The young co-founders of Rent the Runway came to speak the other day, and one thing that stood out to me was how their personalities seemed to mesh very well.
The two women were HBS classmates, starting building the business while in school, and have run the company for the last 2 years (pretty successfully, I'd say. Check out the site if you don't know it, it's a cool model and one of the seemingly many HBS fashion-related startups now).
In terms of working background, they are very different; one from a finance-heavy background, the other more strategy and entrepreneurship. This lends itself well to a division of labor. When they spoke, one would fill in a fact or point just as the other finished, in a very fluid, natural, respectful way. I've no idea how they are behind the scenes, but on the surface it seems like a good partnership.
Investors value this kind of co-founder relationship a lot I think. When Drew Houston was applying to Y Combinator for Dropbox, they basically told him to find a co-founder before applying. He happened to find one at the last minute, and has gone on to do very well. A one-man show is probably easier and tempting most of the time, but similar to my last post, may not give you enough chance to debate and discover ideas.
In thinking about successful companies, I wonder what the hit rate is for solo operations vs. 2 or 3-person teams. Something to look into another day...
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