Comments on: …Decide To Go It Alone

By: Cat

Cat — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:11:05 +0000

Jung, I am in the same boat. I am actually about to submit an idea to Ycombinator as a single founder, even though I know they don't recommend it. I'm in New York as well, and although I have friends with similar interests, none of them is serious enough for me to bring on board.

I've had this problem in my previous start-up venture as well. Message me on twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/csti
if you wanna talk web start-ups.

Cat.

By: The Failing Point – …Believe That You Need To Hire “Rock Stars”

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:02:20 +0000

[...] Need To Hire “Rock Stars” Tags: building a team, hiring, ninjas, rock stars In my essay about going it alone, I mentioned a strange quirk about the first dot com gold rush. It was called the “war for [...]

By: Jung

Jung — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:17:17 +0000

Thanks Brandon. I’m in New York and, for the most part, I’m engaged with the entrepreneurial/technology community here, attending networking sessions and meetups. I’ve met some great folks but haven’t made a true connection just yet (sounds like I’m looking for Ms. Right). Plus it seems like everyone is happily working on their own projects.

You did alert me to the fact that I haven’t dug deeper into my friends networks. Realized that I’ve been primarily focused on finding someone that I could trust. Since that luxury isn’t available to me, guess I need to develop chemistry with strangers to build trust (thx Alex for those keywords).

By: Brandon Watson

Brandon Watson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:13:05 +0000

Jung, this is a great question, and one that I saw pop up over at Hacker News. I have found my co-founders from previous jobs. However, there was one guy who was a friend of a friend – I had never worked with him. Depending on your stage in life, prior work colleagues may not make sense. School mates may be your best option.

I think one of the best ways to improve your chances of meeting potential co-founders is to put yourself into situations where you are going to meet other entrepreneurs. For example, the likelihood that I find another co-founder at Microsoft, a very large company, is probably a lot lower (on a percent of population basis) than if I were currently working at another startup. Other places are startup weekends, foo and bar camps, and conferences (I hear the TechCrunch50 is full of entrepreneurs looking for ideas and opportunities) are all great.

Where are you located? I might be able to point you to some places/people.

By: Jung

Jung — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:59:43 +0000

I hear this all the time, that you need co-founders to increase your chance of success. Some investors require at least two founders to even be considered for funding.

But how do you attract/where do you find these potential cofounders, especially when you’re just starting out with nothing to offer other than risk? Do you hire cofounders or scour through meetups and networks in hopes of getting lucky?

Currently trying to resolve this issue of being a one man show. While I like the fact that I have total control over my destiny, whether I succeed or fail, it would be nice to have a partner/team that I could fully trust and rely on. My main hurdle is that of not knowing many people in the technology crowd, coming from a financial background.

By: Brandon Watson

Brandon Watson — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:27:42 +0000

Alex, I think you have a much more succinct summary that I could have crafted. I think I am going to have to work that into the end version, with attribution of course.

By: Alex Brown

Alex Brown — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:24:55 +0000

Thanks for the writeup, it boils down the characteristics of the founding team into three words for me: trust, chemistry, knowledge

Thanks again.
Alex