Half of the country's GDP is generated by family businesses in the US.
It can be rewarding to start a business with your partner or sibling, but what about running a business with twins?
Oliver Kent-Braham, who is based in London, started the insurance with his twin, Alexander, and their friend, David Goate. It started in the gym's cafe and is now worth a billion dollars.
If he's all right, I'm all right, as long as you have the twin there," Oliver said. I like everything that he finds interesting.
Twin cofounders in the retail, wholesale, cosmetics, and insurance sectors were interviewed by Insider to find out how they work together, how they use the twin effect in marketing, and what the future holds for their businesses.
Nicole was born a short time before her sister. She has taken on the role of the big sister in their relationship.
At the Guilty Grape, the lifestyle and wine company they co founded in Dallas, they take the lead on the operations, campaigns, and source of wine, while Nicole works on spreadsheets and focuses on their bottom line.
Twins who live together and say the same thing at the same time believe that their strengths balance each other out.
Nicole is very visual. When I think she wants to be too risky, I'm like, "Wait a minute, pull it back a little bit." When she's trying to be so safe, I'm like, "Let's go!"
In their first year of business, the Buckmasters made $400,000 through their UK-based company, Doughboys, after they began selling pizza bases to businesses. Owen is an operations and finance focused person.
Owen said that they could fit into where they both wanted to manage the company.
Twins having different roles in a business can be beneficial, according to an academic.
Pieper said that having a system or a personal process in place that checks that or corrects that can be helpful.
When Oliver spoke with Insider, he did not have his brother by his side. Oliver said that it will probably be 2% of the days he has been alive that he has not seen Alexander.
The twins played doubles tennis for Great Britain in their teens, and Oliver admitted there was a lot of arguments.
Oliver lives a short distance from Alexander and his girlfriend.
As part of the small fraction of businesses run by co- CEOs, their close proximity helps them succeed. There are other ways to grow a successful business together.
They were hesitant to pair up in a business setting because of their bond. The twins had different jobs before they decided to work together.
When Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Things list was published in 2020, the Yohannes' Los Angeles-based 2•4•1 cosmetics took off.
After their parents fled to Sudan, they were born there.
They were told to forge their own identities from a young age. Feven said that their dad thought that treatment of twins was kind of unhealthy.
They racked up a $300 phone bill in their first month apart, but they seem to have spent the most time apart.
Feven tends to have her head in the clouds, but it's a combination they said works.
Feven and Helena work at the same place.
twins from Ireland run an at- home fertility testing group. They were happy to swap places in school to help each other when they started the business because they wanted to forge their own identities.
Deidre said that they spent their lives looking the same and being lumped into the twins category. Dressing differently and taking different career paths were part of that.
Helen was interested in being a twin and led her into genetics.
They had a winning combination for their genetics business.
Helen said that having her twin with her made it easier to focus on what she was good at and not worry about anything else.
According to a journal, only 1.6 million twin pairs are born around the world every year.
There is a double take that can be applied to marketing.
According to research done by the Institute for Family Business, companies that promote themselves as family-run are more likely to attract talent.
Even in businesses where twins don't intentionally use their bonds in marketing, it comes through, according to a business professor.
The brand value is related to the family value. It's an extreme version of a family business.
Family businesses care about their communities because they're often attached to the community where they work.
The sisters said the best way to market is to appear at wine fairs together.
It's called the Twin Effect. Nichelle said people are enamored with the "twindom" of it all.
It can have its drawbacks. She said that she would pick up conversations someone had started with Nicole at events.
Being twins can be a burden for companies that aren't dependent on their founder's personality. The twins may be less likely to be trusted by investors and clients because they may be seen as nontraditional.
One investor told Helen that they did not invest in siblings.
Twindom wasn't very effective in marketing insurance, and Oliver and Alexander try to avoid being pigeonholed as Black founders.
It is important that people see us as individuals and not as freaks.
All business partners are at some point in time facing tensions. Conflict between twins could be more damaging to the business than a sibling partnership.
"Because they're emotionally and cognitive tied, much more so than just regular members of the family, I think decisions that impact the families of twins may cause a greater degree of emotional variance." The conflict is likely to be much more severe if there is conflict.
The emotional ties between twins mean there is less chance of conflict.
Owen Buckmaster said he and his brother don't have a lot of problems. It doesn't last long when we argue or fall out.
It can drag on with partners who aren't twins.
If a third party is added to the equation, things can get more complicated. UNC Charlotte's Pieper said that a common problem for siblings is that prospective partners will try to get them to compromise.
"We were in business before with a third person, and the synergy wasn't perfect, and I feel with my sister we move faster together," she said. When we decide on something we execute very quickly.
Twins said their businesses have changed their relationship.
70% of what we talk about is work, but the closeness hasn't changed.
They all told Insider that they are lucky to have another person in their lives.
"I'm so thankful to be on this journey with my sister," she said. I think I was born with the best partner.
Twins working together can be very successful if they are planting trees or selling ice.
Helen from Hertility said she feels closer to Deirdre than she has before.
Being a founder is a very lonely journey and I wonder what we would have done if one of us was on this path alone.
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