Ada Chen Rekhi: evaluation

Transcript context

…Go on. ... I think it really just goes back to what I was talking about earlier where being a founder is such a traumatic and crazy experience with all these intense highs and lows and lack of structure that when you throw romance into the mix, it's just this really volatile combination. So what I've found is that it seems like it either goes really well or it goes really badly, and there's no in between. And asterisks are there because we've actually had a couple of friends try it, and it's been such a mixed bag of results. So my personal experience is I love it. My partner Sachin, and I work really well together. And the main benefit that we have is that the active founding is such an active obsession that you spend so much of your time thinking about your business and the concepts of your business and whatever problem you happen to be facing. That when I had this thesis of I want to be a founder too, we played it out and said, "Well, okay, now we're going to walk around being obsessed about two completely different things. We may never see each other, and so why not try the same thing?" So our first experiment was actually trying it together, and we were nuts. I actually had a 30, 60 and 90 day plan where we would have check-ins. And some of the explicit questions in the check-in, is this affecting our relationship? Because I just wanted to make sure we were putting our relationship first. It worked well for us to the extent that we've done two companies together. And then when we were at LinkedIn, we actually moved across multiple teams in the company and continued to be counterparts and product and marketing together. So it's been phenomenal. The thing that I would say really helps us in terms of making it a successful relationship was things that I think apply to anyone that's thinking about, should you work with a person and should you be a co-founder with this person? We had a very, very good set of complimentary domains and skillsets, so we had really clear decision making rights. Sachin does product design and engineering. I focus on marketing, operations, finance, everything else on the business side. And because of that, it's really clear that we take input from each other, but ultimately who makes the call and who's driving and owning that project. So that was really helpful for us. And then the big part that I think is the murky Meyer for couples and maybe even for close friends working together is how do you engage in constructive conflict? How do you get to the point where you're attacking the problem and not each other? So if your partner comes to you and says that work was not good, that marketing plan or that product roadmap that you put together, not good, do you take it as the plan is not good and let's talk about what we can actually do to fix it? Or do you take it as, "Oh, gosh, they think I'm not good. They think I'm too lazy. I saw that look that they were giving me." And take it as this personal offense. t what we can actually do to fix it? Or do you take it as, "Oh, gosh, they think I'm not good. They think I'm too lazy. I saw that look that they were giving me." And take it as this personal offense. So the ability to be really truth seeking and take the most respectful interpretation when you're giving feedback to focus on trying to get to a smart good outcome that benefits the business, I think that's actually one of the most crucial things that you have to think about. If you're going to work with anyone. Much less your partner or a close friend on starting a company and what's really worked for us,…

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