Ask HN: Can single founders build successful companies?

16 points by swanify 13 years ago | 10 comments

So recently i applied for a UK accelerator program called ignite100 in the hope of gaining valuable mentorship and investment for my latest product idea inquire.ly, i've built the MVP, signed up a few hundred (unpaid) customers and have a list of beta testers.

So i got through the first stage (140 startups applied), i then managed to pass two telephone interviews (40 startups) and get to the final interviews (20 startups), and actually think that process went fine, i answered all the questions, articulated the ideas and woo'd the investors :).

Unfortunately it wasn't enough, it came down to a choice between me and another team. The downfall? being a single founder, it seems that most single founders buckle under the intensity of an accelerator, and ultimately a startup. I personally didn't have any fear of this having started my first business at the age of 17 in 2003 and running several businesses since - i'm used to working 7am - 11pm Mon - Sun (i've got a wife and 4 kids too, so come on! stress - i laugh in the face of it).

But it certainly makes me weigh up my choice of starting it alone:

will that ultimately prevent success? is having at least one co-founder a must?

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on this, i'm not against having that person at all but i'm struggling to find someone so grotesquely addicted to work as i am!

ewokhead 13 years ago |

I would not worry about what an accelerator tells you. I am a single founder and having sold one company, and failed at many others I can say that I have been successful. Subvert the dominant paradigm. Just build it and sell it like your life depends on it. It seems like you are equating success as "received venture capital" I can tell you that success =/= receiving venture capital. Success is defined by you. You already know this. You have a wife and four kids. I am sure you have more life experience than I.

You are a builder and an innovator as an entrepreneur. By definition entrepreneurs find opportunity, create opportunity and build success based on those things. I would not worry about what a single accelerator has to say. They might have interesting credentials but the appeal of authority is far too alluring for entrepreneurs to ignore at times.

My advice:

Just go out and kick ass regardless of what the current cargo cult belief is. If you need help, find it where you can, outsource if need be. I recommend not outsourcing core product though.

Make your own road. Just because three people say "don't do x" doesn't mean you shouldn't do x. It just means that they heard that they shouldn't do x somewhere and are disseminating that belief or, they failed at x and now advise against doing x rather than advising against experiencing their failure.

If I listened to what other supposed "mentors" told me I would:

Still be stuck in a small town working in a restaurant for minimum wage.

Worry about employment.

Worry about the opinions that others hold about me.

Never have had hitchhiked all over the country and experienced what I experienced.

Be broke and worrying about how to make ends meet.

This is my opinion, take it as such or just ignore me. I have asked myself this same question and now when I think "can I really do this without help?" I just keep moving until I cannot do it without help... Then I find help.

guilloche 13 years ago | |

I am single founder but not yet successful. So I could not give out any good suggestion but would like to know more about single founders.

dotmanish 13 years ago |

I think you already know the answers to many of the questions you've asked here (including the post title, which can be easily answered with a 'Yes' with several examples).

I am a single founder. And without going much into the topic itself, I would suggest:

1. Several accelerators and investors play safe, and common world statistics go against single founders. These accelerators are not the ones to blame for it.

2. You have to convince them that you're an exception to the common statistics they see everyday.

3. A good way to do this is to show that you can build a worthy team (but I guess you're not yet at that stage).

4. You didn't make Point 2 happen with this accelerator. Try again, elsewhere?

startupmum 13 years ago |

Yes. Single founders can build successful companies. It is what keeps me going. I am not successful yet, but I have been at it for 4 years, and I haven't had the fight kicked out of me yet.

What makes it harder for me is that I am not a technical founder. I am a product founder with vision. I can rent programmers, but I can't rent vision. I can't rent hunger. I can't rent ambition. I can't rent tenacity. These are the things that a founder brings to the table. There's nothing that guarantees that a crowd of 4 founders has this in greater force than a single motivated founder. If I had listened to advice like this, I would not have invested my life's savings to build a consumer proposition currently in private beta, and already making a couple of bucks a month per user.

You sound like a motivated and hard working person who is totally into what you're doing. Why care what other people think?

Whether you're lone or part of a team, entrepreneurship is a lonely road. Only your own faith and strength will give you the staying power. And as long as you're not doggedly chasing a poor idea or paying the price of being a lone wolf with poor execution...

orangethirty 13 years ago |

The grocery store near my house was started by one person. So did my dads mechanic. And my dentist is doing fine in his one man practice. People build successful businesse all them time by themselves. The fact that you are doing software doesn't change anything. A business is a business in a ny way you look at it.

redspark 13 years ago |

Simple answer, yes.

More detailed answer, I would think statistics show a single founder is less likely to persevere through to "success". Most investors I know like to base decisions on statistics. Once in a while they will take a chance on an outlier, but startups are so risky anyway, why would they increase that risk, trying to buck the trend?

jimwhitson 13 years ago |

Another one for the chorus of yesses. Single founders can and do build great businesses, but of course the dynamic can be rather different from a multi-founder firm. Although it's not a valley-style startup, I'm in the early stages of a solo software business in the UK, so feel free to get in touch if you're short of fellow-sufferers.

dangrover 13 years ago |

I have succeeded as a single founder, but I am determined to work with other people on my next thing. Not sure how though.

jamesjguthrie 13 years ago |

I would like to think so as I'm trying to do it just now!

diminium 13 years ago |

It happens all the time. See GoDaddy