Make no mistake about it, no matter how many “cooks” you have running around, there can be only one head chef. It’s somewhat amazing how many partners go into a business and split the ownership 50% / 50% — such an approach is almost certainly doomed to failure, particularly if both partners are very entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurs by their nature tend to want to be in charge – they are control oriented – it just comes with the territory. You cannot have two chiefs. I have heard of situations where there are three “co-Presidents”, in a company of less than fifty people – this makes no sense. If you are in business with one or more partners, its’ very important that you agree up front who is in charge – someone must have the final say. Otherwise you will end up in many deadlocked situations that will absolutely kill your efficiency and halt your progress. Whether or not this “control” (who runs the show) is reflected in the ownership structure of the venture, make sure that it is agreed to contractually and well-understood by all from the very start. If you don’t, you are asking for serious problems.
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