swanify

So recently i applied for a UK accelerator program called ignite100 in the hope of gaining valuable mentorship and investment for my latest product idea inquire.ly, i've built the MVP, signed up a few hundred (unpaid) customers and have a list of beta testers.

So i got through the first stage (140 startups applied), i then managed to pass two telephone interviews (40 startups) and get to the final interviews (20 startups), and actually think that process went fine, i answered all the questions, articulated the ideas and woo'd the investors :).

Unfortunately it wasn't enough, it came down to a choice between me and another team. The downfall? being a single founder, it seems that most single founders buckle under the intensity of an accelerator, and ultimately a startup. I personally didn't have any fear of this having started my first business at the age of 17 in 2003 and running several businesses since - i'm used to working 7am - 11pm Mon - Sun (i've got a wife and 4 kids too, so come on! stress - i laugh in the face of it).

But it certainly makes me weigh up my choice of starting it alone:

will that ultimately prevent success? is having at least one co-founder a must?

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on this, i'm not against having that person at all but i'm struggling to find someone so grotesquely addicted to work as i am!