</code></pre>
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