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Comment by vaksel | Hacker News Reader

Doing a startup with a friend is similar to renting an apartment together. You are almost guaranteed huge problems that will put a strain on your relationship.

All this talk about putting things in writing is more or less bullshit. Yes you will know who is right based on your preparations...but so what? All this will do is make the final decision easier in a dispute for the winner...but thats it. The other person will still feel wronged. Your relationship will still suffer, because you had to put your foot down.

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This is basically how family works. Every party should have a right to be 'right' in the agreed range of situations (my wife is always right in the house, no matter what).

So, the founders should split the territory and then follow to the agreement.

What? This is the formula for building a marriage in which you resent your wife 10 years down the line, not any way to build a successful company.

We're married for 12 years, have 2 kids and overall we're quite happy. Just because my wife is always right about the house and kids, does not imply anything how deep our relations are.

In fact I have more time to hack things because I can leave a lot to my wife. That's how successful companies get built

On the other hand, things may be better with your contribution, even if she doesn't agree. Playing second fiddle in order to keep peace is just laying down, not being productive.

I do not 'keep peace', we both understand that it is the most productive approach. And yes I do have my voice when needed.

Only about 50% of marriages fail in 10 years. On the other hand, only about 45% of businesses make it past 5 years.

I would argue that his strategy couldn't be any worse for beating the odds than anyone else's, contrary to what you might believe.

> I would argue that his strategy couldn't be any worse for beating the odds than anyone else's

You're trying to have a better strategy, not one that "isn't any worse". Sigh.

Touche. But my point that all strategies are equally likely to succeed, or better phrased, better to fail still stands. Or maybe, as you've indicated, its simply more people are less prepared.

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