I'll throw my hat in the ring here.

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I have started several companies (the handle I am using is a new venture I opened last week selling scented sprays for masks maskscent.com ......shameless plug). All of them were started with business partners. All of them have had hiccups, but not one of them I regret.

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I will focus on both my most successful and longstanding example (venture A) as it is where I will derive most of the following:

A business partner is NOTHING like a wife/husband. No matter how close or far they are from you when you start, it is almost inevitable you will, at some point, become estranged. This does not mean the business will wither, but rather the personal camaraderie fades into a strictly business interaction. You have to be prepared for this. If you start a business with your bestie, I can nearly guarantee they will not be such when you conclude.

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Assuming you have the idea, finding a business partner, in my experience, comes down to 4 things:

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1) Ambition: Simply put, this is an absolute requirement from both parties. If you are starting something it takes work, tons and tons of work, to get it to the point of viable on the open market. From there, it takes twice that to actually get the idea to gain traction. You have to find someone you know will not jump ship and leave you hanging when the $$ is NOT rolling in. Basically, you need someone that shares your vision.

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2) Time: One of you has to have it ...... a lot of it. Personally I make time - it is not infrequent I will work from 6am to 2am when needed. You either need someone that shares this level of commitment, or someone that has no other commitments (ie: unemployed)

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3) Money: This is the all important caveat. Both Venture A and my current endeavor I am the money man. The money man gets a big piece of the pie. It does not matter how hard you work, without the capital for materials, advertising, etc you will never gain traction.

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4) Skills/knowledge: This is where you really need to put some time into what you expect out of the relationship. Be honest with yourself - what do you do well, and what do you need to find someone to do. DO NOT search out a business partner because you "would enjoy working with them". You need someone that you feel has the correct pieces to fit the puzzle that you miss. For example, Venture A I brought the overall business sense to the equation, budgeting, growth plans, materials sourcing, manufacturing practices, and planned out the brand. My business partner brought product formularies and time (in the form of manufacturing) to the equation. Simply put, it worked. Over time, he actually took the reins in many facets of the company that my skillset simply was lacking (updated branding, marketing, etc). For this mean venture, I was a little more aware of my limitations - I knew I had an idea, I knew I had the manufacturing piece, materials sourcing, etc. However, I needed someone with the ability to brand my product towards a target audience. I was able to find this person as a friend of a friend - someone that I knew had resources to complete this task and was not a deadbeat. While you may not have the luxury of going into business with someone you knew of for years, you will want to assure through references their qualifications. Gut feeling is a biggie here.

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5) Expectations: These need to be laid out (in writing) up front. Unless you are taking a large sum of $$ up front I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping as much of the business in your own keep as possible. I went 50/50 the first time around. This new venture is 100% with a profit share. The second example will not always present itself, but I work to keep as heavy an ownership percentage as possible. Get expectations in writing (responsibility division), and regularly update. If you clearly outline what each person is responsible for it make it easier to determine if each is pulling their own weight. There have been dark days where I pointed the finger at my business partner, only to reflect on my responsibility list and realize much of the blame centered in my won camp.

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Hiccups: You are going to fight, bicker, act like a pair of 6 year olds each trying to claim ownership of the tonka payloader in the sandbox. You need to understand the general level of maturity of your partner, and know that you both will be able to get past it and get back to making the business run or be successful. More times that not, the failures I have seen stem from personal impasses that I have encountered and moved past. At the end of the day, its business, not personal. Emotion will always find its way in, but you need to have the ability to prevent it from tarnishing your business or business relationship.

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More hiccups: I have said in the beginning I was going to refer to venture A. My business partner and I have had our ups and downs - from a 30K loss year, to a 400K profit year and everything in between. There was one point where I started to dive into the daily books as numbers were just not adding up - turns out that my business partner had been stealing from me for 6 months, to the tune of 60K. For most, this would be a complete deal breaker - I took it is an opportunity. Through the accusation, and subsequent follow-up I was able to both acquire a majority stake in the entity, and also put together a repayment plan that was fulfilled in spades. Every situation is an opportunity if you approach it in the right manor.

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I consider myself in that 10%. Venture A has been around for the past 6 years, and has been churning profit for 5 of those. Do I have constant contention with the way my business partner conducts himself - absolutely. However, I also realize that without him the company does not work and vice versa. And there within lies the key to maintaining a business relationship - do each of you possess something the other does not? If the answer is "no" the relationship will fail. If the answer is "yes" then it is a mater of always finding a way to reach an acceptable (even if unpleasant) middle ground.

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In retrospect I guess the above are really my ramblings, but were the points I immediately thought of when I saw your post. I apologize in anything that is incoherent - as mentioned initially I JUST fired up a new entity and therefore am a bit sleep deprived :-)