I am a solo founder running a startup with $400000 ARR with 0 outside investment with 25% - 35% net margin.
However since I am having to reinvest most of the profits in my startup, the current net margin stands at 10% -12%.
The main issue is I am kinda non technical but I managed to scrap off a dirty gimmicky MVP and managed to peak decent interest from users. And that’s when I started looking for technical co-founders to join my startup; however I wasn’t able to get a full commitment from anyone. There were couple of interest shown and even part time attempts from technical guys in building the product.
However given their well paying IT jobs; none of the supposed co-founders were able to fully jump the ship for the fact that I wasn’t paying them any salaries for we didn’t have any revenues.
These technical guys were ready to join the startup full time provided we were able to raise funds and atleast pay them enough to cover their basic monthly expenses which is quite considerate from their side given the debt they’ve taken to study and work abroad.
So I gathered my own team of 2 devs and started working on a functional MVP. The goal was to prove the concept and apply to an accelerator program like YC. We managed to hit 5000 users in 7 days with $0 marketing spend with a bare bone dirty MVP. No revenue.
I then applied to YC with the Technical guy as a co-founder. We got rejected the 1st time.
I again applied 2nd time to YC with one my dev as a CTO co-founder. The dev reluctantly accepted my proposal.
Again I received an email stating that we were on the top 10% but didn’t get an interview..
So from there on I decided to fully build the product and forget about YC. And just 7 months ago we launched a simpler version of the idea and we’ve done over $150000 revenue just in app purchase alone with a marketing spend of roughly $700 in that time frame.
My startup is a integration of hard goods supply chain and manufacturing and for that reason we weren’t able to fully integrate all the important sales components in our app; so extra 50% - 60% of the revenue had to be processed manually via spreadsheet..
Now that we are about to launch the new feature in app and already gained over 13000 users which is going to grow multiple folds.
I am in a major dilemma since I want to apply to an accelerator again and solo founders aren’t well entertained by most programs. My 2 dev teams are happy working for salary and the most they want is some employee stock options when we hit big. They’ve seen the extent of pressure and stress I had to go through running a bootstrapped company; and they don’t want to bear that part of the experience being a cofounder.
Plus since we are a startup based outside the USA and my team of devs are locals and not a native English speaker; their English communication skills remotely match their technical prowess. I do suck at communication however I do manage to scrap by for the fact that I’ve lived abroad and hold foreign passport so flying to US or any other country for an interview is a no brainer for me.
Sadly that’s not the case for my core technical team and hence adding them as co-founders isn’t technically feasible.
I am currently in talk with few talented people based in the US who could join as a potential co-founder. The rationale is that it’s easy to get in with co-founders and I shall be relieved from some of work burden.
So I am actually confused as to the fair proportion of equity split with my co-founder.
If the negotiation goes right the potential cofounder will join after 2 months and we are on our way to hit $60000 MRR by that time.
I am really tired of bootstrapping and having to select between growth and profit every month.
I am sick of buying 2nd hand furnitures, repaired laptops and scrap equipments for 45-50 employees. Our office space looks like a fish market and employees have to push their way to reach their desk.
And that’s the only reason I want to go the VC route and get a cofounder.
However since I am having to reinvest most of the profits in my startup, the current net margin stands at 10% -12%.
The main issue is I am kinda non technical but I managed to scrap off a dirty gimmicky MVP and managed to peak decent interest from users. And that’s when I started looking for technical co-founders to join my startup; however I wasn’t able to get a full commitment from anyone. There were couple of interest shown and even part time attempts from technical guys in building the product.
However given their well paying IT jobs; none of the supposed co-founders were able to fully jump the ship for the fact that I wasn’t paying them any salaries for we didn’t have any revenues.
These technical guys were ready to join the startup full time provided we were able to raise funds and atleast pay them enough to cover their basic monthly expenses which is quite considerate from their side given the debt they’ve taken to study and work abroad.
So I gathered my own team of 2 devs and started working on a functional MVP. The goal was to prove the concept and apply to an accelerator program like YC. We managed to hit 5000 users in 7 days with $0 marketing spend with a bare bone dirty MVP. No revenue.
I then applied to YC with the Technical guy as a co-founder. We got rejected the 1st time.
I again applied 2nd time to YC with one my dev as a CTO co-founder. The dev reluctantly accepted my proposal.
Again I received an email stating that we were on the top 10% but didn’t get an interview..
So from there on I decided to fully build the product and forget about YC. And just 7 months ago we launched a simpler version of the idea and we’ve done over $150000 revenue just in app purchase alone with a marketing spend of roughly $700 in that time frame.
My startup is a integration of hard goods supply chain and manufacturing and for that reason we weren’t able to fully integrate all the important sales components in our app; so extra 50% - 60% of the revenue had to be processed manually via spreadsheet..
Now that we are about to launch the new feature in app and already gained over 13000 users which is going to grow multiple folds.
I am in a major dilemma since I want to apply to an accelerator again and solo founders aren’t well entertained by most programs. My 2 dev teams are happy working for salary and the most they want is some employee stock options when we hit big. They’ve seen the extent of pressure and stress I had to go through running a bootstrapped company; and they don’t want to bear that part of the experience being a cofounder.
Plus since we are a startup based outside the USA and my team of devs are locals and not a native English speaker; their English communication skills remotely match their technical prowess. I do suck at communication however I do manage to scrap by for the fact that I’ve lived abroad and hold foreign passport so flying to US or any other country for an interview is a no brainer for me.
Sadly that’s not the case for my core technical team and hence adding them as co-founders isn’t technically feasible.
I am currently in talk with few talented people based in the US who could join as a potential co-founder. The rationale is that it’s easy to get in with co-founders and I shall be relieved from some of work burden.
So I am actually confused as to the fair proportion of equity split with my co-founder.
If the negotiation goes right the potential cofounder will join after 2 months and we are on our way to hit $60000 MRR by that time.
I am really tired of bootstrapping and having to select between growth and profit every month.
I am sick of buying 2nd hand furnitures, repaired laptops and scrap equipments for 45-50 employees. Our office space looks like a fish market and employees have to push their way to reach their desk.
And that’s the only reason I want to go the VC route and get a cofounder.
