My Story..

Umm.. I shared a lot of information with partner, perhaps valuable information in this case. Waited and waited on him as he delayed my business and then bam, he gets the surprise of his life it's a tough business and asks me to switch gears to some thing he wants to do. I say yes, not understanding his market all that well but understanding that he thinks he's got a winning combination.

Next thing I know he hits me with a communication that says he doesn't think I'm very positive and he thinks we would butt heads on a level of professionalism. All this in the course of a 3 week rush job to partnership (I don't usually rush any thing.. but he caught me in a actual time of starting up and getting going aka money was being wasted/lost).

And of course his last communication is along the lines of apology accepted but I need to go out on my own and I think I'll just lease space in your same building while I'm at it.

I still can't figure out if..
- He's Greedy
- I undersold my value
- I'm just too honest
- He's just a nice guy and we split ways..
- I was used/manipulated
- Still need more analysis (this I'll do any way)

I can't honestly say I was screwed but at the moment it certainly feels that way.. at least so far he didn't steal any of my equipment.. Since we never had any legal papers signed but 1? neither party really has any damages to claim, I'm still wondering if a NDA or Non-compete agreement would have helped me in this ordeal but seems like they wouldn't have..

that is a bummer but people out there can be total sleaze balls. If you are going to partner with anyone, including family, definately get an nda and a contract going. You never really know what will come up no matter how many warm fuzzies the other parties give you

Yeah , always make sure your partner can actually benefit the company and do their job.

We had a third partner in a former business venture... it was interesting. I'll leave it at that. :)

:smash:
:nuts:

partners are tough sometimes. It is nice when you can actually count on at all times. Not really the easiest thing to do though.

Hmm...

I've never really had a partner, but I have several close associates that I trust and have help me out from time to time..... It's always easier (in my opinion) to trust (no necessarily to work with) someone you have known for a long time.

Working with close and long term friends can be challenging, especially when a big time/capital/money/etc investment is on the line.

My partner moved to Europe for 18 months, and made excuses to sell the business, leaving me with nothing. What a ****er.

I misinterpreted the title of the thread. I thought it was completely different.. Anyway, on the subject, that's my only fear in looking for a partner. I've had a couple of proposals, but I've been too scared to jump in fearing situations like this.

I think your partner changes his mind too often. It's difficult to say from your post, but seems during that time he went for one business, then another completely different and in 3 weeks he tought it over again and wanted to go alone... I would not say greedy, or that he wanted to screw you. I would say he has got a childish personality and does not take seriously what he does.

Anyway. Think this could have happened as well after 3 months. You would have spend more money. Think positive :-)

Good luck with the future partners

Q

Unfortunately he wants to reconcile.. and his reason for wanting to split came down to poor communication? I dunno his behavior is now bewildering me.. it's either lies or it really is poor/messed up communication..

I've already at least decided I won't move on this until he makes it all legal as of which he has not given me the documentation I asked for

Run away - even if it's legally binding... Legal is a term that's too subject to misunderstanding and while there are penalties for breaking the law there's truly nothing stopping anyone from doing it other than them having made the choice to not break the law. If they're willing to bail after a few weeks then they'll be willing to bail again in the future regardless of any contracts or agreements they might have.

KGIII

I agree with KGIII. Leave it.. in those situations you have to be 100% confident with the person your with if you are not drop it.

A partner...? No.

Q...

I was involved in a partnership a long time ago.... and I will never ever (in a million years!) do it again.

I don't care who it is, or what they offer... it will NEVER happen.

Partnership is bad, unless you have a $250/hour lawyer on your side to write the partnership agreement.