Crunchbase, an online start-up database, indicates that single-founder companies do at least as well as, if not better than, two-founder companies. In fact, amongst start-ups which have managed an exit (via an IPO or an acquisition), more than 50 percent were founded by a single individual.
Single-founder start-ups are neither obligated to find a co-founder, nor doomed if they don’t find one. Therefore, if a co-founder has to be brought in, it must be for the right reasons.
In my experience running a venture acceleration programme, founders often add co-founders for cosmetic effect – how they would appear in a pitch – or as zero-salary employees. Both approaches soon fail.
