A
Anon79341
Guest
Hello people!
I have a little dilemma with partnering to run a business.
I had this idea a few weeks ago to start an ecommerce that sells fresh vegetables in packs, e.g. kale+lettuce+mini tomatoes and so (distribution only in one city). The idea is partly validated tbh. But I better started doing something about it.
I decided to partner with my mother (because she owns a little store that sells this kind of products in a local market) and she loved the idea of making a more scalable bussines together. She'd run the operations side (inventory and distribution) and I'd run the digital channels and marketing. So far, we've developed the offer, calculated the costs, make some promotion and getting us to know.
Initially we were going to run the business 50/50, which we both agreed. But like in a week, she decided to include another partner around her age, who would provide us with capital to start (like a venture capitalist at a lower scale) but in exchange of 50% of the profits. He's a great person and she and I have worked with him before. The thing is, I don't know if it is that wise to go that way, although I don't have a problem giving a major participation to my mother if she will be working full time on it (35% for her, 15% for me), I don't feel comfortable with the idea of giving away half the effort to an investor, specially at an early stage.
Finally, she never asked me before making that decision, which is fine is she followed her intuition. From what she told me, she's looking for a good safety net to start. Maybe we don't have the same expectations.
From one side, I think I should feel grateful that someone is willing to invest in this and take it as experience (in sales, marketing and running a business in general) but with a lower participation role. But in the other hand, I'd feel badly controlled if someone else owns 50% of the business, being told what to do is not what sparked my interest in the first place.
I'd love to hear any comments if you have.
Thank you very much.
I have a little dilemma with partnering to run a business.
I had this idea a few weeks ago to start an ecommerce that sells fresh vegetables in packs, e.g. kale+lettuce+mini tomatoes and so (distribution only in one city). The idea is partly validated tbh. But I better started doing something about it.
I decided to partner with my mother (because she owns a little store that sells this kind of products in a local market) and she loved the idea of making a more scalable bussines together. She'd run the operations side (inventory and distribution) and I'd run the digital channels and marketing. So far, we've developed the offer, calculated the costs, make some promotion and getting us to know.
Initially we were going to run the business 50/50, which we both agreed. But like in a week, she decided to include another partner around her age, who would provide us with capital to start (like a venture capitalist at a lower scale) but in exchange of 50% of the profits. He's a great person and she and I have worked with him before. The thing is, I don't know if it is that wise to go that way, although I don't have a problem giving a major participation to my mother if she will be working full time on it (35% for her, 15% for me), I don't feel comfortable with the idea of giving away half the effort to an investor, specially at an early stage.
Finally, she never asked me before making that decision, which is fine is she followed her intuition. From what she told me, she's looking for a good safety net to start. Maybe we don't have the same expectations.
From one side, I think I should feel grateful that someone is willing to invest in this and take it as experience (in sales, marketing and running a business in general) but with a lower participation role. But in the other hand, I'd feel badly controlled if someone else owns 50% of the business, being told what to do is not what sparked my interest in the first place.
I'd love to hear any comments if you have.
Thank you very much.
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.