A compound subject is made up of two or more nouns, which, taken together, call for a plural verb:

My champion networkers, so they have plenty of friends to fall back on.

If the two nouns form one unit, though, use a singular verb:

Note that the parts of a compound subject are joined with and. Words that come after along with, as well as, besides, in addition to, together with, and similar expressions are not part of the subject of a sentence. These additions are usually set off with commas, dashes, or parentheses.