Small Talk
Kelly Spors answers questions from readers about entrepreneurship
Q: A friend and I are going into business. How do we structure it so if things go sour, it won't destroy our friendship?
A: Business partnerships are more like marriages than most people realize going into them, and they frequently end in bitter divorce. But it's especially heartbreaking when a friendship is lost along the way.
Prospective partners need to acknowledge that conflicts will arise in a business relationship, and they should set guidelines for how to deal with every kind of potential unsavory scenario, says David Gage, co-founder of BMC Associates, a business-mediation firm in Arlington, Va. Some common tension points: unmet financial expectations, different management styles and work ethics, diverging long-term goals, a partner who acts improperly, or simply a partner who wants out.
"Partners have a tendency to leave a lot of ambiguities in their relationships," he says. "Even a sliver of ambiguity can be what comes back to bite them later on."
After witnessing so many failed partnerships in his practice, Mr. Gage, also a clinical psychologist, designed what he calls the Partnership Charter. It's essentially a short course that prospective partners use to evaluate their compatibility, talk about sensitive issues, and determine how they will handle several hypothetical situations -- say, if one partner decides to quit or doesn't hold up their end of the bargain. For instance, they might decide that a partner who acts improperly, such as having an affair with another employee, loses a prespecified share of the business. Or they might decide whether to let either partner borrow money from the business and what the terms of such a loan would be.
What matters, Mr. Gage says, isn't so much what the rules are, but that they're all agreed upon -- in writing -- before problems spring up.
Partners should also decide upon the exact terms of a buyout agreement so that either partner can leave at any point, perhaps receiving a different payout depending on the reason. It also involves deciding how to appraise the business at any given time, so there's no question of the valuation's fairness.
The partners' lawyer can then put many of the specific terms and agreed-upon procedures into a partnership agreement. Inevitably, some people decide by the end of the exercise that they aren't compatible business partners.
Brad Powell, a 34-year-old software-business owner in Vienna, Va., lost a longtime friend when he resigned from their seven-year partnership in 2004 because of disagreements over how the business should be managed. "From a legal perspective, the separation was fairly easy," he says. "But it was emotionally draining and it brought me down for months on end."
Mr. Powell recently entered a new partnership with another friend, but they thoroughly planned every aspect of the business and laid out procedures for handling various sticky situations. They designed an easy exit strategy, using a legally binding "buy-sell agreement." How it works: Mr. Powell can at anytime decide to buy his partner out, but he will pay a high price to do so. If his partner wants to be bought out, Mr. Powell must agree, but he pays a lower price. They also decided that his partner's share of the business would increase by a set rate over time and assigned themselves different job duties to avoid turf wars.
"I knew I didn't want to repeat the past," he says. "Now we feel confident there won't be too many hurt feelings if problems arise."
Billy Ellyson, a small-business lawyer in Richmond, Va., says there are certain legal arrangements that partners can use to dissolve a partnership less contentiously.
Offering a "dutch auction" for example, lets one partner make a buyout offer, forcing the other partner to accept it or make the same offer back to the partner. The partner who made the offer originally must agree to be bought out at that original offer, but it ensures that the offer is fair.
Mr. Ellyson also recommends partners select a mediator early on, so they don't end up resorting to legal action to solve problems.
"Once lawyers get involved, it becomes very hard to resolve anything amicably," he says.
闲谈：创业之前未雨绸缪
凯莉?施波尔斯(Kelly Spors)回答读者关于创业的问题。
问：我和一个朋友准备共同创业。为避免今后发生问题伤害友情，我们该如何构建这个企业呢？
答：商业伙伴关系更像婚姻，大多数人没意识到这一点就走了进去，最终往往以苦涩的离婚而告终。如果在这个过程中失去友情，就更令人心碎了。
弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿商业调解公司BMC Associates的共同创立人大卫?盖奇(David Gage)说，未来的合作伙伴应该承认商业关系中会有冲突发生，应该为如何应对潜在的不快制定指导方针。常见的问题有：未能实现的财务目标，不同的管理风格和工作理念，长期目标的逐步分离，合作一方行为不端，或合作一方想退出等。
盖奇说：“合作伙伴倾向于在合作关系中留出很多模糊地带。但是即使是点滴模糊，也会在日后反受其害。”
身为临床心理学家的盖奇见证过很多失败的合作关系，为此他设计了一套《合作宪章》。它主要是一些短小精炼的指导方针，未来的合作者可以用它来评估合作双方的互容程度、讨论敏感话题并决定如何处理一些假定情形──例如，合作方决定退出，或无法在协商中坚持到底。他们可能要决定：行为不端的合作方（如和雇员发生恋情）将丧失公司的一定股份，是否允许合作方从公司借钱以及这种借贷的具体条款等。
盖奇说，最重要的的并不是规定有多少，而是双方达成一致，在问题发生之前，用书面的形式确认下来。
合作伙伴还应该确定收购协议的确切条款。这样的话，合作一方可以在任何时候离开，或许可以根据退出原因得到不同的付款。这份协议还会确定在任一时间评估企业价值的方式，以确保评估的公正性。
这时，合作伙伴的律师就可以将很多具体条款以及双方同意的程序写入合作协议。最终，这个过程接近尾声的时候，有些人会发现双方并不适合成为合作伙伴。
由于与合作了7年的伙伴在公司管理方面有分歧，现年34岁的布莱德?鲍威尔(Brad Powell)于2004年辞职，多年的友情也因此而中断。鲍威尔目前在弗吉尼亚州拥有一家软件公司。他说：“从法律角度来看，与合作伙伴分手非常简单。但这是一种情感上的消耗，它让我连续几个月情绪低落。”
鲍威尔最近和另一个朋友开始了新的合作关系。这一次他们为公司业务的每个方面制定了全面的计划，并为各种棘手情况列出了处理程序。他们使用具有法律约束的“买入－卖出协议”设计了一种方便的退出策略：鲍威尔可以在任何时候决定买断合作伙伴的全部股份，但是他必须支付较高的价格。如果他的合作伙伴希望被买断，鲍威尔必须同意，但可以支付较低的价格。另外，他们决定鲍威尔合作伙伴的股份将随时间推移按特定比例增长，并确立了工作职责范围，以免卷入权力之争。
鲍威尔说：“我不希望重蹈覆辙。现在我们很有信心，如果有问题发生，大家的感情也不会受到太大伤害。”
弗吉尼亚州里士满小企业律师比利?伊利森(Billy Ellyson)说，某些法律协议可以帮助合作伙伴以友善的方式解除合作关系。
比如进行“荷兰式拍卖”。合作一方提出一个买断要约，促使另一方接受，要么就以这一要约条件买断前者。提出原始要约的一方必须同意以此要约条件被买断，但要确保要约条件公正。
伊利森还建议合作伙伴在早期选定一个调解人，以避免通过法律手段来解决问题。
他说：“一旦律师介入，就很难以友善的方式解决任何问题。”
