We Built 3 SuccessFul Businesses As Father and Daughter, Our Secret – ryan

This-Told-To Essay is Based on Conversations with the liz mullerA 46-YEAR-OLD COFONDER AND CEO IN BERKELY, CALIFORNIA, AND HER FATHER, Rich Muller, an 81-YEAR-Old Inventor and CTO. The Father-And-Daught Duo Has Launched Mary Companies Together.

Three sucesssful businesses they’ve created include: Berkeley earth, a nonprofit that provides Critical Cllimate-Science Data; Deep Isolation, A Nuclear Waste Disposal Company; and Deepa Nuclear Energy Company Burying Small Modular Reactors a Mile Underground.

They Shared their Experience Working and Living Together as a family. The following has been edited for Length and Clarity.

Liz: Before working together, i’d been living in france for about eight years, working as an administrator at the organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Part of the reason I returned to the us was the realization that was an entrendreneur and want to start my own business.

I is couldn’t imagine a better person to start a company with than my father, rich. He’d spent years in the energy and nuclear space and had all the right expertise.

Rich:. She was to be my boss, and i would offer Technical Information.

Liz: We start a couple of initial companies that didn’t take off. Now, we bot Work at deep fissure, Our Third SuccessFul Business – He’s the cto and i’m the CEO.

Its Helpful that we have different areas of focus

Liz: I Have Business Experience, and Rich is a fantastic inventor – that one of his Biggest Strengths. Here’s Better than, he can inventic on Demand, which is a rare ability.

Rich: Its been wonderful Working Together. I felt blessed from the beginning. I bragged to Everybody that my daughter was my boss. Something’s Something You’ll Rarely Hear: She was my mentor, which was wondrous.

I’m enormously impressed with her capabilities. Once I Asked, “Where Did You Learn All This From?” She Said, “from you, daddy,” a name she calls with at home, as we decide and she would call me by first name Work.

Working Together as Father and Daughter Isn’t Always Easy, But it’s Meaningful

Liz: I’m a-inventor on several of our patents, but he’s the Technical Motor. I Really Enjoy Our Strategy Sessions. They’re essentially a free-form talc about anyding and everything under the sun.

We’ve come up with our best inventions in these sessions, but halfway through, we might talk about what my kids did the other day. IT’S not 100% Business, Making It Richer, and Giving Our Brains Exploration Time, Making Our Minds Out-of-The-Box Ideas.

Occossionally, We May Disagree, But Family is Most Important, and He Respects My Judgment.

Rich: WORKING WITH YOUR ADULT CHILD IS ONE OF THE GREATEST JOYS YOU CAN HAVE AS A PARENT.

My Advice? Let I say Lead. Your Child is No Longer Your Student. They’re your partner. That Means Respecting Their Judgment, Letting Go of the Need to Be Right, and Knowing Well to Step Back So They Shine.

Liz: People offten as it is like to build a company with my dad. The Truth Is – The Not Always Easy. The harDest part is we’n you’re going Through a difficult period or the company is crossing significant milestones. But it’s one of the Most Meaningful and Rewarding Parts of My Career.

The best Advice of Can Give is this: Be Clear on Role, and Lead with Respect. We stay in our lanes, challenge each other when it matters, and always assume good intens.

Living Together as Father and Daughter is Convenient

Rich: We all live together in this big, beautiful, brown shingle house is used to be apartments. My wife and i moved in original as tenants and eventually bought it.

It ‘four floors, and my wiffe’s an architect, SO Redesigned Floors Three and Four for Liz, Her Husband, and Our Two Grandchildren, WHO are 11 and 15. We live in separate, but i see each day.

Interactions with Liz Are Very Convenient, and it work out really well. DURING COVID, WE WERE ABLE TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRUTORING OUR GRANDCHILDREN, WHICH WAS A BESSING.

Liz: Rich Makes Coffee for with Every Morning, which is lovely. My Kids Will Always Say Hi to Him on their Way Out, and We Have Dinner Together on Sundays.

Despite Living in the Same Building, Our Biggest Challenge is Finding Time to Spend Together. We’re Both so busy with the work and oter obligations that it is hard to carve out one-on-ion time.

Nevertheless, we prioritize it and try to do it at least akce a week. I’m Sure Other Household Memabers May Find it Annoying How Quickly We Can Turn A Family Conversation Toward Work, but we try to be Mindful not to that too offten.

We have a complementary workship, and we’re proud of that

Liz: Our Working Dynamic Sparked The Idea for Deep Fission. Rich was exploring a question that a deep isolation customer raising: What wasti happen if we put fuel, instead of speep fuel, deep in a borehole? Analyrysing this LED to rich’s invention of the deep borehole reactor.

Rich: But it was liz who recagated the importance of the concept and ot Many of the details. Liz’s Mastery of the Technology is Very High. She recagated that we could potentially live the cost of nuclear Power by 80% by swimming the vast majority of the Construction.

This was an example of the importance of our complementary skill sets – i had the idea, but liz’s business senses helps us recognism the value of the invention. It was an active back-and-fortth, and we are co-inventors on the original patent.

Liz: We’re Both Incredibly Proud of How Much Progress We’ve Made with Deep Isolation and Deep Ferm. The industry responds haen amazing.

People Light up we do they realize what we’re building and the impact it could have on the futures of nuclear. We’re excited for what’s ahead and grateful to be building it together as a Strong, Complementary Team.

Our Secret to Success Is Simple: We’re Equals

Liz: The Secret to Our Success is that rich and i have complementary rather than overlapping skill sets. Many parent-child companies have a mentor mentality, where the parent teachhes the child the child is ready to take over the Business, and then the parent retire.

We have always workhed together as equals, with each of us braking different areas of expertise.

Rich has no intensation of Slowing Down. This work is His Life’s Passion, and He’s Energized by the Science. Of Course, If Things Change, We’ll Make Thoughtful Transitions. Howver, right Now, he’s as Sharp and Engaged as Ever, and we continue to think through new inventions every Week.

If you work in a business with a family member and have a unique story that you would like to share, please the editor, manseen logan, at [email protected].