Can a lone founder become successful?
Decision making
A sole trader has the freedom to decide for the business. But how do you get advice in the event of facing problems? It will be advisable if the sole trader has a mentor to advise on solving any issues.
Do your work on your own
Become accountable to yourself.
If anything goes wrong in your business, you are responsible. You have the accountability to find the solutions; if you have a co-founder, you might expect that person to find a solution. Also, you will start to blame yourself and forget about it after a while. At the same time, if your co-founder makes a mistake, you might begin to think and end up with negative thoughts.
Choose your working pattern; you do not have to please anyone.
Further, when you work alone, it is up to you to fix the time, and you have no obligation to make anybody else happy to make them more productive. Also, you can work from anywhere that you like.
No one will love your baby as much as you do.
Working alone will make you happy with your business and develop a great passion for it. You will love your business to a great extent, making you work harder without taking proper breaks. But if you have a co-founder, you cannot expect the same way you love your business. Remember, no one will love you, baby, as much as you love. I am not discouraging you not to have a co-founder. These are the reality of having a co-founder.
Collaboration
What about the concept that you need to collaborate to become successful? That is true, but that does not mean that you need to have a founder. When you work alone, you can hire workers, outsource your work, or even have a virtual assistant work for you to grow your business and be successful. When you run your business alone, you can implement a strict internal control system to prevent your business from irregularities and fraud.
Having a co-founder is like getting married.
You lose your freedom if you decide to have a co-founder; it might work well initially, but then things might change. If there is a disagreement between the two, it might give you disastrous results. Therefore, selecting a co-founder is not easy, but if you happen to meet someone keen on working with you, having a good understanding of your project will be of great use. One of the crucial points in running your business with partners is knowing where to set your boundaries and providing a partnership agreement that is acceptable to someone you would like to have as a partner. You should never neglect your partnership agreement just because you want that individual.
Can a lone founder become successful?
My final words here are that working alone will not have any interaction, either bad or good, as you are on your own, which might result in a lack of confidence in you in the long run if you struggle to achieve success.