Create a Truly Successful Joint Venture Level - Profit Than You

India (SANEPR.com) July 17, 2008 -- Can you give us a quick summary of your latest joint venture?
My latest Joint Venture has actually led into more of a complete partnership than a Joint Venture. My partner and I decided to produce our first product
for home-based businesses. Prior to this, both he and I had been service related entirely, and we both catered to the same niche markets. We identified a need in these niche markets that wasn't being resolved by our service businesses and developed the product around this need.
Would you mind explaining a little about the benefits of working with
your JV partner instead of outsourcing?
It definitely saves money over outsourcing, but overall I don't think this
type of creation was "outsource able" at all. It's a very technology driven product and my partner had the technical skills I lacked. It's a bit of a work heavy product too, so he and I did need to have a partner in order to effectively and quickly produce it. Our other businesses also cut into our time so neither one of us had the time to devote to outsourcing of the development of this product. Outsourcing is many times more work heavy than others imagine.
You mentioned that you and your partner already knew each other quite well before embarking on this joint project. Would you have considered a similar partnership with someone that you didn't already know - if they had the same thing to offer?
I would consider other JVs/partnerships only if the person offering them had a proven track record of business success themselves and could work effectively with me. My partner, David Doggett and I were both in business for almost the same number of years and shared the same knowledge base and methods of doing business. The product we created was significantly different than others out there, and it is a multi-media online marketing application for small to mid-sized home businesses, so a knowledge of this market was needed by both.
Your project was obviously a success on many different levels. In your
mind, what were the key "ingredients" that made it successful?
This was the easiest question for me because I know exactly why this product succeeded for both Dave and I so well, and why our partnership flourished:
A. We both shared the same knowledge base and past experiences, and we both
functioned within many of the same target markets prior to the creation of this product.
B. We both had a good solid knowledge of business principles and of marketing.
C. We had enjoyed working with each other prior to our partnership.
D. We both discussed our expectations and approaches completely before proceeding.
E. And what I consider MOST important: Our personalities work well together. We don't have the SAME personalities (Dave is the calm one, while I am the emotional one), but our personalities complement each other and lead to our working flawlessly together as well as working flawlessly with clients. We instinctively pick up certain chores within the business, which suits each of our personalities. We almost always agree on everything, and when we don't, we discuss things rationally. Dave and I "respected" each other and what we had done with our lives and our businesses PRIOR to the creation of our partnership. It is that mutual respect for each other that really makes the partnership flow smoothly at all times.
Obviously both yourself and your JV partner were investing a lot of resources, time and faith (so to speak) into your joint-project. Did you have an agreement in place that protected both of you in case anything went wrong?
I are really just now getting a legal agreement together. We had started this in the beginning of the partnership, and planned to have it completed before the product took off. The product was so enormously popular, so quickly, though, that we got caught up in the creation of more styles of the product and the usual customer service, that Dave and I are just now finishing our agreement in writing. Neither one of us is really in any hurry, I guess, as both of us are so comfortable with each other. I guess if we didn't know each other as well as we do, this would not be the case.
You mentioned that the JV had a bit of a mysterious "ripple effect" - increasing activity in each of your own separate businesses as well - even though the joint-product belonged to a different subsidiary company. Can you give us a few details about this phenomenon?
This was the greatest surprise to both Dave and I. We planned to launch the product and simply continue our efforts in our own service businesses the way we always had. When we launched the product though, interest in the product AS WELL AS our other services exploded, and we have an influx of work that continues even now for all our products and services.
The new product line worked as an advertisement for all our services to new clients. In addition, existing clients now wanted MORE of both my services and Dave's as now we were a "complete package" helping them to get everything they needed in one location. We now promote our prior services "as one" also, as this does increase business for both of us exponentially.
Alot of our readers are likely trying to sort out how set up a Joint Venture so that it actually works, and so that everyone wins. Do you have any advice that you can offer in regards to turning an "agreement" into a working, thriving partnership?
The best piece of advice I can give is to actually like and respect the other person. If that doesn't exist right from the beginning, nothing will happen, as too many debates will occur. It's actually a trust factor that really takes time to develop perhaps. Dave and I don't "step on each others' toes" as far as decisions, as I trust him completely to make the right ones and I know without a doubt that he trusts me the same. We constantly make decisions within the business without worrying that the other will disagree.
This also is because our goals/expectations are the same. Everything is split 50/50 and we are brutally honest at all times with each other. We made a commitment not just to the product, but to our partnership, and even without this particular product, Dave and I would continue together to create others. There's such a level of commitment as partners that Dave and I share, it's really hard to describe to others.
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