Lone genius or lonely fool? Exploring the viability of solo-founding in entrepreneurship

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Howell, Travis; Hall, Todd A.
• 署名单位: Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe; University of Kansas
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.70103
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: TOP MANAGEMENT TEAMS; INVESTOR GUT FEEL; Venture capitalists; performance; INNOVATION; IMPACT; CONSEQUENCES; ORGANIZATIONS; CONSTRUCTION; experience

摘要

Research Summary The conventional wisdom both in research and in practice is that entrepreneurs need co-founders, as they bring crucial resources to new ventures. Yet, this same work also suggests that co-founders introduce destructive conflict, potentially creating as many problems as they solve. Surprisingly, little work examines the counterfactual-that is, the conditions under which solo-founding is a viable approach. In this paper, we address this gap. We perform two studies; one using data from Y Combinator's renowned accelerator program, and another using large-scale data from Crunchbase. Across these studies, we find that the solo founder disadvantage is partially attenuated when the founder has either broad or deep experience, or both (i.e., T-shaped skills). Overall, our paper contributes to the literatures on founding teams and strategic human capital.Managerial Summary Co-founders are beneficial to startups because they bring needed skillsets, knowledge, connections, and other resources. At the same time, however, co-founders also introduce the potential for interpersonal conflict between the entrepreneur and co-founders. Thus, in some cases, co-founders may create as many or more problems as they solve. Surprisingly, very little research examines solo founders. In this paper, we examine the conditions under which solo founding is a viable approach. We find evidence of multiple ways in which solo founders can begin to overcome their performance disadvantages and achieve performance closer to that of co-founded ventures.