How to Choose the Best Business Partner

Many people view a business partnership like a marriage. In some ways I agree. This is why it is important to be diligent in choosing who you work with.

Here are 10 tips when considering who to partner with:

1. Determine if you truly need and/or desire a partner.
2. Get to know the person a bit more intimately. Don’t cross personal boundaries, but do pay attention to certain things like if they have children, a spouse, family, medical issues, financial instability, etc. Knowing these things may help you adjust your expectations.
3. Put your agreement in writing. If you are not sure exactly how you want to do an equity split or delegate responsibility, do a tentative agreement that can be referenced. People rarely remember everything they proposed at the onset.
4. Make sure each partner is able to match or exceed your effort if you need top performers. If they cannot outwork you, be sure they have something very valuable you need.
5. Make sure each partner has invested something (preferably money) so that it is not as easy to walk away from the business.
6. Be careful about romantic entanglements in business. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s risky. Decide what you value the most in the person (romance or business) and choose according to your value system.
7. Take your time! Meet regularly and work steadily towards a project and see how the relationship unfolds. If you do well with smaller projects together, you may be able to handle bigger deals. You may want to know someone at least a year before you decide on high stakes partnerships.
8. Be open, honest, and authentic and accept nothing less from a partner. Be concerned about their character and how they treat others.
9. Choose a partner you respect and like. You don’t have to like them enough to be friends but should not dread interacting with them.
10. Make sure you get outside your local community. There’s a big world out here and you’d be surprised how easy it can be to partner with people from other countries.

These are 10 tips for how to choose a business partner. There are many more tips I could give but these are the most important I can think of.

Hope this helps!

My advice is to limit formal partnership and create collaborations that do not involve giving up any ownership of your company. Only share equity officially if the person has something to offer that you don’t already possess or you desire to have more of what you already possess.

Choosing wrong could make or break the company, if you are not super resourceful and adaptable. Always STAY READY and be prepared to be the last man standing if need be.