I can see why most of the great companies of the last few decades have been founded by multiple people as opposed to a single person; for instance Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple, Larry and Sergei founded Google, Mark Zuckerberg had several co-founders for Facebook. The list goes on, and there are many good reasons for it.
For one thing, having multiple founders allows a company to have expertise in multiple areas; one of the founders can be a programmer and the other one can be good at business for instance, and their strengths compliment each other. Multiple founders are able to raise more capital as well as put more work hours into a company than a typical single founder could.
A single founder might have to put in 80 hour weeks initially for instance whereas co-founders could take time off while one or the other runs the business so they'd both be able to stay energetic rather than burn themselves out too quickly.
But, the most important reason for having multiple founders is that when times get tough, as most new entrepreneurs experience, it's good to have someone there who can help lift your spirits and help you to stay on task and motivated. It's easy to falter when times look tough if you're by yourself.
I thought I'd share my thoughts on this subject since I've recently started a company and even though I believe in my idea and myself, I tend to get very frustrated when something goes wrong or things take longer than I expected them to; usually because of people at other companies who don't understand or care about the urgency of my requests when I'm using them for some service.
To them I'm just another client but when things go wrong for my company, I want them to be fixed very quickly since I want to please my customers because having a crappy product or customer service will cause them to leave and never come back so I have to stay motivated through those tough times.
What have been other members experiences in this regard? Have you ever started a business by yourself or with someone else and if so how was it for you starting out? I'd like to read stories from both sides, so people who've done it alone and those who've had co-founders. A spouse can be a co-founder as well.
For one thing, having multiple founders allows a company to have expertise in multiple areas; one of the founders can be a programmer and the other one can be good at business for instance, and their strengths compliment each other. Multiple founders are able to raise more capital as well as put more work hours into a company than a typical single founder could.
A single founder might have to put in 80 hour weeks initially for instance whereas co-founders could take time off while one or the other runs the business so they'd both be able to stay energetic rather than burn themselves out too quickly.
But, the most important reason for having multiple founders is that when times get tough, as most new entrepreneurs experience, it's good to have someone there who can help lift your spirits and help you to stay on task and motivated. It's easy to falter when times look tough if you're by yourself.
I thought I'd share my thoughts on this subject since I've recently started a company and even though I believe in my idea and myself, I tend to get very frustrated when something goes wrong or things take longer than I expected them to; usually because of people at other companies who don't understand or care about the urgency of my requests when I'm using them for some service.
To them I'm just another client but when things go wrong for my company, I want them to be fixed very quickly since I want to please my customers because having a crappy product or customer service will cause them to leave and never come back so I have to stay motivated through those tough times.
What have been other members experiences in this regard? Have you ever started a business by yourself or with someone else and if so how was it for you starting out? I'd like to read stories from both sides, so people who've done it alone and those who've had co-founders. A spouse can be a co-founder as well.
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