Unlocking Success with a Business Partnership

This is the story of how I partnered in business. For those who don’t know me, I (Hana) am the co-founder of Luna Templates, where we help web designers have design freedom on Shopify through our Shopify templates and Shopify course for web designers.

My co-founder, Chloe, and I started working together at the start of 2021. We met during an inquiry call as Chloe (who has her own graphic design studio) needed the help of a Shopify developer for her project. We got chatting about what the future of working together could look like, and how a long-term relationship could be very beneficial.

A week later she emailed me with the subject line “New Idea” suggesting that we build a business together.

It was an immediate yes because we had already clicked on the call, and we were both brewing the same idea! So we got to work and 2.5 years later, here we are still working together.

Let’s talk about what it takes to build a partnership.

1. Identifying the right partner

Finding the right person to work with has got to be one of the hardest parts. So many of us have ideas but feel we lack a crucial skill to bring it to life. That leaves us either needing to find a partner, or making a financial investment to have someone else do it which can get expensive as you really work through and define what your product is.

There are some key elements to choosing the right partner to work with:

Shared Passion:
Are you equally passionate about the idea, and able to provide equal commitment?

For us, from the moment we had our first call about the idea and set up a Slack, there were daily messages going back and forth with ideas, excitement, inspiration and more. It was clear that the passion was there and we were both showing equal initiative to make it happen. When you have a connection with someone that encourages idea-sharing, collaboration and innovation, it lights a spark that fuels you in the business.


Complimentary Skills:
Do you both have some knowledge of the space, and do your skillsets compliment each other? It’s best to work with a partner that brings expertise that complement your own. The synergy from an expanded expertise will allow you to have a competitive edge and accomplish more.

For us, we were both working with clients to build their websites on Shopify. Chloe’s area of expertise was design, and mine was development. It was perfect because each person specialized in what the other didn’t, but we were able to speak the same language about Shopify in general.

Shared Values & Goals:
What’s your reason for wanting to start this business and do those align with your partner? What are your dreams for the business and your lifestyle, and does the type of business you both want to build align with that? If one of you wants to work 16 hour days and build an empire while the other wants to live the 4-hour work week, then it probably won’t work out. Having shared values, shared long-term objectives and coming together on a shared vision will create a solid foundation for the partnership.

For us, we both felt passionate about the problem we were solving, and knew it was a solution we ourselves would use. We both also love our work especially when we can see the reward, but draw clear boundaries when it comes to personal time.

All of these things can be discussed at the beginning, but will also come out as you work together. It took us 8 months to build Luna Templates until it was ready to launch, and during all that time, we had a chance to see how it was working together. At any point during that time, we could have changed our minds.

I think it’s really important to return to those discussions about values and goals periodically to make sure you’re still building a business that’s headed in the direction that’s right for you. 

In terms of how to actually find this person, for us it came through working in the same space where we each had similar businesses and clients. For others, industry meetups and co-working spaces can be a great place to meet entrepreneurs with similar vision. Websites like Female Foundry help you find a co-founder based on shared passion and complimentary skillsets. Of course you should do your due diligence and research people you’re interested in collaborating with before collaborating with them.

2. Legal and Financial Considerations

Business Registration:
One of the first steps to making it official was legally creating a business entity. Us being from two different countries, this was something we researched a lot. We wondered, what were the legal and financial implications of registering in one of our countries, or registering somewhere completely different?

We ended up using Firstbase to register our business in the USA. Firstbase specializes in setting up businesses in the USA for remote companies. Specifically, they allow registration in Wyoming or Delaware as these two states have rules that are beneficial to remote businesses, and they provide recommendations on which state to choose based on the business you’re planning to build.

Firstbase made it easy to follow all the steps to complete our business registration, to keep up with annual legal requirements, and file our taxes. Because they partner with other businesses that are familiar with the model, there’s a whole network of systems in place to support you and other businesses like you. During that whole process, we were prompted to discuss our partnership and financial agreements and the ownership structure, which was quite simple in our case.

It was just one fee to set up, and after the first year, we pay upkeep fees to meet legal requirements like any other LLC does.


Financials:
If you’re wondering how taxes work in this scenario… we registered in Wyoming which has 0% corporate taxes if the business has no physical presence in the country. Because of this, the LLC acts as a pass-through entity where income enters the business, and we pay ourselves into our respective country business accounts where we do pay income tax. This really simplifies any tax obligations as we’re each familiar with our own country’s tax requirements. 

I really recommend using Firstbase if you’re looking to register a remote business in the USA, and you can use my included affiliate link (above) + code PARTNERGIFT2024 to save $25 on their fee.

On the financial side, deciding the personal investment you’re both willing to make, how you’d like to get paid, and your thoughts on investing money back into the business are important topics to cover. With a partnership, the upside is that you can pool resources to help nourish the business, but you do also split the profits.

For splitting profits, it’s a given that you’re splitting work in different ways and so you need to discuss how or if you’ll quantify that work, and how profits will be shared between you.

Money can be a sensitive subject, and ultimately your goal is to make money, so it’s important to have open and honest conversations about what each person needs while also considering long term goals. 

3. Working Together

Defining Roles and Responsibilities:
Assign clear roles, responsibilities and expectations for each person so that all bases are covered. These roles can be flexible, but taking ownership or responsibility of different projects within the business is important. You don’t want to feel bitter than one person is not doing their share of work.

Although we usually approach everything collaboratively, it often happens that one person becomes very passionate about an idea, takes ownership of it and then tells the other person what support they need. Our individual levels of contribution differ through the months and we’re ok with that. 

Establishing Goals:
Talk about what the goals are for the business and its customers, and use those goals to create accountability and guide decision making. This goals should include your company’s WHY to really motivate you to succeed, and of course, make financial goals as well.

These goals don’t have to be set in concrete. They can adapt based on the evolving market, changing customer needs or simply a changing vision as the business grows. We continuously re-evaluate our goals and strategies as we grow. 

Communication and Transparency:
Like any partnership, communication and trust are super important. We speak weekly about business, going back and forth with ideas and feedback. We do regular check-ins, and are always thanking each other for the other’s contributions. Being honest, reliable and accountable with your partner is going to help manage expectations.

Conflict or differences in opinion are inevitable but actually good to have occasionally because it forces you to look at the situation a different way and all different angles. The most important thing is to have mutual respect even when there’s a disagreement. And the way to do that is to approach with an analytical mindset, and to be willing to compromise. I don’t think there has ever been a decision we had to make where we were both willing to die on that hill. Ultimately you have to agree on something to move forward. Prioritize the long-term health of the relationship rather than the individual interest of one small decision that may not even matter months from then. You don’t want to jeopardize the success of the business due to personal feelings.

Nurturing the Partnership:
Our weekly calls start by checking in on a personal level, then we go into business. Even the weeks that we feel we have no business updates to discuss, we talk for the full hour and ideas always percolate.  We celebrate every sale and milestones together even if for a brief second.

Since the beginning we’ve said we’d like to go on a business retreat together so that we can actually meet in person! That has yet to happen and throwing a baby into the mix has put that plan on hold, but it will happen at some point :)

My thoughts and learnings

Up until now, having a business partner worked out better than I could have imagined. I don’t think I would have been able to go through with this business idea if it weren’t for having the support of a business partner. It’s a great feeling to have someone to collaborate with that has the same passion for growing something as you.

Of course you don’t need a business partner to be successful, but for me personally, it makes building a business a lot more fun.