Again, try substituting "early investor and trusted advisor of" the founder for "wife of" the founder. Such people play important roles in startups all the tim

Again, try substituting "early investor and trusted advisor of" the founder for "wife of" the founder. Such people play important roles in startups all the time. It's not a matter of "entitlements", startups regularly accept help, and deep involvement from, interested associates of their founders and executives. In some suitably-informal workplaces, any employee could invite a trusted friend in for meetings, offer guest access to internal systems, and then take definitive action on any recommendations received - no employment-relationship or contract or exchange-of-consideration required. It's not the government. It's not the military. Organizations aren't all titles and reporting-diagrams, and especially not in small/private/fast-moving/crisis-handling enterprises.