4 ms·
The only true tragedy here is that the relationship between two financially-sound brothers was soured by a dispute about how to get more money. Sometimes I thi
by rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
The only true tragedy here is that the relationship between two financially-sound brothers was soured by a dispute about how to get more money.
Sometimes I think to myself that if I got into business with members of my family, things would somehow be different for us. Stories like this at least have the silver lining of an unambiguous answer: no.
- unit91 10y agoDepends on what everybody loves most. If it's money, forget about it. If it's something higher (other people, God, etc.) then I think it can really work well. I previously worked at a startup with my brother. We both had roughly 10% equity stakes and it never jeopardized our relationship, even when the company went through some tough times.
- usefulcat 10y agoTrue, but the trick is accurately determining up front "what everybody loves most". Oftentimes people don't really know the answer to that for themselves, let alone for anyone else.
- unit91 10y agoTotally agree. However, in the context of whether you can do business with your family members, you probably already know them well enough to make that assessment.
- agentgt 10y agoI'm not entirely sure it really had anything to do with money between the brothers. The details seem to be nebulous but I think it was a matter of "you made a massive decision with out me" process. Growing up with a brother I can attest to brotherly competition.
- zacharycohn 10y agoThe suit had merit. Raise your salary to $1M+ but don't pay out any money to shareholders and suddenly 40% of a booming company isn't worth very much.