Fuck Partnerships I'm Done

I disagree with the no partner philosophy. This is a good read.

1. Single Founder

Have you ever noticed how few successful startups were founded by just one person? Even companies you think of as having one founder, like Oracle, usually turn out to have more. It seems unlikely this is a coincidence.

What's wrong with having one founder? To start with, it's a vote of no confidence. It probably means the founder couldn't talk any of his friends into starting the company with him. That's pretty alarming, because his friends are the ones who know him best.

But even if the founder's friends were all wrong and the company is a good bet, he's still at a disadvantage. Starting a startup is too hard for one person. Even if you could do all the work yourself, you need colleagues to brainstorm with, to talk you out of stupid decisions, and to cheer you up when things go wrong.

The last one might be the most important. The low points in a startup are so low that few could bear them alone. When you have multiple founders, esprit de corps binds them together in a way that seems to violate conservation laws. Each thinks "I can't let my friends down." This is one of the most powerful forces in human nature, and it's missing when there's just one founder.
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I don't think having a partner is important primarily because they have XYZ complimenting skillset, or ABC connections. It's the brainstorming, talking out of stupid decisions and "cheer you up when things go wrong" that's important. The best partners are also people you know really well, like family or friends. The problem with partnering with a random guy, is you don't know their motives. You don't know what makes them tick, and there's unlikely to be much empathy there.

OP had a bad experience, but it wasn't really a proper partnership. Whilst they were friends, they were entirely disconnected. He was in another country, and was entirely responsible for getting leads onboard and closing. This means that as the company begins to do better, greed gradually takes over and it becomes more and more tempting to take the leads for yourself. I mean how would the "partner" ever know?

50/50 partnerships are bad, too. Even if you do 51/49, that's better than 50/50, as one person has the final say on a disagreement, which stops paralysis by analysis.

Very few hugely successful businesses have one founder.

Apple? 3 founders
Google? 2 founders
Yahoo? 2 founders
Microsoft? 2 founders
Oracle? 3 founders
Walmart? 3 founders (I think)
Shell? Came out of a merger of 2 companies
Standard Oil, which went on to become Exxon? 6 founders

Could go on and on.. There are a few exceptions, but the general rule is that the world's most successful businesses all have more than 1 founder.

If you're trying to create a small business that provides you with a comfortable existence, grow it organically and so forth, that's different of course, so far as slow and steady growth takes away many of the "drastic" decisions and rollercoaster ups & downs. Lots of small businesses have just the one founder.
 


99% of partnerships are failed. Take it as a lesson before you start your new venture. This is why I never ever did a single one in my lifetime so far.
 
it hurts.

maybe a crazy idea,why not do the following - email all the clients he cut you out of that your partner acted in bad faith and tarnished your brand by outsourcing to noname, basically lied to them because of his greed ,thus jeopardizing the results of the work they received and and the stability of your brands.


you present them a choice - continue working with him, or get the original brand work under your new company formation. they get the message you care about them, you get the juicy clients, you don't screw anybody with this approach.
win-win for all
 
mituozo said:
Apple? 3 founders
Google? 2 founders
Microsoft? 2 founders
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I only believe in one thing regarding long term partnership ... every partner need each other to same level and should provide equal value to their share.

If you do not have such potential to provide equal value than sooner or later they will kick your ass ... and that what EXACTLY happened in op case.


Equal Value = Long Term Partnership (Ex - Your money my labour | Your coding my marketing and so on) - If you found cheap labours than mine than may be you start using them and hence partnership broke.

Its simply money game ... unless and until you have very strong bond as friend and money does not matter SAME LEVEL.




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Apple? 3 founders - Steve Jobs gets the big pie (Do not forget they thrown him out as well)
​
Microsoft? 2 founders - We know only Bill if you talk about Microsoft (Where is the other one today)
​
PS - mituozo I am fond of your posts specially this one - http://www.wickedfire.com/shooting-...se-hate-not-being-programmer.html#post2097894 (I know you will click it to see)
 
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Reactions: miketpowell
There is a legal chance for revenge. Even with a higher chance when you are in mexico and he in the usa.

