Every path to entrepreneurship is unique. I find the world of startups exciting because the desire to solve a problem or need – often one you’ve struggled with yourself – is all too tempting to resist.

Taking on this challenge as a solo founder can be challenging, but it can also be liberating. On the other hand, setting up a company with co-founders can be productive, but can have its problems.

When I started DocSend, I never had to wonder if I wanted to be a co-founder because I knew I wanted to create a company with two specific people that I like personally and that I respect professionally. But for many entrepreneurs, the question of whether you can take on this problem yourself or want to have a co-founder near you is not easy. It is clear why.

If you work alone, you can give more control and freedom to run the company the way you see fit. It also means that you are solely responsible for offering venture capital, board meetings, staffing and making important decisions.

While a single founder can engage executives and managers to assist in this work and make these decisions, co-founders can balance a leadership team. They can bring different areas of knowledge, their own professional networks and share responsibilities.

If you’re setting up a company or currently running your own startup, here are four things to consider when hiring a co-founder (or not).

Examination

Every entrepreneur must objectively assess their skills and determine whether their abilities are enough to run a business on their own. If you are not a technician and are setting up a technology company, you may need to find a co-founder to fill this gap, or at least a strong engineer who will manage product development.

Even if you are technical and can start coding from day one, you need to consider other key areas of business and decide whether to attract a co-founder with experience in these areas to get a viable product, market drive and profit faster.

I turned to my network to find out how they feel about this decision. I recently spoke with Annette Aconquo, co-founder and CEO of Chatdesk, about why he decided to involve several co-founders, and he said that different areas of knowledge are a big movement.

“I’ve been thinking about the various features needed for Chatdesk to work successfully. Because we combine technology and personalized human support, it was important to establish three functions: technical, operational, and sales. I knew that if everyone could own the territory, it would guarantee that we would fulfill our mission, ”he said.

The number of founders on your team can also affect your fundraising success. Our analysis found that The founders of the solo had the greatest success in fundraisingproviding an average of 42 investor meetings and raising an average of $ 3.22 million, compared to companies with four or more founders that provided an average of 30 meetings and attracted an average of $ 1.7 million.

Although data shows that single founders raise more funding, a holistic approach to understanding your gaps and how to fill them is essential.

Founder against co-founder