This season in Build Mode, we look at what it takes to build a world-class founding team. This week we explore different kinds of co-founder dynamics and what it takes to build a startup with your family. Building with a family member or spouse comes with significant benefits, such as built-in trust and an “always on” mentality, but it can also present challenges when all the startup risk comes from one household.
Build Mode’s Isabelle Johannessen caught up with Hala Jalwan and Alessio Tresanti, husband and wife co-founders of Rivio, an AI procurement startup. Jalwan and Tresanti both believe in incorporating their ideas and have enjoyed building things together, from community events to road trips. They found that they naturally took simple ideas and launched them to their most epic potential. So when they came up with the idea for Rivio, they were sure that both could and would be willing to fully commit.
As Rivio has developed, it has two main goals: First, co-founders should have clearly defined lanes. Second, it’s a good idea to bring in a third co-founder as a tie-breaker.
The third co-founder and CTO of Rivio is Leo Larrere. “It’s great because honestly he’s a perfect fit for this relationship,” Tresanti said of Larrere. “It’s obviously a relationship of three co-founders. He’s also the one who brings logic to the conversation and can draw the line sometimes.”
In the second half of the episode, Johannessen chats with Anna Sun, the co-founder of Nowadays, an AI co-pilot for corporate event planning that she started with her sister Amy shortly after graduating from MIT. Sun talked about how the two built their team from friends and former colleagues and created a community-based culture. There is a built-in trust, not only between the brothers who became co-founders, but also in the entire team as a whole.
“Because we’re sisters, we trust each other so much that I remember even back in the day, when I was pitching ideas with friends, you’re always like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to step on each other’s toes,’ or, ‘I don’t know if this feedback is too direct,'” Sun said. “But because we grew up in the same household, we have a lot of the same values and we’re very direct with each other. We don’t want to waste time.”
These conversations shed light on how founders can build a truly effective and happy team, as long as there is a foundation of trust, clearly defined ownership, and a willingness to resolve conflicts respectfully.
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Isabelle Johannessen is our host. Construction mode Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Head of Audience Development is Morgan Little. And a special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.
