Braucht ein junger Gründer einen Mitgründer?

0:00Unternehmer/Gast So, you have pest control, 200-ish thousand dollars a year, you want to get to 10 million dollars yesterday, and you're not sure what's holding you back. Well, this question might be a little bit different than what you're used to. Where's Ed? >> [laughter] >> He's like He's like, I We went through the whole four things, and tossed out the window. No, I tossed it out the window because I have a partnership question. Okay. I'm 18, and I'm looking at doing a partnership with my buddy who owns the pest control company.

0:25>> Okay. Initially, I made the decision to partner with him Okay. after coming here and talking to as many people as I can, and just absorbing. People are telling me that maybe it's not a good partnership. Okay. Well, what does he have that you don't have? He's aggressive. Okay. I mean, that's I mean, okay. Yeah. >> He He He has >> aggression?

0:50I've [laughter] been asked that. But, he's willing to chase it. They know. >> [laughter] >> They know. He's willing to take a big risk, and and go for it. Okay. Now, he I don't know that he has really a successful track record. Okay. So, I don't >> [laughter] >> Yeah. To me, like I haven't done a partnership before. I'm pretty limited with my my experience with this.

1:14>> does the partnership solve for you? Can like culture. I've been a solopreneur for 2 years, building by myself, and it's Culture? Yeah, this is something where Like culture of you with you? Me with him. This would be my first >> a different word than culture. I'm just I'm just I don't think culture's the right word. Unless you mean it's the rules that govern reinforcement in organization, which I don't think is what you mean.

1:41Everyone's aligned with growing the business and getting better. I do see skill deficits with some of the team members, and For you? >> even the partner. Not Not necess- I mean, obviously, within myself, as well. >> Okay. Do you have any equity in this business? 5% Okay, so bring 2 million revenue in. Okay. So it's a contingent on that. So 5% if you bring 2 million revenue. Correct. So you've zero now. Correct. Ish. Right. And he has 100% and this has $200,000 in revenue currently as a business.

2:11So what stops you from driving $2 million in revenue to your own business? I mean, I guess nothing. Beyond a lot of of course 2 million is a lot of revenue, but What do you have to do to get the 5%? So that's fixed either way. Agreed. I figured it would be easier to do it without having to do the fulfillment side. So I'm in a sales position. Yeah. So that's kind of how I evaluated it. So Is this the first thing you've ever done?

2:42No, I've I've been through some hustles. I I did mailboxes. Mailbox replacements, that's what you >> go down that alley, but >> [laughter] >> Um okay, so what do you want to have happen then? You life. This is not normally how these go by the way. I I know. I know. Um I mean, I want to work with the best, be the best, and be close to the business. Specific.

3:06Business itself, I I don't know beyond that to be honest if I'm being very honest. No, honesty works. Um you know, my first boss, how old are you? 18. Dude. So my first boss that I had, well, my first adult boss, not my first like teenage boss, but that might, you know, kind of apply there, but she said something to me that I that I've taken I've taken to heart, which was um figuring out what you want is 99% of it. Getting what you want is the easy part.

3:37And I think there's a lot to that because like if you really know what you want, then [ __ ] get it. Right? And so I think that it's probably like you might be like, well, I haven't tasted anything. That's okay. So maybe you're in in mode. I think if you don't judge yourself as much, uh you won't constantly have this like existential angst of like, "Am I making the right decision? Am I ruining my life by by making this or that?" And kind of stay in this analysis paralysis cycle.

4:02Alex Um if you've done a handful of hustles, you can go out on your own. If this guy like I would rather you not I would rather you get your experience with an entrepreneur who's more experienced. Okay. Like if I if I want to if I want to earn in at 5%, I would like to go to a business that is at 10 million a year so that I can learn how to do this right cuz the partner and hopefully he's not here and if he's here, sorry.

4:28If you're at $200,000 a year, like you just figured out that your ass is down and your head is up, right? And so it's like you have so you you you know so little compared to what there is to know that like your book he's one step ahead of you. Not a hundred. Yeah. Right? And so I'll zoom out since you guys are both here wherever you are.

4:56Um in order for a partnership to make sense long term and this should make sense for him, too. Now, if he's like, "How do I incentivize the sales guy?" I think the way you did it is a great way to do it. Yeah. But if I'm talking to you, right? If you want to do a partnership, they got to have money you don't have, they got to have skills you don't have, they got to have time you don't have, or they got to have network or distribution you don't have. Those are the things, right? >> Okay. Money, time, experience, skill, distribution.

5:21Those are the things. And so if somebody doesn't have one of those things, then why are we partnering? If we're both the same, then one of us is unnecessary. Cuz if it's like, "Hey, we both like this thing. Let's just like attack it together." Quickly it's like, "Well, I take out the trash and I think that's a 10 out of 10 effort. You take out the trash and I think it's a four out of 10 effort." So one of us will disagree. That's where you see a partnership.

5:47>> Yeah, probably not. Yeah. The like Rockefeller said this and then I'll transition, but um he said it's rare for great businesses to come out of great friendships. But it's common for a great friendship to come out of great businesses. So, if you start with a friendship and then try to build a business, very hard. If you start with a business and then you become friends, much easier.

6:13Alex And so, you would like very tactical advice. And so, I will I will try to leave you with this. Um I would recommend like if you want to keep selling doing what you're doing, that's fine. If you're like, I would like to make $50 million, it won't happen with you owning 5% of this. So, it depends on your goal. You have to figure that out. I can't tell you that. Once you figure out that goal, then you think about what path is the highest likely to getting there. It might not be you starting that on your own right now.

6:39Alex It might be I take 4 years to learn what it looks like in a company that's going from 10 to 100 or from two to 20. And then once you get that feeling of what it looks like to do it right, then you can peel off and do your own thing. But I think it's wildly under undervalued for someone who's starting out to get into I'd say a company that's at call it 15-ish head count to like scaling from 15 to 100-ish. You learn so much in that setting that it's worth letting someone else take that risk so you can learn how to do it right. Um but [snorts] it'll still start with what you want to do. If you're like, I would like to make $100,000 a year, you can just do that right now.

7:17And you could you could disregard everything I say and just go sell. Um but once you uh if you're like, I want to make 10 or whatever, then you can still do that, but just know that as you're following that path, the goal is for you to learn not earn. Yeah. Right? Yeah. You're in maximizing skill acquisition mode right now. Okay. That's the entire point. And that was a very long answer to your question of if you want to keep selling, dude, you can keep selling. Just make sure that you're learning everything else about the business. If you don't feel like you're learning everything else about the business, you can start your own or go to a business that is going to do that. You said you wanted a partner. Realistically, you getting 5% is not you being a partner. It's you you having a stake in the company. Very different. Okay.

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