Once upon a time, there was a fox that had fallen into a well. A thirsty goat ambled by and asked the fox if the water was good. The fox told the goat that he had never tasted such clear, pure, water in his life. The goat was so thirsty, that he went into the well to drink his fill, without thinking how he would get back out of the well. Once there, the fox suggested that the goat stand on his hind haunches so that the fox could nip up to the top, and then pull up the goat after him. The goat happily complied. However, once the fox climbed out of the well, he soon made off in another direction. “Wait!” cried the goat. “You broke our agreement! You promised to help me out of here!” The fox replied, “You have more hairs in your beard than brains in your head, Mr. Goat. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone down the well without thinking how you were going to get up.”
This Aesop’s fable tells us a lot about trust, collaboration, and—for the purposes of this article—having a plan. Plans are especially important when it comes to choosing a potential business partner. So often, the promise of “something new” (like new love) can make us blind to the realities, the quirks and the weaknesses, of the business relationship.
For example, there are a number of entrepreneurs who have formed a new business entity with a co-owner without having worked out the details of how the business will be owned, what each owner will be expected to contribute, and under what circumstances each can leave the company. Each issue by itself could wreck the company if the owners can’t reach an agreement. That’ s why having a business owner agreement - whether a partnership agreement for a partnership, a shareholders’ agreement for a corporation, or an operating agreement for an LLC—is such an essential first step … perhaps even more important than forming the company itself. You can always form a company after you reach an agreement with your co-owner. But dissolving a company because you can’t reach an agreement with your co-owners is, well, a sad waste of money and time.
