No, this isn’t dating advice.

But, much like in relationships, if you don’t properly test your business partnerships before committing you might be left regretting.

It’s essential to do due dilligences. Maybe your great friend won’t make a great business partner or your ex-colleague was excellent in a certain context but will be terrible in what you’re offering…

With any partnership – short or long – reliability is key. You need to be able to predict what you’re going to get.

Trial under fire is the only way to be sure of this. Test the relationship, motivation and skills on low impact projects with irrealisitc deadlines and irrealistic requirements to make the real personality come out.

The more commitment you’re asking for (eg. long term partnerships) or the further the geographical distance (eg. outsourcing), the more tests you should do before partnering.

Make sure you really know who you’re getting involved with. Don’t forget to date if you plan on getting married. ;)