Being an early founder means having to set vision, inspire, delegate, sell constantly, build trust, and play many, many, many roles in between. One role that is latent but extremely important is that of choosing partners. It is an important role that can make or break companies.
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Do you need a co-founder to build a successful startup?
A TechCrunch article published in 2016 argued that startups that have more than one founder aren’t necessarily more successful. The author pointed out that at the time of writing, 52.3% of startups that exited (were acquired or IPO’d) had only one founder. This analysis flew in the face of conventional wisdom: that teams needed two or three co-founders to make it. While I don’t dispute the findings, I do think that summary statistics miss a number of nuances that are critical when deciding whether or not to bring on a co-founder. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the dynamics that are likely to drive this decision.
Can I Get Funding for My Startup with Just an Idea?
It’s quite common that I meet founders that are seeking capital for their startup idea. I love talking to these founders, but I inevitably tell them the same thing: It’s exceedingly rare, these days, to raise capital for just an idea but not impossible. Moreover, there are ways that founders could finance initial product development without equity-based investment.
Want your startup to succeed? Know thy competition
Too often startups tell me that they have no competition. I write those startups off right away because I can guarantee that not only do they have competition, but the competition is a worthy opponent that must be taken seriously.
Rather than convincing me that your startup is special, stating that you have no competition tells me instead that you are either ill-informed, unrealistic, delusional, or too lazy to perform a thorough analysis of your competitive landscape. I’m sure the motivation is often just trying to impress the investor, but I am infinitely more impressed when a startup rattles of a dozen competitors and tells me everything there is to know about them. The startup journey is a competition, and it inspires substantial confidence when a team has thoroughly studied their adversaries.
WishYourPrice Is Inventing a World Where Everyone Has a Say on Prices
Imagine if you could decide how much you pay for everything you buy. Those shoppers that are willing to pay more for an item–either because they have the means or because they really want it–would pay more, whereas those that are not as keen to pay a lot could offer a lower price for the item. The retailer could then intelligently decide which prices they should accept to give them the greatest profit. By getting rid of one-size-fits-all prices, shoppers would win by being able to buy items at prices that make sense to them, and retailers would likewise gain by increasing the revenue that they earn from each shopper. This is the future that WishYourPrice is building.