Relations between partners in a startup. Contract? Part 2

    2 years ago I published an article part 1 on Habré. Habrahabr.ru/blogs/startup/37925
    From time to time I received messages from Habr-users with a request to continue the topic, which is very nice. And now it's time to write part 2. During this time, I rethought a lot. And it’s not even a matter of the financial crisis, which passed almost imperceptibly for me.

    At first I wanted to start with sprinters in the startup business, as I promised in Part 1. But I decided to clarify the situation for a reader unfamiliar with me. I am not a theoretician or a consultant, but a practitioner, in 2010 I launched my first startup Talantus.ru talantus.ruThere are 2 people in the team, we have been working together since November 2008, almost 2 years! And we signed the contract 1 year after the start of cooperation, in November 2009. Readers will smile, remembering Part 1.



    To be honest, it is now difficult to remember why a whole year has passed from the beginning of cooperation until the signing of the contract.

    Nevertheless, I still consider the signing of an agreement between partners an important condition for partnership in a startup. Why? In my case, with Talantus.ru, when we were going to sign an agreement after a year of close collaboration, my partner began to argue: why do we have the same shares in the startup, because I am not a programmer and essentially did nothing in terms of programming.

    Yes, for a year of collaboration, my partner completely forgot all the oral agreements and the rules for the distribution of shares! I had to spend time and nerves to settle the controversial situation and sign an agreement with the same distribution of shares in the startup.

    I (the marketer) explained to my partner that without a marketing job (without promotion) and without attendance as a result of marketing work, a startup has practically no value. Indeed, talantus.ru has so far little traffic, and at the moment it does not represent any value for the investor. Advanced investors are not even interested in attendance as much as INCREASE in attendance or ADDITION to a permanent audience.

    So, back to the relationship of partners. The controversial situation settled quickly enough. We started after the signing of the contract. After the start, we slightly adjusted positioning, logic, and several key pages. Without a layout partner, this stage dragged on. Therefore, we will be very happy for new partners: layout designer and SEO-optimizer! Getting ready for active promotion.

    Yes, we had disputes about what to change on the site and how to develop further. In other startups, such disputes often lead to a breakdown in relations between partners, but usually a breakdown occurs when site traffic has grown sufficiently. In our case, it would be foolish to persist in something, since at such an early stage without external funding, “getting into the bull's eye” is comparable to roulette.

    It’s too early to go around investors with outstretched hands. Many investors are interested in a close-knit team of 3-4 like-minded people. In the meantime, the two of us need to tighten our belts and drag the cart uphill ourselves!

    So, can our relationship be considered successful? To what extent - yes, it can be considered successful, since we were able to do something together with "0", working remotely without external funding and without any experience in working together. We got acquainted on the Internet, according to the announcement, it seems, on Habré. I invited partners to a startup.

    What difficulties await us? The biggest danger is to finally cool down to your project and disperse for this reason! The decline in interest in your startup is inevitable! It is waiting for everyone. This is human psychology. This is natural. For example, for a long time I was the hottest participant in a startup, and now what ?! If 3 years ago they told me that I would cool off to my brainchild, I would never have believed! But this happened, nevertheless, we continue to engage in Talantus.ru, despite some cold in our souls!

    This is called the will. For successful joint work in a startup, the will of each of the partners is needed. Healthy ambition. And instability in the main job. One of my good friends became more actively involved in his startup after he had to quit on a well-paid job. Interesting work did not turn up for him, and he completely immersed himself in his project. As a result, his monthly income fell from 120,000 rubles. up to 20.000 rub. per month. It didn’t scare him. This has yielded positive results. Now he is actively selling lifetime licenses for his software at 6.999 rubles. a piece! Several times more expensive than the annual Kaspersky!

    In a startup, it is also important that one of the partners is a lighter and can again and again light a dying fire in a team. Without this, the work will stop quickly enough, despite the fact that the start of the project is behind us and there is at least some kind of little attendance.

    I experienced all this from personal experience. I really hope that this will not end my experience in the startup business! And finally, about the sprinters in the startup business, I promised once.

    In sports, a sprinter is an athlete specializing in short distances. In the startup business, the sprinter is a partner who is unable to withstand long distances, who leaves the race ahead of schedule. As a rule, the sprinter behaves the same in all startups, that is, this is a specific feature of a person that does not depend much on other team members, and manifests itself with an enviable frequency.

    Sprinters are ruined by the inability to bring things to the end, inconstancy, the desire to quickly chop cabbage without sweat and blood, the inability to work independently and achieve results alone. After all, a startup requires not only the ability to work collectively, a significant part of the work takes place independently. Especially when a startup is only in anticipation of its first million investments.

    If you are not a sprinter, then come to our team! Relations between partners are a key factor in the survival of a startup. The idea is secondary!

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