When launching a business, doing it solo will only get you so far. Find a compatible business partner with the right mix of skills, experience, and attitude so you can successfully nurture your business in the long-term.
When building a business you feel passionately about, of course, you will do everything you can to succeed. In your quest for success, you’ll find that it’s hard to share control with others. As they say, if you want it to go perfectly, you might as well do it yourself. Right?
However, carrying all this burden means spending long hours and days, and less social life. This may lead to burnout and discontent. What started as your passion may turn into an endeavor that saps all your energy and motivation.
Also, it doesn’t matter how broad your skills and experience are. We don’t have the expertise to run all areas of a business. More so if you want to scale up your operations. Undoubtedly, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a CEO who also works full-time in HR, accounting, and customer service.
So, how do you balance the scale? Choose a business partner.
You want your partner to share your vision and eagerness. This shared quality is analogous to parenting where parents work together to see their child grow healthy and successful. In the same way, you and your business partners should be committed to seeing through this business journey together.
Choosing a co-founder takes careful consideration as the partnership is a long-term, legally binding relationship. Before you pull the trigger, make sure that the person you’ve chosen aligns with your goals, values, skills, and personality traits.
To guide you on this, here’s a rundown of the essential qualities to take note of when finding a business partner.
Things to Consider when Finding the Right Business Partner
Find a reliable partner.
While this is obvious, we can’t stress enough how important it is to find someone you can rely on. A partnership is more than just the achievement of goals. It’s a relationship built on trust and dependability.
You want to find someone you can work within any situation—in good times and bad. Look for a partner who is honest and practices integrity in their personal and professional life.
Otherwise, an unreliable partner may steal your idea, lose you more customers, or worse, submerge your company into legal repercussions.
Search for a partner with complementary traits.
Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, and Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from Apple, Inc. are a few of the famous examples of time-tested partnerships.
One thing that made them successful is that one partner has qualities that complement the other. When looking for a business partner, this person should have the personality and attitude that rides harmoniously with your own.
In fact, our co-founders here at Full Scale nail this area perfectly. Full Scale is an offshore software development company in Kansas City. It’s the brainchild of Matt DeCoursey and Matt Watson, entrepreneurs who want to simplify the process of hiring software developers.
DeCoursey exhibits a friendly and outgoing personality who loves to interact with people. On the other hand, Watson is quiet and laid-back; a whiz when it comes to technology. No one is better than the other. Both are peas in a pod that completes everything.
Similarly, work with someone level-headed and measured if you’re the type who’s sociable and enjoys the spotlight.
Look for someone with the right skills and experience in the industry
The right business partner must have the right blend of skills and experience needed to pull your business together. Again, no one person is a master at everything.
If you are skilled in finance and accounting, consider partnering up with someone great at sales and marketing. While this isn’t a golden rule, know that the more skills and experience you bring to the table, the easier it gets to run your business.
Choose a partner who shares your vision and goals.
Let’s say you own a tech startup. It’s fairly new, so it takes time for sales to pick up. You want to continue its growth and scale when the right time comes.
If you’re considering a business partnership, your partner should share your vision for the company. You need to move in the same direction and understand the underlying purpose of this endeavor.
This compatibility will help you run the business well and wrinkle out any challenges that come your way. You need a business partner that you can communicate effectively on matters that will move your business forward.
If your partner is unable or refuses to see your point of view, then it will be extremely difficult to steer the company in the right direction to be successful.
Partner up with someone who has the financial resources and connections
Aside from skills and experience, it’s great if a business partner has a credible network, expertise, and potential client list. A co-founder with wide connections in the industry and has solid credentials to boot will enhance the value and elevate your chances of success.
Since capital is the lifeblood in any business, make sure that your business partner is financially stable—has a good credit report and financial management skills. From the start, you both need to agree on how much capital you contribute. Additionally, decide how much to distribute the profits as well.
Find a business partner with a comfortable tolerance for risks
Starting a business is not all bed of roses. It involves a high amount of risks. It’s worth noting that roughly 50% of small businesses in the US fail in their fifth year. Scary, isn’t it?
But without risks, we won’t have the products, services, and inventions that we enjoy today. We won’t even have the motivation to achieve our goals at all.
Keep in mind, that starting a business is inherently risky. So as business owners, you need to understand risks to be able to step out of your comfort zone. Find a business partner who can strike a balance between being careful about spending money and knowing how to take calculated risks when it comes to achieving goals.
Choose a Business Partner You Can Count On!
Working with the right business partner is a smart move when running a business. Sometimes, It’s more than just chemistry. You want to choose someone who shares your passion and has the credibility, skills, and experience to mobilize your business idea.
Yes, you might have the best business in the world. However, it might never achieve its full potential due to a disastrous partnership. Make sure that you set your emotions in check and ensure that you choose a partner that aligns with the vision and goals of the company.
While people are different in many ways, the qualities outlined in this article should guide you when finding the right partner. All the best on your business journey and we hope that you find the best partner that has your company’s success in mind.
If you need a reliable partner for your software development project, we’re more than happy to help. At Full Scale, we have a team of top-notch web and mobile developers, project managers, and marketing experts to grow your business to the next level.
Send us a message so we can run your projects quickly and affordably.
