Cofounder Myth
As I contemplate striking out and starting my own business, a common theme that keeps coming back to me is – “there is no such thing as a one man start-up”.
I see the value in the argument. Even if I hold a Master’s degree in Engineering and have led a Product Development team for 6 years, the many years of sales and marketing have left me out of touch with the latest in technology. Sure, I am still confident of engaging in those discussions, but I am no longer able to initiate those. So it made sense that I find a co-founder who would complement me, someone who I can spar with.
Then I came across this blog. Somewhere down that page the blog states :
Learnings:
#1. Cofounder Myth: In the early days, I was consistently told that the first thing I needed to do was find a cofounder. Every investor/incubator/advisor brought this up. I wasted a month searching. I learned that you don’t find a cofounder; it happens naturally or it doesn’t. Don’t force it and don’t waste time searching for someone. After spending a month building the first prototype, investors saw what I could do and I never heard the cofounder advice again.
And that makes sense too 🙂
While I am not totally bought into the idea that it happens without any effort, I think it is not worth forcing.
November 30th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Hi Shankar,
Guess it is a lot like marriage..
On one hand you can look far and wide for ages for a suitable match and not find one and then one fine day your partner is sitting right next to you licking an icecream.
On the other hand there is this arranged Indian marriage .. where you are given a partner and you just make it work for life..
Neither is good or bad.. it ultimately boils down to our own attitude … The only difference of significance I see is that in the first marriage, you are waiting indefinitely so you need to have the flexibility of time. And if you really think that your time has come, then better go in for the arranged on with an intention to make it work…
Happy decision making.. and if you are in Singapore, let us catch-up for a ‘date’ haha!!
Sharad