Partner Up!

From time to time I meet an entrepreneur that wants to start a new venture alone. My first advise to that person will always be “Get yourself a partner”. Some will node and continue on trying to do that alone. Some will listen and start searching for one.

The road of a startup is filled with challenges – investment, market, product, customers, partners, competitors… The demands from the founding team are enormous. Founders need to talk to someone. Need to share things from sheer excitement to fears and considerations. Founders need to know that they are not alone. Furthermore, partnership also allows for a better coverage of the skill sets and capabilities required in a startup, but in my mind its secondary to the first argument of not being alone.

I have been and seen several searches for partners – when people ask me how will I know that someone is the right partner for me, I always answer “You will know”. I feel a bit old when I say that ;-), but its true. This gut-feel-partner selection is critical. Have many discussion. Try to work together and conceptualize ideas. You have to know that other than the skill set that your partner brings to the table, there is a real chemistry between you two and you can go through hell and high waters and still hold your partnership together. I personally believe in people and believe in partnerships.

In the picture, Doron Lev-Ari “Lion Heart” and Liran Zelkha, partners and founders of ScaleBase a Boston based startup company delivering elasticity and scale to SQL databases working the booth at the CloudConnect in Santa Clara.