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Ask HN: Is it crazy to get a co-founder? 50% seems a huge price to pay

4 points by hoodoof ↗ HN
OK say you are a technical single founder and you have built your product.

All the advice is to get a co founder, but usually that means 50% ownership right?

Seems a high price to pay when getting an injection of capital might only cost 20% of the company.

If you are a technical single founder with a completed product, wouldn't it be crazy to get a sales oriented cofounder at 50% of equity?

4 comments

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angersock
What's the point in having 100% ownership of a product without sales?
wakeywakeywakey
It does not have to be 50/50. If you have been contributing for a while, it's perfectly reasonable to give them less. Figure out what role they'll play, and for how long, then put them on a vesting schedule.
bobfirestone
Do you want 50% of a company with sales or 100% of a company with no sales.

How many times does the inferior product with better marketing win? The reality is a lot.

sharemywin
I think the co-founder advice is if you know someone already that's:

competent, hard working, motivated and can work without pay for a period of time.

otherwise if you can raise without sales do it. or bootstrap until you can.