In this class, we discussed the main factors that affect a business or a market:
- Capital
- Labour
- Target market: Customers
- Partners
Further, we discussed whether it is better or not to have a partner and the aspects to keep in mind while choosing a partner, like:
- requirement of capital
- scale of capital
- duration of capital
- skill sets (that would compliment your skills)
- goodwill/reputation
- profit sharing decision
I understood that there is a lot of thought that goes down and one really needs to keep these aspects in mind while choosing a business partner. People tend to think emotionally and end up choosing a friend as their partner but that is not the best way to choose a business partner because trust is just one of the aspects. Before anything else, a person first needs to self evaluate their skills and requirements before seeking for a set of skills in some other person. In business, it is not always necessary to divide the profit shares equally, it totally depends on the requirement of the business.
Reading plays a very important role in building these management skills. Therefore, it is very important to read heavy, light, and self development articles whenever possible. We were also told about these two books on entrepreneurship: The lean start-up, Zero to one.
I did not only learn the importance of having a business partner. More importantly, I understood the importance of keeping certain factors in mind while choosing a partner. My way of picking a partner in future will definitely be more reasonable after this class.
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