Internet Entrepreneurs, The

iVillage's working culture

The notion of co-chairperson, joint chief executives, or however two founders split their roles, is a difficult one for most observers to contemplate, and iVillage is no different. After all, decisions have to be arrived at, rules have to be enforced and resolutions have to be made. Carpenter talks about trees, although the analogy escapes me. I think she is the root and branches to Evans's leaves. 'Nancy has an amazing sense of richness and detail and how to really bring something alive for the consumer,' she explains. 'I take the role of business architect.' Evans adds, 'We made a decision early on that we would not be in the same room at the same time unless we chose to because we wanted to divide and conquer and ...