In Good Times and Bad...

     Using “The Beermat Entrepreneur” terms, our team currently has two entrepreneurs (Mark as the idea originator/driving force and me as the sounding board/active iterator) and maybe a couple of mentors (thinking of the board members at our incubator + the mentorship we get through Professor Zak).  Mark and I can probably stumble through the sales and marketing for a while, but it is clear that someone with serious technical expertise will be needed in the future.

     In the meantime, we can look at what Mark and I bring to the table.  We often chuckle whenever an analogy is made to start-up partners and spouses.  We have both been with our significant others for the better part of a decade – I have been married for a few years and Mark will be married in a few months.  Buried underneath the cliché, however, I can see some striking similarities encapsulated in the happiest moments to high stress moments generally not experienced outside of a marriage context. 

      I was concerned at first about Mark and I working together because we seemed to share several of the same strengths and not be the most complementary pairing.  We were also entering into this adventure as close friends.  In the five months that we have been working together, this has posed challenges because I have found myself in certain moments either being less straightforward or, alternatively, more blunt than I might be with someone other than a close friend.  We’ve also complemented each other in surprising ways. I am somewhat of an Eeyore to Mark’s Tigger – not the most sophisticated example, but accurate.  Occasionally, I bring him back to Earth and, frequently, he makes me believe again.  We push each other towards the middle.

      Working together provides an unusual bond from a friendship perspective, and most importantly, I respect my partner on a deep level.  Like a good marriage, I think we bring the same core values for the business to the table and are committed to continuously improving our partnership relationship.  I do believe that we are the right pairing to lay the foundation for the house, and I look forward to seeing other team members added that can even better complement Mark’s skills…especially as I take more of a backseat role in the future.  Going forward, I think we can continue to work on differentiating duties, breaking tasks into sizeable chunks, and communicating effectively. 

     For teams whose friendship started before your mission statement was written, what do you perceive as your advantages and challenges?