Bosack and Lerner are a good example. Or Wired's married founders Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, who stuck together for better or worse, richer or poorer, through a failed stock offering and the magazine's sale to Conde Nast - and ultimately departed the publication. OnLink Technologies cofounders Jeff Loomans and Patricia Munter, and George and Meredith Friedman, cofounders of intelligence Web site Stratfor, whose online coverage of global crises has developed a cult following. If your significant other is a power hungry control freak who'd rather bite off his or her arm than ask for help, you might think twice about starting a business together. But, according to family-business consultants, counselors and venture investors, if you and your sweetie are team players who have complementary skills and communicate well, and you share a common vision for the kind of company you want to build and how fast you want to get there, chances are you'll do fine.
Some counselors believe today's married entrepreneurs have it better than earlier generations.
Couples in their 20s and 30s were brought up in the post-women's movement culture and tend to be more willing to share power. They're more comfortable with change in general, and more flexible than some of the older generations. Some married couples don't plan to work together, it just happens. Blame it on startup fever. John Maloney caught the bug from his wife, Susan Maloney, the original brains behind their company, Urban Baby Network, a collection of online guides to resources for new and expecting parents in cities like New York, Boston and Los Angeles.