Indeed, my co-founder and I were colleagues at the time and we were given the opportunity to lead a new service (almost like a startup inside a larger company),

Indeed, my co-founder and I were colleagues at the time and we were given the opportunity to lead a new service (almost like a startup inside a larger company), with me as the technical lead and him as the business lead. We had discussed starting a company before, and we thought it might work, but after that we knew it would work. Five years in and I have no regrets.