The good old book says that two people cannot walk in the same direction unless they agree with each other. And once in a while in the corporate world, two people—even two very good friends—decide to walk in different directions. What results is usually a messy war, emotional and legal, which leaves nothing much to salvage.
Well over 80% of partnership firms in India break off. However, tuned the right way, disagreements causing these break ups, can actually be valuable information to grow the company bigger.
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| Vijay Anand |
Signs to look out for
Trust is the basis of a partnership. Any act that even suggests a breach of trust eventually leads to problems. Amongst all signs, there is one very classic sign that leads to the inevitable—the matter of money.
Ultimately, any enterprise that is borne for the purpose of wealth creation and to make a difference has the nature to create wealth for the entrepreneurs themselves. So look out for anything you might do that might give the wrong notion to your partner about you attempting to garner more than your share of wealth and that starts right from the day equity is decided.
Start off on the right foot, understand each other’s demands, the roles you will play in the organization, and set the right expectations in terms of how you will work. Running a company can be very demanding, and at times very strenuous, especially when juggling the finances of the organization and prioritizing the company above your own needs.
Ways to avoid a disaster
Legal contracts: Contracts are signed not as a means to create conflicts but to avoid conflicts. The mere process of signing a contract itself helps—trying to find words and putting them down on paper gets a lot of clarity through the discussions involved.
Setting expectations right: More often than not, the partnership starts to wobble when one of the partner feels like he/she is putting more time into the company than his/her partner.
Defining roles clearly: If this is the first time you are working together, start with getting involved in some activity that demands you to show team spirit. It is vital for your partner to know where you’ll drop, and where your expectations begin for the other to pick up. Are you going to handle the business activity? How strong are you in that? Can you complete an entire sales cycle from marketing to closing the deal and also delivering? What’s the role of the partner and the support you expect throughout this process? Define these clearly.
Communicating regularly: There are several tools that enable a company, and even a remote employee to have bearings on what the team is up to and where some support is required. If you plan properly and can communicate clearly where you are, what you are up to and what you need, it makes it easier for everyone.
If and when it happens
There is nothing more heartbreaking than two passionate entrepreneurs coming together to build a company and then splitting half-way through. The first reaction that usually arises out of founders splitting is to kill the baby and with that decision, everyone is usually happy. It, however, gets more complicated if one of the founders shows signs of wanting to continue with the company.
Try not to get emotional and sort out your differences. Continue building the company as much as you can, but if it can’t be resolved, figure out what your expectations are—reasonable ones—and see how both of you can have that without causing too much damage.
If it gets increasingly hard to stay focused, bring in a third-party negotiator or someone from the board to sit with you and go through your needs and arrive at a settlement.
If the company is to go on, without one of the founders, agree that the continuing founder will communicate with the team about the scenario—showing the partner in the right light—and ensure that the team morale is managed.
Try to salvage the relationship even if you didn’t get a chance to see it to the end. There might be a very good possibility that in the near future you might find a problem that you both will work better on solving. Don’t burn bridges.
If you want to keep a relationship, focus on all the good things that came out of it. If you want to end it, look no further than what all it cost you.
Vijay Anand is an entrepreneur who has experience starting and building various technology startups, starting at the young age of 16. He is currently the Incubation Manager at RTBI, an incubator in IIT Madras that focuses on building rural-focused businesses. He is also the founder of Proto.in, India’s premier technology showcase event and is involved in various initiatives that are shaping up the emerging entrepreneurial scene in India. He blogs as The Startup Guy at www.vijayanand.name and tweets regularly at www.twitter.com/vijayanands.
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