One of the major dilemmas facing would-be entrepreneurs (at least judging by this thread at Hacker News) is whether or not to seek a co-founder once you have a viable idea.

Opinions differ pretty strongly about this.  Paul Graham has espoused the feeling that startups with more than one founder are more likely to succeed.  He goes on to suggest that two or three founders is the optimal amount.  Many people seem to think that he is the king of all things startup, and so these same people think that his way is the only way.

Which leads to posts like this one.  A bright guy is hesitant to start working on what is probably a good idea, all because he lacks a co-founder!  This is the danger of relying too heavily on one theory of startups.   This guy should probably just go ahead and start his idea, rather than look for a complete stranger to entrust half his company to. 

On the other hand, there are also people like this.  After reading that long-ass rant, I'd be disinclined to work with him as well.  He seems to have a pretty high opinion of himself, and seems convinced of the brilliance of his idea to the point where he is unlikely to accept any criticism. 

So what is the answer?  You and your co-founder don't want to end up like Mr. White and Mr. Pink up there, at each other's throats with .45s.  But if you go it alone, it is definitely harder.

As I posted in the thread, I think there is a middle ground.  One should neither seek out a co-founder actively or ignore all potential co-founders.  Just look amongst the people you have known for a few years or more, and decide if any of them share similar goals.  If not, expand your horizons and look to meet some like-minded people -- not for co-founders, but to meet new friends.  Among these, you may find a co-founder or you may not.  Just continue to expand your network of friends, all the while working on your idea.

Just my two cents.  Slow news day, and I actually had my coffee well in advance of posting today, so this is a much calmer entry.


 
 

And some requisite super disco breakin' at the Miracle of Science Bar and Grill in Cambridge.  These were my events last night, and the highlight of my weekend, besides seeing my girlfriend greet me at the door with a pink spotted apron holding a beer and cooking chicken.  Those fifties guys never knew how good they had it!

Anyway, this post is less to brag about my awesome girlfriend, and more to talk about how cool people interested in startups are.  As a regular reader of Hacker News and (future) startup co-founder myself, I was loathe to pass up the opportunity to meet up with some other people interested in (and founding) startups, especially at a cool science themed bar.  The bar in question also had Brooklyn Lager on tap, which is enough reason for me to show up right there.  I'd show up to a Klan rally if they had that shit to drink.

So I showed up and started sipping mellifluously on brew and waiting for my co-founder, one John Watson, to show up.  I scouted the bar trying to guess which other people might be from YC.  This was tough; pretty much everyone in the damn bar looked like a YC geek, just like me.  I later found out that half the bar was indeed from YC, but no one knew it yet. 

Watson showed up dead on time, and immediately commenced drinking as well.  Having showed up early to check out the bar, we spent a pleasant half hour or so talking shit about employers past and present.  We got antsy when 8:30 rolled around and no one had made any announcements ("IS ANYONE HERE FROM THE INTERNET?"), but then John had a fine idea. 

Being a tremendous dork, I had brought my PowerBook to the bar.  John suggested I fire it up, load up Paul Graham's homepage (with that bitchin' Y combinator tattoo) and a text editor with "Y COMBINATOR??"  in the biggest readable font, and point it at the door. 

Man, did that ever work.  People started showing up in droves, cheering and waving, ordering beer, ordering food, and chatting about whether they had been chosen for funding or not.  Seeing as Watson and I didn't even merit an interview, people seemed quite free to not feel too bad about being interviewed but not getting funding, which was the dominant theme of the evening.  However, we did meet some people who DID get in, which was tremendously exciting.  One of which refused to say anything whatsoever about his idea (which tantalized the rest of us, much to his obvious amusement), but the other seemed to have a pretty well established product in RescueTime, which looks like a fairly interesting application, and is already in beta.

And so a good time was had by all, and some interesting discussions were had with a guy from an interesting Comet-based startup, which will probably merit another post later, when I am less lazy.