> Since starting backstitch (http://backstit.ch) with my wife we constantly get this question: "How do you work so well together?" We really don't see it different than if we were just two best friends from college that decided to start a startup.
When my wife and I discuss the possibility of working together on a business, our main concern is about spending almost every waking hour together or in contact with each other. Neither of us can stand being around the same people constantly. Hell, neither of us can stand being around people constantly. I don't think I could do the 12/7 or 14/7 startup thing at all unless I was spending significant portions of that time locked up by myself. If I tried to do that with my wife, or anyone else I was living with for that matter, it would be disastrous. Is that ever an issue for you?
The best thing we found is making sure to try take an hour a day, usually before going to sleep to do something by ourselves in a separate room - we call it our sanity check.
Might be as simple as she will go watch an episode of something on Netflix and I'll go play a couple rounds of a videogame. During crunch times its not always feasible but its something we feel strongly about and try to make the effort to do.
We recently doubled our team size and are trying to make "having a sanity check" and part of our developing company culture - it works wonders not only for working together but for helping prevent burnout in general.
When my wife and I discuss the possibility of working together on a business, our main concern is about spending almost every waking hour together or in contact with each other. Neither of us can stand being around the same people constantly. Hell, neither of us can stand being around people constantly. I don't think I could do the 12/7 or 14/7 startup thing at all unless I was spending significant portions of that time locked up by myself. If I tried to do that with my wife, or anyone else I was living with for that matter, it would be disastrous. Is that ever an issue for you?