Ask HN: Solo founder, shortlisted for incubator which needs 2 per team. Advice?
1- I live in the middle east.
2- Very slow startup scene here. Only a few incubators.
3- Working on a startup, however I worry that customers from the west will be vary of dealing with a startup in the middle east.
4- However if I've been in an incubator here, that might give me some legitimacy. Plus connections, mentorship, etc.
5- Shortly, a major incubator will be holding an event, where startups will come and pitch ideas to judges.
6- I have been shortlisted from about 1000 candidates, to a pool of 100 startups. These will be further cut down to 10-20 finalists.
7- My interviewer thought my idea was really good. But, they warned that unless I get a 2nd person with me, either an employee or a cofounder, I will get rejected because they have a rule of at least 2 people per team.
8- I really don't want to take on a 2nd person. My project needs deep technical knowledge which is frankly lacking in most people here. If I take on a 2nd developer, I would spend a lot of time babysitting them rather than building my product.
9- I -could- take on a designer, but I don't know any who are interested.
10- This has left me with a dilemma. I really want to get into this incubator, but I also really don't want to take on any other people right now (esp. just for getting into the incubator)
11- My options are:
a) Go in solo. Build a prototype before pitch, and hope they are wowed enough that they choose me.
b) Pick an inferior programmer, tell them that while they will get paid (the incubator pays a stipend but doesn't take equity - government run), they won't work on the project, only I will.
Option b just doesn't sit right with me.
Please, give me some advice on what you would do in my shoes? You guys are practically the only ones in the world who understand my situation.
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Why do you assume you must take on an inferior person just because you need someone (11b really sounds crazy to me)? I don't live in the middle east but I am sure there are plenty of intelligent and capable people either as marketers, developers, designers etc. I just don't buy the fact that your problem is so unique or tough that you couldn't find someone smart to work on it with you in some capacity. I will agree though that finding the right person can be tough and may take longer then you have. As for how to find people, networking is the best way still.
So a few options.
1. Say this isn't for you and forge off on your own, chances of success are directly related to your ability and determination.
2. Find an employee, if only temporary to help meet the minimum requirement to get you through the process. Educate and have this employee be your marketer, designer, product research and all around take care of things guy.
3. Still go forward while searching for a 2nd person, if you find one great, if not make sure you have superior product demo and focus your efforts on convincing them why you are worth backing. Have proof you are working to find another person, and have an answer for the question that seems reasonable. Rules are made to be broken, at least that is a saying here in the US, and fairly well lived/proven, but that doesn't mean everyone that wants to, gets the opportunity.
I love your question. If I can extrapolate a little bit, there are two conflicting forces at play here:
A) The general advice that you should get a co-founder to succeed[1]. That advice is mostly incorrect. Don't fit into someone else's arbitrary criteria, build your own startup your own way.
B) You seem to believe that no one else is good enough to join you. That's amazingly bad. Are you really the next Elon Musk in waiting? Even he knew to surround himself with a great team.
Because of these two points, I want to say: ignore the requirement from the incubator, but try to open your mind and find people to work with anyway. Not for the sake of getting into this incubator, but for the sake of your startup.
[1] http://foundrs.com/find-a-cofounder
Are you trying to explore building a business, or are you trying to get into an incubator? If the former, taking on a co-founder is likely to be counterproductive because you don't believe there's a real need, at least yet.
While I won't suggest that incubator programs are incapable of delivering value, if your target is Western customers and one of your biggest challenges is reaching them and establishing credibility, that's a very specific challenge. You might want to consider that there are ways you can try to address that directly because there's no guarantee an incubator in the Middle East will be positioned to help you much on this front.
You could take a programmer with different and perhaps lesser skills and have them work on tasks that require different and perhaps lesser skills. Working with and managing people with different and perhaps lesser skills is going to be necessary if your startup is to grow, and gaining experience doing so will be of value to you throughout your career.
Treating people with different and perhaps lesser skills with respect is a valuable character trait in and of itself and worth developing in and of its own right.
Good luck.
I would choose to go solo, but don't hitch everything on this single incubator. Build your prototype and cast your net wider. A lot of the top US accelerators are accepting plenty of foreign entrepreneurs into their programs.
Good luck!