Seeking a Business Partner? Here Are the 10 Essentials You Should Be Looking For

As in any other partnership, a business partnership can bring incredible value — as long as it’s the right fit. If not, the relationship could become detrimental to the success of the company.

That’s why entrepreneurs must carefully consider whether a prospective partner will complement their leadership style and the business, or whether it’s best to find another solution. If you’re seeking a new business partnership, make sure your potential collaborator has these 10 critical essentials, as recommended by members of Rolling Stone Culture Council. 

Chemistry

A business partner is someone whom you spend a ton of time with, so chemistry and trust with one another is crucial. It’s important for them to be someone whom you connect with and enjoy being around. If so, it also allows you to overcome the natural frustrations of business because you have genuine respect and love for one another. – King Holder, PROCUSSION

A Shared Vision

The best business partners share the company’s strategic vision and bring a complementary, diverse set of skills to the team. It is great to discuss different ways to achieve a goal, but the passion and shared strategic vision must be there. Also, adding diverse backgrounds and genders to the team has been proven to increase success. – Donna Hockey, Surreal Brewing Company

Honest Communication

A partner should have skills that I don’t particularly enjoy, know or care to learn, coupled with the ability to have honest conversations. A business partnership is not completely different from any other kind of partnership. Both of you bring value to the table to create and build the business. – Ginni Saraswati, Ginni Media

Critical Value

Value is key. I won’t consider a business partner unless I find their role to be critical to the company’s success. Do they hold the key to resources, connections or skills that I don’t? If their experience or network doesn’t bring more value than what my own worth brings to the table, then regardless of potential or moral chemistry, their partnership holds no weight to that of my own. – Tiffany Gaines, SS Global Entertainment

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Integrity

A partner needs integrity. All else is teachable. Very few businesses are smooth sailing the entire way, so if you don’t or can’t trust your partner implicitly, things become even more complex and fall apart anyway. – Cate Rubenstein

The Ability to Execute

Without this ability, they can’t be a partner because you would be dragging them along. Having a partner in a business is about having the tasks divided between two leaders. Partners who can’t execute are more of a liability. – Jenny Ta, GalaxE by HODL Assets, Inc.

Strategic Alignment

Strategic alignment is critical. The partner may have a great track record, but do they understand the needs that are being addressed, and do they truly believe in what you want to achieve? It’s imperative to have alignment in order to create a framework of trust that engages and energizes a team, which allows them to efficiently execute and deliver the project at hand. – Michael Klein, Trees Corporation

A Good Heart

The business partner needs to have a good heart, to not take advantage of people, to always do right by all the stakeholders and to put people over profits, rather than the other way around. They should also have integrity, which is having all the encompassing traits — including a strong moral compass, high ethical and moral values, honesty, sincerity, kindness, respect, trustworthiness, politeness and more. – Royston G King, Royston G King Group & Companies

Strong Principles

A good partner should have the ability to operate by a set of strong principles. The principles your partner is committed to determine how they feel, think and behave in any given situation. A partner may bring value, work ethic or money to the table, but if they lack principles, you’re setting yourself up for failure. When stakes are high and emotions get messy, humans do the right thing by sticking to their principles. – Josh King Madrid, NFT Magazine — NFTMagazine.com

The Ability to Think on Their Feet

Communication and critical thinking are closely aligned and influence each other. The ability to think on your feet in any situation requires both, and that is the No. 1 skill I look for in a business partner. Thinking on your feet in a tight, tough situation can result in immediate success or failure. Possessing this skill develops an understanding of how to cope with winning and losing. – Wayne Bell, Really Big Coloring Books® Inc | ColoringBook.com