How to pick the right business partner
Finding (and keeping) a great business partner can be a lot to navigate, especially if you’re new to the world of entrepreneurship. You want to choose someone who aligns with your vision and values, someone who can help you launch and grow the business over the long term, and someone who you’ll enjoy working closely with for years to come.
While most people feel a lot of excitement when connecting with a partner early on, it’s essential to spend ample time considering who they are as a person, how they approach entrepreneurship, how they react under stress, as well as how they’ll show up for the business and remain committed to the partnership over the long term.
We’ve created the following guide to help you find the right business partner including specific qualities to look for along with important red flags to avoid.
Where to find a potential business partner
If you’re in the early stages of searching for a partner, there are a number of contexts and ecosystems you can explore when it comes to finding the perfect business partner:
Conferences and events related to your industry
Co-working spaces and shared offices
Local entrepreneurial meetup groups
Innovation hubs and accelerators
Digital communities (e.g., Slack, Reddit, Facebook groups, etc)
Platforms dedicated to connecting cofounders like CoFoundersLab
Family and friend networks
Colleagues and co-workers at your current place of work
Universities, colleges, and alumni communities
Qualities to look for when choosing a business partner
Before you meet your future business partner, it’s essential to clarify what you’re going to need from the partnership and how you want the working relationship to look.
In our experience, you want to find a partner who shares your values and vision for the business, in addition to someone whose personality and working style align with yours to ensure there won’t be unnecessary friction in the business.
With that said, you also want to find a business partner who brings different (yet complementary) skill sets, interests, and passions. There’s a reason you’ll often see technical co-founders who prefer to operate behind the scenes join forces with social visionaries who enjoy leading marketing efforts and creative initiatives.
As you get to know your potential business partner, use the partner checklist below to guide your early discussions and determine if you’re a good fit for each other:
Are your personalities compatible?
Are your philosophies on business and entrepreneurship congruent?
Do you like spending a lot of time together?
Where are you both located? Does location matter in your business?
How do you see your lives evolving and what impact will it have on the business?
Are your values aligned?
Do you have the same vision for the business?
Do you bring different yet complementary skill sets?
What do you both commit to bringing to this business? What will your roles look like?
Are your working styles and desired work schedules compatible?
What are their worst qualities and are you ok with them?
Are you willing to develop a process for handling conflict?
Are you willing to formalize your partnership and put it in writing?
For a more comprehensive checklist along with guidance on early conversations to have with a potential business partner, see our full business partner checklist here.
Important red flags to avoid in a business partnership
Spotting red flags early on can help you avoid a massive business partnership disaster in the future. The following list of red flags will help you steer away from partnerships that could be detrimental to the business or unhealthy to be part of.
If your business partner displays any of the following characteristics, it’s important to think about whether this is truly the right partnership for you:
They’re flaky and have trouble keeping their commitments
They avoid hard or uncomfortable conversations about the partnership and business
They’re not able to talk about the worst-case scenario
There’s a discrepancy between what they say and what they do
They’re poor communicators or their communication style doesn’t align with yours
They’re not willing to put the partnership in writing or have a partnership agreement
They’re overly optimistic with little concern for the realities of the business
They’re overly negative and working with them isn’t a positive experience
They lack healthy boundaries in life and work
They don’t respect your boundaries
While you want to identify red flags early on and eliminate potential partners who aren’t the right fit, conflict is unavoidable in business. Conflict can even be considered a constructive experience as it means you have differing opinions and you’re both convicted in your viewpoints. Our blog post how to navigate conflict with a business partner will help you reconcile your points of tension and thereby maintain a harmonious relationship.
Ways to evaluate a business partnership before you go all in
As you get to know a potential business partner, it’s important to take things slow. This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people rush into building a business together because the opportunity feels so compelling. A healthy business partnership should evolve intentionally with consideration for the needs and desires of both parties along with the needs and growth trajectory of the business.
If you’re in the early stages of getting to know a business partner, think about ways in which you can stress test the relationship and learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. For example, before you decide to open a yoga studio together, can you begin by hosting pop-up yoga events? From there, can you host a yoga retreat to see how you work together and identify any hiccups and gaps?
Finding a business partner can feel like a long process, but you’ll be glad you spent adequate time getting to know each other and laying the right foundation for a vibrant and successful business. As you move forward with your business partner, check out our tips on how to maintain a thriving business partnership.
