You and your business partner worked well together when you started your company, but now you have been thinking that it’s time to cut them loose and find someone else. Or, perhaps you just want to let them go and run the company on your own.
While every case is unique, here are a few common red flags that may warn you that your business partner isn’t a good fit:
- You have different values. Maybe you want to help people, and they want to make money. It can lead to conflicts where you think they’re being too ruthless with their financial decisions, and they think you’re wasting money or missing opportunities.
- They do not offer you anything more. A good partnership is one where both people have individual skills that the other lacks. If you can do everything they do and you can do it better, why do you need them?
- There’s not enough trust. You always find yourself looking over your shoulder. You wonder if they care about themselves more than you or the company.
- They refuse to change and adapt. Maybe you have been working together for decades. They’re still acting like everything you did when you started the company will work in the modern era, when you know that it won’t.
- You run into conflicts with no resolutions. Eventually, enough little things can add up and create some serious problems for the company.
Now, parting ways with a business partner is not always easy. You must know what rights you each have and exactly what legal steps to take.
