In 2000, four years after founding my engineering firm, Civil Design, Inc. (CDI) in my basement, I partnered with two fellow engineers to broaden the services and project scope of the work I could take on. Under the umbrella of my business, we worked together for several years—they were moonlighting while each working for other firms, and I was able to work at home and raise my young family. At the time, it seemed a practical solution for all of us.

Then we had an opportunity to take on a project inside the St. Louis district, which required we move our office space out of my basement. I emerged kicking and screaming from the house—I had loved my years working from home—but the move proved advantageous for growth, and we soon had a team of eight employees. But, as we expanded, we grew into a tangled mess of a dysfunctional partnership.