[StickyRibbs]

All my solo projects suffered from all the things you mentioned. Once I found a cofounder for my current project, these problems went away because

1. There’s social altruism activated because you two are constantly doing things not just for yourself, but for the other person. 2. View point diversity. You get way more feedback with another talking head at the same table, helps unblock you more than you think. And this can ignite new insight and therefore new notification energy!

Is there a way to hack this as a solo founder? I think so!

I had a former co founder who I would always bounce ideas off of and even tho he wasn’t directly working on my projects, he would check in with me and kind of act like a rubber duck I could talk to. This could be your friends, partner, or strangers!

Also, time is your best friend, for good or for worse. I think back on projects I started and quit after a year, I would like to think those projects would be successful if I just put more time into it.

[gadders]

Forget AI Girlfriends - let's launch AI Co-Founders.

The only problem is I'm a solo developer so need to bootstrap my own AI co-founder first.

[CharlesW]

> The only problem is I'm a solo developer so need to bootstrap my own AI co-founder first.

Here you go: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-67d9acd9106881919145eacc538ec9a2-vir...

[gitgud]

Just used it, I thought this response was hilarious

https://i.imgur.com/UqA7eHy_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=gra...

[comrade1234]

AI co-founder with equity.

[gadders]

2 years time:

"My AI co-founder has just stitched me up on the cap table. Does anyone know a good AI lawyer that can sue them?"

[danjl]

While a co-founder can help, it can also ruin everything. As you say, there are other relationships and ways of interacting that can easily fill the same role, ie. advisors, board members, customers, etc. Statistically, I think that co-founder infighting is one of the largest reasons why many startups fail. It's also a fantastic way to ruin friendships.

[jmathai]

Having just one other person in the trenches is so helpful. I hadn't thought about the social altruism angle but I think there's a lot of truth to it.

I also agree about time. I think new products follow a model similar to compounding interest. It's very small at the start - sometimes negligible but over time things add up.

Lastly, I think we get desensitized to success. Getting the first user, the first ten, etc. These are not small milestones. They're meaningful.

Lastly lastly, if it's something you want to make money from then focus primarily on user acquisition and secondly on product. Commonly difficult for builders to do but not doing so cements delayed failure.