Companies Founded by Couples
It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air — both at home and in business! For these couples, their significant other is also their coworker and co-founder. That sounds both wonderful and exhausting at the same time! We chatted with them about their journey in business together to see what it takes for these couple colleagues to succeed.
Henry & Lisa Lovejoy from Freshé
Freshé makes protein-packed meals made on the go, in a tinned can! They’re part of the recent tinned seafood craze. And their cofounders just happen to be married!
Whose idea was it to go into business together?
Henry was writing a business plan for an eco-friendly seafood company in 1999 and needed a great partner. Fortunately, we’re best friends, so it was a natural fit.
What’s the best part about working together?
Being together all day! It’s also nice to be proud of something bigger than ourselves, that’s helping the environment, that we’ve created together.
Surely it isn’t always rainbows and sunshine. Any tips for weathering the storms?
Make sure you have complementary skills and stay in your own lane!
Gloria and Eric Kolb from Elidah, Inc
Elidah, Inc is the company behind Elitone – a non-surgical and non-invasive device that allows women to treat incontinence issues discreetly while going about their normal lives. The company’s co-founders are also married.
Whose idea was it to go into business together?
It just sort of happened. We brainstormed together but we both had other full-time jobs at the time. Then Eric’s company got acquired so he started to work on the startup more. I kept reducing my hours at my company as well until we were both full-time.
What’s the best part about working together?
We have more respect for each other, and for business skills, that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. And we realize we complement each other very well in business as well!
Surely it isn’t always rainbows and sunshine. Any tips for weathering the storms?
Have clear delineations of responsibilities and who has the final say in which areas. Also, understand your boundaries. For example, I work until the early hours of the morning, but I can’t talk about work stuff after 11 pm because Eric winds down and doesn’t think at his best then, nor does he want to enter into anything new then.
Aliya Jiwa & Uzzi Tufail from Spunky Stork
Spunky Stork hand prints charming and whimsical designs onto soft organic cotton baby bodysuits and toddler/youth tees. The founders are passionate about creating clean, organic, non-toxic clothing that is safe for babies, children, and adults. The co-founders are also a couple!
Whose idea was it to go into business together?
It was more my idea (Aliya), but everything happened really organically.
What’s the best part about working together?
You get to hang with your best bud all day! I probably shouldn’t admit this – but – we make up songs and dance and are constantly cracking each other up. We get to celebrate our wins and also comfort each other on the hard days or weeks. It’s just a really cool, fulfilling way to work.
Surely it isn’t always rainbows and sunshine. Any tips for weathering the storms?
As much fun as we have working together now, it was the polar opposite when we first started out. The early stages proved to be really challenging. We both have very strong personalities and tend to have problems delegating. We both wanted to do everything and be in control of everything, all the time. For every aspect of the business. Obviously, that’s not a sustainable way to run a company. So, it took us about a year and a half before we finally figured out that we each needed to focus on different aspects of the business in order to move forward as business partners and life partners. Now, Uzzi is in charge of ordering and managing our inventory, all bookkeeping, and running the printing press. I am in charge of customer service, new designs, and anything digital like the upkeep of our website, email list, and social media. Keeping things separate, with a bit of overlap (hey, it happens), has worked like a charm.