Thinking of being a single founder of a start-up? Not before you read the pros and cons here

In the start-up space, it’s a usual practice to have multiple co-founders; however, as start-ups get more and more famous, one can see an emerging trend to be a single founder of a project. Sure, it is a difficult road to choose, but perks include quicker decision-making power and lesser number of compromises to be made, a common practice with multiple co-founders.

"I have seen strengths in being the single founder," Major Prashant Rai, Founder of Bengaluru-based resources-aggregator Onetimejobs.com told ET. "When you have cofounders investing in the company, you have to listen to them while making decisions and utilising funds. This way the decisions are fast. I take ideas from my team, but final decision will be mine," he added.

There, however, is a common belief amongst all single founders of start-ups; they all believe in having an efficient team rather than having one or two individuals as co-founders.

"Most cofounder stories tell how they had been together for a long time sharing the passion and the ideas and having a certain amount of understanding about each other. In the beginning it might help you too," Sakshi Vij, founder of self-drive service Mylescars.com, admitted to ET. "But moving forward, what matters more is the talent you hire and your team on the ground." However, founders admit that the sole journey might bring along with it its own challenges.

What are the issues then, which force one to look for co-founders before starting a business? Majorly, the issues a single founder faces are difficulties in raising funds, as investors don’t like to put their money in the vision of a single person. And if you are a woman running a start-up alone, then there are issues of the stereotypes of the society that come attached with people’s views on your business.

However, sometimes, there are people that don’t hesitate in putting their money in projects with single founders. Vivek Durai, founder and CEO of Chennai-based startup Termsheet, recounts when his team helped matchmaking startup Aisle in raising funds. This happened because Durai himself being a single founder could very well understand the problems that Aisle must have been facing.

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