How to run a business with a friend and not lose everything

# 1 Create a general idea
Partnership with friends is beneficial because the general idea is a more effective motivator than money. A business that grows on the foundation of personal relationships is stronger than a business, based on only the interests of partners individually – fewer undercurrents.

Doing business with a friend is good at the initial stage, when there is no profit, employees and you can share responsibilities with the person who is ready to work for the idea. And even better in a developed business: there is someone to rely on, less emotional burnout.

Yes, you can build an effective business model yourself, but it still depends on the money that employees receive.

In business with friends, the feeling of a general idea is very important, so that everyone perceives the business as a single organism, and himself as an organ, without which it will not function normally. We started in the beginning, and for some this understanding has not been formed. And here it is: if a friend goes out of business, he goes out of your life too.

Some initially did not understand the seriousness of the work. They were referring to her in the spirit of “Cool, we fouled up the business together,” as if this was about a trip to the barbecue. I had to talk, to explain – with time it came.

Ilya Petrushkin, co-founder of the network of auto parts stores AWC, 10 years doing business with friends

# 2 Select Main
In business, someone must be in charge – I found this thesis in the book Business as a Game. Russian business rakes and unexpected decisions “from the creators of the Mosigra network Dmitry Kibkalo, Dmitry Borisov and Sergey Abdulmanov. And the main thing is to be determined on the shore, because it is not easy to obey the dude with whom you sat in the next pots in kindergarten. As well as command them. Discomfort must be overcome immediately, or you should not start at all.

When discussing strategic issues, the vision of the situation may not coincide. Someone one must make a final decision, and the second – to agree with him, otherwise the work will turn into an endless stream of disputes.

Discussion of the strategy is a normal situation, but if the points of view on key issues are opposite, it is best to divide the business.

We did not have a leader from the very beginning, but he appeared in the process. There was no choice or something in this spirit, just in the process everyone showed character. Someone more leadership qualities.

At the same time, we try to solve key issues together. In general, I think a lot depends on people: we have five founders, but usually we look in one direction. It was not such that someone rested and the decision had to be forced.

# 3 Checkout LLC
It is expensive to open an LLC, and accounting is difficult, but the IP form does not allow for the distribution of shares. In fact, one will be an entrepreneur, and the second – an employee or in general will be a member of the enterprise only in words. Even if there is no reason, the situation is annoying. It is better to protect yourself from unnecessary thoughts.

Not a single Spartan: neither free, nor powerless, nor man, nor woman, nor slave, nor king – can rise above the law.
Not a single Spartan: neither free, nor powerless, nor man, nor woman, nor slave, nor king – can rise above the law.
But we did not specify in detail the responsibility for each other in the documents. Probably, this is one of the peculiarities of national business: a lot is being done on trust. Papers, on the contrary, break it.

However, trust is one thing, and the law is another, so in the future we will be concerned with this issue.

We have been working for ten years, but we have no hard division of shares in our business. In general, I think that if you start a business with thoughts, how then to diverge and share, then it is better not to start at all. So you initially do not trust the person, and it is unlikely that something will come of it.

# 4 Divide Responsibilities
When you have a small business, you have to do everything at once. The best option is if the co-founders have useful skills in the starting baggage. And even better if they have a different plan. I had competence in marketing and advertising, and my partner had experience in managing and setting up business processes. In accordance with them, we have distributed responsibilities and areas of responsibility.

Garbage happens when one climbs into the area of ​​responsibility of the second. If someone calls you on an urgent matter, and you cannot answer right now, the worst possible solution is “Max, are you in the office? Listen, there X will drive up now, in my laptop in the folder “Docks9348” there are acts, sign for me, he urgently needs to. ”

Do not do that! Then there will be chaos with finding out who, what, why, when signed and to whom it all passed.