The founder's dilemmas
by Noam Wasserman · first published 2012
76% recommend24% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Data-driven study of startup founding trade-offs, from picking co-founders and splitting equity to money and control in VC-backed companies. Suits founders weighing these decisions early.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Check out "The Founder's Dilemmas" by Noam Wasserman. Lots of great tips based on a huge dataset of startups.
on “I started a doc to document startup leadership best practices” ↗…Ng's ML course - "Deep Learning" - by Goodfellow and Bengio. Just started, but really liking it. [STARTUPS] (all excellent; in order) - "The Hard Things about Hard Things" - "Zero to One" - "The Founder's Dilemmas" - "The Launch Pad" [FICTION] - Trilogy: "Off to be a wizard / An Unwelcome Quest / Spell or High Water" - "Infinite Jest" - tried but failed to finish. May try again later. - "Ready Player One"…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗The Founder's Dilemmas, Venture Deals, Startup CEO
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding how the Angel/VC business work” ↗Great post. It's not often you see founders share how they arrived at their equity split. I highly recommend The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman (http://www.amazon.com/The-Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Ent...). The book is very data driven. Noam uses the data he collected over the last 10 years to backup the different scenarios…
on “Splitting founder equity – how we did it and why we’re sharing” ↗…lower success rates than non-homophilous. From this, the one lesson I've definitely learnt is to look for someone drastically different to myself when trying to find a co-founder. A suggested read is 'The Founder's Dilemmas' by Noam Wasserman, full of a lot of lessons that can often be avoided.
on “Ask HN: Horror co-founder stories.” ↗Good article highlighting the equally valid modes of rationalising different options. A useful book that can help one think through these (and many more) types of decisions is "The Founder's Dilemmas"[1]. In it, Wasserman (former professor of mine) explores the trade-offs one must make in founding, with examples. Very helpful. [1] http://www.noamwasserman.com/book/
on “No, I’ll tell you the answer” ↗A good read for those interested in this topic i.e. the pros and cons of finding a co-worker through something like "founder dating" VS. with friends/relatives VS. with coworkers is "The Founder's Dilemmas"[1] by Noah Wasserman. If you'd just like a preview/synopsis of the book, there's a podcast[2] of the author's talk at Stanford, which covers all the broad strokes and key points. [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Ent...…
on “Ask HN: Has anyone found a good co-founder using “founder dating” techniques?” ↗…Now http://smile.amazon.com/The-Defining-Decade-Twenties-Matter-... [2] Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace) http://smile.amazon.com/Search-Inside-Yourself-Unexpected-Ac... [3] The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup http://smile.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Found... [4] The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator http://smile.amazon.com/Launch-Pad-Inside-Combinator/dp/1591...…
on “Ask HN: Do I give up now?” ↗The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman. A very good read and you can get it on Amazon.
on “Ask HN: What's the most impactful business book you've read?” ↗Seconded! In the meanwhile, Founder's Dilemmas is a great read (http://www.amazon.com/The-Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Ent...)
on “Jeremy Guillory's Counter-Complaint against Cruise Automation” ↗…Wires, by Kevin Mitnick Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft, by Paul Allen Creativity, Inc, by Ed Catmull (reading) >> Startups: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz The Founder's Dilemmas, Noam Wasserman The Launch Pad, by Randall Stross >> Other books: Trilogy: Off to Be the Wizard (series), by Scott Meyer Search Inside Yourself, Chade-Meng Tan Joy on Demand, Chade-Meng Tan (reading)
on “Ask HN: What good books have you read lately?” ↗Sure thing. And for anyone else who is interested in this topic, Wasserman's "The Founder's Dilemmas" is a fantastic study of the issues of money and control in VC-funded startups. (EDIT: fixed title)
on “A Response to Paul Graham's “How to Make Wealth” (2012)” ↗…days/weeks and see how it goes. Another thing to do in all cases is to discuss downside/failure scenarios right up-front, and see if there's a sense of openness and fairness. Check out the books The Founder's Dilemmas and Slicing Pie for structuring the conversations, as they give vital ideas and precedents around formalizing the founders' relationships. It's much easier to chat about failure and equity before real…
on “Ask HN: What are your criteria for selecting cofounders?” ↗In order of personal preference: 1) The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator, by Randall Stross 2) The Founder's Dilemmas, by Noam Wasserman 3) The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz 4) Zero to One: Notes on Startups, by Peter Thiel, Blake Masters 5) Venture Deals, by Brad Feld, Jason Mendelson (I haven't read,…
on “Books on setting up a start up step-by-step?” ↗…business than writing code. To answer your question, I do think that you're likely to encounter friction with other senior/executive leadership as long as that is your worldview. Might be worth reading The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman. He covers the topic of cofounding with others, and also talks about optimizing for control vs money (spoiler, if you go for the former, you will likely have a lot less of the latter).
on “Ask HN: Dynamics between CEO and CTO as a startup matures?” ↗