The Solo Founder
I think one reason start-ups are more successful on average when built by a (small) team vs. single founder is the basic need for recognition of effort.
Getting a start-up off the ground is infinitely hard and when the founder doesn’t have anyone to share the minute details of the enormous amount of work that is being done and no one to truly acknowledge it (even in private) it is that much harder to find motivation to soldier on.
Humans are wired to seek support from others in times of great strain. A small start-up team acts as a support group, cheering each other on. It doesn’t mean the product has to be built “collectively”, by more than one person. The co-founder(s) can be taking care of completely separate sides of the product or business but as long as there are others close that see, with their own eyes, how much work is being put in, it is enough for the otherwise solo actor to find motivation and pour absolute 100% of their effort into the product.
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