Why You Should Never Partner With Someone Who’s Just Like You
By: Sal Rehmetullah
Tags: Business, Entrepreneurship, Partnerships, Entrepreneur, Startup

Why You Should Never Partner With Someone Who’s Just Like You

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The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question “What are the benefits of starting a company with a partner?” is written by Sal Rehmetullah, co-founder and COO of Fattmerchant.

Starting your own business is hard. While this may seem obvious, the real struggle of the entrepreneur is often clouded by the celebrity success stories of people like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. Although they make it look easy, the life of an entrepreneur is a roller coaster of failures, successes, setbacks, and celebrations. Doing it alone is nearly impossible, and anyone who tells you otherwise is in for a surprise.

Starting your business with a partner is the only way to go. Especially in the beginning, there’s just too much to do. From a very practical standpoint, the solo entrepreneur barely has enough time in the day to tackle all that needs to get done, let alone stay sane and have a decent sleep schedule. With a partner, those struggles and responsibilities are shared, meaning not only can more work get done, but that work is often of a higher quality, since a little more time and energy can go into individual tasks.

The number one thing I learned growing up is that if you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. Surrounding yourself with people you can trust is how you become successful, especially when those people have different strengths than your own. If you decide to partner with someone who never challenges you, your business won’t grow the way you want it to. What’s the point in partnering with someone with the same strengths? You need both sides of the coin not only to make effective decisions, but to bring new ideas to the table you might not have thought of on your own.

My partnership with my sister Suneera is the perfect example. Our company would not be possible without us both at the helm — me for my financial and operations expertise and Suneera for her vision and passion for sales and marketing. Together, we make one incredibly impactful leadership team. If either one of us would have tried to grow Fattmerchant alone, we would not be where we are today.

At the end of the day, sometimes it’s just great to have someone to share a drink with after a hard day, or celebrate with after a big win. Starting your own business is a roller coaster, and no one likes riding a roller coaster alone. Having that second person to share the stress, excitement, disappointment, and happiness with along the way is just as important as having them as a second pair of hands.

Taking on a partner is the right move not because you aren’t dedicated, driven, or passionate enough to handle it on your own, but because your business will suffer in the long run if you assume you can do it all. The combination of practical help, varied expertise, and emotional support make starting a business with a partner the most important decision you can make for your young company. You’ll be happy you did.

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