Nikolay
Cheremisin
Founder of Cheremisin Partnership Lab, business partnership consultant.
I help co-owners of a business:
• agree on equity, roles, decision-making rules, and exit rules
• resolve conflicts
• put the agreement into a partnership contract
Graduate of the Harvard Business School program, Mastery of Negotiation
About
me
- Since 2001 Active in business
- $385 million Turnover over 16 years in joint businesses
- 2+2=4 4 businesses in partnership: 2 successful, 2 failed
- 400+ Partnership consultations
- 80+ Partner sessions held
- 20+ Resolved conflicts between co-owners
Who I work with
- conduct an audit of partnership relations in a startup, project, or traditional business attracting investments
- conduct an initial partnership set up to safeguard investments in a joint business and sign a partnership agreement
- synchronize with partners, get answers to difficult questions that cannot be discussed independently
- find and agree on business growth points in partnership
- re-negotiate and establish new partnership conditions
- prepare for independent negotiations with a partner
- prepare a proposal for a top manager successor to become a business partner
- negotiate exit scenarios from the partnership
- create a partner profile and prepare a partnership proposal for a potential partner
- clarify expectations from the partnership and vision for the future at the start of the business
- distribute shares, roles, discuss and fix scenarios of work in a partnership agreement
- dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s, ask difficult questions during the partnership session, sign a partnership agreement
- Prepare for negotiations with the owner to enter a partnership
- conduct an audit of partnership relations in a startup, project, or traditional business attracting investments
- conduct an initial partnership set up to safeguard investments in a joint business and sign a partnership agreement
- synchronize with partners, get answers to difficult questions that cannot be discussed independently
- find and agree on business growth points in partnership
- re-negotiate and establish new partnership conditions
- prepare for independent negotiations with a partner
- prepare a proposal for a top manager successor to become a business partner
- negotiate exit scenarios from the partnership
- create a partner profile and prepare a partnership proposal for a potential partner
- clarify expectations from the partnership and vision for the future at the start of the business
- distribute shares, roles, discuss and fix scenarios of work in a partnership agreement
- dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s, ask difficult questions during the partnership session, sign a partnership agreement
- Prepare for negotiations with the owner to enter a partnership
Why to manage partnership relations is important
-
53%of entrepreneurs create business partnerships with friends and family members - Small Business Report Bank of America
-
65%of business projects fail before they even start due to partners' inability to resolve disagreements - Noam T. Wasserman Harvard Business School
Partner session
What it is
A partner session is a controlled, simulated conflict. Partners walk through future scenarios in advance — failure, runaway success, one partner leaving, a crisis — and agree on what to do while the relationship is calm.
Who it is for
For co-owners who are starting a joint business, bringing in an investor or an heir, going through a disagreement, or want to put rules that already exist in writing.
The result
The result is a partnership agreement: a clear, unambiguous document that fixes equity, roles, control, money and exit terms for every scenario. Sessions run in person or online, in English, Ukrainian, Spanish or Russian.
Posts and articles
On partnership, by topic, linked to the originals 442 posts, 31 topics, updated
Lines connect topics that appear in the same posts; the thicker the line, the more often. Topics can be dragged.
Dashed — one or two shared publications. Topics that share no publications with others: LinkedIn and personal brand 11 Personal notes 25
Click a topic to open its page.
Choosing a partner and getting started 80
Partnership agreement and money 137
Relationships and trust 80
Conflict, misconduct and exit 61
Method and tools 127
Partnership as a phenomenon 70
Smaller topics:Co-founders through an investor's eyes 15Turning a manager into a partner 12Why people go into partnership 7Scenario planning: failure, windfall, a partner dropping out 16Managing partner relationships 22Disappointment in a partnership 15When partners see different realities 11Partner expectations 10The three roles of a co-owner 7The hero partner and overwork 5Economy and statistics 11LinkedIn and personal brand 11Talks and interviews 10
Each square is one publication: hover for the title, click to open the original. A publication on several topics appears in each of them.Each square is one publication: tap to see the title, tap the title to open the original. A publication on several topics appears in each of them. postarticleresearch paper
Choosing a partner and getting started 80
Partnership agreement and money 137
Relationships and trust 80
Conflict, misconduct and exit 61
Method and tools 127
Partnership as a phenomenon 70
Could not load the publications. Try again later or open All publications.
Blog
Publications
Papers and articles on partnership agreements in academic journals, repositories and professional media
My Clients
Stories
I do not discuss information received during individual meetings with other partners or third parties.
Partnership agreements are the main asset of business partners, and I only work with them after signing an NDA. I prefer not to advertise my awareness of these issues when discussing delicate, sensitive aspects of business and forming agreements.
Partnership agreements, like money, love silence
Frequently Asked Questions
to learn more
Why do you need a partnership session?
- A partnership session creates a manageable, modellable conflict regarding partners’ positions in future scenarios. The goal of the partnership session is to avoid a real conflict in the event of such scenarios.
- A partnership session is an injection that stimulates the partnership’s immune system and provides the development of antibodies against possible conflicts that partners inevitably face while conducting joint business.
What is the result of a partnership session?
- The result of a partnership session is a partnership agreement in which all points and scenarios agreed upon by the parties are clearly and unambiguously reflected, along with its validity period.
- A partnership agreement is the partnership’s immunological passport, reflecting the partners’ readiness to painlessly overcome contentious and conflict situations.
- What issues can partners have disagreements on?
- How to assess the resources each partner brings to the common cause?
- What will partners consider a failure in the joint business, and what will they do in the event of their occurrence?
- Can relatives or friends be hired or involved?
- How to assess errors and their consequences in the partners’ area of responsibility?
- How can the business be divided if one of the partners leaves the project?
The list of questions is much wider.
Does a partnership session guarantee business success?
- A partnership session does not guarantee success, but it gives you new tools in business. The more tools you have, the more chances you have to succeed.
Is it too late to set up a partnership with existing partners?
- Partnership relations are not linear; past successes do not guarantee future successes. Business is a dynamic system; something is constantly changing – a new team, expansion, crises, external events, and accumulated dissatisfaction. A partnership session is necessary to review and adapt outdated agreements in accordance with changed circumstances.
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