Counter to the common advice given by people in Silicon Valley (Paul Graham ‘Startup Mistakes’ for instance), solo founders are more likely to build companies that survive and generate more revenue than multiple founders.
This is thought to be because of the lack of co-founder drama (a leading cause of premature startup death) and fast, consolidated decisions making.
The study referenced here used Kickstarter funded companies to draw these conclusions, but similar insights can be found in Crunchbase data (more than half of startups that had a single founder).
Links to this note
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Emotional Intelligence Is More Important for Entreprenuerial Success Than General Mental Ability
A recent meta-analysis study compared the impact of general mental ability and emotional intelligence in entrepreneurial settings and found that emotional intelligence was twice as important for explaining success.
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When it comes to raising money, being a solo founder goes against the grain. Many investors figure it’s safer to invest in founders that come in pairs. (Possibly because of this essay from Paul Graham)
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Solo Founders Are Less Likely to Pivot
The likelihood of pivoting seems to increase as the number of founders increases. Solo founders are the least likely to pivot compared to co-founders of 2, 3, and 4. The most likely to pivot is when there are 4 founders.