The three roles of a co-owner
A co-owner can be owner, manager and executor at once, with different rights, rewards and competences in each role. The three-roles frame clarifies what dividends pay for and what salary and bonus pay for, how partners report to each other, and what to do when a partner falls short in one of the roles.
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Why is a founder with no time for reflection a risk to their own business?
At first his energy and vision give the idea life; then inertia, busyness and fear of change start holding everything back, and the company quietly degrades. For the author, reflection is the founders' main function, especially in a partnership.
Topics: The three roles of a co-owner
What do you do when a partner has reached their level of incompetence?
A co-owner fills up to three roles, owner, manager and executor, and lacks competence in some of them; by the Peter principle, that is where growth stops. The way out: an honest conversation, an assessment of what each really carries, and a reassignment of roles.
Topics: Ideas from adjacent fields · The three roles of a co-owner
What does a business pay for depending on its founders?
It shows at sale: the more indispensable people and the fewer processes a company has, the less it is worth. In one example from the discussion, cutting that dependence lifted the valuation from 4.2x to 6x EBITDA, so exit from operations and sale scenarios are agreed in advance.
Topics: Money between partners · The three roles of a co-owner
Why does a co-owner in an operating role need a bonus, not only dividends?
Without a market valuation of a partner's contribution in a job, conflict gets fertile ground, and replacing them when they leave operations proves costly. A KPI bonus is a company expense; dividends are what remains after all costs and funds.
Topics: The three roles of a co-owner
Why should a co-founder in a working role not go without a salary?
A co-owner can be owner, manager and executor; dividends belong to the first role, while work in the other two is paid. Unpaid work distorts the cost structure and, with a passive partner, leads sooner or later to abuse and conflict.
Topics: Money between partners · The three roles of a co-owner
How do partners know they are ready to step out of operations?
It takes effective delegation, which needs a month for a task, three months for a project and six for a direction. A task is an action, a project a system of actions, a direction a system of thinking and decisions, each level with its own handover procedures.
Topics: The three roles of a co-owner · Turning a manager into a partner
How should co-owners report to one another?
Co-owners usually also run the company, so they are owners and employees at once. The author asks how partners should agree on mutual reporting when an owner seems to owe nobody an account.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Partner misconduct and internal control · Partnership agreement · The three roles of a co-owner
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