6 Challenges Confronting Every Business Partnership (Newell, 2015) : The following are examples are the most egregious causes of challenges and failures to a potentially prosperous partnership.

1. Different management styles: Different management styles don’t have to be a big problem. Some partnerships take on parental dynamic: one is a disciplinarian who is task-oriented, slightly distant and intent to get things done. The other is laissez-faire, relatable and prioritizes a ''chill'' company culture over a well-oiled machine. In the best case scenario, one lays down the law and keeps the ship on course, while the other keeps employees happy (Newell, 2015) .Different styles don't have to mean the end of a partnership; sometimes they are complimentary to one another. but the dynamic of the different styles must have the same goal always in mind.
   
   
2. Personal habits: In the early stages of a new company, the rules for maintaining a work-life balance don’t really apply for founding members. Those who have offices can expect to stay there well past traditional quitting time. A lot of people can’t take the pressure. There’s a huge range of different vices and vulnerabilities that can jeopardize a business partnership, especially if there are no other employees: substance abuse, alcohol, lapses in ethics, and mental health issues (Newell, 2015). This is a difficulty for all partnerships and should be add5ressed early on before forming the partnership then constantly monitored through evaluation strategies.
   
3. Financial problems and equity: Another struggle many partnerships face is the nature of the partnership. After all, not every team is split 50/50. The founder might be willing to put up all the money and just needs tech or business help to get it off the ground. In this case, how is equity divided? How is the secondary partner valued? Are the guidelines absolutely clear to both parties involved? These questions should be addressed at the end of the courting period, but it’s eminently important that there are no lingering tensions going forward (Newell, 2015) The most common reason for a business is to fail is money mismanagement or under funding; a partnership is no different. Once again, this problem should be spelled out in the partnership agreement and monitored closely with evaluation strategies.
   
4. Setting boundaries: If partners become best friends there’s a chance that every decision or disagreement could be taken personally. Best friends who become business partners can face unexpected situations that compromise their professional and personal relationship. On the other hand, best friends who know each other really well might understand how to keep each other motivated and how to balance work and each others’ strengths and weaknesses while maintaining a unified vision (Newell, 2015). Being partners and close friends or life-partners can be a very slippery slope; business should always be separate and never taken personal, otherwise the friendship and the partnership could end very badly.
   
5. Commitment levels". Much like issues over equity and financial contribution, it’s necessary to be perfectly clear on what each partner is looking for. One might just be in it for the experience, but not willing to put in the time and dedication required. Maybe they want in but keep their day job, invest little money, or lack needed skills outside of their own specialization. This will become harder to navigate as the startup experiences ups and downs. A partner who is excited in the first month might not be as excited by the seventh month (Newell, 2015). Once again, this problem can be avoided by clear expectations drawn out in the partnership agreement and monitored using evaluation strategies.
   
6. Disparities in skills and roles: Entrepreneurs understandably seek partners who are at least as experienced as themselves to jumpstart the business but that doesn’t always happen. After all, they’re asking someone to quit their day job, take a huge salary cut (if they’re lucky enough to get a salary!) and live on their savings to follow a vision that hasn’t been actualized yet. Few established professionals are willing to take these risks. Then it becomes a matter of finding anyone willing with the kind of qualifications you’re looking for. Eventually, this means that while it’s a learning process for both parties, it’s more of a learning process for one person and no one wants to be, or work with, a co-founder who can’t keep up with the company. Look for a business partner with a demonstrated ability to work hard for long hours, and a keen willingness to learn new skills and experiment with ideas. Building a relationship with a business partner requires just as much work as any marriage. By being aware of the challenges you will face, you can be prepared (Newell, 2015). This can be overcame by spelling out expectations in the early goings of the forming of any partnership. As long as both parties are in agreement about one another's level of skill, and one is deficient, this shortcoming can be over came with a shared vision and goal to keep the partnership moving forward.

To create effective partnerships, you need to:

• Develop a vision for the company that people must opt-in to before joining. You want people to self-select into the partnership based on vision and value congruence vs. simply joining to earn a paycheck. Otherwise, you’ll have to keep paying them more to keep them around ? just like pro sport clubs have to do with talented free agents. A good example: Michael Fertik and Owen Tripp developed a strong, clear vision for their business model that eventually created the company Reputation.com. The clarity of their model was one of the reasons a lot of strong business leaders and employees were attracted to the organization (Robinson, n.d.).
• Be clear about your values and only bring on partners who concur. Resist the temptation to bring on rainmakers who do not share your values. Value misalignment can create conflicts in approach to business development, delivery of services and how you treat one another. For example, unclear values and lack of enforcement probably helped sink Arthur Anderson by, at the minimum, not discouraging certain behaviors and conduct. Arthur Anderson had great rainmakers who helped grow AA to be one of the largest professional services firms but the values and behaviors of some partners ended up sinking the organization (Robinson, n.d.).
• Develop a clear decision making process. Without a clear understanding and agreement on how decisions are to be made, partners will end up feeling that their views weren’t adequately considered. Or, they end up doing what they want to do because they didn’t understand, agree with or buy-into the decisions and directions that they believed were made. As a result, decisions you thought were made end up in the dustpan of disregard and irrelevance.
• Develop a compensation structure that rewards both rainmaking and teamwork. When it’s all said and done, people do what they are paid for (Robinson, n.d.).
• Develop a culture where everyone learns how to be a rainmaker. You need to create a mind set that everyone is in the sales and marketing business and is responsible for not only delivering services (the easy job) but bringing in new business. Some people will be more naturally effective at rainmaking but everyone can learn to do it more effectively in a way that is congruent with his or her personality. For example, for some introverted partners, writing articles and white papers for publication (great marketing technique) is easier than doing the much dreaded networking? dance (Robinson, n.d.).
• Be sure to nurture the relationships within the partnership, not just take care of client work. Remember, people work together for more than making money (Robinson, n.d.).
• Be clear about the end game for the partnership, e.g., to be acquired, to grow into a powerhouse or to be a lifestyle business. Answers to that question will help determine the strategic direction for the partnership and the action steps to achieve the goals. A lifestyle business will require a different strategy than building a business that will become an attractive buyout candidate. You want people to join the partnership with a clear understanding and agreement about the goal of the partnership. This is a corollary to developing a vision. Vision is the raison d’etre, while the end game helps people know how they will be able to cash out or retire (Robinson, n.d.).
• Determine in advance how partners can exit gracefully if they determine it’s time to move on, e.g., financial aspects of the separation. All it takes is one bad exit to tank a partnership through all the bad press and karma. You want ex-partners to remember and talk well of their time at your company. Think of all the ex-McKinsey partners running companies who hire McKinsey. Make it possible for your ex-partners to want to refer business to their alma mater (Robinson, n.d.).

If you follow these guidelines the odds will be in your favor to create a successful partnership