While it sounds like you're in a product startup, I was recently in a similar situation with a client service focus: A partner and I (he was design/light dev, I was heavy dev/ops) struck out on our own. After a few months of ramp up we signed six figures of contracts in a single month. Giddy as we were, we had worked together for years and knew deep down it wasn't manageable. But dollars are very effective beer-goggles.
We laid out work-life expectations; mutual desires to work <40h/wk, how to manage clients, charge what we were worth, etc.
The biggest problem I blame myself for was the self-inflicted up-spiral of expectations, which sounds like what's happening with you. It started with replying to one of my partner's emails at 10pm, then turned into email conversations until 1am many nights/week with him and the clients. Emails about where I was, followed by texts and Slacks about if I got the emails, on and on.
I cannot speak for my partner, but in hindsight I would say that we had different business priorities and in the end, pleasing clients trumped balance for him and it didn't for me. We never really had that candid conversation, and it basically became a toxic 3 months that ended with us dissolving the partnership and likely permanently scarring our friendship.
I'd encourage you to have a dedicated, private face-to-face with your partner, and have an open discussion about what you've been doing, how you're feeling, how they're feeling, and what you want/need from this partnership. And if they're wants/needs are incompatible, time to say goodbye.
We laid out work-life expectations; mutual desires to work <40h/wk, how to manage clients, charge what we were worth, etc.
The biggest problem I blame myself for was the self-inflicted up-spiral of expectations, which sounds like what's happening with you. It started with replying to one of my partner's emails at 10pm, then turned into email conversations until 1am many nights/week with him and the clients. Emails about where I was, followed by texts and Slacks about if I got the emails, on and on.
I cannot speak for my partner, but in hindsight I would say that we had different business priorities and in the end, pleasing clients trumped balance for him and it didn't for me. We never really had that candid conversation, and it basically became a toxic 3 months that ended with us dissolving the partnership and likely permanently scarring our friendship.
I'd encourage you to have a dedicated, private face-to-face with your partner, and have an open discussion about what you've been doing, how you're feeling, how they're feeling, and what you want/need from this partnership. And if they're wants/needs are incompatible, time to say goodbye.