Why I Argue Philosophy With My Co-Founder

Last year, I spent an hour arguing with my co-founder, @lukestokes. Twenty minutes later, I'm still wasn't quite sure what exactly the disagreement was, but I'm positive it was worthwhile.

We started out on a Google Hangout talking about the EU VAT, tax IDs, tax-exempt customers, and how different use cases would fit within our proposed approach. That took about 10 minutes, and involved some back and forth as we pushed our perspectives about what was needed right now versus what could be delayed until later.

We quickly moved from there into a discussion argument about social media, and how technological limitations can influence social norms and accepted behavior. We didn't yell at each other, but we were both passionate about the topic (largely because we both care about well-being, relationships, and moving our world towards peace).

We eventually came to two conclusions:

1. We weren't even sure we disagreed.
2. We both wanted to get some work done!

So what did we accomplish? One could argue, "Not much." We were arguing philosophy, and there's probably no right answer. Yet these non-work arguments have proven to be invaluable to our working relationship, and I don't believe our partnership would have survived without them.

Why?

Business is hard. As co-founders, we're bombarded with difficult decisions, and we don't always agree. Should we hire or fire or pivot or spend or save? When should we ship, polish, refactor, market, extend ourselves, refocus our energies?

But compare any of these decisions with discussing the existence of a god, or the basis for morality, or the "right" political system, or epistemology. Those topics are expansive and easy to argue, but also extremely difficult to communicate clearly. You cannot move forward in those conversations without defining terms and understanding the other's approach to truth and knowledge and morality.

In other words, arguing over unanswerable questions is perfect practice for co-founders.

Could we have maintained our relationship as co-founders without these arguments? Maybe. I'm sure many co-founders and business partners have been wildly successful without ever arguing about anything but business. But given the sheer quantity of time we spend together as co-founders, I've come to see our "extra-curricular" discussions as tremendously helpful to the health of our business.