If I cannot find a co-founder. Is it okay to pay professionals to help take my start-up to the next level?

An increasingly popular ideology among startups is to create strong partnerships with outsourced assets.

I have recently done a lot of work in the speaking industry and they outsource everything basically running a virtual office.

In short, my answer is yes, know what you do well and find others to fill the gaps. If you want resources or additional information schedule a call with me now. My rate is lowered for the next 24 hours.

I'll tell you what investors told me - without someone else in the business, you don't have a business.

Of course, everything depends on the particulars of your specific situation and what you are looking for. But if you're looking to raise funding, they are going to want to see a team. A) so that you pass the "bus test" - that is, if you got hit by a bus, would the business (and their investment) continue to exist? And B) because investors weigh the strength of the team almost above the strength of the underlying technology or service.

You can obviously outsource the technical development of your product / MVP. However beware that often this puts a glass ceiling on your company since no one cares enough for quality, scalability etc which become important if your startup is to take off. On the other hand, you're implying that the team in question would take your startup to Series A. That is a very different value proposition. If they are saying that they will take the company to Series A, I would be very skeptical since getting to a Series A round implies reaching some level of product/market fit and having a sound business model and therefore is a significantly wider proposition than simply building the technical implementation of your product.

It's important to catch one bus or another to start the journey. I, along with my company, have had worked with plethora entrepreneurs on similar engagement, acting a a virtual, yet actual, team for tons of activities. There is no harm in partnering up with professional individual/firm and get started. Just ensure to complete the initial formalities in a best possible manner to keep everyone on a same page since day one. You would like to pen down things like roles, responsibilities, expectations, exit, stock options, post investment valuation, etc.

Plan everything keeping series A at the back of mind.