Relationships between partners in a startup. Contract? Part 2
2 years ago I published an article on Habré part 1. habrahabr.ru/blogs/startup/37925
Periodically I received messages from habra users asking me to continue the topic, which is very nice. And now the time has come to write part 2. During this time, much has been rethought. And the matter is not in the financial crisis, which passed for me almost imperceptibly.
At first I wanted to start with sprinters in a start-up 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 and not a consultant, but a practitioner, in 2010 I launched my first startup Talantus.ru talantus.ru There 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.
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To be honest, it is already difficult to remember why a whole year has passed since the beginning of cooperation and until the signing of the contract.
Nevertheless, I still consider signing an agreement between partners as an important condition for partnership in a startup. Why? In my case with Talantus.ru, when we gathered to sign a contract after a year of close collaboration, my partner started arguing: why do we have the same share in a startup, because I am not a programmer and essentially did nothing in terms of programming.
Yes, for the year of joint work, my partner completely forgot all verbal agreements and rules for the distribution of shares! I had to spend time and nerves to settle a controversial situation and sign a contract with the same distribution of shares in a startup.
I (the marketer) explained to my partner that without marketing work (without promotion) and without attendance as a result of marketing work, a startup has practically no value. Indeed, talantus.ru still has a small attendance, and at the moment it does not represent any value for the investor. Advanced investors are interested not only in attendance, but in attendance growth or GROWTH of a regular audience.
So back to the relationship of partners. The controversial situation settled down quickly. We started after signing the contract. After the start, the positioning, logic and several key pages were slightly adjusted. Without a partner-maker, this stage was strongly delayed. Therefore, we will be very pleased with new partners: the maker-up and SEO-optimizer! Preparing for active promotion.
Yes, we had a debate about what to change on the site and how to develop further. In other startups, such disputes often lead to a rupture of relations between partners, but usually a gap occurs when site traffic has increased sufficiently. In our case, it would be foolish to persist in something, since at such an early stage without external financing, “hitting the bull's eye” is comparable to a tape measure.
It’s still too early to walk around investors with an outstretched hand. Many investors are interested in a solid team of 3-4 like-minded people. In the meantime, the two of us need to tighten our belts and drag the cart uphill!
So can our relationships be considered successful? To what extent - yes, we can be considered successful, since we were able to do something with “0”, working remotely without external financing and without any experience working together. We met on the Internet, on the ad, 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! Reduced interest in your startup - this is inevitable! It is waiting for everyone. This is human psychology. It is natural. For example, for a long time I was the hottest participant in a startup and what now ?! If 3 years ago they had told me that I would be cool to my brainchild, I would never have believed it! But it happened, nevertheless, we continue to be engaged in Talantus.ru, despite some cold in the souls!
This is called will. Successful collaboration in a startup requires the will of each of the partners. Healthy ambitions. And instability at the main work. A good friend of mine began to actively engage in his startup after he had to quit his well-paid job. Interesting work he did not turn up, and he completely immersed himself in his project. As a result, his monthly income fell from 120,000 rubles. up to 20,000 rubles per month. It did not frighten him. It gave positive results. Now he is actively selling life-long 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 ignite the dying fire in the team. Without this, the work will stop fairly quickly, despite the fact that the start of the project is over and there is at least some attendance at the least.
All this I experienced on personal experience. I really hope that my experience in a startup business will not end there! And finally, about the sprinters in the startup business, once promised.
In sport, a sprinter is an athlete specializing in short distances. In a start-up business, a sprinter is a partner who is not able to withstand long distances, descending from a distance earlier than the allotted time. As a rule, the sprinter behaves the same in all startups, that is, it is a specific feature of a person, which depends little on other team members, and manifests itself with an enviable frequency.
Sprinters are ruined by the inability to bring what has been started, inconstancy, the desire to quickly chop cabbage without sweat and blood, the inability to work independently and to achieve results alone. Indeed, in a startup, not only the skill of teamwork is required, a significant part of the work takes place in an independent mode. Especially when a startup is still only anticipating its first million investments.
