You and Your Partner Need to Set Expectations
One of the biggest problems that partners face when starting a company are the “expectations” that each person has for the company. Your partner may expect the company to be making $500,000 in revenue the first year. And you may expect the company to do $25,000 the first year.
Expectations come in many forms when you’re starting a company. Expectations for revenue, expectations for how the workload will be split, expectations on the products and services, and the list goes on….
You each have your own definition of what “success” means. The problem arises when you and your partner don’t “understand” each other’s expectations. So what happens? You fight a lot. You argue all the time. And most of all — TIME IS WASTED!
It’s normal that you and your partner to have different expectations, but the key to a successful partnership is for both of you to fully understand your partner’s expectations. And that can only happen when you each write down your own expectations on a piece of paper and actually sit down and discuss them with your partner. You need to hash everything out during this critical meeting.
You each have to be on the same page. Most young entrepreneurs make the mistake of having this necessary “expectations meeting” after the company / partnership was formed.
No, not cool. You have to do is “before” you form the partnership and push forward with starting a company. Would you marry someone before dating them? Would you say that someone’s pasta was amazing without tasting it? No, you wouldn’t.
So don’t form a partnership with someone without fully understanding their expectations and without them fully understanding yours. Please, save yourself the headaches, expenses, and drama.
3 Comments
pazion
August 4th, 2007 at 1:47 am
I first hand experienced what the impact of not setting a clear expectation that is based on mutual goal. At times, the excitement of partnership, the idea of owning a company that might be very successful clouds the very core elements of becoming successful; which are to set expectations and strive to meet those expectations.
With out this there is always an imbalance of work distribution as well as frustration when expectations are not met.
David Askaripour
August 4th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Exactly, Pazion. That’s the mistake that many entrepreneurs experience. We put these blinders on when we become so excited and happy about actually starting something. It’s fine to be happy and excited, but we can’t let that cloud our responsibilities to set expectations.
lawrence
August 4th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
go solo - if you can.
i remember, back in college - i was in talks about starting this business with a friend…well, it was all fine and dandy talking casually about our plans for the business, etc etc
but once we actually sat down to discuss it formally - it was disagreement city any way you turned.
needless to say, we don’t talk anymore.
Leave a Comment