As Partnership Sours, Parting Is Sweet
THE PROBLEM: An inexperienced entrepreneur relies on a partner.
After six years, Jennifer Appel was burning out from the demands of her job as a clinical psychologist in New York's schools treating emotionally disturbed children. To unwind, she often baked cakes and desserts for friends.
Ultimately, she and a friend decided to start a business selling their baked treats. Ms. Appel was nervous, but comforted that her partner had food-industry experience, having grown up around her parents' restaurants.
The women started as wholesalers "to get our feet wet," she says, baking in a basement and carrying samples to sales calls. Soon, they had a half dozen clients and Ms. Appel quit her day job.
The bigger step was opening their own shop. With credit cards and a loan, they opened a bakery in the West Village in Manhattan in 1996. "It felt like a breath of fresh air to do something creative and make a living," she says.
She happily relied on her friend for business expertise. But as time went on Ms. Appel developed her own ideas about running the business. Soon they were barely speaking, with Ms. Appel working days and her partner working nights. They managed to write a cookbook together, communicating mostly by notes and messages. It wasn't many months before the bakery was a success, but the partnership was a flop.
THE SOLUTION: Ms. Appel began educating herself about business, first reading the "dummies" books, then more sophisticated fare. Her opinions crystallized.
"I don't think you can work idiosyncratically and develop a brand," she says. Their partnership was barely a year old, and Ms. Appel began working with a lawyer to develop a proposal to buy out her partner's interest.
After negotiations, however, it was the partner who acquired Ms. Appel's ownership. It was enough to set her on the path to launch her own bakery. She approached it her methodical way -- for instance, sitting in her car to count the people walking by her proposed Midtown site before she signed a lease. She opened the doors of Buttercup Bake Shop in 1999, taking out another loan and charging up the credit cards again. "I came to believe I was capable of doing it myself," she says.
Now with greater confidence, she could execute her own strategy, free to ask questions and impose order. Recently married and with her first child, she investigated franchising as a way to grow "without killing myself."
She threw herself into the details: finding architects, designing a prototype, writing sales materials. "I went slowly," she says. The first franchise just sold -- a huge milestone, she says. "I'm glad someone has confidence in me."
THE LESSON: If a partnership founders, part nicely, and then move on
共同创业的伙伴，我们分手吧!
常见问题：一个没有经验的创业者往往爱依靠自己的合伙人。
詹妮弗?艾伯(Jennifer Appel)以前是一位临床心理医生，她在纽约的学校里供职，为一些情绪不太正常的学生进行治疗。这样过了6年，她觉得自己再也无法忍受干这份工作了。有时为了排解烦闷，她经常做一些蛋糕或是甜点招待朋友。
后来，她和一个朋友居然做起了生意，卖自己烤制的点心。詹妮弗非常紧张，幸亏她的合伙人在食品行业干过，而且她的父母还是开饭店的。
她说，她们刚开始做的是批发，在一个地下室里面做点心，如果有电话表示订购意向，她们就会带著样品去拜访潜在的买主。没有多久，她们就已经有了6家客户，詹妮弗乾脆辞去了自己的工作。
后来，她们开了自己的商店，这对于她们来说可是一个不小的进步。1996年，她们利用信用卡和贷款在曼哈顿开了一家点心店。詹妮弗说，这让我感到生活的新气息，我能做一些要发挥创造力的事情，而且还能靠它养活自己。
她总愿意听取她的合伙人提出的经营建议。可时间一长，詹妮弗自己也有一些经营想法。很快，她们两个人几乎连话都不说了。詹妮弗白天上班，她的合伙人晚上来。她们只是通过在小本上给对方留言或是发短信息来进行沟通。点心店的确是成功了，但两人的合作关系却每况愈下。
解决办法：詹妮弗开始让自己熟悉做生意的知识，开始读一些简单的书，然后再读难一点的。她的思路变得越来越清晰了。
“我认为你的做法是不能建立起我们自己的品牌的”，詹妮弗对她的合伙人说。她们的合作关系维持了不到一年，詹妮弗开始找律师帮助她收购她的合伙人在点心店的股份。
但经过谈判后，是她的合伙人购买了她的股份。然而，詹妮弗得到的钱已经足够让她再开一家点心店了。她开始按照自己的想法做事。比如说，她会在签约租赁店面前，先坐在自己的汽车里数数经过这个店面的人数。1999年，她的点心店Buttercup Bake Shop终于开张了，她又贷了一些款，信用卡的贷款额度也动用了。詹妮弗说，“我相信我有能力单干”。
她的信心越来越足，她甚至开始实施自己的战略经营方式，不清楚的事情就赶快问清楚，她还学会了如果指挥店里的雇员。詹妮弗不久前结婚了，刚刚生了一个孩子。她开始关注特许经营这种模式，她希望自己的点心店能越做越大，而自己又不必亲自上阵。
从每个细节开始，寻找建筑设计师、设计原型以及撰写销售材料等，詹妮弗事事都做。“我慢慢地做”，她说，“第一家特许专卖店已经卖出去了，这对我来说是个里程碑”。詹妮弗说，“我很高兴人们对我有信心”。
经验教训：合作不下去就愉快地分手，人要继续往前看。
