Treat Your Spouse as an Investor

Key points

1. Treat your spouse as an investor and board member from the beginning. You will need their advice and support. They don’t have to join you full-time in your startup–they are unlikely to be as entrepreneurial as you are. But a decision to start a business or even to invest significant effort in exploring possible companies, even if you are working full-time, will have significant near-term implications for your life together.

2. Lay out a plan and hold yourself accountable on a periodic schedule.

3. Come to an agreement on an overall plan that includes timeframes and limits on financial obligations you will incur.

5. Schedule time and expense for the mistakes necessary to learn how to thrive as an entrepreneur.

6. Plan for iteration and refinement. Base your plans on “nothing new ever works,” not just the first time but also the second. Set your spouse’s expectations that you see an opportunity that you find energizing, but you still have things to learn.

7. Commitments to customers and cofounders are important, but family commitments are more important.

8. Establish some simple practices to maintain financial transparency from the start. A monthly review of expenses with balance sheets and income statements is a good start. Quickbooks can do this for you easily in the beginning.

9. Maintain a list of critical risks and review monthly.

10. Financial outcomes are essential, but new learning enables you to define and meet goals.