Sole Founder and Bootstrapping – Ashamed to say it?

It's not embarrassing to be alone, unless <em>you</em> see it that way. If you can keep your growth going you'll be fine.

Finding a technical co-founder is hard, because many biz guys are dead weight and it's very hard for tech people to tell good and bad biz guys apart. Consider joining an incubator/accelerator. Many of the startup in your class will flame out early on and that gives you plenty of opportunity to recruit.

Solo founder here:

I can relate for sure. It is easy to feel "less than."

First, many or most clients do not need to hear you are working alone. Sure if they specifically ask be honest (but that can even include saying you have a team if you have contractors/interns working with you). For the most part they don't care. They are looking for whatever solution your problem solves; this is not some bake-off for an enterprise software sale to a Fortune 500.

Look at the positive: you are growing 7-8% per week. If you can keep momentum anywhere like this without a co-founder you will be in an awesome position. You can decide when and more importantly IF you need one. Maybe you even realize hiring an technical EMPLOYEE makes more sense for you economically.

Same thing applies to the lack of VC - you are in a better position if you can grow without them.

One other suggestion: find a local group / network of bootstrappers. It can be a good support group and screens out a lot of the "tech cheerleader" types.

Hang in there + keep it up!

Solo founder too. Having a co-founder is not always necessary for success, building something people want is.

Investors shouldn't be passing on that basis, so you should find out exactly why they are passing. Your traction looks good, is it the market size?

Solo bootstrapping founder here as well. Why would you be ashamed to say it? It's the greatest scariest most wonderful thing I ever did for myself career wise. It has taught me more about myself than anything Ifeet ever done. It's been an amazing experience so far. Absolutely no shame in it.

Solo bootstrapping founder here too.

If you have 7-8% weekly growth you are doing something right regardless of a co-founder. I have learned (sadly) that a co-founder can be good in the beginning but longterm can become a real problem. Enjoy your growth, hire smart contractors to build out your company and maintain equity for yourself. Soon you'll have a nice lifestyle business that hopefully will be self-sustaining. Enjoy.

There's a term fake it till you make it. Google it. By faking you don't need to lie to people, just kind of lie to yourself. Pretend to yourself your company is larger than one person and act and speak with a conviction that goes with it.

Pretend that you already have the team in place. When you talk to people say "we" and FEEL it. If they ask who is "we" you can always be honest and tell them your "distributed team". But most of the time they won't.

You'll find that it works wonders.

Sole founder here as well. I plan to keep on building the company until I find someone who's right to bring in. Bring in the wrong guy can kill the spirit. Revenue beats traction beats team. Keep going, generate revenue, the team and investors will follow.