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Ask HN: Should me and my girlfriend apply for YC?

3 points by naf ↗ HN
We've been together for 5 years now. She's an architectural engineer and I'm currently studying for a bachelor of computer science. I'm the one who comes up with the business ideas and she comments on them. She's actually my advisor. She doesn't know any programming, but is great at math. I know a few programming languages, but haven't really build anything (except for my website). The reason I ask this is that there's so much focus on having a good team. Are lovers also being considered as good teams? We're both from Belgium by the way.

12 comments

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ojbyrne
Obviously applying can't hurt. I've met several husband/wife teams in the past that worked very well together and clearly would be good candidates.

On the other hand, in California, everyone is going to have the recent Los Angeles Dodgers fiasco in mind (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/922673-frank-mccourt-sell...).

I could see someone asking you to at least think about what would happen to the startup if you break up, but I can't see it being any more than a very small red flag.

richf
Of course. What's the worst that can happen?
naf
Lacking knowledge or experience.
steventruong
A lot of people who apply lack both. Do your best.
sahil_lmn
They could break up due to stress during or failure of the start-up. They just have to make sure that their relationship and the outcome of their venture aren't tied together.
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[dead] xxqs
actually having a boss-employee, or financial partnership relation between close friends or lovers is quite dangerous. There are lots of examples when best friends broke up because of difficulties in business relations.
[dead] b1ind
If I were you, I would find a technical co-founder. If your girlfriend can't help with the creation of the startup, it's not a good idea to partner up with her.
ig1
I'd be less worried about the fact you're a couple and more about the skills you bring to the team.

Lanyrd (YC W11) was founded by a couple, but more importantly they were a great team (Simon is a developer and previously the founder of Django, his wife Nat is a designer who was previously at a UX consultancy).

Just because you're in a relationship it doesn't mean you should form a startup together unless both of you can add significant value to the business.

evilbit
"my girlfriend and I"
drallison
I find it difficult to take you seriously when you make egregious errors in English grammar.