Great article! From my experiences with starting ventures with friends, I would also add: 1. Make sure they have A+ work ethic. I partnered with an A+ friend

Great article! From my experiences with starting ventures with friends, I would also add: 1. Make sure they have A+ work ethic. I partnered with an A+ friend with a B- work ethic, and things definitely did not go well. I've also partnered with B- friends with A+ work ethic, and now they're still business partners and some of my best friends. 2. Operate as a meritocracy. This was touched upon, but most of the time your partners will have other obligations. Every week, we set goals that each person must meet before the week's end. We have a policy where if anyone misses his or her weekly goals over a certain threshold, that person is relieved from his or her position. This happened once in my case, but the person accepted it and totally understood because he had other obligations to deal with.