I can think of several prominent startup couples that have made this work successfully. Wildfire (acq. Google) comes to mind as a recent one. There have also

I can think of several prominent startup couples that have made this work successfully. Wildfire (acq. Google) comes to mind as a recent one. There have also been some spectacular meltdowns too, and in general, intimate relationships between senior executives tends to correlate to dysfunction. A lot will depend on your personalities and skill sets. You will get pushback from some investors (though traction has a tendency to quell pushback of all kinds). But you could do worse than starting with someone who deeply understands your target audience -- and with whom you know you're compatible. I'd do a "pre-nup" agreement on which one of you is going to bounce if it doesn't work, and call it an experimental situation.