No man is an island

If you are a talented engineer, programmer and dream of your own company, project, independence - you will need a crazy dose of determination to start. This is a difficult step - to leave a warm place in the office and a stable salary and step “nowhere”. “With a friend” this step is easier to make, one is always more scary. If the only thing stopping you is the absence of a “friend”, then here’s a kick: an article from the creator of the Treehouse online school, Ryan Carson.

It will be difficult, but if you really need a co-owner in the project, you can always find (or hire) it later ...
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And also: take care of your friends, because a startup is like a marriage - if your relationship with your cofounder deteriorates due to “ who will do the dishes, who has more shares, who does all the dirty work”, you will lose a friend.

Translation is done in Alconost . So, the article ...


Among startups today it is considered to be a must for a successful project to have a co-founder. Judging from my experience, this is not at all the case.

That you need a co-founder, said Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham (Paul Graham) in his essay “18 Mistakes Startup Killers” ( The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups ) in 2006:

“Have you ever noticed how few successful startups were founded by just one person? Even those companies that you thought were founded alone, such as Oracle, for example, usually have more than one founders. And this does not seem like a coincidence.

What is wrong with startups with the sole founder? To begin with, this is a vote of no confidence. Most likely, this means that the founder could not convince any of his friends to start a joint business. And this is a very disturbing sign, because friends know this person better than others.

But even if all the friends of the founder are wrong, and his company is very promising, he is still at a disadvantage. Starting a startup is too complicated for one person. Even if you can do all the work yourself, you still need colleagues to brainstorm or discourage you from foolish decisions, and also to support you in those moments when things are going badly.

The last, perhaps most important. Black stripes in startups are so black that few can survive them alone. If there are several co-founders, the team spirit is able to unite them in an incredible way, almost breaking the laws of conservation. Each one of them thinks: “I can't let my friends down”. This is one of the most powerful forces of human nature - and it does not work if there is only one founder. ”

Paul repeated his thesis in a post for HackerNews and this essay .

David Cohen (David Cohen), head of another TechStars techno-incubator, said the same thing in 2010, answering the question: “What are the chances of a sole founder to be accepted into the TechStars program?”:

“The odds are slim. We did this in two or three cases from the 70 companies we selected. If there is a strong team around a single founder, then a positive decision is much more likely. If this is really the only one person, then TechStars obviously has no place for him. The amount of work that needs to be done in a short period is too large for one person. ” [ Source ]

Why?

It seems to me that Paul and David both emphasize the importance of co-founding, because they mostly talk about young founders without any experience in business. It is also important to remember that they are investors, providing the maximum return on their investments. And if they say that you, as the sole founder, have little chance of getting into Y Combinator or TechStars, this does not mean that you need a co-founder for the success of your startup.

My experience

Praise to fate, I succeeded as the sole founder of the Treehouse startup. In just two years, we have grown from three to 54 people and from $ 0 to $ 3.4 million in revenue. I financed this business with the money earned by my previous business, and increased it to profitability, and then decided to attract another $ 600 thousand of investments in order to accelerate development. I did not ask any of my friends or acquaintances to be co-founders.

And that is why I, as the sole founder, succeeded in everything:

1. More ownership and control

To date, we have attracted more than $ 5 million in investment in Treehouse, and I still own almost 70% of the company. In addition, I control the board. If I had a co-founder, I would probably own only half of what I have today, and I would not have complete control over the board. Ownership and control are two extremely important things, whereas starting a startup with co-founders immediately deprives you of sole control and reduces your share in the business.

2. Strong leadership

I am convinced that the most successful founders are those who personally manage their companies. Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are excellent examples.

As long as founders-managers are able to adapt to the changing needs of their team as the company grows, no one can better guide the ship to the target. But only they lose control of the board, I'm afraid the ship might lose its course.

For the same reason, I never wanted to make the Treehouse public. I hate the idea of ​​the need to respond to external investors who do not understand our daily difficulties and opportunities. In addition, they do not share the insane passion that I have in relation to the business.

3. Common life goal

I personally witnessed the collapse of two startups due to the conflict of life goals of the co-founders. Each of them had their own plan and their own vision of success. Here are the main points on which the views of the co-founders can drastically diverge:

• Payment - When do we start paying ourselves and how much?
• Work schedule - How many hours a week are we working? What if one of the founders is working harder / more than others?
• Liquidity - What if there is a buyer who offers $ 1 million for your company, but one of the co-founders wants to wait another couple of years to sell it for $ 10 million?
• Power - Who is considered a leader in the company? What if there is a conflict between the co-founders?
• Location - What if one of the co-founders is pressured by his or her partner to move or change life circumstances?

Creating a company with co-founders is like marrying. This is an incredibly serious commitment, but people blindly go for it in the hope that everything will somehow work out.

4. Grow leaders inside

I endowed Alan Johnson, our first developer, with more authority so that we can effectively manage the company's business together. Its role is similar to that of a technical director (CTO).

Why did I do this while remaining ardently convinced that I did not need a co-founder? You know, because it is really very difficult to manage the company alone for a long time. Daily feedback from a knowledgeable and trustworthy colleague is worth a lot. This person should know everything about the business so that you can share your worst fears and anxieties with him. This person should also feel comfortable if he does not agree with you, and know that he can calmly tell you about it.

I promoted Alan to this position after we worked together for over a year. I had time to observe how it works, and make sure that our styles, life goals and personalities are compatible. With the increase, he increased his stake in the business, so the situation was very beneficial for him too.

Finally

My experience shows that the sole founder can be optimal for a startup. Therefore, one should not blindly follow the popular belief in the industry that co-founders are necessary for success.


About the translator

The article is translated in Alconost.

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