Business advice

I went to my old office yesterday to check in code for some contract work I did for them. Since I was going to be in the office, I had made an appointment with my old boss, who use to be the president of the company I worked for until they were acquired by a bigger company. I wanted to get some business advice and he had offered to help me out when I first started out, so I took him up on that offer.

He's a very smart guy. He has degrees in math and computer science, and although he successfully ran the company for years, he went back to school (while working full time) to get an MBA. My primary question for him was on how I should structure a business partnership I am negotiating with a company. Although he had a partner when running our former company, he was the one that decided who to create partnerships with and how best to arrange them, so I knew he could help me out. And he did give me some good advice in that area.

The other question I asked him was whether I needed a partner. I knew he had a good partner that focused on the sales side and wondered if he could have done what he did on his own. I often wish I had a partner to share ideas with and take over certain parts of the business. He said in his case, he needed someone to do sales. It wasn't his area of expertise. He told me "Don't get a partner because you're lonely."

He said I don't need a partner unless the business is growing and there is an obvious void that someone could fill, more than just an employee. An area of the business they could take over. It makes sense. And at the moment, all I really need is some help with development, which Thom is going to try to do (or which I can hire a contractor to do). And I've got a friend lined up to help out with QA and support (if I'm lucky enough to need it). So for the time being, I'll stop thinking about wanting a partner and wait for it to become obvious I need one.