The author's own partnerships
The author's own experience: personal partnerships, mistakes, crises and the conclusions the partnership-session method is built on. Stories about agreeing on limits, exit and revision of terms, and why the consultant first tries to talk people out of a partnership.
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Up to what amount may a partner decide alone?
Up to a sum named in advance; above it decisions are made together, and the author holds that whoever exceeds the limit covers the loss. The case: a 2018 credit shipment worth $70,000, a buyer who vanished, and a loss split by shares.
Topics: Money between partners · The author's own partnerships
What should five people who buy one Ferrari together agree on?
The author lists nine points: usage schedule and date clashes, servicing, costs, liability for damage, a reserve fund, a partner's exit, a right of first buyout, and death or incapacity. The exit scenario is the one most often forgotten, and conflicts start there.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: A partner's exit from the business · Scenario planning: failure, windfall, a partner dropping out · The author's own partnerships · Tools and services
When should partners review their agreements?
Regularly and before a crisis: once a partner unilaterally stops keeping them, the moment is lost. The author advises an annual check of roles, accumulated tension, financial arrangements and fairness of workload.
Topics: Managing partner relationships · Partner expectations · Partner misconduct and internal control · The author's own partnerships
Why does AI make clients undervalue other people's work?
Without experience in the subject and with constant claims that AI does everything in two minutes, others' work seems worthless and redoing it seems free. The author's example: a client rejected a 16-page partnership proposal citing ChatGPT, and he ended the collaboration.
Original: LinkedIn
Where does a crisis in a partnership come from?
From the accumulated gap between "what we agreed" and "how things are": old roles, expectations and agreements run on inertia until the gap turns critical. Looking for a culprit is pointless: the rules went stale and no new ones were agreed.
Topics: Conflicts between partners · Managing partner relationships · The author's own partnerships
Why does a partnership agreement need controlled pain?
Pain is a mechanism of accountability: with no chance of loss, promises come cheap and "we'll sort it out somehow" becomes a strategy. The agreement creates that pain through penalties, a share buyout, financial liability and a non-performance promissory note.
Topics: Partnership agreement · The author's own partnerships
Why does the consultant first try to talk people out of partnership?
For the author partnership is a last resort, so he first checks whether a partnership session is needed at all and explains the difficulty, the work of managing the relationship and the risks. In about 20% of cases the partnership is not formed or ends after working with him.
Topics: Choosing a business partner · The author's own partnerships · Tools and services
Who is to blame when a partner exploits your hardship to take the business?
The blame lies with the partner who exploited a dead end, but responsibility for leaving the relationship unformalised lies with you. Rules, authority, decision limits, control and an exit scenario should be fixed before starting, as in Jewish business culture.
Topics: Ideas from adjacent fields · Partner misconduct and internal control · Partnership agreement · The author's own partnerships
Why have a future partner profiled before the deal?
A partnership collapses not because someone cheated someone but because nobody worked out who was sitting across the table. A profiler shows behaviour under pressure and over money; a partnership session then fixes obligations, shares and rules before signing.
Topics: Choosing a business partner · The author's own partnerships · Tools and services
Does the author have a business and partnership experience of his own?
Yes: 15 years of partnership experience and, since 2020, a wholesale trade in fresh fruit and vegetables. The business is operational and depends on the partner who is its CEO; the author regularly goes out to the fields to keep tasting it.
Topics: The author's own partnerships
How do you explain what you do so that people remember it?
Instead of "I work with business partnerships" the author says: I help co-owners reach agreement before the big problems start. He then names the steps: interviews, a partnership session, roles and decision rules, a partnership agreement.
Original: LinkedIn
Is it wise to look for a partner with a spotless record?
"He never had a single conflict" often only means the person never held a decisive role: never signed, never risked, never answered for anything. The author advises looking not for the spotless but for those who went through hardship and drew conclusions.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Choosing a business partner · The author's own partnerships
How did four partnerships lead the author to partnership agreements?
Two of his four partnerships worked and two hurt, and the difference, he concluded, was whether a partnership agreement existed. He signed his first one in 2016, after a career from a steel plant and metal sales to commercial director of a company with 3,500 employees.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Partnership: the blind spot of business · The author's own partnerships
Where should a new partnership begin?
With a portrait of the partner and a written proposal, then a failure scenario and a signed partnership agreement: if the partner refused, the author would not enter the partnership. After that come a scheduled renegotiation date and mutual reporting.
Topics: Partnership agreement · The author's own partnerships
How can a hired executive win an equity stake in a business?
On the eve of a final interview with the owner, a CEO candidate used a session to build a negotiation strategy: an owner profile, a self-portrait, matching and risk zones, and answers on stake, guarantees and KPIs. He aimed for 50% and received 10%.
Topics: The author's own partnerships · Tools and services · Turning a manager into a partner
Do you need a partner in order to finally start your own business?
No: a client wanted a partner to structure his time and was ready to give 50% of a business projected to earn 700-800 thousand euros a year. After advice to hire an employee on KPIs he stayed sole owner and kept 350 thousand euros.
Topics: Choosing a business partner · The author's own partnerships · Tools and services · Why people go into partnership
What does an ideal business partner look like?
Anonymous surveys put the ability to negotiate and reflect first (71%), then being sensible and responsible (61%). The author's formula: a person with different resources and competences but the same values and principles.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Choosing a business partner · The author's own partnerships
Why ask partners a thousand questions?
The technique comes from improv theatre: a character gains depth only when the questions run out. Where awkward questions are not asked, a partnership stays flat and uncertain, so at a partnership session the author has partners answer them up front.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Ideas from adjacent fields · Partnership session · The author's own partnerships
Which five partnership rules did the author draw from 14 years of experience?
Discuss everything up front, put it in writing, raise disagreements early, revisit terms as the business grows and agree a civilised exit. The rules rest on the author's own climb from 5% to 50% of a company over 12 years and on client cases.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: A partner's exit from the business · Partnership agreement · The author's own partnerships
What new venture is the author starting?
The author announces a new position as Founder at Cheremisin The Partnership Launcher.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: The author's own partnerships
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