Tips for consider before a partnership

Foreign. Hi, it's Dr. Natalie Bititure. Welcome to Breaking the Ceiling. This series is going to be about partnerships. Partnerships are such an important area to think about before you start a business. I get a lot of questions about this and I've experienced this a lot, so I'm happy to dive in. And we go through all the different things you have to think about before you start a business, but whether you want to do it by yourself or with someone else, and how you have to navigate that. So firstly, you have to think about, do I need a partner, do I want a partner, or do I want to do this all by myself? It's easy to start a business by yourself, especially when you start doing it before you've sort of planned it out. And as you all know, I'm always saying, plan, plan, plan, research, research, research. So as you're researching your business idea or your business area, you should start to notice if you have gaps. And some gaps you can fill in with employees, some gaps you can fill in with advisors. But sometimes the best way to move forward is to have a partner who fills those gaps, whether they have a skill or technical knowledge or connection or capital, something you don't have that is going to add value to your business. That's when you want a partner. So that's what you should think about before you get into the partnership. If you are working with a friend or a colleague or a family member and you have this idea together and you talk about it first, assess, sit down and talk about it in a serious way, not as friends or as colleagues or as family members, what do we want for this business? Do we have an aligned vision? Are we ready to commit the same amount of time or capital or different resources to the business? You have to think these things through before you get moving. Because once money is involved, once there's profit, once there's challenges, that's when things can become difficult. So what I learned in one of my first businesses, I think I was like, 21. You have to prepare for the worst when things are still good. And I remember a lawyer, like, telling us about this. What will happen if you die? Who inherits the business? And both of us were 21, like, we're not going to die. What is this? That doesn't make sense. But you have to plan for all these things and have board resolutions, make sure you incorporate the company, make sure it's clear whose shares are for who and who are the extra shareholders or how you're going to divide it, because these are things you have to agree before, I assure you, if you wait, oh, let's see, in a year where we're at, it's going to be difficult. You're going to fight, you're not going to have the same understanding or clarity on I did this, I brought this, you did this, you did that. It's better to agree on all these things in advance. So before you start a business, I would first say, do you even want a partner? Are you someone who is ready to work with another person? Because a business is like having your own child, right? Parents usually raise a child together, but everyone has seen parents fight and argue about what's best for a child. So the same happens in business when you have a partner. You both care, you're both passionate, and yet you both want to make decisions about what's best for the business. So you have to make sure this is someone you're going to be able to work with. It's someone you're going to have discussions with, arguments with, you're going to suffer with, you're going to have late nights with. You need to know you're going to be in the trenches together. It's also someone you have to think about. What is going to happen if this business doesn't work out and we never speak to each other again, how are we going to manage? Because that happens a lot. People jump into partnerships without thinking it through or planning things or putting a structure. And then when everything falls apart, it's now awkward for every family event or for every birthday or for whenever you have to be around each other in future. So you really have to assess, do you even want a partner and what is that partner going to bring? It's fun when you're both into the same thing, but if you have the same skill set and the same capacity, like you both have the same amount of capital you can bring you both work in the same field or you've done the same degree, you know the same people. Is it really beneficial to the business to have double of everything or does one of you take the lead and the other one is a silent partner? There's so many ways you can do it. It doesn't have to be 50, 50. It doesn't have to be. We are both bringing in money so you can bring in different resources. Some partnerships, one person runs the business and the other person just gives the startup capital. You'll just update me once a month, once a week, whenever you have a challenge. Some businesses, they work together. I know companies where they're co CEOs co founders. And every day you're making decisions together, but you divide the workload. Sometimes you have different abilities, Someone is more technical, one is more administrative, someone knows more connections, someone has more capital. So you have to see what you're each bringing to the table. I hate that term when it comes to relationships, but I think it's appropriate for business relationships. So you have to assess and be clear about what you can each commit to each other and to the business and then make that clear. The latest partnership I was in, I just agreed on everything last month and we signed an MoU. We agreed who is bringing what to the table, to the business. Do we have a shared vision of the business? Where do we see this growing? What do we want? And then we divide the what we're going to bring. How, who is paying for which things? Can you provide this? Can you provide that? Because we have different backgrounds and different businesses, different skills, our businesses can each provide something to our new business. And I thought that makes a lot of sense because otherwise I could do it by myself or she could do it by herself. But we're each bringing something that complements the other. It's also good to sometimes have someone to bounce ideas off of and you can agree and you see holes in each other's thinking and you give each other feedback. Partnerships also don't only mean two people. You can be four people, you can be three, you can be five, you can be 10. I know a lot of investment clubs, they that own businesses. But you have to be clear about these things in the beginning. Because if 20 people now start to try and run a business together, it's going to be a mess. Too many cooks, right? So you have to divide these things early. Once you're aligned in the vision, sit together, take time, block out a whole afternoon together and just brainstorm. Have all your ideas, all your dreams for the business. Get like a big piece of manila and just draw or like draw cartoons. Write, make a mind map. Sit. Sit down. I remember sitting in a car in traffic with one of my friends and we said, you know what we're gonna do? The vision of the company right now. What's the mission? What's the vision? What are the values? What are we trying to do? What's the problem we're trying to solve? We had had this idea for months. Talk about it, laugh about it, joke about it. Okay, let's see what it's going to take. And to make sure we are on the same page, then what are the resources this business is going to need to start. Because to start is not the same as to grow. So to get off the ground, how do we make sure we sell one product? We get one customer, we have one client for our service. What is that going to take? It's going to take. We're going to need a website, we're going to need stock, we're going to need T shirts, we're going to need these connections. We're going to need this much time. We'll need a graphics person, we'll need an accountant. Assess all these things before and then divide among yourselves. What can you bring? What can I bring? I can bring this much money. How much can you bring? Okay, can you breathe this many hours in a week? How much can you do this month? Who are you going to introduce us to? Are you responsible for talking to these people and be organized? My partner from last month. We use Google sheets where we both can see and our teams can see and we keep updating them. Who is responsible for each item? There's a column for that. Natalie or my partner. Natalie or the partner. Natalie or the partner. And then we see who is doing what. And as you do it, you tick it and then you keep in regular contact because she's not here every week. How's it going? What's happening? Have you done this? Have I done this? Oh, I forgot to do this this week. Oh, this is the hold up this week. Cc me in the email when you're talking to this person. So you stay in contact and you know who is responsible for what because otherwise it's easy to start blaming each other or getting confused about who should be doing what. So divide your resources, make sure you're clear and make sure you're honest. Your partner is in this with you. The good, the bad and the ugly. So this is not the person that you need to lie to or pretend you have more money than or make commitments that you can't live up to. So be clear and be honest. Personally, whenever someone asks me, do you want to be part of this business or this partnership? If it's something I really want to do, the first thing I tell them, time is my challenge. Because I can't run a business right now. I don't have the time and the capacity. So I'm honest. What else can I bring because I don't have the time. What is useful for me? Can I bring connections? Can I bring money? Can I bring resources from the company? Maybe I'll do the videos for you or the editing or you can use the hotel. I see what resources I can bring there. So that's what's important. So these are my experiences with partnerships and these are some of my tips that have been useful to me that I've learned the hard way and also some things people told me. So if you have any questions concerning partnerships I would love to hear them and if you have any experiences that you think would be useful to someone else, put them in the comments. Let's talk about this. It's going to be a series for a few weeks and I think it's a really useful topic for us to be open and honest about. So so tell me what are you worried about in a partnership? What are you thinking about? What values are you looking for in a partner? Let's talk about it. I hope you found that useful. Thank you for watching. I hope you found that useful. Please like and subscribe and make sure you tune in for the next one.