Partnership Vision Exercise
Share
A framework for aligning with potential business partners before committing, based on experiences shared by Sam Parr and Shaan Puri.
Core Exercise Components
- Write down separately, then compare:
- What success looks like in 10 years
- What you're willing to give up to achieve that
- Day-to-day values and how you want to get there
- Scenarios to test value alignment
Key Areas to Align On
-
Personal Goals
- Desired net worth targets
- Lifestyle preferences (work hours, location flexibility)
- Role in children's/family life
- Real estate ownership goals
-
Business Approach
- Revenue targets (e.g. $100M in 5 years)
- Work style (40-hour weeks, few meetings)
- Employee structure preferences
- Aggressiveness in business strategy
-
Ethical Scenarios
- How to handle "Lance Armstrong situations" - cheating when everyone else is
- Approach to controversial decisions
- Response to ethical dilemmas
Benefits
- Reveals misalignments early
- More permanent than marriage - harder to undo
- Prevents expensive mistakes later
- Creates clear expectations
- Tests compatibility before commitment
Implementation Tips
- Do this exercise early in partnership discussions
- Be honest about personal values and goals
- Document and compare answers
- Discuss areas of misalignment
- Use specific scenarios to test values
- Consider it similar to a marriage commitment
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.