I’ve had the good fortune to have experienced four distinct types of partnerships in a relatively short period of time since I started down the road of "doing my own thing". While there wasn't a concerted effort to dabble in different ventures some close to me have often referred to my need to pursue different areas of interest at the same time as a borderline ADHD personality trait.

While I do know that this is light-hearted banter and the actual impact of severe ADHD is a lot more complex than "feeling the need to dabble in multiple areas" it did send me down a path to try to understand that need. The term that I found most closely defines this is "multipotentialite". If this is the first time you're hearing about the term I wouldn't be surprised, watch Emilie Wapnick's TED talk on the subject for some insight.

Working on vastly different projects ranging from mentoring, building product competency to creating consumer services entities has afforded me some truly unique experiences that have broadened my horizons and provided a platform for a very aggressive learning curve.

So the question again is, If you were to start-up on your own, or look to build a team within the framework of an existing entity what sort of a partnership should you be looking at?

Most of the ventures I've been lucky enough to be a part of are still chugging along, though looking back I've realized each partnership evolved quite differently reflecting both the nature of the partners and the needs of the business itself.

Each partnership taught me different aspects of founding team dynamics, and these are my learning :

  1. Prior professional relationship - The first entity that I started, was a logical extension of my career and allowed me to seamlessly slip from employee to entrepreneur as the core focus of the consulting practice was leveraging product management expertise. Yes, there was a lot of other stuff that came along with it (running a company, managing financials, pitching, etc). What helped was that this partnership was built with someone that I had the benefit of having a long working relationship with. The advantage right off the bat is that you have a clear understanding of skillsets and a history of working together so you can focus exclusively on the work instead of adjusting to each other's style of operating.
  2. Professional Strangers - My next partnership came together roughly the same time as we launched our consulting practice. This was driven by someone in our network reaching out to us to help implement a product that we had previous experience with. Given the long term nature of building this product out, we were asked to join as co-founders. As with any startup that’s formed by new people rallying together around an idea there were a few ups and downs as we needed to understand each other and establish a rhythm to the operations in the organization and the way we worked with one another. Here, the passion for the mission and the end objective is what kept the team heading towards our horizon. It also helped greatly that the team, while strangers at the beginning, was exceptionally professional.
  3. Family - Unlike the first two this partnership grew from a foundation of trust and an appreciation of complimenting strengths being brought to bear. The challenge with any family-run business is that you always run the risk of not being able to separate personal from professional. Things tend to spill over and unlike a professional environment, the relationship isn't governed by a 9-6 corporate clock. Here, setting up a structure of roles and responsibilities and being actively aware of the context of a conversation is critical to moving forward.
  4. Friends - The last entity was the one built with good friends that rallied around a common problem that we were passionate about solving. The advantage of this partnership is that you're basing the core working principle on trust and the ability to have each other's back. The disadvantage is that you don't have an inclining of what it is like to work together. While you might have an appreciation of what each of you has accomplished professionally defining the method of working together is what is most critical. The personal dynamic changes once you're in a professional environment and the team has to put personal ego aside to be able to work efficiently towards the common goal.

Regardless of the route taken to building your founding (or core) team, it's important to understand the advantages and drawbacks of each type of partnership. There is rarely a "cookie-cutter" approach that works perfectly.

However, what is common across all these entities is the following :

  1. Aligned Vision & Mission
  2. Trust
  3. Clear Roles & Responsibilities
  4. Ability to work well together.

You can read a full list of the traits of a great partnership.

While I would love to say a lot of this was planned from the beginning the truth is, for the most part, we "figured it out" as time passed. However having gone through the wringer multiple times, today, I have a fairly decent idea of what to look for in a partnership (or a team) that I'm putting together (or helping someone else do).

What's your partnership story?