Want to start a business as a couple? The idea is attractive but can also be frightening. It is legitimate to question one’s ability to spend one’s nights and days with one’s partner, to distinguish one’s private life from one’s professional life and preserve them, to cope financially, etc. We interviewed entrepreneurs who have gone through through there and republish the experience. They give us their advice.
Know yourself well before getting started
Vincent and Molina Paulin are currently working at Station F on their new business project “Cocohop”, a collaborative application to help design trips more easily. The couple met through work. This first experience demonstrated their ability to cooperate and get along well professionally, an essential prerequisite in their eyes before starting a business together, as a couple. For Vincent and Molina, now parents of three children, being a couple can be an advantage. “ With entrepreneurs who don’t know each other, it’s a bit like the start of a marriage between partners. We are lucky enough to already know each other in real life and ultimately that almost reassures us, even the bankers. », remarks Vincent Paulin.
Same observation for Charlotte Chenevier, mother of three children, and currently creating with her partner Antoine Prenaud, a second company called “The Fat Broccoli”, the first 100% plant-based fast food chain in France. Ten years ago, when they were young graduates, in journalism for one and in communications for the other, they traveled, for a year, around the world to meet associations dedicated to childhood. The opportunity to keep a blog, produce around thirty video reports and learn to work together. When they returned, they liked the experience so much that they launched their first business. A brand content agency, which they are selling in January 2024. Here too, their association happened naturally.
Distribute the tasks
To make the project work as well as possible, it is better for everyone to devote themselves to their area of expertise. This allows you to fully express your potential and allow the company to benefit from its added value. It also saves time and efficiency. Complementarity is the key word. “ As we are from the world of tech and we complement each other, Vincent on development and me and on product design-creation, that allows us to imagine a lot of solutions to help certain people, certain professionals, and that allows us motivates every time », explains Molina Paulin.
Communicate even on unpleasant subjects
Communication is another point to master. “ We talk to each other all the time, we are quite close and that is a key to entrepreneurship », says Vincent Paulin. “ We know how to talk to each other, we know that we can say anything to each other without being afraid of conflict. We complement each other on the ups and downs depending on our moods. As we manage it in personal life, it is an asset in our professional life », agrees Molina.
Another piece of advice from the entrepreneur: don’t forget lightness. It’s not because entrepreneurship is a serious thing that we shouldn’t take breaks to breathe, to laugh… It allows us to release the pressure, to support each other, to reassure each other…
For Charlotte Chenevier too, communication within the couple is essential, even when it comes to addressing sensitive points. “ We must not accumulate resentment and wait to speak. We can quickly accuse others of our own mistakes but it is important to take responsibility “, she admits.
Keep moments for yourself, as a couple and as a family
These entrepreneurs do not really draw boundaries between the two worlds. Being able to share this adventure together and being together often, including in the evening at home, allows us to exchange ideas and move the company forward more quickly. “ When we’re a couple, we already form a team. Family is like a mini-business: there are projects, trips to organize, purchases to manage… So we should be able to work together », Slips Charlotte Chenevier. According to her, it’s also a question of personality: liking to spend time together or preferring to compartmentalize one’s career and personal life. Although she admits to liking mixing professional and personal life, she still makes time for her sports class or for lunch with friends. A way to get some fresh air and recharge your batteries.
For the two entrepreneurial families, the break occurs naturally in the presence of the children. “ When we are parents and we start a business as a couple, it’s another step. We are obliged to strengthen our relationship because it is the basis of everything. Every week, a babysitter comes to look after the children so that we can have a romantic restaurant while trying not to talk about work », she adds.
Anticipate financial risks
There is security in employment. Income is fixed and assured. Creating your business/starting as a couple means doubling the risk of having little or no income, especially at the start. Charlotte Chenevier advises providing a safety net by keeping a freelance activity on the side, saving enough beforehand or even negotiating a conventional break with your former boss. “ For our first business, Antoine was receiving unemployment and I had made a deal with my parents who supported me financially until a deadline from which I should be able to make a living from this activity. “, she remembers.
Associating with someone other than your life partner can be seen as security, a way of not putting all your eggs in one basket. But for these couples, sharing as much time as possible together and their passion for entrepreneurship is a privilege.
Dorothée Blancheton
You may also like:
Money in the couple: the end of a taboo?
Can the couple survive two ambitions?
The key to yourself: when goals become a path to self-knowledge
