I know I know, terrible idea right. The two partners are two of my friends from high school.
The thing is, this wasn't my idea to begin with, this was my friends idea. He is business minded but hasn't had any successes in the past (with business). I see huge potential in this idea. The market is proven (we have done the research). We have investors ready to put down cash.
Friend 1 wants the majority share of the business, since it was his baby technically. Friend 2 and me are both "second" in command (think CEO, CFO, COO). We are wondering if friend 1 needs to have 51% of the company in order to make final decisions on everything. Or would 40%/30%/30% work?
As far as business bank accounts go, I'm thinking of creating one bank account and getting 3 debit cards, one for each of us. For the beginning, we all make decisions together. Once we grow, we'll obviously be doing things on our own and reconciling the cards each month. Does anyone see any issues with this?
Anything else I should know? Yes I've read the horror stories. This is not my only business and it will not tie into my other business at all. We've been friends since age 10 and have already had the conversation that business will never come in between that. I will personally sell my share in the company if it comes to that and both of them have agreed to that, should something come up. I also told them that if the company grew to a certain size, I would cash out my shares or be bought out. Yes this is speculation but I feel like it's important to have these conversations before any issues arise.
The thing is, this wasn't my idea to begin with, this was my friends idea. He is business minded but hasn't had any successes in the past (with business). I see huge potential in this idea. The market is proven (we have done the research). We have investors ready to put down cash.
Friend 1 wants the majority share of the business, since it was his baby technically. Friend 2 and me are both "second" in command (think CEO, CFO, COO). We are wondering if friend 1 needs to have 51% of the company in order to make final decisions on everything. Or would 40%/30%/30% work?
As far as business bank accounts go, I'm thinking of creating one bank account and getting 3 debit cards, one for each of us. For the beginning, we all make decisions together. Once we grow, we'll obviously be doing things on our own and reconciling the cards each month. Does anyone see any issues with this?
Anything else I should know? Yes I've read the horror stories. This is not my only business and it will not tie into my other business at all. We've been friends since age 10 and have already had the conversation that business will never come in between that. I will personally sell my share in the company if it comes to that and both of them have agreed to that, should something come up. I also told them that if the company grew to a certain size, I would cash out my shares or be bought out. Yes this is speculation but I feel like it's important to have these conversations before any issues arise.
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