| Founder Type | Pros | Cons | | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Solo | - Avoids potential co-founder conflicts (personality clashes, power struggles, lack of shared vision)<br><br>- Reduces costs in communicating information<br><br> - Clear decision-making authority<br><br>- Examples of successful solo-founded companies (e.g., CNN, Bytedance) | - Lacks a sounding board for early ideas<br><br>- Bears the entire workload alone<br><br>- May struggle to show that others believe in the company | | Duo | - Provides a sounding board for early ideas<br><br>- Divides workload for more synergistic, complementary experiences, skillsets, and expertise<br><br>- Shows that at least one other person believes in the company<br><br>- More common among billion-dollar companies (36%) compared to solo founders (20%) with examples of successful duo-founded companies (e.g., Google, Apple, HP) | - Potential for co-founder conflicts (personality clashes, power struggles, lack of shared vision), which can lead to startup failure<br><br>- Increased costs in communicating information, which can lead to misjudgments by individuals | Duo has some clear advantages in Market Size (SR), Market Acceptance Info (DB) and Experiment Opportunity (ER). trade-offs seem more complex for Market Stability (DR), Optimism (BR) and Market-Product Confidence Ratio (CT).