Let's talk Partnerships

I am certain we have all heard at least one horror story about partnerships!

A good friend once told me that he has always given business partnerships a wide berth due to the fact that he dislikes following after people or pushing people and he would probably end up doing everything that needs to be done instead of spending precious time following up on partners. An acquaintance once shared how at the onset of his entrepreneurial journey he started off with two partners and once the growing business was thriving in terms of profitability, he on occasion would have to beg the partners to come to work (I really suspect they must have felt self-actualized! Self-actualization is something many people want to attain without putting in the actual work!) What made things even worse was when the partners decided they could withdraw cash from the business account to spend on frivolous things! I agreed that that was indeed a terrible experience.

When you are starting out a small business, you will find that you might be required to individually put in a lot of work in propelling the business forward. At this stage you will probably find that you don’t have enough capital to hire the requisite skill and therefore, you have to learn to do a lot of things on your own. Therefore, if you are to partner with someone, it would be helpful if they would be willing to put in the same kind of work and energy as you. However, their effort and energy may not entirely be at the same level as yours, and this should not put you off. You have to consider yourself as the vision bearer. Nonetheless, it should never get to a point where you beg a partner to put in the required work into the venture.

Going out solo in business can be lonely, expensive and strenuous, especially for a fast growing business. A partnership can provide you with additional support as an entrepreneur, additional skill, perspective, funding to get your business of the ground, or all the above. Not to mention valuable networks that could potentially aid in pooling in your target market when you launch your product or service or expand your geographical coverage.

I look at business partnership from the same perspective I look at a marriage. You have got to have some level of congruence in your goals and vision for your business (life together-in the case of marriage), otherwise you will not move in the same direction. One will not compliment the efforts of the other(s). One of you will give up at the first sign of trouble. Worst case scenario, one of the partners will unfortunately tear down and break the other person(s) and the business in the process.

One way to cement a partnership, besides the necessary legal work, is knowing exactly what you are all doing in the partnership. Someone once said “everyone’s responsibility is nobody’s responsibility”. In any partnership whether it is with one individual or in a group, when you don’t segregate tasks and assign them to individuals and hold the individuals responsible for tasks assigned, you will find that in many instances, the tasks will not be done or will take a longer period of time to be completed. Therefore, even in your small startup, you have to assign tasks relating to the oversight of the business to each other and hold each other accountable for completion of the tasks. There has to be well defined roles and responsibilities between the partners to avoid overlaps or duplication of roles which could lead to unnecessary disagreements.

Regardless of the obvious benefits of partnerships, it is prudent to be careful when selecting partners. Be it with a spouse, family members, friends or even an investor; an incompatible partnership will kill your business faster that you can imagine, kill your peace of mind or result in expensive legal suits incase things do not work out.

When selecting a partner keep in mind what they are bringing to the table. Are they bringing in an aligned vision? Are they bringing in invaluable networks that can propel your business forward? Are they bringing in a critical skill you may not afford to pay for? Are they bringing in a part of the funding you require to start off or grow your business? When it comes to funding, remember when an investor gives you funding, they may want to be in ‘control’ of all or part of the business strategy, therefore you have to balance between; being adaptable to some form of change of course; and sticking to the fine print of your vision.

You further need to ask yourself if your business can survive the end of a partnership; that in the event the partnership does end, the business will move forward. Will the business stay afloat in the event your partner(s) no longer feel inclined to proceed with the business? Unless the business was being held together by the skill of the partner leaving the business or a major client who unfortunately pulls out after the partner leaves, there is no reason why a business should not survive the end of a partnership. If the partnership was a ‘spousal partnership’ and your marriage ends, both of you can agree on how the business can outlive your marriage. Are you going to pursue the business solo or together even though you are no longer married? Are you going to liquidate the business or sell it to the highest bidder? If your business has grown large enough, can you bring on board the right kind of skillset on your Board to run the business while you step back as shareholders and probably sell a stake to other individuals or companies? Etc.

Photocredit: https://unsplash.com/@supergios