Entrepreneur Myths by Damir Perge Read Free Book Online

on the company’s vision, goal and exit strategy
     
If one spouse wants to build a billion dollar empire, and the other is happy to build a lifestyle business (one that just supports your own lifestyle and has no returns for the investors), you will have conflict. You also need provisional scenarios should the two of you have a baby. How is the business handled before, during and after? What if you already have children? How are you going to deal with raising them while you’re building your venture? Starting a venture is like raising a child. There is no fucking difference. I have children. I know. Actually, building your venture is easier than raising a child, so learn to juggle family and business.
     
Each person needs to specialize in different functions of the business
     
In startups, one person is more active externally in talking to potential investors, customers, suppliers, etc. The other spouse is more involved in running and operating the business. Make sure that you and your spouse complement each other well. Figure out who runs sales and marketing and who runs finance, operations, development, etc. This is critical. One of you needs to be out on the street making things happen while the other manages the business.
     
Divide the roles and titles
     
My advice: make one person chairman and CEO, and the other president and chief operating officer. As you grow the business and add other management positions such as CFO, CMO, CTO, your positioning allows the rest of the management team to understand their roles in relation to both of you. And it helps prevent employees from playing you against each other.
     
Know when to turn off the work
     
This is hard to do. The venture can consume your relationship to where all you talk about is the venture and personal conversations are pushed aside. When you get home you need to detox. Leave work behind or at least stop talking about it for a few hours.
     
Decide on how to manage the company
     
You do this whether your partner is your spouse or not. It’s critical you agree on the kind of culture and style of management you are building. It’s important your spouse doesn’t manage in one style while you manage in another. 
     
I suggest you act like business partners at the office
     
Far too many times, couples act unprofessionally. They kiss, hug and show affection. I don’t know about you, but an entrepreneur grabbing their spouse’s ass during work is not normally conducive to setting up the right culture for the company. However, it’s certainly better than watching them throw chairs at each other.
     
When I was in a venture with my ex-wife, there were people who didn’t realize for months that we were married. We ran the venture like a business, and that’s the way it should be done.  If you’re planning to run a lifestyle business, you can smooch all fucking day long. If you’re building a high-tech venture with plans to go IPO, you need to develop the right culture from the beginning. I doubt smooching or having sex behind closed doors is part of it.
     
Decide how to deal with the hiccups of building a venture, or possible failure
     
This is critical. If the venture fails, make sure neither spouse blames the other. Understand that ventures sometimes fail or do not meet expectations. If you both have quit your jobs to pursue the entrepreneur dream together, then it’s critical to agree and understand what happens if the venture goes down or struggles. Does one of you quit the venture and get a job elsewhere to pay the bills? Do you both throw in the towel?
     
Don’t mix sex and business
     
If you’re pissed off because your spouse made a bad business decision, don’t punish them by withholding sex. Settle your differences, then have fun.  If you disagree on how the venture is managed, or one of you made a mistake, talk it through like business partners. Separate business from personal so you can remain “business partners with benefits.” I