Re:Why You Need a Co-Founder
by thaumaturgy on Thursday February 24, 2011 @12:10AM
(#2256996)
Whether finding a co-founder is appropriate or not is completely dependent on your goals. For a relationship to work out between two or more people -- especially one as stressful and challenging as starting a business -- everybody involved has to be equally committed to the goals set in the beginning.
OK, so let's say that the only goal you set in the beginning is, "churn out social 2.0 web app, sell to megacorp inc., make lots of money". Yeah, you can probably find one or two other people that are willing to commit to that for a year or two.
But, let's say instead that your only goal is, "build a high-quality service in some niche, fill a customer need, money and popularity be damned". Are you as likely to find someone else willing to fully commit themselves to such a project? I doubt it.
For "crusaders" -- people who are willing to sacrifice a lot in order to change some aspect of the world they're in -- you're probably never going to meet anyone that will be as committed to your goal as you are. Holding yourself hostage to a co-founder search will just kill your project.
For everyone else: spend some effort on putting together "the team" -- the smallest possible group of people that can handle all of the roles of sales, engineering, direction, management, finance, etc. etc. -- apply to YC, build your thing, get money, cash out, have a great life.
To that end, I think startup speed dating is a pretty great idea.
OK, so let's say that the only goal you set in the beginning is, "churn out social 2.0 web app, sell to megacorp inc., make lots of money". Yeah, you can probably find one or two other people that are willing to commit to that for a year or two.
But, let's say instead that your only goal is, "build a high-quality service in some niche, fill a customer need, money and popularity be damned". Are you as likely to find someone else willing to fully commit themselves to such a project? I doubt it.
For "crusaders" -- people who are willing to sacrifice a lot in order to change some aspect of the world they're in -- you're probably never going to meet anyone that will be as committed to your goal as you are. Holding yourself hostage to a co-founder search will just kill your project.
For everyone else: spend some effort on putting together "the team" -- the smallest possible group of people that can handle all of the roles of sales, engineering, direction, management, finance, etc. etc. -- apply to YC, build your thing, get money, cash out, have a great life.
To that end, I think startup speed dating is a pretty great idea.