When startups become a family business

This season on Build Mode, we’re diving into what it takes to build a world-class founding team. This week we’re exploring 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 major benefits like built-in trust and an “always-on” mentality, but it can also create challenges when all the startup risk is coming from one household. 

Build Mode’s Isabelle Johannessen sat down with Hala Jalwan and Alessio Tresanti, spouses and co-founders of Rivio, an AI procurement startup. Jalwan and Tresanti both believe in going all in on their ideas and loved building things together, from community events to cross-country road trips. They found they naturally took simple ideas and blew them up to their most epic potential. So when they got the idea for Rivio, they were confident that they would both be able and willing to commit fully. 

As Rivio has grown, they have two main takeaways: 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. 

Rivio’s third co-founder and CTO is Leo Larrere. “It’s great because honestly it fits perfectly into this relationship,” Tresanti said about Larrere. “It’s obviously a three-co-founder relationship. He’s also the one that brings sanity to the conversation and can draw the line sometimes.”

In the second half of the episode, Johannessen talks with Anna Sun, the co-founder of Nowadays, an AI co-pilot for corporate event planning that she launched with her sister Amy shortly after graduating from MIT. Sun spoke about how the two built their team out of friends and former co-workers, and created a culture that’s based in community. There’s a built-in trust, not only between the sisters-turned-co-founders but also throughout the team as a whole. 

“Because we’re sisters, we trust each other so much that I remember even previously, when I would start ideas with friends, you always feel like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to step on the other person’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 to 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’s a foundation of trust, clearly defined ownership, and a willingness to navigate conflict respectfully. 

Apply to Startup Battlefield: We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself). Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast. Apply here.  

TechCrunch Disrupt: We’re back for TechCrunch Disrupt on October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with thousands of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets.

Isabelle Johannessen is our host. Build Mode is produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience Development is led by Morgan Little. And a special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.