November 2013 - Page 2 of 2

Hong Kong Trip

I just returned from Hong Kong today. It was a great trip and very positive in many ways. Maybe I should go there more often… There were two main reasons for the trip this time: to finalize the incorporation for a new start up company, and to speak at the Hong Kong University MBA Business Lab program. On top of that I managed to squeeze in some business meetings as well, just to make sure that there would not be any laziness involved. After all it’s Hong Kong – one of Asia’s most hectic business centres!

Hong_Kong_Skyline

Yesterday morning two of my business associates and I met with our trusted accounting partner, who handles Hong Kong company incorporations. I have to confess that I was expecting quite a signature marathon and was prepared defend my existence at the bank ‘interrogation’, same as last time. To my major surprise things just went incredibly smoothly. After less than 10 signatures, we were done with the accountant, and headed to HSBC’s business banking center. The previous time we had to go to a personal banking branch’s sleazy business service section, where a guy who looked like a high school sophomore, was asking questions like “what happens to your job in the company, when you find someone who knows your job better?”

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How to choose the right business partner?

Find the right business partner

Working in multiple startup projects has put me encounters with various people, which has been an excellent learning experience. Some, actually most of them have been and still are just simply great people. Decisions are made easy and it’s just an absolutely pleasure to keep working with them. Usually these projects have successfully moved fast forward. The people and the team dynamism has been a major contributor.

However, then there is the counter part: the negative and difficult people. Everything starts with a “no”, new ideas have to be sold to them, like they were your worst nightmare VC investors. They are always going to different direction than others in the team. Communication is really painful. They think their ideas are great, but when not executable the response is usually hostile. They can really be the killers of a startup, because they drain the energy of others with pointless arguments, and drive the team to focus on wrong things.

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There are multiple reasons why we end up in a situation of having difficult business partners. Maybe they didn’t show their true colors at the beginning, or we didn’t and they built a different image of us. Or perhaps we didn’t see the signs soon enough.

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