Building a solid team does not require one or more co-founders. It is entirely possible to start a company on your own, hire employees/contractors and then recruit for key leadership positions.
Of course, if your goal is to have a great team on paper so that an investor will feel comfortable writing you a check, let's call the exercise what it is: building a team that might build a business once it has funding. That's not building a business.
Thanks for that link. Totally grok what he's saying.
One thing I've realized is that, when pitching, I have to pitch me rather than pitching a team. Or more to the point, pitching that a: I have a real solution for a real problem for real customers (enterprise change management ain't the same as monetizing pictures of cats on the internet), and b: I'm capable of creating a company and building a team to bring this vision to life.
I can only speak for my own experience; I would be dead in the water without a co-founder, and I would never try to do it alone, nor would I recommend someone else try alone.
Fair enough, but translating your experience into such absolutist advice is sort of like saying "I wouldn't be able to drive without an automatic transmission therefore I recommend that everyone avoid manual transmissions."
Mark Suster's Co-Founder Mythology (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/09/the-co-founder...) and comments at Startup Grind earlier this year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAHgGUFjK3c) are well worth reading/watching.
Of course, if your goal is to have a great team on paper so that an investor will feel comfortable writing you a check, let's call the exercise what it is: building a team that might build a business once it has funding. That's not building a business.