Partnering with someone can get a project further than either of you could alone. One person has the skills, the other has the audience. One writes, the other designs. Put them together and things happen.
It can also go sideways fast. Most partnership blowups don't start with a villain. They start with two people who were excited, shook hands, and never wrote down who does what or who gets paid how.
By the end of this, you'll know what a joint venture is, what each side should bring, what to put in writing before you build a single thing, how to start small, and which warning signs mean you should walk away.
The short version
- A joint venture is two or more people teaming up on a specific project and splitting the results.
- Put roles, the money split, ownership, refunds and exit plans in writing before you build anything.
- Start with a small project and use shared numbers both partners can see, so nobody has to trust blindly.
What a joint venture actually is
A joint venture, or JV, is when two or more people or businesses team up on a specific project and share the work, the costs and the results.
The key word is specific. A JV is usually about one thing: one product, one bundle, one event, one course. It's not the same as merging your whole business with someone else's. You stay separate. You just work together on this one project.
Some common examples for side hustlers:
- Two creators make a product together and split the sales
- A writer and a designer build an ebook, one writing, one doing the layout
- Several people bundle their products together and each promotes the bundle
- Someone with an audience partners with someone who has a product that audience needs
What each side brings
A good partnership is one where each person brings something the other doesn't have. If you both bring the same thing, you're not partners, you're twins.
Before you agree to anything, get specific about what each person is actually contributing. Things people commonly bring:
- Skills like writing, design, building websites, or video
- An audience, meaning an email list or followers who trust them
- Time, as in who's actually going to do the work
- Money, for tools, ads or other costs
- Existing assets, like a product, a template, or content they already made
Write it down for both sides. "Pat writes the guide and handles customer questions. Jordan designs the layout, builds the sales page, and emails their list twice."
If one side's list is long and the other's is two words, that's worth talking about now, not after.
Put it in writing before you build anything
This is the heart of it. Write the agreement before anyone builds anything. Excitement fades. A written agreement doesn't.
It doesn't have to start as a formal contract. Even a shared document you both read and agree to is far better than nothing. For bigger projects, have a lawyer turn it into a proper agreement.
Here's what to cover.
Roles
Who does what, specifically. Who builds the product, who writes the sales page, who handles customer emails, who handles refunds, who owns the checkout account. Also: what's the deadline for each piece?
The split
How the money gets divided. Is it even? Weighted by who did more? Different for sales from each person's audience? Write the actual split down. Also cover:
- Is the split on the sale price, or after payment fees and costs?
- Who pays for shared costs like tools or ads, and is that taken out first?
- How often does money get divided, and by whom?
Who owns what
This is the one people forget. If you build a product together, who owns it? Can either of you sell it alone later? Can you reuse parts of it? What about the customer list from the launch?
A common approach is that each person keeps owning what they brought in, and the joint product is owned together. But "common" isn't "automatic." Write down what you agree.
Refunds
When a buyer gets a refund, how is that handled? Usually each partner's share gets reduced by their part of the refund, but agree on it up front. Also agree on who processes refunds and what the refund policy is.
What happens if someone leaves
People get busy, get sick, change their minds, or just lose interest. Plan for it now, while everybody still likes each other.
- If one person stops doing their part, what happens?
- Can someone exit, and with how much notice?
- Does the product keep selling after someone leaves? Who gets paid then?
- How do you end the whole thing if you both want out?
Start small
Your first project with a new partner shouldn't be a giant one. Don't plan a twelve-product empire with someone you met in a group chat last month.
Start with something small and short:
- One small product
- One bundle with a clear end date
- One shared promotion
Small projects let you learn how the other person works. Do they hit deadlines? Do they communicate? Do they do what they said? If it goes well, you do a bigger one next time. If it doesn't, you've lost a little time instead of a lot.
Use shared numbers so nobody has to trust blindly
A lot of partnership tension comes from one person controlling the money and the other person wondering what's going on. Even when everyone's honest, not being able to see the numbers makes people nervous. And nervous people get suspicious.
The fix is simple: both partners should be able to see the sales, the refunds, the costs, and the split.
Ways to do that:
- Use a selling platform that lets you add a partner with view access to the sales reports.
- Keep a shared spreadsheet that's updated on a set schedule, with exports from the payment processor attached.
- Use a tool that splits the payment automatically, so each person gets their share directly.
For what it's worth, this problem is why I built my own JV tool, SplitPartner, which splits sales between partners automatically. You don't need it, or any specific tool. What you need is a setup where both of you can check the numbers without having to ask.
Then agree on a regular check-in, like once a month, where you look at the numbers together.
Red flags in a partner
Most people are decent. Some aren't. And some are decent but disorganized in a way that'll cost you. Watch for these:
- They don't want anything in writing. "We're friends, we don't need that" is a warning, not a compliment.
- They push you to decide fast. Good opportunities can usually wait a few days while you think.
- They want you to pay up front for the privilege of partnering with them.
- They make big income promises about what the project will earn.
- They won't share numbers, or get defensive when you ask.
- Their part is vague while yours is detailed.
- They talk badly about every past partner. At some point, the common thread is them.
- They miss small commitments early on. If they're late to the first call and miss the first deadline, believe them.
If you see more than one of these, it's okay to say no. Politely. You don't owe anyone a partnership.
Do this next
Shake hands if you want. Then write it down anyway.
Veteran. Gen Xer. Thirty-plus years building things on the web. I write these so you can skip some of the expensive mistakes.