Anyways we debated this topic for a while – do you start alone and hire employees or do you start with partners? Which way would you go?
Some points which came up.
In favor of partners
- Employees are mostly passive. Even if they are actively involved in the decision making in the beginning, they tend to become passive once they settle into their comfort zone. Partners always stay on their toes, because of the sense of ownership.
- You ‘cannot’ ask an employee to work on your project after 11PM or to send a mail at 2AM. You ‘don’t have to’ ask a partner to do that, he does it on his own.
- Employees take leaves. Partners do not 🙂 Instead they push you to work harder.
- Employees rely on you for decisions and will mostly support you with whatever you say. Partners will debate, disagree and mostly provide with a new train of thought and possibly a new angle of implementation too.
- Employees will always have to be paid, whether you earn or not. Partners take the cut when times are bad and get bonuses when you do good. But then again, good partners are the reason you do good.
In favor of employees
- Partners tend to debate a lot if the roles are not very well defined. Employees save time by implementing and testing first hand if it works or not.
- Employees make sure you maintain a balance between work and life. Workaholic partners will make sure it stays disturbed.
- Employees will have to be paid a fixed salary even when profits are good. Partners will bask in the extra profits themselves.
- Relieving an employee is way easier than asking a partner to leave (in case of poor performance)
- Employees are easy to find, partners (with a vision as dedicated as you yourself) almost impossible!
Don’t confuse it as a tie at 5-5 because some points carry differential weightage. My vote – in favor of a dedicated (founding or non-founding) partner rather than an employee, although at 1 point both become essentially and equally necessary.
P.S. I started my quest with 2 partners, who eventually left and now I have employees. So I guess I have seen both ends of the coin.
#image source: Bloomberg Businessweek