Dr. Rafi Hofstein is among the experts featured in this month’s “One question, three experts” post on the MaRS Discovery District blog.
This regular feature addresses some of the challenges that start-ups face by asking three experts to respond to a different question each month — anything from marketing and financing guidance to advice on partnerships and mentors.
Here’s Hofstein’s response:
The first question to define is “partnership with whom?”
You will face very different issues when, for example, partnering with another founder to create a company together than you do when negotiating a relationship between a startup and a more established company.
If pursuing the latter type of partnership, the two most important points to examine are:
- What level of commitment is the partner company making to your technology? What will happen if your visions for the technology diverge? Protect your company’s long-term interests through a pre-nup agreement.
- Are your skill sets complementary? What does your partner bring to the table that you don’t have? Ideally, you should pursue partnerships where 1 + 1 equals 3 or more.
To read the full post, including responses from Lance Laking, MaRS entrepreneur-in-residence and advisor, and Susan Morais, business lawyer and strategist at the MaRS legal clinic, visit the MaRS blog.
Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, marketing and communications manager.
– See more at: http://www.marsdd.com/2013/03/01/one-question-three-experts-partnerships/#sthash.Hiw9BUGz.dpuf