Paul, the guy you spoke to afterwards is me :) Jay Liew, the guy who also posted the cofounder spreadsheet on Google Docs that spread like wildfire a few weeks ago.

I do not want to be the stereotypical stubborn child who won't listen (that would be like trying to shoot my way into YC); I completely agree with your reasoning why having a co-founder is best, and I highly respect your analytical skills, but I would like to respectfully assert that you're missing the point. My write up below is not an attempt to get you to agree with me, but to merely understand my reasoning (and perhaps readers here can tell me if I am off-course).

My end goal is not to have a "YC" notch in my belt (I don't need a resume stuffer). My end goal is a successful startup that will make $ by creating so much value for everybody (the founders, the investors, the customers) - I want to absolutely maximize the value pie for everybody. And having a co-founder will increase my odds of success.

I am not a parent, but here is a generalized statement based on statistics: "Divorce rates in the US is some of the highest in the world, and statistically, children with parents still married fare much better than single parents." This assertion is true, when your sample size of married people is global, and when your sample size is all children who grew up with single and divorced parents in this country or world.

The point that I am trying to make is that being a good parent is a choice to the individual. If I was a single parent (fyi, I view my startup as my baby), I will either take my son to soccer practice, or not. I will either spend time reading books at night to her. Or not. I will take the good in with the bad - or I can throw my hands up and say "I'm too busy for this crap, here's a baby-sitter instead".

That was all I was saying.

I believe in the benefits of a co-founder, but my search has been distracting me from my #1 goal of running my startup; and a co-founder is just means to an end. Just as YC is just means to an end (yes, I plan on applying - which I know I may not get in, but I still plan on succeeding with or without YC - because if my startup fails simply because I didn't get into YC, then I have a bigger problem).

Note that this is different from saying "1 in 3 women will have breast cancer" (or whatever the actual number is). Because a perfectly health-conscious woman can get cancer due to pure bad luck. The difference is, being a good parent who will do anything for his child, is an individual entrepreneur's choice. He will either do it, or go watch tv. It's much tougher to say "Damnit, I'm not going to get cancer" (if I'm already a health nut)

The other thing I want to mention is your investor bias. An entrepreneur has an only-child, an investor as a portfolio of children. So investors can say, X% of startups die from Y. Therefore I can completely understand when you say, "therefore, I will not bother reviewing with startups with Y". It is logical - you are optimizing your portfolio's success. I understand that statistically there are less single founders like Bezos and Patzer, and there's more cofounders like Woz-Jobs, Hewlett-Packard. Statistically that is true and unrefutable.

But using Chaos Theory as an analogy, I speak for any single co-founders applying, I hope you will not write us off as "goners", and that you really look inside of that one person who is trying his hardest and pulling the weight of 2 co-founders today on top of his day job and current responsibilities, before pulling the trigger "you're fired" trigger, Donald Trump style.

All said, as an investor, your goal is to optimize your portfolio. My goal is to do anything humanly possible within my means to increase the odds of success, and definitely remove any obstacle, one after another that will keep me from success. And on this one co-founder point, we may disagree on the tactics but the fact is that we do have a common end goal. I respect your choice, and I still very much respect you and want to be in YC. I just hope you understand why I cannot completely agree for the reasons mentioned above.

Consider the converse: If I thought that getting into YC wouldn't "move the needle" in helping me get to success, I wouldn't be writing this comment and 3/3/10 would mean nothing to me ;) However - that would also imply that I am indifferent to you, and Jessica, who I first met in person at the Anybots party before the day of the 1st SUS. That is not true, you guys rock, and are people I look up to. So I do care about the people behind YC and I'm not a 1-dimensional robot. You have to admit, it feels good to be benevolent (isn't that YC is built on?) - and I too, wish I could be benevolent in return.

I am still continuing my search for a co-founder, while minimizing the distraction as much as I can. It's tough.