When applying to YC would it be better to to settle for a less than ideal co-founder or just continue working solo?
Note: I do not live in an area full of techies like SF so my options have been somewhat limited.
I don't know enough about your situation to give you meaningful advice, but bear in mind you'll be making a big time commitment as a lone founder in an incubator.
I've done the solo thing twice. Depending on your goals it can work out great.
But next time, a cofounder is a must.
By engage I mean; incorporate them into existing ad campaigns.
My advice would be to spend your time growing the business and possibly hiring folks to handle the non-techie side if possible. There's a point at which the risk has been lowered enough that the co-founder level of reward isn't appropriate, and it sounds likely you're there if you're making decent revenue.
If you are already the techie, then you don't need another techie founder necessarily. You probably need the business strategy/marketing person to help you work with early customers to fill out the product and generate revenues.
# Bring on a co-founder that is an obvious fit
# Have a plan that identifies what your own weaknesses are and how you plan to mitigate them.
From the sound of this thread, there is no obvious co-founder that you know of right now, so going with the latter is far more respectable and smart IMHO, and is something I would bet the YC panel would appreciate a lot more given your current time frame.
Your YC application will be strengthened not just by having a co-founder but by the process of seeking one out. The triumphs and struggles you experience will be significantly richer when you share them with someone else. No matter how broad your expertise in the technical, business, and marketing aspects of building a startup, there will be areas where a co-founder can supply strengths you don't have.
Keep looking!
From my personal experience, i also recommend the same. It's like having a relationship. Great relationship > solo > lousy relationship. You spend much more energy and stress with less-than-ideal cofounder compare with going solo.
Let me say that I think that having a co-founder is great, so if you can find someone who:
1) Has passion for the idea and concept and is willing to share in the risk. 2) Is a hard worker and someone who can bring talent to the table. 3) Is someone you get along with but can have fruitful discussions and respectful disagreements with.
Then I would encourage you to bring that person on as a co-founder. But I would not settle for anyone who lacked any of the above traits because you're worried about not having a co-founder.
So, in summary, co-founders are great if you can find one, but certainly not essential to startup success.
You need a good co-founder as a rule of thumb. You need to prove that at least one other person believes in your crazy idea and is willing to work with you.
If you have had a few cofounder false-starts you should look very closely at the root cause for that situation.
The other 1 simply could not code worth a damn so I felt like he was dead weight.
If you haven't already identified one then you can forget about it. The question is moot. You don't want one anyway. That's obvious. What you want is someone who will work for you at a discount, a coder who likes the product and the tech you're using and likes to get his/her hands dirty. A lot of people are just happy to have good work and some input into what they think will be a good product.. that would free you up to focus more on the marketing business side of things which is just as if not more important than that product itself.
Where are you located?
1. Have a cofounder or two
2. Talk with customers all the time
Either is fine to preserve sanity, but beyond that one gives you more muscle power and the other gives you better direction. Your pick.
I am wondering where people would recommend looking for a co-founder if you are in an area where the startup community is hard to find.
You should keep looking for a co-founder irrespective of all this. You should be able to sell your idea to someone smart and intelligent until then you really don't know how good the idea is.