This writer misses one of the most important issue, which would be under his heading "Validation". Validation isn't (just) internal! It's not that you (necessarily) need convincing your 'idea' is any good.
Validation is external. The fact that two people are both working on something makes 'something' 1000x more real than if some guy is working on it.
There's always going to be information asymmetry between internal and external: the fact is, if there are two people on the inside, that is one of the strongest signals (to people on the outside, who have limited exposure to the low-level progress) that there is something there.
If it's just some guy saying, "Hey I've been building x for the past y" that is a very weak signal.
I might even go as far as saying, "The only time you can afford not to have a cofounder is when you can make it all the way to completed product + substantial revenue without having to convince anyone of anything about the future of your business."
Anyone includes but is not limited to: employees, partners, your parents, your spouse, and, of course - Investors!
If you never need to convince anyone of the future of your project, until it's incorporated, profitable, making payroll - then you might do it alone. But for 99% of us, this does not apply, and a cofounder is one of the best signals around for sharing internal state of validation.
I don't agree. Whether you're a solo founder or have 10 co-founders, you won't succeed if you're building something that no one wants. You can get customer validation regardless of whether you have co-founders or not.
Validation is external. The fact that two people are both working on something makes 'something' 1000x more real than if some guy is working on it.
There's always going to be information asymmetry between internal and external: the fact is, if there are two people on the inside, that is one of the strongest signals (to people on the outside, who have limited exposure to the low-level progress) that there is something there.
If it's just some guy saying, "Hey I've been building x for the past y" that is a very weak signal.
I might even go as far as saying, "The only time you can afford not to have a cofounder is when you can make it all the way to completed product + substantial revenue without having to convince anyone of anything about the future of your business."
Anyone includes but is not limited to: employees, partners, your parents, your spouse, and, of course - Investors!
If you never need to convince anyone of the future of your project, until it's incorporated, profitable, making payroll - then you might do it alone. But for 99% of us, this does not apply, and a cofounder is one of the best signals around for sharing internal state of validation.