I would have to wholeheartedly say that you do not absolutely need to have a partner to succeed. Having employees can work just as well. The difference between employees and partners is marginal, at best. If the future of the company is on the line, either one is going to step up and do what it takes to make sure that the job gets done. For a partner, it is vital to their ongoing success. For an employee, it is their job and family on the line. Realistically, there is little difference.

The biggest issue you will probably run into is that employees might not feel as though they can tell you directly that you’re doing something stupid. You need to make it very clear when hiring people that one of your expectations is that they challenge you to explain why you think you are doing the right thing. I’ve been told I was doing something stupid by employees and then taken a different direction after discussing it with them. Again, you just need to communicate that up front.

I don’t have anything specifically against partnerships. In fact, I have a number of business arrangements where I do have partnerships. But I feel like it is misleading to people to say that you always need to have a partner.

Good question! Wow… more to think about than I thought

If this is a timely article for any of you and you’re debating whether to be a solopreneur or work with a partner, I found a really great article by Mike Taber: http://www.miketaber.net/2006/10/23/thesinglefoundermyth/

This is a featured post at BrazenCareerist.com today. Serial entrepreneur, Nathan Lustig, of http://www.nathanlustig.com left the following comment in response to this post and I thought I would share it because he makes some good points:

You are correct that it can be hard to find someone who is as passionate and hard working as you are to be a partner in your startup, but I think its almost necessary to have a partner if you want to build something big.

Sometimes not having a partner sends up red flags to possible investors, advisors and employees, as they fear your idea must not be that good if you can’t find someone who thinks you or your idea is good enough.

I also think its important to have someone who you can bounce ideas off of and call you out when you are doing something rash or taking the company in a new direction. I’ve found having another point of view on the ownership level is key to my startups. I also think that even if you are able to build a nice foundation in a startup, as you build and become successful you will need to bring in a partner or two, not just employees.

You can’t be good at everything. I think having the right partner who compliments your strengths and weaknesses well is key to success. As long as you go into a partnership agreement having talked through the issues beforehand, you can still work flexible hours and run the business the way you want to.