Basics

Gain a general understanding of the purposes partnerships serve.

Learn the different types of partnerships that can be formed.

Weigh the pros and cons of partnership.

Find people or firms you can collaborate with.

Find potential partners through referrals by "gatekeepers" and colleagues.

Find potencial partners through contacts you make at meetings and events.

Business Partner

Shares your vision and enthusiasm.

Shares the same basic values.

Brings expertise in the areas in which you are inexperienced.

Understands the legal and financial responsibilities endemic to sharing a business.

Is a person with whom you get along.

Is appealing to potential investors.

Starting a Partnership

Engage in some of the other forms of business collaboration with your potential partner.

Draw up the business equivalent of a pre-nuptial agreement before you go into business with someone.

Have a plan for ownership changes with a buy/sell agreement in place.

Consider hiring a third party to do the books.

Maintain a significant barrier between work and play.

Examine and draw up guidelines for hypothetical situations that could later affect the business.

Download or Print this Business Partnership Checklist

Get a printable version of this checklist in your preferred format: PDF, Word, Excel, or print directly from your browser.

Who it's for

This Business Partnership Checklist is for teams that want consistent execution, less rework, and clear ownership.

Standardize quality - run the same Business Partnership steps every time, regardless of who executes
Save time - reuse a proven Business Partnership workflow instead of rebuilding processes from scratch
Improve accountability - assign owners and see what's done vs. what's pending
Onboard faster - use the Business Partnership checklist as the SOP and training guide
Coordinate across roles - handoffs are clear and everyone works from the same source of truth

How to use this Business Partnership Checklist:

Start by saving it - save as a Template if you'll reuse it, or as a Checklist if it's a one-off project.
Customize it once for your workflow - remove what doesn't apply and add your team-specific steps.
Assign ownership and execute - set owners/due dates where needed and track completion as work happens.
Reuse without rebuilding - when Business Partnership comes up again, start from your saved version and run it with clear ownership.

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