No. The qualifying relationship depends on the actual ownership and control structure of both entities, which must be documented regardless of how well the owners know each other.
Request the documents even where trust already exists
Ask for the formation and ownership records for both companies directly, rather than relying on a description from either owner. A friendly or family business connection can be entirely genuine and still fail to establish the documented relationship the category requires.
The sequence that matches the law puts the relationship first: parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, evidenced by share registers, articles or partnership agreements rather than by a chart. L-1 requires a parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship and generally requires one continuous year of full-time employment physically abroad during the relevant preceding three-year period. If the subordinates are not the petitioner's employees, the case must be built as a function manager with genuine discretion over an essential function, or the structure must be changed so supervisors are on the subsidiary's payroll. The definition covers managing an essential function at a senior level with authority over it, as well as managing people, but the evidence has to show decision-making authority rather than skilled personal work.