How my husband and I mastered cofounding and parenthood without breaking our marriage or the business

"Working with your romantic partner isn't just a niche phenomenon; it's a growing trend. A recent study from the National Library of Medicine reveals nearly one in four U.S. small businesses are run by romantic couples. Yet, for all the talk of "power couples" in the startup world, precious little unfiltered insight exists on what it actually takes to share a bed, a budget, and a booming enterprise. For many, the lines between personal and professional don't just blur; they cease to exist."

"As we scale a multimillion-dollar company while simultaneously navigating the exhilarating chaos of parenthood, I've gained an interesting perspective on the strategic moves and nonnegotiable rules that keep our marriage, and our company, thriving. The Nonnegotiable Boundary That Saved Our Marriage It sounds counterintuitive for founders whose lives are inextricably linked to their venture: put a hard stop on work discussions once you walk through the front door. But for Joe and me, this rule became the lynchpin of our relationship's resilience."

"Every meal, every car ride, every evening was a business meeting. Our passion was relentless, but I quickly realized the constant operational debriefs were eroding our identity as a couple. We were colleagues who lived together, not partners. The encroachment was subtle. We'd be dissecting strategy over dinner or debating a supply chain hiccup right before bed. I realized that I missed him. And I had no idea what was truly happening in my partner's life outside of work."

Romantic couples increasingly run small U.S. businesses, with nearly one in four owned by partners. The founders of Serenity Kids transformed a shared frustration with unhealthy baby food into the fastest-growing shelf-stable baby food brand, scaling a multimillion-dollar company while parenting. Intense early focus turned daily life into constant business meetings, eroding couple identity and turning colleagues into roommates. A strict boundary — stopping work discussions at home — restored personal connection and became essential for relationship resilience. Subtle encroachment of work into domestic moments revealed how operational debriefs can obscure partners' lives outside the venture.

Read at Fast Company