A while ago I was sitting there in my well paid executive job running marketing for 62 countries as you do. I had my apartment and company car, a hot girlfriend and took amazing trips whenever I felt like it.

Fast forward to today. My job now is to try and keep our startup alive, there are no trips and no cars, there are baby puppies though. My girlfriend is now my pregnant wife and we live at her mum’s place. Glamorous no?

Life is fast, unpredictable and often served best with a little bit of planning and a whole load of ‘just dive in and get it done’.

That’s essentially been the Funifi way so far. When me and Andrew left our jobs, apartments and friends behind to move out to Copenhagen for 4 months last year to take our new startup to Startupbootcamp, people said we were being irrational, impulsive and risky. Truth is, we were probably being only two of those things!

Throughout this whole process, one thing has consistently stood out. The quality of the people around me has always helped to make decisions that seem to work out well…in the end!

So here are my tips on what makes good relationships and how they can really enhance our personal and professional experiences:

Tip 1: Know your partner

This means all of them. For me it was my co-founders and my then girlfriend.

The selection process here is about seeing character traits that you like

Andrew and I had worked together for a few years so there was more than enough scope to understand each other’s motivations, values and vision.

With co-founder number 2, Denis, we’d done some work together previously. I knew he was talented and he seemed like a good guy but Andrew had also been at the same company as him before so it just became a case of ‘if he likes you then I do too’.

With Anna we’d already been together for years but it takes a special person to also quit her job and come along for the adventure with a team of crazy guys chasing a dream.

So we took the plunge and made our way to Copenhagen to build Funifi, wow what risk takers we were. We thought that as soon as we got there everything would be so smooth. Not really.

Living in an 80m sq. 3 bedroom (1 adult and 2 kids size rooms) apartment with 4 guys and a girl wasn’t easy. Add that to being told that we were selected for the program mainly because of our awesome team and despite our original idea! (which we obviously thought was amazing at the time!).

We had to reshape our plans and pivot and we’d only been there for a week!

At times of doubt you need the right people around you. It’s important to understand each other and to also be on the same page about where you are going.

Tip 2: Have common goals

Many relationships fall apart when people kind of grow apart, one wants one thing out of life and the other wants something different. This doesn’t just happen overnight though, there’s a whole chunk of time in between where communication is key.

We started Funifi with a raw objective, ‘to change the world’. Now I know that sounds cliche but it really was the thought process. An undefined statement like that though can cause havoc if not discussed and made more specific. It’s like saying ‘what do you want from this relationship?’ and your partner saying ‘to be happy’. Obviously we want to be happy but what does that really mean to each of us?

Denmark made us stronger as a unit, we homed in on what was really important and that eventually turned our vision statement into ‘to positively impact every family on the planet’ which we liked.

We lost a few people and added others along the way as what we represented became easier to define and relate to. We also welcomed Lach to the team at that point to add experience to our talented young dev lineup with Kyriakos and Chrys.

With Anna we always talked about what we wanted in both the short and long term. The whole adventure we had begun fitted pretty well into the ‘big picture’ vision that we shared. It wasn’t straightforward but then again life usually isn’t.

Tip 3: Commitment

There is no more serious way of showing intent than committing yourself fully to a cause, project or relationship.

When you know you want something you need to show it. This can come in the form of small steps or one large leap depending on the situation. For me it was the first way on a personal level and the second professionally.

I’ve heard people say ‘i’m going to try out this startup thing and see how it works out’, for us that just wasn’t an option. Once focused, we dedicated ourselves one hundred percent. Resignations were written, lives packed into a suitcase and all savings used on getting a good start with Funifi.

With the now wife, It was best to go step by step ☺ No need to declare undying love on the first date but you know, call back, tell her you like her, don’t be scared to move in together when the time comes and so on.

There’s a right time for everything but commitment must be demonstrated with actions.

It’s been just under a year from when we decided to commit fully and our baby steps are turning into leaps. There’s still a lot to be done but the Funifi team is focused and growing now as we recently added Celia, Maria, Stef and Lukasz to the family.