(2025-11-11) Barnett Coworker Boyfriend

Olivia Barnett: Co-worker Boyfriend. Of all the risks that I am taking this year, the most significant to me is the potential cost of building with my partner. The common wisdom is not to do it. I can definitely understand why this is the standard advice. Work and love shouldn’t mix, in theory.

But I have to say, there is something truly electric about creating with someone so dear to you. Blaine and I have done a few hackathons and we worked together at a previous company, so we’re not going into this completely blind. The stakes are higher — there’s more on the line — but building with someone who knows how you think brings a kind of focus, trust, and momentum that’s hard to find anywhere else.

If I try to distill what the warnings really concern, I think it comes down to the phrase familiarity breeds contempt

If we let our brains have their way, we can take these relationships for granted.

This risk is a calculated one, I hope, because there are things we can do to de-risk. The first is to be aware that it is very risky and to understand why people think it is so. Another is to protect alone time.