Ask HN: Should I Look For A Co-founder Just For Incubator?

3 points by jerryji 13 years ago | 3 comments

I'm the single founder of a social shopping site (details in my profile). My site is already live for a few months with thousands of users. But I have been rejected by every incubator out there, the feedback I had is always "go get a co-founder". The problem is that finding a co-founder just for the next round of applications is like promising to get married before Thanksgiving. Besides, it'd still be challenging to answer the ubiquitous question of "tell us a touching story of how you and your co-founder met and worked together on something before".

I would truly appreciate your thoughts and advice. BTW, I'm in Singapore but prefer a co-founder with deep US connection.

esharef 13 years ago |

I'd recommend getting a co-founder. Not bc the incubator is asking for it..but because it's better for you. The reason investors ask that you have a co-founder is because your chances of success truly are much higher if you're working with someone.

I can say with pretty much complete confidence that I would not be able to do a start-up without a co-founder. Dealing with the emotional swings, coming up with ideas together, brainstorming, sharing the burden... It's worth the investment of time to find someone good.

dave_sullivan 13 years ago |

It would be like getting married just so you can go on a couples cruise... or marriage counseling... or something...

Maybe an incubator would be helpful for your startup--let's assign some probability to that. There's also a probability associated with your startup succeeding without an incubator.

Having the right cofounder will likely increase your odds on both sides. However, having the wrong cofounder will nearly guarantee misery and failure. Just as in marriage, rushing into it will greatly increase your odds of missing something and picking the wrong person. There are always exceptions (love at first sight) but consider the odds rather than the exceptions.

So no, don't do it just because incubators tell you to. The history of enterprise is filled with businesses that did just fine without incubators.

jerryji 13 years ago | |

Thank you very much for your advice. The analog on marriage is precisely how I feel co-founder relationship should be.