I have a good idea of how things work between co-founders at startups, but I have always been curious about how this relationship will work if the co-founders are also a couple. Being a founder at an early-stage startup is hard enough, but imagine the additional pressure of dealing with a co-founder who is also a life partner. Does this in any way make things easier? Who wears the decision cap at work, and do the couple swap caps at home? Do they step on each other’s shoes at the workplace? Actually, this is not very uncommon — there are several successful Indian startups co-founded by couples, including Sugar Cosmetics, Chumbak, Mobikwik, Mamaearth and MadDen.
A few days back, I was chatting with Archana Stalin, co-founder of Chennai-based MyHarvest Farms, where she grows healthy, organic and chemical-free food. She has impressive credentials, including an engineering degree from College of Engineering, Guindy, and a management education from IIM, Bangalore, as part of Goldman Sachs’ 10000 Women Entrepreneurs Programme. Her co-founder at MyHarvest Farms is her husband, Stalin.
According to Archana, when it comes to having a spouse as a co-founder, the pros far outweigh the cons. Firstly, their relationship makes it easier to understand issues quickly, without the many explanations that may be needed when dealing with other co-founders. Employees treat them as separate individuals rather than as a single unit. On occasions when the couple differ over an issue, they do get into arguments along with other team members, but ensure the discussions remain focused on the subject. Archana and Stalin have demarcated clear roles and responsibilities between them at the workplace; depending on the domain, one of them is the final decision-maker and everyone else falls in line. Archana also pointed out that they are able to share feedback and learnings with each other without any ego issues.
One of the biggest cons of a spouse-cum-co-founder relationship is that it is too easy to carry work home. Late-night conversations can quickly turn to office talk and, before they realise, they are fire-fighting office matters at home, which is unhealthy. An interesting point Archana made was that she sometimes isn’t sure if she is talking to a co-founder or her spouse, and whether the responses are coming from a personal or professional perspective.
I asked if she would have it any other way, given a choice? She declared emphatically that there were no regrets and both of them enjoy building their startup jointly. She signs off with a rather interesting take: “After so many years, both of us are totally in sync on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of our business. We continue to argue on the ‘how’ though.”
(The writer is a serial entrepreneur and best-selling author of the book ‘Failing to Succeed’; posts on X @vaitheek)