Ask HN: Any husband-wife teams out there?

12 points by dave1619 ↗ HN
Our company's core team is comprised of two husband-wife teams. One husband-wife team does product and management. The other husband-wife team does coding. It's working out very well.

Just wondering if there are other husband-wife teams out there and what the experience has been?

12 comments

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I believe Tipjoy (YC W'08) was a husband-wife team.
My wife and I work co-founded our startup Envato (http://envato.com) which has a team of 50 or so now. We've also got my big brother and father working with us too :-)

I think it's great working with people you know so well and trust. But I recognize that not everyone wants to work with their partners and/or family members so closely!

Speaking from intimate experience, there might not be a surer way, short of infidelity, to get a divorce, than bootstrapping a company with your spouse. It's an expensive mistake, however, that you won't repeat.
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In the general case, this sounds dubious. My parents ran a series of businesses together and spent the rest of their lives married; the old saying "mom and pop store" didn't come from nowhere. It may be different with a startup than with a small business, though.
Have you any sources other that experience?

This is not catchy question. My wife and I contemplate starting company together. Its easier avoid something expected.

Flickr was Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, a husband wife team.
I'm working on my second startup with my fiance (soon to be wife)! The first is a salon on New York City called Bloom Beauty Lounge which we launched in February: http://www.yelp.com/biz/bloom-beauty-lounge-manhattan

She does the day to day, I handle the marketing, and finances.

Our second startup is actually related to the salon as well, but involves a slightly larger team. Will post about it here for sure when we launch something :)

Just saw a husband / wife duo on the new techstars founders video.