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- Hacker News
- You don't NEED one, but you probably SHOULD have one. It just helps speed things up immensely and lowers the chances that you'll burnout.
"If you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go together."
by ra0x3 - I built something on my own while I had a day job too. Mine is software, so it's a different situation, but AI helped with building it. Getting people interested is still hard. I can see why you'd want help with marketing. If I were looking for a partner, I'd look for someone who enjoys the work I find hardest. But I'd first try to find a few people who actually want to use the thing.by bumjin
- As a solo founder in the thick of it right now, I would consider it.
Given your constraints (fulltime job, side gigs, family) it could help balance the workload, and if you find the right one, maybe offload things you don't like or aren't good at. Not to mention the comradery component and having someone to go through the difficult times with you.
I'd find the ying to your yang, so if you the technologist, find someone good at business, sales, marketing, product, etc. That's my two cents.
by lyfeninja - You only have 12 months after filing the provisional application to get the full patent application in. You might not need a cofounder, but you definitely need a plan with a timeline.
If it's a choice between being too slow, losing the market timing and the provisional patent protections or finding a co-founder, then find a cofounder. Is it more work to find the cofounder vs develop it yourself? You can try posting a linkedIn job ad for a cofounder, someone found me that way, and yes it was upfront about the salary situation but there are people out there who might be in the right circumstances to take you up on what you can bring to the table.
by skyberrys - One of the main challenge is, building trust takes time. Even if you feel you have got one, it will take time to develop faith in your partner. When I left my job in 2024 to work on my idea or join someone else's idea, I tried working with many people, but none worked out. It's way different than what it seems from the top.
As of now, I still believe finding a cofounder and it makes things easier especially when you have a job and a family which takes most of your time. You just need to be practical and see red flags which will tell you it won't work out.
I think best is to try without compromising important details of your project, when you feel you can trust, then go 100%.
by rahuljha0403 - Here's my $0.02.
On a Co-Founder:
1) Like raising kids as a single parent, it's possible but it's far better with a partner. Same thing goes for being a Solo Founder vs having a Co-Founder. The magic number, in my opinion, is 2 total Co-Founders for a startup.
2) The right cofounder will complement your expertise. It's basically "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts".
3) Make a list of everyone in your friend group, those you've worked with in the past 3 years and maybe even a few you went to college with. Mark those who are formidable, reach out to all the ones you marked and just have a conversation with each of them to see where it takes you. But have those conversations with the intent that any one of them could potentially be a Co-Founder.
On getting started:
1) There's literally no hard and fast rule. But I think it's a good idea to keep your day job, and spend evening and weekends working on pulse checking your product with potential customers/users. Prioritize heavily on getting in front of customers. Patents don't matter much.
2) See how far you can take this as a business on your own while looking for a Co-Founder. Do both in parallel.
3) Limit yourself to a fixed time period, maybe a month, to lift this off the ground. And tell yourself, if you haven't seen any progress in a month after trying hard then maybe it's not worth it. Traction matters most, try and get some in any form within that month. For example, I know of people who are building electric motorbikes who got initial interest just by taking a detailed 3D printed model to potential distribution partners.
Good luck! :)
PS: Counterintuitively, I think having a supportive family gives you more purpose to build something enduring and meaningful.
by Zaraif13 - To be blunt, you're more likely to find cofounders, partners or investors if your approach to asking somewhere you might actually find one is less "I've invented a new type of thing but I can't tell you what it is or even what vague market it's in".
Whether you need cofounders/advisers/contractors depends a lot on whether your idea is, "widget I can get made in bulk in China sell on Amazon", "mechanism that needs a lot of R&D to make it work" or "perfect solution to niche problem" and what the gaps in your own skillset and network are.
by notahacker - You don’t need a co-founder, but doing everything yourself while you have another job will be slow. Competitors may be able to get around your patent and scale up faster than you.
Having someone else also means you’re accountable to them, which puts a bit more urgency on getting things done, in addition to being a sounding-board for your ideas.
by dabinat