Partners conflict-Part one

One of the most damaging conflicts in any business is the conflict between partners. I have worked in companies where at least one of the partners had no business experience or didn’t have a vision for the future growth of the business.
On one of my major IT positions I held after graduating from college was with a startup software developing company in Houston, TX. The owner, the main stock holder in the company, had an engineering background with little business and marketing experience. The company had a pool of talented developers and great marketing team which was able to secure major software development projects for the company. The company had all the ingredients for success; expect for one thing, a managing partner with little managing experience and no vision for future growth.

As a member of the development team with business background, I could predict with great degree of certainty the wrong direction the firm was taking. The managing partner would take critical business decisions in direct conflict with the company’s interest and the interest of the other partners.

I left my job after a disagreement with my manager over the direction the company was taking, three months later, the company went bankrupt.

This was my first life experience dealing with a conflict with my own management team, I felt a sense of relief to see the company go bankrupt, don’t get me wrong, but the company was trying to survive on the hard work and the sacrifices of its employees with no clear vision and leadership from management, it was good for the business community to get ride of such failed enterprise. As for me, it was my first lesson on how to spot an early warning signs of bad management decisions.

In my next article, I will continue with one more experience I had with bad management and partners conflict, before I conclude with a summary of lessons learned.