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It is crucial to find quality partners for your startup, as it directly influences your chances of success. In most cases, startups are founded by two or three partners with complementary skills and personalities. To meet future partners, it is recommended to create multiple opportunities for networking by joining startup incubation and support programs, leveraging your personal and professional networks, participating in networking events, and cultivating your visibility on social networks and in the media. To validate the quality of the partnership, it is more than useful to work concretely on strategic and operational projects such as designing a business plan to verify the compatibility of profiles, objectives, and the enjoyment of working together in the long term.
E. Krieger
Finding one or more partners for your startup is often a challenge. In case of a partnership error, the company has little chance of surviving, let alone thriving. Considering that the quality of the founding team is the primary investment criterion for venture capital professionals, finding quality partners is a crucial challenge for an entrepreneur.
In nearly three-quarters of cases, startups are created by two or three partners. When it comes to creating and developing an innovative company destined for rapid growth, we are almost never dealing with a ‘one man/woman show’ or a Mexican army.
Sometimes, the desire to start a business with a specific person precedes the business project itself. This was the case for Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux, the founders of the Big Mamma Group, a huge entrepreneurial success.
Very often, an entrepreneur will have to meet dozens of potential partners before finding partners with complementary skills and temperaments.
Boosting Serendipity
When your immediate circle lacks profiles capable of driving the development of your business in scientific, technical, commercial, or financial aspects, it’s in your best interest to increase the opportunities for networking, effectively ‘boosting serendipity.’
Here are some recommendations to maximize your chances of success:
- Join startup incubation and support programs: Most of these programs act as ‘network nodes’ which, in addition to their expertise in startup creation and development, can help you meet potential partners, especially within other startups where teams are reshaping. This is one of the major contributions of innovation ecosystems like Station F.
- Utilize your personal and professional networks: this can be done by discussing your project and its upcoming development stages. Some entrepreneurs even establish a strategic committee and/or a scientific committee very early on to maximize the probability of connecting with partners and talents who could contribute to the journey.
- Participate in networking events: Numerous trade fairs or business conventions allow you to ‘pitch your project’ and meet experts or even partners. The founder of Criteo mentioned meeting his two future partners following a pitch session organized for business angels.
- Cultivate your visibility on social media and in the media in general: Articles in professional or mainstream media can significantly increase your visibility and attract people to join your entrepreneurial adventure. Tools like LinkedIn are also powerful means of prospecting and talent detection.
“Creating A Business Plan Together” to Validate the Partnership Quality
Once you’ve identified a potential partner, the best way to validate the quality of the partnership is to work on concrete strategic and operational projects with that person. Besides the capacity for work and the necessary perseverance to identify tangible needs and craft a genuine value proposition, such projects will quickly reveal whether partners can work together and overcome the inevitable challenges that come with entrepreneurship.
« Creating a business plan together » is often an excellent way to validate the compatibility of psychological profiles, personal stakes, values, and long-term objectives… as well as the joy of working together. It’s wise to ensure this ‘team chemistry’ as quickly as possible because, in the realm of startup creation and development, you’re generally in it for over ten years, with substantial pressure and workload.
Good luck in identifying your partners and developing your startup!
