Starting Business With Partners

Picking the Right People

Written by Chukwuma Asala for Gaebler Ventures

What are the important things to consider when picking business partners? It is no surprise that the quality of your company will be directly linked with the quality of its people. To take it a step further, the quality of the founding partners will determine whether or not the business will stand the test of time.

Here are some things to consider when choosing partners to go into business with.

Ambition

This should go without saying, but it is very important that you are in business with people who are at least your ambition level. What would even be more ideal is partnering with people who are above your ambition level because this will stretch you and grow you much more than if you're amongst people you perceive as equals. Partnering with people who are ambitious will mean setting goals will never be a challenge. They will for the most part be forward-looking and always ready to take risks, which is necessary to be successful in business.

Work Ethic

Having a good work ethic is important in anything you do but even more important when you are in business. You will only be as good as the person with the weakest work ethic with regards to business. Being able to trust one another with regards to the amount of work you are each willing to put forth for your enterprise is very important and will help to build more camaraderie between you. Make sure the people you are considering as partners have a proven track record that exemplifies their work ethic. This is especially important if you do not know these people personally.

Personality

Temperaments are crucial to pay attention to when looking for potential business partners. How much you get along with people is directly linked with your personality style. And getting along with your partners is more than just important. These people will eventually in the long-term become your closest confidants and friends granted that you continue to work together in business. Evaluate which personality styles you tend to get along with better and which styles just turn you off and vice versa. Sometimes it even makes sense to make sure you partner with people who will compensate for weaknesses in your own personality. For example, if you are not a Type-A person then make sure you have at least one partner who is. Team chemistry in this regard will either make or break your business.

Values

This should be one of the very first things you figure out before anything else. If you and your partners do not share similar values on a much personal level then the business partnership will never work. This may not seem to be important at first but their values are pretty much a summation of who they are. Their integrity is tied in with their value-system, so understanding exactly what your partners believe in and gauging how much you believe in the same things is very important and should not be overlooked.

Chukwuma Asala is an international student from Nigeria who is studying to earn an MBA from the State University of New York in Albany. He has analyzed more than 20 industry case studies throughout his education thus far, and hopes to bring some of his business knowledge to Gaebler.com.

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