David J. Phillips tried co-founders four times before he went solo. With $40,000 left in the bank after a stalled aquihire, he refounded the company alone — and built Fondo, the accounting platform now used by hundreds of YC and pre-seed startups. The conversation is part founder-confessional, part early-stage GTM playbook.
Topics covered:
- The four co-founder breakups across four prior startups
- Refounding with $40K and a single investor email
- The lived playbook for co-founder breakups (lawyer advice, severance + stock + move on)
- The four-question $40K filter for picking ideas you can ship solo
- The Sam Parr false bottom — first customer, three months of nothing
- The Delaware-franchise-tax mini-product wedge that produced the first ten paying customers
- Bear case and bull case for solo founding
- "Your co-founder lives in Claude now" — the closing argument
Guest: David J. Phillips — founder & CEO of Fondo, the accounting and tax platform for venture-backed startups.
What is Solo Founders?
The Solo Founder's Podcast features in-depth interviews with solo founders building remarkable companies. Each week, host Julian Weisser sits down with solo founders who are either operating at serious scale or doing something right now that you need to know about. From Series B and beyond to founders breaking out in real-time, these are the conversations that define what it means to build solo. New episodes every week.