Your husband/wife is the co-founder of your life
In startup life, we celebrate the founder's success, but we rarely mention the work done by life partners behind the scenes. Take Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott. Scott was a key person in Amazon's early days: she was one of the first employees and took many roles, from accounting to negotiating contracts or shipping orders. And she gave birth to their kids and raised them. She was instrumental in the early days of Amazon.
Being a founder is a very lonely endeavor. The right life partner helps you through this journey. You can share your struggles and get an external perspective on problems you face every day. Your partner helps you in decision-making: you can shamelessly share and bounce the greatest or most stupid ideas to them. And more important: the right partner will give you a boost when you need it. From giving you time to focus on some last-minute deadlines to organizing some quality moments: they understand (or at least do their best to try) your journey and help you. It is too often unnoticed, but such attention is very important: it boosts your mind and sets you in the right mindset.
The beginning of a company is a pivotal make-or-break moment. The right person by your side can make a huge difference. It is unknown if Bezos would have had the same success without MacKenzie by his side in the early days (considering this, it sounds fair that she got $35B+ when they divorced). It’s not sure if Elon would have made the same mistakes if he had a life partner giving him attention and honest feedback. It would probably have saved him from closing the $44B acquisition of Twitter and keeping his focus on a company that matters.
Your husband or wife is the co-founder of your life. The right person makes a ton of difference. The right people around you will lift you. The wrong one will bring you down.
Choose wisely, my friends.