The pack survives

November 13, 2020

by Stefan Prodan
Thoughts from the Team
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together" - Al Gore.

Startups live and die by the people that bring them to life.

This is the start of a short series of blog posts called “Start you up.” It’s a compilation of information, focusing on what we’ve seen and learnt from startup teams over the past few years (in the hope that budding entrepreneurs can learn something from it).

Why a Team?

While there’s nothing wrong with being a solopreneur, you have to realize that you’re making it harder for yourself from the get-go. It’ll be vastly more challenging and personally taxing to get the same outcome (if you make it).

According to the Startup Genome Report, solo founders, on average, take 3.6 times longer to scale when compared to startup teams of two or more. It also found that teams were more likely to attract investors and experience success in comparison to solo founders.
I’d attribute this to the multiple different benefits of teamwork, but I’d like to highlight these four benefits in particular:

Constructive Criticism. Starting up is no easy task. No matter how much you believe in your idea and the execution, it's almost impossible to continually counter-check yourself and ensure you are managing your business the best way possible (if it’s your first time, presume you are the real world equivalent of Jon Snow)

There’s no such thing as a perfect plan, so flaws (that are sometimes HUGE!) are easily overlooked when an entrepreneur is deeply rooted in all the intricacies of launching a business – we’re only human.

This is where a team comes into play. It’s important to have team members that will not hesitate to point out your mistakes (in a respectful/constructive manner) and work towards offering productive solutions. You never know, that mistake your partner just corrected could be the difference between the success and failure of your business.


Different Perspectives. There’s always more than one way to tackle a problem. The more ideas taken into consideration, the stronger the solution.

As individuals, we all have our own particular way of thinking and solving problems. Regardless of how successful you are, using the same problem-solving tactics will not always work (looking at you Petyr Baelish!). There is something to be said about an entrepreneur that can strategically pick the brain of a group of people, sieve out the best ideas and merge them into a combined superior solution (this is also where advisors/mentors have a huge part to play – more on that in a later blog).

Two heads are better than one and having a team to bump ideas off will undoubtedly teach you to better appreciate and understand the importance of listening to other’s ideas and ensuring your start-up gets the best of both worlds.

Expanding your network. Recruiting a team is more than just bringing people to sit around a table and make decisions.

Every individual you bring on board comes with their own network (just have a look at LinkedIn!), which at some point could be very useful to your business. From what we’ve seen, expanding your network is one of the most important things you can do for your business. In fact, our first contract came about as a direct result of personal connections - and it grew from there.

Personal Support. Something will go wrong at some point and it (as with everything in life) is easier when you have someone beside you. In the startup world, the highs are high, and the lows are low. When you inevitably hit the trough of sorrow, it’ll hurt, and picking yourself back up is a hell of a task. Having a friend to talk to (and supply chocolate), who understands exactly what you’re going through, to be there when you need it makes all the difference in the world.

A startup is hard enough, so why go it alone?