Dear Bob ...
A bunch of us were laid off recently. Two of us worked especially well together prior to the layoff, and we're talking about starting a consulting business together. We figure we trust each others' integrity and ability, we can offer a more more complete set of skills to potential clients, and we can give each other emotional support if the going gets rough.
[ See also: Which MBA specialty should an entrepreneur who wants out pursue? | Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld's Advice Line newsletter. ]
We're both regular readers of yours, so we agreed to write to get your opinion.
What do you think? What pitfalls aren't we thinking of?
- Potential partner
Dear Pot Part ...
There's an old saying. Partners only fight under two conditions: when they're making money and when they're losing money.
What I suspect you aren't thinking of is everything. When two people form a partnership, it can make sense -- if they're trying to form a large enterprise and need to pool their resources to get it started.
Otherwise, why do it? You can each incorporate as an LLC or S-Corporation and act as partners as much as you want -- through a formal joint operating agreement (JOA) or through a handshake. Either way, you avoid creating a business entity that receives and distributes revenue to its partners and signs up for joint obligations.
Partnerships founder for a few well-known reasons:
There are others, but these are probably the big ones.
Don't form a legal partnership and you avoid most of them. Whoever lands the account calls the shots. The JOA spells out how much the seller takes off the top, and it defines the other "partner's" role and compensation as a subcontractor. If there isn't enough business for two, no problem -- each of you are running an independent company, with no obligation to put food on each others' tables.
If business thrives to the point where it's desirable to expand, you can always form a partnership then. Until that happens, why risk your friendship on the vagaries of an uncertain business venture?
- Bob
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