Starting a company is a really difficult task and it becomes incredibly hard if you are doing it alone.  Having a co founder can make the task a little simpler, especially if it is one of your closest friends. Many business experts warn against starting a business with friends, however, the success of the companies mentioned below proved such opinions wrong.

Friends who founded companies together

1) Airbnb

The hugely popular online platform was founded by three roommates, Nathan Blecharczyk, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky.  Nathan Blecharczyk, who moved to San Francisco, used Craigslist to find a roommate, who turned out to be Joe Gebbia.  Brian Chesky, who was Gebbia’s college friend, later moved in with Blecharczyk and Gebbia and the three became close friends.  The idea of Airbnb was conceived after the trio realised there is a shortage of hotels in San Francisco. They built a website which allowed people to rent out spaces in other people’s apartments.  They also turned their own apartment into a lodging by putting an air mattress in their living room. Eleven years after its launch, Airbnb, which turned its founders into billionaires, is still one of the most used sites in the world.

2) Google

One of the biggest technological companies in the world, Google was founded by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.  Page met Brin for the first time at Stanford University, during a campus tour for doctoral students. Not a big fan of each other in the beginning, they became friends while working on a research project together.  Their project, The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, became the foundation of what would soon be called Google.  Co founded in 1998, the growth of Google made Larry Page and Sergey Brin two of the richest people in the world.

3) Ben & Jerry’s

This hugely successful ice cream manufacturing company was founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.  Both Cohen and Greenfield were friends since childhood, having met each other during their seventh grade gym class.  They both shared a mutual love for food, which prompted them to take a correspondence course in ice cream making. After completing the course, they started their first ice cream shop together in 1978, with an investment of $ 12,000.  Forty one years after starting the shop, Ben & Jerry’s is a world renowned million dollar company.

4) Warby Parker 

Warby Parker is an online retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses, started by Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider.  The four became friends during grad school at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and shared a common frustration towards expensive prescription glasses.  The four friends then started a company to sell highly quality and inexpensive glasses online and made a pact of not letting their friendship get affected in any way due to business.  Launched in 2010, Warby Parker was valued at $ 1.75 billion in 2018, with a funding of approximately $ 300 million.

The success stories of these friends who became business partners are perfect inspiration for people who want to start their entrepreneurial journey with their friends.  

Which of these stories about friends who founded companies together impressed you the most?  Let us know in the comments below.