If doing such "parted" business, you have some work to hide all the stuff, right? Clients, bills, work...

And with that you have alot work to part taxes and other business related things you are enforced to do by authorities. There is your chance.

Did he really was so careful to part & hide all before you and then put all together again for the tax and authorities?

It its *pretty* hard in such a scheme to be clean in the end.
And if he like to cheat there is a chance he just not stopped after you.

If you can mark him to the authorities with the data you got from the emails, you will have your revenge. And he is also out of business.
 
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BabyGotBacklink said:
He's hiding on the other side of the border... in the US. Sucks that I can't go throw this drink in his face. Have to console myself by changing his email settings so people receiving his emails will see incoming mail from "Cunt Face" He won't know how to fix it. Petty, yes I know, but iwhat can I say? I'm a simple creature.
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Rookie.

Change the sig instead. More likely to carry on sending emails for months on end without realising and generally signatures aren't included in replies or forwards on default settings of most email clients.
 
Lalit_Burma said:
I only believe in one thing regarding long term partnership ... every partner need each other to same level and should provide equal value to their share.

If you do not have such potential to provide equal value than sooner or later they will kick your ass ... and that what EXACTLY happened in op case.


Equal Value = Long Term Partnership (Ex - Your money my labour | Your coding my marketing and so on) - If you found cheap labours than mine than may be you start using them and hence partnership broke.

Its simply money game ... unless and until you have very strong bond as friend and money does not matter SAME LEVEL.




--------------------------------------------------------
Apple? 3 founders - Steve Jobs gets the big pie (Do not forget they thrown him out as well)
​
Microsoft? 2 founders - We know only Bill if you talk about Microsoft (Where is the other one today)
​
PS - mituozo I am fond of your posts specially this one - http://www.wickedfire.com/shooting-...se-hate-not-being-programmer.html#post2097894 (I know you will click it to see)
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Oh sure, the CEO tends to get more of the credit, and become the "famous" one. They also start off with more equity, because they understood that they needed a leader, and that most 50/50 partnerships do not work.

Paul Allen (the other founder of microsoft) is worth $15bn. Co-founders that leave later on because the role changes, etc, tend to sell their stock, too. So as the company grows, they don't share in the upside the CEO does (or, likewise, the downside, but you wouldn't know about Bill Gates if the company wasn't famous, so you don't hear about the co-founders that get away with millions whilst the CEO goes bankrupt).

Allen officially resigned from his position on the Microsoft Board of Directors in November 2000 but was asked to consult as a senior strategy advisor to the company's executives.[9] He sold 68 million shares of Microsoft stock that year,[10] but still owns a reported 138 million shares.[11]
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That's why he's worth $15bn, not many folds of that.

At Apple, Ronald famously sold out for $800, that was his choice. Wozniak distanced himself from Apple.

I'm not saying that all founders do equally well, but that a super successful company has more than one founder typically, and that to write partnerships off could be a poor decision. Many founders of these super successful companies were friends through school, also, or family.
 
I stay away from partnerships at all costs. If I don't have a skill set, I find someone who does, and I pay them for their time.

Most people are just straight up pieces of shit, even if they come off as likable and genuine in the beginning. As others have said, when large amounts of money are involved, people's true colors come out.

If I were to ever consider working with someone whom I have not known for some time, I would absolutely require the following, and I would explain why:

1) Background check
2) References with whom I can speak with

It may seem excessive to some, but if someone has nothing to hide and they consider themselves upstanding individuals, they shouldn't mind.

And, of course, the proper legal paperwork.

Good luck broseph.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Never do business with friends or family, and never become friends with your clients. Keep your personal and business life separate.
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^^This. AND:

1. Watch the Godfather I and II (back to back).
2. Read and study "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
3. Stop medicating your pain with alcohol.
4. Make a pot of coffee and formulate a devious plot of revenge/comeback exquisitely informed by what you learned in #1 and #2.
5. Slam that business partner's dick in the fucking dirt and get him where it hurts. Make him fucking pay dearly.
6. Collect profits.
7. Now they will fear you.

Best of luck. In b4 the motherfucker does it to you again.
 
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