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Ask HN: Incubator doesn't like that I'm a single founder. Offers alternative.

7 points by GB_001 ↗ HN
Hello, I'm a single founder of a very early start-up.

A month ago I was looking for incubators based in my area. When I had managed to find one, they said they were very impressed, but did not like the fact that I was a single founder. Mostly because they don't provide seed funding, only mentoring and a demo day. After a week or so they called me offering two things:

1) An invitation to all their events.

2) To help find a start-up with a similar business model in need of a technical founder that I can join.

However I have a few fears related to the second item in the offer.

1) I'd like to continue developing my product and for me to join a team with a similar business model, I'd probably have to throw away my product.

2) I'm not sure how much input I would have in an already established group.

I haven't worked in a co-founding environment before. Most of the time I would contract someone to help me with finer details and such.

Hopefully someone can help me dispose of any irrationality in my fears.

8 comments

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trevelyan
I don't think you're being irrational. I'm a single founder and it sounds to me like these guys are hunting for "tech help" on the cheap while trying to clear out potential competition -- otherwise, why the admonition to ditch your product?

Listen to your gut instincts. You might learn something about your market by meeting the competing team although it will probably be a waste of time. But it seems foolish to abandon your own plans in order to join some random and profitless company that has decided joining a no-investment incubator is a good deal. If money is an issue wouldn't you be better served just getting a job at market rates and continuing to work on your business part-time?

If you think there is some value in the community, you can always offer to advise some of their teams as a mentor in exchange for access to group events.

GB_001
Thank you for your input. I was thinking this aswell, because I don't want to end up as just a "coder" in whatever start-up they ask if I'm interested in.

Right now money is sort of an issue, but I'm working a part-time job in order to save up some cash to deploy atleast a demo version to show potential investors.

I think I'll just accept their offer to go to their events and nothing else.

grabble
I bristled when I read this. They are making some steep requests and I can't see how you could seriously consider going along with this. It can't be in your best interest.
GB_001
Yeah, my gut feeling is straying me away from this.
helen842000
Just my 0.02 worth, I was a single founder in a startup incubator.

At first I thought that I was missing out on having fellow founders to rely on but from a purely performance related POV, by demo day the single founders in the group (about 4/15 companies) were better prepared, further along and were making more income than those with team members.

In fact the more team members there were, the worse they seemed to do. 2 teams didn't even make it to demo day due to falling outs between the founders.

Decisions, paperwork and simple tasks that single founders flew through were serious points of contention with the bigger teams (4+)

I think co-founders for the sake of it is a mistake.

Sure, having a great team is always more productive than being a single founder. However a bad team is not even worth risking.

I'd take up their invitation to their events as that's a generous offer. They obviously saw potential in your product. Don't let them pressure you into building a team if you're happy with how it's going.

GB_001
Thanks for this, my faith in being better off as a single founder rather than going out of my way to find another founder has been renewed.

I'll most likely email them thanking them for the events invite, but say that I would rather try and develop my product more than to jump ship to another.

andrewhillman
"I think co-founders for the sake of it is a mistake."

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

flignats
Hi - I'm a cofounder of a startup :). I would first ask; considering that you sought out the incubator, do you believe that they can help you advance your startup to a point that justifies even participating in the incubator at all?

If the answer is yes, then let's consider a situation that you would accept. I understand the desire to continue your business as a single cofounder. However, I would think that you want to grow this startup to something beyond a lifestyle business. Otherwise you wouldn't be seeking out an incubator (most wouldn't accept you). If that is correct then you'll seriously want to consider adding another cofounder to your team. Find out every area that a startup on a successful growth trajectory would need to face - Networking, marketing, seo, b2b, engineering, design, developing pitch decks, giving pitches, generating leads, more networking, dba, and google 100 more.

Now find out which of those areas you suck in. Then eliminate the ones you can effectively and efficiently outsource. Then hopefully you're left with high quality skills and personality traits that can only be filled by someone that is different than you are. Find and grab that person as a cofounder. The efficiency and productivity added to your startup of even 1 more person to cover areas that you left unfilled will be worth sharing your startup with.

Then you can enter the incubator as a two person startup and with your original product.