If you are not a sprinter, then come to our team! Relationships between partners are a key factor in the survival of a startup. The idea is secondary!
Periodically I received messages from habra users asking me to continue the topic, which is very nice. And now the time has come to write part 2. During this time, much has been rethought. And the matter is not in the financial crisis, which passed for me almost imperceptibly.
At first I wanted to start with sprinters in a start-up 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 and not a consultant, but a practitioner, in 2010 I launched my first startup Talantus.ru talantus.ru There 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 already difficult to remember why a whole year has passed since the beginning of cooperation and until the signing of the contract.
Nevertheless, I still consider signing an agreement between partners as an important condition for partnership in a startup. Why? In my case with Talantus.ru, when we gathered to sign a contract after a year of close collaboration, my partner started arguing: why do we have the same share in a startup, because I am not a programmer and essentially did nothing in terms of programming.
Yes, for the year of joint work, my partner completely forgot all verbal agreements and rules for the distribution of shares! I had to spend time and nerves to settle a controversial situation and sign a contract with the same distribution of shares in a startup.
I (the marketer) explained to my partner that without marketing work (without promotion) and without attendance as a result of marketing work, a startup has practically no value. Indeed, talantus.ru still has a small attendance, and at the moment it does not represent any value for the investor. Advanced investors are interested not only in attendance, but in attendance growth or GROWTH of a regular audience.
So back to the relationship of partners. The controversial situation settled down quickly. We started after signing the contract. After the start, the positioning, logic and several key pages were slightly adjusted. Without a partner-maker, this stage was strongly delayed. Therefore, we will be very pleased with new partners: the maker-up and SEO-optimizer! Preparing for active promotion.
Yes, we had a debate about what to change on the site and how to develop further. In other startups, such disputes often lead to a rupture of relations between partners, but usually a gap occurs when site traffic has increased sufficiently. In our case, it would be foolish to persist in something, since at such an early stage without external financing, “hitting the bull's eye” is comparable to a tape measure.
It’s still too early to walk around investors with an outstretched hand. Many investors are interested in a solid team of 3-4 like-minded people. In the meantime, the two of us need to tighten our belts and drag the cart uphill!
So can our relationships be considered successful? To what extent - yes, we can be considered successful, since we were able to do something with “0”, working remotely without external financing and without any experience working together. We met on the Internet, on the ad, 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! Reduced interest in your startup - this is inevitable! It is waiting for everyone. This is human psychology. It is natural. For example, for a long time I was the hottest participant in a startup and what now ?! If 3 years ago they had told me that I would be cool to my brainchild, I would never have believed it! But it happened, nevertheless, we continue to be engaged in Talantus.ru, despite some cold in the souls!
This is called will. Successful collaboration in a startup requires the will of each of the partners. Healthy ambitions. And instability at the main work. A good friend of mine began to actively engage in his startup after he had to quit his well-paid job. Interesting work he did not turn up, and he completely immersed himself in his project. As a result, his monthly income fell from 120,000 rubles. up to 20,000 rubles per month. It did not frighten him. It gave positive results. Now he is actively selling life-long 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 ignite the dying fire in the team. Without this, the work will stop fairly quickly, despite the fact that the start of the project is over and there is at least some attendance at the least.
All this I experienced on personal experience. I really hope that my experience in a startup business will not end there! And finally, about the sprinters in the startup business, once promised.
In sport, a sprinter is an athlete specializing in short distances. In a start-up business, a sprinter is a partner who is not able to withstand long distances, descending from a distance earlier than the allotted time. As a rule, the sprinter behaves the same in all startups, that is, it is a specific feature of a person, which depends little on other team members, and manifests itself with an enviable frequency.
Sprinters are ruined by the inability to bring what has been started, inconstancy, the desire to quickly chop cabbage without sweat and blood, the inability to work independently and to achieve results alone. Indeed, in a startup, not only the skill of teamwork is required, a significant part of the work takes place in an independent mode. Especially when a startup is still only anticipating its first million investments.
If you are not a sprinter, then come to our team! Relationships between partners are a key factor in the survival of a startup. The idea is secondary!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/103544/
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