Today, we had an interesting discussion on when the right time to draft a partnership agreement is and the amount of resources to allocate to it. We also discussed ways to meet potential co-founders.
Our members came up with different pieces of advice on forming partnership agreements.
•The agreement need not be stringent. Have something informal put on a piece of paper. It is better to have it at the start of your venture. Different partners have different energy levels and commitment towards the start-up.
•Always form a 49:51 partnership and give one person the authority to arrive at a final decision. Alternatively, you can have a 48:48:2 partnership with one person (owning the 2%) whom both parties trust as the tie breaker.
•Build some sort of checks and balances into your partnership. For instance, one person places purchase orders and the other signs the checks towards paying the orders.