Comment Its all in the details (Score 2, Interesting) 398
I have run my own business and know several people who have run successful businesses involving family and friends. It is very difficult if you have to layoff a friend and sometimes it does end the friendship. It is very difficult if you have to layoff a significant other or a family member. It can have long lasting effects.
Or it might be the best thing that ever happened. I've lived through and seen both. My personal experience, as others have said, is that the friends and family bring sufficient complementary skills, share a common work ethic, and are committed to the business, you should run it as a partnership. In all the cases where this happened with my friends, the team at top was a boy/girl friend relationship, they partnered for control of the business, and it turned into a happy long term relationship or marriage.
But I've heard tale of much of the opposite. You have to be prepared for the risk that it will all go south and you will lose the relationships and the business. If this prospect doesn't cause you or your friends to flinch, go for it! Otherwise, don't do it, you are asking for trouble. If anyone expresses serious reservations, odds are they shouldn't be involved.
Or it might be the best thing that ever happened. I've lived through and seen both. My personal experience, as others have said, is that the friends and family bring sufficient complementary skills, share a common work ethic, and are committed to the business, you should run it as a partnership. In all the cases where this happened with my friends, the team at top was a boy/girl friend relationship, they partnered for control of the business, and it turned into a happy long term relationship or marriage.
But I've heard tale of much of the opposite. You have to be prepared for the risk that it will all go south and you will lose the relationships and the business. If this prospect doesn't cause you or your friends to flinch, go for it! Otherwise, don't do it, you are asking for trouble. If anyone expresses serious reservations, odds are they shouldn't be involved.
