
Interview with Tipjoy's Ivan Kirigin on starting a new venture with a spouse - sopu
http://zzzanders.blogspot.com/2009/02/interview-with-tipjoys-ivan-kirigan.html
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tptacek
My wife Erin came to work for Matasano a couple years ago, and while she might
express some reservations, I'd say it's been an unalloyed positive in our
relationship and for the business.

For the relationship, working with Erin has I think made long hours and at-
times-fanatical devotion to the company more bearable. For instance, she is
"by default" included in the happenings of the company and in the work (Erin
develops and consults with us); before she joined up, it was too easy to clam
up about what I was working on, because who wants to explain the details of a
long, tedious, crappy day?

For the company, the win is that we get a strong technical resource with huge
flexibility in compensation and scheduling. We take a tax-advantaged joint
income from the company. And we can switch-hit taking care of the kids; since
we're both working on the same thing, there's less tension working out who's
staying home when one of them gets sick or when they have a day off from
school.

Apparently this is a well-known minefield, and so I'm hesitant to write all
this stuff up knowing that it could all blow up in our faces down the road.
But it's been a couple years now, and while I can't say they've been drama-
free, I'm think the decision has vindicated itself.

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jacquesm
It very much depends... I've been in this position once and it worked out
great for the business but our personal relation definitely suffered because
of it.

Being both spouse and business partner is hard, and you'll only find out just
how hard it is once you're doing it.

Speaking for myself, I think it was a mistake.

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diN0bot
I co-founded a company with my husband. Pretty much the same ideas as
mentioned in the article: complimentary skills are good; time flexibility is
good; too much tech talk needs to be balanced with non-work adventures.

It was hard at first: the boundary between work and personal disagreements is
harsh, especially because your spouse is otherwise your best supporter and
level-minded advisor. The joyful adventures of being together were replaced by
work and stress.

These problems aren't caused by there being something inherently troublesome
about spouses working together. That situation just provides some increase in
stress and decrease in decompress than more standard setups.

Thus, it's a really useful scenario to explore! In our case, it helped us
develop better communication skills, both professionally and personally. I am
so glad we took this opportunity and ran with it.

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russell
It depends. I never could have had a business with my ex-wife. But I enjoy
helping my SO getting her career and business as a painter and photographer
going. A lot depends on personalities. (Who gets the blame for
problems.failures.) I think success is more likely if levels of abilities and
contributions are equivalent. Good points in the article.

