danieltenner.com - Latest Comments in danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Paweł Nowak — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:50:50 -0000

It's never good to fail, but, so cudos to you for translating it into something every reader will get from reading that post, and hopefully use in the future.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

lethe — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:37:46 -0000

amazing post, thank you

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Vasudev Ram — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:24:15 -0000

Excellent article, overall. Thanks for it.

One point: It might be better not to have the footnotes in such a small font - like a traditional print book. Makes it more difficult to read, particularly when one has to reduce the font size of the overall page (with Ctrl-minus in Firefox) to avoid having to scroll horizontally.

Thanks,
Vasudev
dancingbison.com

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

girishmahajan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:43:21 -0000

Gr8 stuff
One more question: Work Ethics - What is the definition of Ethics for you and your partner

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Rokin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:05:44 -0000

Thanks for this fabulous post..... :-)

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Jamie Stephens — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:32:37 -0000

Excellent article. Thank you!

As someone who just went through nearly the same thing, I can attest that this is excellent advice to anyone considering starting a new business.

Best of luck on your future ventures.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Kabish — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:12:01 -0000

Hey Swombat just dicovered your blog today, been offline for the last month due to technical problems. Congrats, it looks realy really interesting!

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

IS — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:03:34 -0000

interesting..

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Available_for_work — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:55:24 -0000

When my friend and I started our web design business, we got an agreement which included the 'shotgun clause' mentioned above. Discussing one of us leaving was difficult, but worth doing.

What we completely failed to do was clarify what success and failure meant. We have jobs on, but not enough. I'm getting paid this month, but after that there's nothing. My partner is talking about giving us "a fighting chance". I'm already looking for a full-time job. I haven't told him yet.

Other observations:

Whether you're starting or joining a business, you must have a cashflow forecast. Be realistic on sales, and then push them back three months. Add a lull around December/January. Don't expect things to get steadily better.

Know your partner's personal expenses. My partner 'needed' to extract £60K annually. This bled the business dry.

Joining a one-man business is like climbing onto a raft. It will rock until you've steadied it and found a new way to paddle.

Writing blog posts and sprucing up the website is not marketing.

Don't start a business without having saved three months personal expenses.

If there's less than three months running expenses in the bank, you are in a crisis situation and must focus on sales (and address your exit strategy).

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Kasi — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:43:02 -0000

Thanks Dan. But, had this been available some 5 years ago.....

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

T-Rex — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:41:38 -0000

Absolutely cool article. I'm currently in the same situation trying to start new business I hope that everything mentioned above will help me to make things clear.
Thanks for this post. :)

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Maya — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:54:12 -0000

You are absolutely right and thanks for sharing that . It should definitely serve as a warning to
all thinking about joining ventures. I had similar experience, ending doing everything myself
my partner always "hard to be found".
Thanks for following!

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Karthickram — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:43:38 -0000

Thanks, Daniel Tenner. I too experienced the same in my life and got ditched very badly.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Anonymous Coward — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:03:51 -0000

Ha, I've done the 'startup with a friend' thing 3 times in a row. You'd think that by the third time I would have learned my lesson :) Hahah just kidding (barely). Interesting article indeed. I think the advice given here is very sound and should be read by anyone considering it.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

chanux — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:01:40 -0000

It's good that you wrote them down :)
Thanx for the clear & well organized article.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Tod Birdsall — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:15:37 -0000

Very helpful insight. Thank you for sharing.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Robert — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:03:36 -0000

Hi Daniel,

thanks for the great article... though I guess you could write a book, or a series of books on the topic, it really helped me understanding what I should do right now, as I am in that situation.

PS: the t-rex was awesome

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

zafarali — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:46:24 -0000

good work. nice article :)

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Anaggh Desai — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:37:30 -0000

Good Stuff. This is also applicable...probably more so to relatives also:)

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Murali — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:20:50 -0000

GReat Article...i think its worth reading for anyone who is planning to startup. in most of the cases people endup starting companies with friends.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Minhajuddin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:56:43 -0000

Nice article, would really help in any kind of partnership :D

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

kcmani — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:48:03 -0000

Wow!! excellent article ... thanks for sharing this

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Nandu Muralidharan — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:20:24 -0000

Great post. Its very true. An emotional angle also comes into play in these scenarios and its tough of both the people. Its better to clearly discuss and document key stuff.

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

Anthony Johnson — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:14:16 -0000

My partner and I are in the same situation. I found the cartoon particularly amusing since we have had the "ceo" argument many times. We decided to settle on the "google management structure" and calling both of us presidents. We both secretly claim that we are CEO's. Anyways, since we are both in law school, you can imagine that we have everything written out in contract and opening argue about disagreements until we settle on the right path. I can see your point and agree that being honest and communicating with partners is vital, especially in a tech startup. I am a "let's talk about it later" kind of guy but, luckily, my partner writes down EVERYTHING so it works out. Good Luck and it is good to hear that ended up on top. We hope to do the same.

-A. Johnson

Re: danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend

sujamthe — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:13:09 -0000

Nice article. I second @dave mclure. The t-rex question is what comes in the way usually.

After you have been through this couple rounds, founders get it that ideas are dime a dozen, its all in the ride with the best team you enjoy hanging around with.

Also expect changes not only from the co-founder but from their spouse who may not have been ready for the long hours and what the uncertainity means.