Couples as Entrepreneurs

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strategy/Couple Entrepreneurs

Couples as Entrepreneurs Couple entrepreneurs should focus on complementary roles, respect and understanding to make their startup a success /Vimarsh Bajpai

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hen Kaushal Mehta and his wife Parul launched their first startup in the spring of 1998, both brought their complementary skills to the table besides their personal savings. While Parul took charge of operations, Kaushal focused on business development at their IT firm. The two had worked in technology giants in the US for several years but were back to their native Ahmedabad to be with the family and to give their children an Indian upbringing.

Their second startup Motif, a BPO, was launched in 2000. The biggest challenge for the Mehtas at work was to ensure that their employees perceived them as professionals to the core and not as couples running some family establishment. “For our direct reports, we had made it clear that we are very dif-

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ferent individuals and our relationship will not affect anything,” says Parul. “If we are in a conference room, it would be hard for anyone to know that we are husband and wife,” she says. On the

Do not hesitate about articulating your professional needs; what are the goals you are aspiring for. You don’t have a boss but you do have a partner.

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— Anupama Arya Mobera Systems

personal level, it was difficult for both of them to be away from their children for long hours. Also, ensuring that they don’t discuss work at home was not easy. However, eight years down the line, Motif’s revenue has grown to $10 million with 450% excess cash and zero debt. With a headcount of 800, the company also has offices in the Philippines and the US. More and more couples today are coming together to start their own ventures. This is partly because it is easier to put faith in your spouse rather than a stranger when it comes to finding a co-founder for your business. Also, “couple entrepreneurs induce a lot of confidence among VCs and employees that they are there for the long haul. It is believed that the team (being that of husband and wife) would have al-

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strategy/Couple Entrepreneurs ambiguity in the message could cost the startup dear.

It is believed that couple entrepreneurs would have similar goals and vision for the company, and the message that goes out would be loud and clear. This is a big positive, given that many startups falter because the cofounders fail to see through each other’s vision.

In a business, everyone seems to be together when profits are flowing in; it is only during trying times that the co-founders are put to test. This is where mutual trust, compassion, understanding and commitment among the founding members come into play. This goes a lot in favor of couple entrepreneurs who may weather — Kaushal & Parul Mehta such storms better. On the ip side, however, running a Motif flstartup is time-consuming, and it could see the most similar goals for the company,” couple spending long hours says K Ganesh, co-founder TutorVista, at work and even discussing a global education services company. business issues at home.

Ganesh with his wife Meena had earlier co-founded Customer Asset, a BPO How to make it work? that was later sold to erstwhile ICICI It all starts with respect. This OneSource (now Firstsource). rule of personal relationship While it looks easy to have found a also applies in the profesco-founder for your startup at home, sional sphere. “Respect is the chemistry is not always that sim- another name for love. It is ple. A judicious thought process hard not to love someone if should go behind such a venture oth- you respect him/her,” says erwise it doesn’t take long for things Dr Rajendra K Misra, practo fall apart. “It is a tough balancing ticing Psychologist in the act. Either you will come really close, US. He adds that giving each or you end up in a divorce. It is 50:50 other personal space by havchance,” says Anupama Arya, a serial ing overlapping schedules entrepreneur who runs Mobera Sys- and not same work hours tems, an IT firm she co-founded with may work well. “Offering her husband Puneet Vatsayan. your spouse a cup of coffee, without him/her asking for it, dusting her/his workPros and Cons Starting a business and nurturing it desk, without re-arranging over the years requires, among other things, and giving her/him a things, a good synergy between its co- peck on the cheek whenever founders. This is true when it comes to you accidentally bump into approaching investors, dealing with each other are sweet gescustomers or hiring employees. Any tures of love,” says Misra.

Litmus Test: Go in a mock and argue about some issue in front of a group of friends. And see if the next day you can leave that behind and continue with your personal life.

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Giving each other personal space by having overlapping schedules and not same work hours may help.

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— Dr Rajendra K Misra Psychologist

Respect is also about understanding each other’s professional compulsions and not making a fuss about it.

“If Kaushal has to take a call from the client at 3 am, I would not crib about it. I know the expectations of the business. Similarly, if I am at office at 2 am, Kaushal would not tell me that I have to come back and look after the children,” says Parul of Motif.

“We would want the young entrepreneurs to understand that although

The first year is tough. There will be an acute need to support each other through the thick and thin, providing positive reinforcements through words and actions.

— Preeti & Rohit Gupta Pragma Communication OCTOBER 2008 81

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strategy/Couple Entrepreneurs

Couple entrepreneurs can induce a lot of confidence among VCs and employees that they are there for the long haul.

— K Ganesh TutorVista time together is important, so is not crowding each other. As a couple, we need to work together very well with well-defined roles and boundaries,” says Upendra Giri who co-founded AstoWix, a project management firm, with his wife Seema. Clarity of roles at work makes things easier. Agrees Anupama of Mobera Systems, it was soon after she and her husband Puneet

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Although time together is important, so is not crowding each other.

As a couple, we need to work together very well with well-defined roles and boundaries.

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— Upendra Giri AstroWix

started out that they realized there were things to be worked out. “We can’t be just shooting off in whatever direction. If we were venturing into each other’s territory, we had to find a way out,” she adds.

Preeti and Rohit Gupta, co-founders, Pragma Communication, a public relations firm, preferred to undergo counseling to have a more clear perspective on what theywere planning to do. The counseling session helped them with a key input towards avoiding inter-personal conflicts, dividing tasks between them and maintaining a clean overlap between their activities.

Having well-defined corporate governance code can send out the message that despite having a team of husbandwife entrepreneurs at work, there is no place for nepotism in the company. In their startup, it was clear that Ganesh, despite being the CEO, would not apprise his wife Meena, the COO of the company. Instead, they have a director on the board to do the job.

Having appropriate conflict resolution mechanisms in place also helps a lot. But it requires open communication and trust, with each partner willing to part with some authority. If both look at the bigger picture, ie, the growth and the best interests of the company, it would be easier to resolve issues. “Sometimes agree to disagree,” says Kaushal. He cites an example of one such incident relating to having a dress code for Motif employees. Parul and the HR department believed that employees should have a dress code.

Kaushal, however, was in disagreement.

After a meeting of the senior management that saw a 50:50 division, Kaushal agreed to disagree, and the dress code came into existence at Motif.

Challenges It is not always easy to keep your personal and professional relationship separate. Many a times, personal differences could spill over and spoil a mature professional relationship. Both partners would need mental maturity to be able to thrash the personal or work-related differences out through effective communication.

DARE/quick points • Couples should bring in complementary roles needed for the business • Neither should hesitate in airing his/her professional needs • Having clarity about roles and responsibilities helps • Have a clear conflict resolution mechanism in place • Must set aside some private time for each other and the family every day • Have a clear corporate governance code in place • Love and respect have to be the foundation • Channels of communication should always remain open • Couples should guard against comments aimed at creating a wedge • Going on short vacations or taking up a hobby helps de-stress Keeping work out of home could be another big challenge. Says Anupama, “The harder thing for me to do was to put a boundary around work. I personally tend to think and talk about work a lot. And Puneet is good at saying it ends for me here and I am switched off for the day.” She adds that she had to work on it to ensure that she did not make it an all-consuming thing.

Sometimes challenges could be a blessing in disguise and could strengthen the bond. “Having worked together, we both eliminated our respective differences and the bond between us has matured and grown stronger. I would say that the quality of our personal lives has improved drastically since we started working DAR E together,” says Preeti.

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