"If you're a person like me, I do think solo founder life is the best life really" — but Rakhesh is blunt about the cost: day to day can be "really hard, really lonely," and "you are the emotional regulator of your company." His supports: an executive coach, his wife, and — most important — other founders.
See Rakhesh Martyn's full take
Rakhesh actually had a co-founder originally, and they had to part ways because the fit on work ethic and standards wasn't there. His bar now: unless there was somebody who understood what they're shooting for, cared about the quality, and could hustle as hard as he'd want them to, solo is better. The hardest part is emotional: "if you've just taken a massive punch to the face and then you go into a meeting to talk to your team and that bruise is showing, the whole team feels it." A co-founder gives you someone to hand the next meeting to after a bloodbath; a solo founder has to consciously leave the baggage at the door.
His workaround is building a village: an executive coach he can call anytime, a wife who has learned a lot about energy and software and is committed to the journey, and founder dinners. He almost skipped one on a Thursday because his week "had been such a train wreck" — and it turned out to be exactly what he needed, hearing other founders describe versions of the same experiences: "I'm not alone experiencing this thing on my own."