Honestly, you most likely can't succeed without the support of a capable team/staff.

Or you can...and did...But that's it. You can be a very small business or a consultant/freelancer. Just like you did.

What was not successful about that for you? How do you define success?

You will ultimately need to rely on others if you want to scale a business. From what I'm reading here though it's not so much the "team/staff" as it is your co-founder. One person in particular?

I don't want to discourage you in any way of course, but realizing you need a team took me a while to figure out myself. Save yourself some time. You'll need to start pushing yourself outside your comfort zone a bit perhaps. You will need to become a bit more social. Start networking (many sites, events and meetups to do this) and look for people to help you without giving away the farm.

Take time to get to know the people and their skillset. Given your co-founder was a classmate, it sounds more emotional than analytical. It's easier to be analytical with complete strangers. Though again, I understand this may push you outside your comfort zone.

By setting expectations up front with new people, I think you'll then find that the people you meet won't be so much of an anchor as they will be a sail.