Business Partner

November 24, 2009 1:00 PM

Where can I find a business partner for a start-up?

Any suggestions? I am looking for a partner and he will get an equity share. He won't get paid (at the beginning). I just realize that I can't pull my business off alone, at least not in the US. It is not an web/internet business, let's call it for now a dietary supplement business/life style business. I will soon ship the first 30.000 Units to Europe but have not made much progress in the US.

Any idea where to look? I would be interested in someone with marketing skills, contacts to distributes etc. Since I am not American, I guess he should be.

Has anyone tried something like this?
http://www.partnerup.com/

Do you know other sites like this? What else could I try? Entrepreneurial meetings at meetup.com ?

Yoyo

posted by yoyo_nyc to work & money (3 answers total)

Can I assume from your profile name that you're in NYC? If you are, there are lots of meetup groups among other resources. It takes networking to meet people of course. See, for example, this meeting that is happening tonight (I believe registration is closed).
posted by dfriedman at 1:12 PM on November 24, 2009

I would suggest you read up on Y Combinator, the startup incubator set up by Paul Graham. His site has several very interesting essays on startups. His latest talks about the character and commitment of founders, factors that turn out to be more important than ability, but he's touched on the subject many times before. You could do worse than to start here and here.

Good luck.
posted by Cobalt at 7:29 PM on November 25, 2009

Relevant Meetups and industry shows. Also don't there with the mindset of finding a partner. Go with the mind set of making connections, hold off on bringing up the specific deal for a bit. You don't want to jump on the first person with money or time, I've "partnered" with many people who just don't work out; they flake, have a different vision, or different expectations. Most importantly be patient, a business relationship is like a dating relationship, you don't want a random hookup or something full of drama. Finding good partners takes time, especially in equity projects.
posted by Scientifik at 11:18 AM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]