An article running on the US News and World Report today quoted our own Tim Berry about partnering with family and friends in their article.

The mom and pop business is the stereotypical image of a small business, and the trust that comes with working with someone you know on a personal level seems comforting. But new risks come up when you take a personal relationship and make it business. “There are many cases where trying to build a business relationship on top of a personal relationship can ruin both,” says Tim Berry, an entrepreneur who founded Palo Alto Software and speaks and teaches on small-business issues. Berry recently named one of his daughters CEO of his company. He says that partnering with family members can work as long as you carefully delineate the business relationship and personal relationship and make it clear that the way you interact with them in the first will be different from in the second.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software