You may be wondering if you should go it alone with your new business idea. The thought of being a solopreneur is very appealing. The reality is that it is very tough to do it by yourself. Your vision is dear to you and you want to make sure it gets done how you want, but having a partner might be the best way for that to happen.
Startups generally don’t rely on just one person. It takes a group of founders and then the right team under them for it to establish itself and for your dream to become a reality.
Sure, you can outsource a lot of the work for your startup but having a partner that shares in the work and responsibility will be just what you need to make this happen.
In this article, I will go over what you need to know when you are looking to partner up for your first startup venture.
Find the right personality
You don’t necessarily have to be looking for your new best friend, but since you are going to be spending a lot of time together, your personalities do need to mesh. You don’t have to share a similar personality, in fact that wouldn’t be a good idea. But your personalities do need to complement each other.
When you are recruiting, you may want to have them do a FIRO assessment or fundamental interpersonal relations orientation. In other words, it is a personality assessment that will help determine what their traits are that will help them work with others. In fact, you should even have one done for yourself so you can see what personality type you should be looking for.
A partner should have the ability to work well with you specifically as far as their strengths. If you are the data-driven guy, then maybe your partner should be more of an action-oriented type that knows what to do with your ideas.
Clearly define your goals
Saying you want your business idea to succeed is rather obvious. Everybody knows that’s what you want. But, you need to clearly identify what success will look like. And having milestones for your road to success is even more important.
This will ensure that your partner can be on the same page and be along for that journey as well.
Every startup is different so those goals are not going to be obvious for everybody. When you write it out in plain English then your partner can understand what it is going to take to make it happen.
Think of their needs
One of the reasons that many people think they should launch a startup on their own is because their idea is like their baby. They are very protective of it and don’t want to sacrifice any part of it.
Well, your partner may share your vision, but have other needs to make it a reality. This may involve giving in on certain aspects of the vision to better incorporate the needs of your partner.
At the same time, your vision can be the driving force or the engine of the venture. You have to bring something to the table to make sure that your partner isn’t going to be afraid that they will be handling most of the actual work themselves.
Clearly articulate what your role will be and how you plan to execute it so they can understand that they aren’t going to be responsible for your end of things.
Reach out to your network
Over the years of working and studying, surely you have a base of peers that are still with you. When you need to find the right person, then reach out to some of them as they surely know the right people.
Since they already know you, your personality and your work ethic, then they will be discerning when they consider people from their own network to suggest to you.
You may also want to contact some other businesses that intersect with what you hope to do that are not your direct competition. They might see you as a possible collaborator in the future and would be willing to recommend the right person to partner up with.
Be upfront
When you are vetting your prospective partner, then make sure that you are honest about things. Let them know what your own weaknesses are so they know what the work will entail. And if you are feeling any sort of resistance during the process, then let them know about it. It may be that you are not actually on the same page and should move on from each other.
