[kishansagathiya]

Are there really any single founders? In most successful single founder companies, there are few people who effectively does cofounder like stuff. In this case initial recruits would just not have the cofounder title, but the same work. Also initial recruits will stick around and will give their best only if they have enough incentive, which is equity(a cofounder thing)

[mimixco]

Thomas Edison was a solo founder. So was Edwin Land (Polaroid). You could make the case that Thomas Watson Sr. (IBM) was also a solo founder, and they all did just fine. :-)

[beat]

Equity isn't the only incentive.