What are your experiences of starting a company with friends, or a girlfriend/boyfriend – did it change the relationship for better, or worse?

I started a company with a friend and her brother. The relationship didn't suffer at all, although at some moments it got somewhat hard to be completely honest with each other, like when we weren't happy with each other's performance for example, but in the end we realised that was hurting us, and set some ground rules on how to manage our working relation.

Our prime directive is quite clear "in the office we are not friends, and outside we are not co-workers". And it works out great.

That's a great attitude to have.

For some people it is easier said than done

A friend and I once decided to start a buisness but realized the dynamics were all wrong. no harm done. I would suggest don't take things for granted. Be serious about who does what. Everyone has different expectations of what the other should do. Do you have the same vision? Important questions. But it's very possible to make it work too !

Oh hell No. Most experiences end badly... really really badly.

I started up with my spouse. It's great. We both have the same goals and objectives, we can fight out an issue and get to the perfect solution and we get to spend all our time together. What more could you ask for?

Advice I received before starting a business with a friend included:

it's like getting married. You should like and trust them.
if you or your friend are married (or similar), then you're also starting a business with their partner. If your partner and their partner don't get along, and/or don't like your friend, this is a potential land mine waiting to explode.
communication is really important. A long shared history helps make communicaiton more effective, but it's still easy to talk too little and let assumptions build up.

I ran a business with a friend for ~3 years. Recently he asked to quit and we made a mutual arrangement where I bought him out. Many people have commented on how unusual it was that we were able to end this and still be friends. I wonder if the opposite might be true: we were able to end it <em>because</em> we were friends to start with. If we were each just trying to maximize our own gain, at the potential cost of the other, then it could have ended badly.

So, I'd say it's definitely possible and even desirable to start a business with a friend. You're going to spend a lot of time with them, so it's great to like them and enjoy their company. Just don't mess it up by cheating them... Trust is a huge (and doubtless rare) thing to have going for you.

Amazing and terrible. I founded a company with someone I had become friends with only weeks before, but we quickly became close friends.

It's amazing because you have someone who is a friend along for the ride - sharing ups/downs, and understanding the human impact of those ups and downs on you specifically.

It's terrible because hard conversations get harder, disagreements are more complicated, and people have a tendency to take things personally.

The biggest thing to remember is that interpersonal compatibility between cofounders is important for the success of a startup, but not sufficient. Look at the friend objectively - do they have the skills you need, or a track record that shows they will pick those skills up quickly? Can they add immediate value? Would you work with them if they were not your friend? If you can answer "yes" to the above, and you are comfortable being direct and honest, go for it and it'll be a ride you never forgot. If you'd answer "no" to any of those, take a serious second look at the decision, and proceed with caution.