6 ms·

Yeah, a different, more literal kind of alone. I got burned last summer by bringing people on board too early. I'm the hacker-type. The other people were the

by dstillz 19y ago

Yeah, a different, more literal kind of alone. I got burned last summer by bringing people on board too early. I'm the hacker-type. The other people were the kind whose strengths too were different from mine. One was a high-powered client-interfacing guy, who has since taken a full time job as an IA, after the failure of his own Web 2.0 startup (all in under a year!). The other, and the troublemaker, was a high-powered marketing person who wanted to fasttrack the branding campaign before I even had a product or clients. We'd all worked together well in the context of a larger company, but we couldn't reconcile our directional aspirations for a startup. So this year, I'm alone. In Northern Virginia's technology corridor. I would love a hackerly co-founder, or at least someone to bounce my ideas off of. All my friends from CS classes keep moving to the West coast to work for the Googles and Microsofts of the world. I have a feeling my YC application this year is going to be rejected simply because I'm a sole founder.

tim2 19y ago
> rejected simply because I'm a sole founder. The application certainly makes it seem that this is the case.
- dstillz 19y ago
  I really think I can prove myself and my ideas. I wish I were better at networking.
- ericb 19y ago
  >> Are any of the following true? (a) You are the only founder. I suspect this YC app field sends you to /dev/null. In the html, the select's name is "badness" !
notauser 19y ago
I'm also a sole founder. I don't feel _that_ disadvantaged because I have a mixed business/tech background, but in terms of applying to YC it's clear that being on your own is a major mark down. It could be fairly interesting to see if a couple of technical people, working on different products, could act as one company. Both parties get the benefits of having someone to look over their shoulder (as they have a financial stake). You also get the sum of both sets of secondary skills and contacts. The downside would be a split in focus, but that should be no worse than the two working individually.
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
- dstillz 19y ago
  I'd love to have that. Kind of a more-intensive, tech version of the Tuesday Night Music Club. First rule: no bringing your girlfriend, even if she is Sheryl Crow.
  - deleted 19y ago
    [deleted]

by dstillz 19y ago

tim2 19y ago

> rejected simply because I'm a sole founder. The application certainly makes it seem that this is the case.

dstillz 19y ago
I really think I can prove myself and my ideas. I wish I were better at networking.
ericb 19y ago
>> Are any of the following true? (a) You are the only founder. I suspect this YC app field sends you to /dev/null. In the html, the select's name is "badness" !

notauser 19y ago

I'm also a sole founder. I don't feel _that_ disadvantaged because I have a mixed business/tech background, but in terms of applying to YC it's clear that being on your own is a major mark down. It could be fairly interesting to see if a couple of technical people, working on different products, could act as one company. Both parties get the benefits of having someone to look over their shoulder (as they have a financial stake). You also get the sum of both sets of secondary skills and contacts. The downside would be a split in focus, but that should be no worse than the two working individually.

deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
dstillz 19y ago
I'd love to have that. Kind of a more-intensive, tech version of the Tuesday Night Music Club. First rule: no bringing your girlfriend, even if she is Sheryl Crow.
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]