Should travel startups have co-founders or go it alone?

When you think about it, most travel startups have at least two founders, often with very different skill sets.

Those going it alone have to do everything alone – the technology development, sales and marketing, funding and more.

During WiT Singapore last week, travel founders discussed why they think having a co-founder is the best route.

Mike McGearty, co-founder and CEO of mobility platform Meili, said having a co-founder – in this case industry veteran Bobby Healy who is also founder and CEO of Manna – is about creating a “better spread of talent.”

“There are very few people who are confident in everything, so if you have a co-founder it means you have a better spread of skills. It’s a long journey you go on so having somebody to share that journey with, through the good times, the bad times, the difficult times, makes it much easier to navigate,” he said.

McGearty was speaking on a session titled the Founder’s Dilemma alongside Fritz Demopoulos, who co-founded China-based travel search engine Qunar with two other founders in 2005. The pair were joined on stage by Ross Veitch, co-founder and CEO of Wego.

Demopoulos agreed that co-founders complement each other. “Sometimes you cannot be at the front of the battle all the time. Sometimes you need your co-founder to do it,” he said.

“I think it is pretty rare that a single founder can really make something happen.”

Demopoulos is now CEO of Queen’s Road Capital and said he thinks he has only invested in businesses with co-founders.

“I would say there are a couple where there is a primary founder. One of my most successful investments in an amazing company that has five co-founders and they’re able to make it work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Veitch, whose co-founder at Wego is Craig Hewett, said it is important to have someone there “to share the load” in the early days because of how much there is to do. For those founders just out of university or a few years into their first job, it’s also good to be “in the trenches” with someone else, according to Veitch.