It would be great if someone started an incubator devoted to single founders, specifically tailoring the program to address some of the associated shortcomings. Perhaps it could also be a fertile ground to merge any compatible founders into teams.
If any angel(s) are looking for a niche in the incubator "market", this would be a pretty good one. Real value can be created if someone can increase the chances of success for single founders.
I'm a single founder who's had success, and am toying around with the idea of starting an incubator. Wouldn't mind a partner this time around -- the single founder way is great for utmost control but sometimes you need someone to help you see the forest for the trees.
as a single founder (non-tech to boot!) I'd love to see that - but why limit yourself to a sub-batch of entrepreneurs? Why not just be a single-founder friendly incubator?
There are benefits to targeting a niche, common problems through the group, easier to market the incubator to a group, differentiation to other incubators.
From my point of view I would love to see a go-to place for single founders, if there's one thing we could use it's others to talk to where friends/family just don't cut it!
In recent history, Mint.com is the poster child, however there is still an open question about whether he sold too early.
Lots of people like to point out Drew Houston of Dropbox as another single-founder success story (and it is!), but he did have a co-founder by the time they presented at Demo Day (if not before YC started, I can't remember which).
I think this sounds great. While I'm aware of a couple studies that show single-founder companies being less successful than multiple-founder companies, I think the problem is being exacerbated by a self-fulfilling prophecy created by investors that single-founder companies cannot succeed.
Your comment history indicates that you like to be contrary and/or snarky, so I'm not replying to you, but for others reading this thread... there are actually good VCs out there (and yes, there are a lot of bad ones).
There are definitely investors who do this kind of thing to business partners, but they are usually non silicon valley, non tech investors (like a local car dealership owner who is investing in a restaurant). It is really rare among professional investors. It might happen again at the private equity level, where established businesses are being restructured, but there you could argue the value is not with the founders in all cases, or with management. I have little experience at that scale though.
In a startup, the founders, and their relationship with each other and the company, is probably the biggest asset. If an investor doesn't like the team, he just won't invest at all.
If any angel(s) are looking for a niche in the incubator "market", this would be a pretty good one. Real value can be created if someone can increase the chances of success for single founders.