Stan-James 20-Year Partnership

Shaan shares a story about learning the secret to successful long-term business partnerships from Stan Chabnowski.

"I met Stan Chabnowski, who had been business partners with James Currier for 20 years. Stan had created companies with James, sold Tickle for around $100 million to Monster, and eventually went to work at Facebook running Messenger after Zuck recruited him for 10 years.

I asked him how James handled Stan going to Facebook, wondering if it put stress on their relationship. Stan laughed and said it wasn't an issue because they had such a strong partnership.

I asked him how they maintained such a successful partnership for 20 years. He said the secret is simple: turn it into a giving contest. He explained that 98% of relationships are taking contests, where you're asking what you're getting out of the relationship. But with James, he's constantly trying to figure out how to make their relationship pie bigger by giving more. Even when Stan wasn't giving as much, James just kept giving. The beauty is that when you're with somebody wired that way and you start doing it too, your relationship pie grows like crazy."