madzfashionz

[mysticcabinboy]

The "interactive cinematic experience" buzzword should stay in the 2010s where it belongs.

At the very least visual novels are up front that what they are trying to achieve is a little less rather than a little more. That's not to say it isn't a daunting task to write a book either but at least then you know the only extra disks that they are trying to spin is learning RenPy and how to draw rather than try and go for the next "revolutionary" 0 in the polygon count for their choose your own adventure romance plots. You get what you are expecting by going into a genre called Visual Novels, and you accept that in the same way someone accepts being a furry, creator or consumer you have probably already heard the memes a hundred times before and you decide to go in anyways because you're curious or already know its something you want to get into.

But videogames have a stigma behind them that lends itself to weird complications when it gets compared to its older (two) brother(s). When you call something cinematic, you are invoking an idea that the story is in some way trying to be its own "insert GOAT movie meme here". Which then becomes its own trap for the genre as a whole, if the story is good and the game is shit, it gets compared to cinema and becomes the new "best" game, if its ALL bad "well what did you expect, its a videogame, nothing but a shiny toy".

that's just fucking unfair. especially when the times I've ever felt genuine powerful emotion is when the game takes things you have been, if not thinking about, then dealing with for hours, before twisting it in powerful ways. Project moon is great at this, often taking small quirks of the game and putting it in context of the actual world. Their most recent game(sadly a gacha side project to keep the lights on while they do other stuff) has an ultimate/id system where pretty much every little weapon that the characters wear or use has some amount of thematic significance with them, so ultimately its up to the player to start wondering how it connects. Even if they don't and braindead the game, theyre probably going to start going insane the moment they hear the word 'ideal', 'that bastard', 'gallop on', 'chains of others', etc from just how often they hear those phrases. the most recent "main" chapter does something fucking amazing with it, turning something almost innocuous and meme worthy from the few times you try it out, then twists it to create a moment of extreme catharsis.

As an older example. I played Deus Ex for the first time a couple weeks ago as well, and the first level on its own is a perfect set piece in how to lay out even a basic sense of how to have your player view your world and game. It immediately gives you the tools to learn about the world and tells you what you need to know when you ask for it. Just with that it makes a great piece of symbolism just from telling you "hey see that green thing you clicked on? yeah the french extremists bombed the statue of liberty. They thought we didn't deserve it." and it makes you think "what the fuck? when? why? what would we have done wrong?" or in my case i check the date of when the game was created and realized it was made a year before 9/11. Its a very specific moment of emotion that is designed to confuse, it helps that its also a very early part of the game rather than a twist kept towards the end as a 'subversion of expectation' because there wasn't much building up to it and its passed off as... just something that happened.

This sort of thing is exactly why i hate it when writers try to market their game as cinema because it shows that they have a fundamental misunderstanding of the medium they are working in. You aren't just making a movie anymore when you step into this space, EVERYTHING you allow the player to do can become a tool that can be used in service of a story, and just putting in a cover shooter for your "cinematic experience" shouldn't really cut it. Its an insult, you have every tool in your arsenal, including the concepts you made up out of thin air for gameplay purposes, and your first thought is to make cinema? Not a sandbox, not a game, not something that means something to the player when they fuck around with mechanics... but cinema? At that point you are better off just making a movie and getting laughed at by the people you're trying to impress because i sure as hell wont find it funny.

This isnt to say you cant write a story well on its own and let it be a part of a game. Just that when making and critiquing a game, consider EVERY facet of it. Ill praise Limbus' story to hell and back but the sheer fact its a gacha, and the consequences that come with it brings it down a little. The sheer fact that Limbus could have ended up like Honkai Star Rail in how braindead it is still fucking haunts me, even as the gameplay, while polished compared to the adjustment needed with ruina, was already sort of a step back.0.

[jakeperalta]

at this point I don't think anyone talking about "enemies to lovers book recs" has ever actually considered what the word enemy means

[booasaur]

I am literally losing my mind over Lu and Mei, the yearning, the tenderness, the resolve, the isolation. Even tumblr buzzwords feel alive again bc their dynamic is just so good. I watched the al l the lillies compilation bc I don’t have time for the whole show LOL but the final picture...iconic...I wish I could talk about this with someone because it’s a cosmic entity I stg

I know! I just keep repeating the same words, the pining, the yearning, the selflessness, the romance, but they apply so completely to them. I mentioned before how stripped down their scenes are and how that actually highlights just them and like, remember that Renault ad that briefly went viral, with the two childhood best friends that fell in love? One of them was a redhead and it was set to a slowed down female cover of Wonderwall? This is like that, where because the flashback scenes are deliberately limited, you feel their significance all the more, like these are the moments when things Changed, when huge pivotal shifts happened.

Like, even with the huge jump between the very start of the calligraphy lessons and the night before the launch, you know they’ve passed these two YEARS without making a move or acknowledging what’s been them, just silently aware, because Mei bringing it up now is a new thing. The way she brings it up, having made the decision and picking the quote, practicing the calligraphy for it, engraving the ring and preparing that little speech, it’s so moving. And Lu, who’s usually so decisive and knows the right to do, helplessly giving in because she wants it tooooo. Not only will they be apart for three years, it’s not impossible that she’ll die up there, and she can’t help but want this to be her last night on Earth too. ;_;

And then, anon! They lie next to each other without making a move! By the time they meet again at the end of the mission, having been in love with each other for FIVE years, they STILL WON’T EVEN HAVE KISSED. That’s why I need the fic, lol, get me to that place, please. Mei so in love she’s carrying that ILY note around with her so it can be found in her desk, and for Lu to know the depths of Mei’s feelings for her at the same time she realizes Lu’s being punished because of her sentimentality in leaving that note. It’s too, too much.

Oh, and tbh, while it’s nice to see Lu through the season, you’re actually fine just watching the compilation, removing Mei cut down a lot on what could have been sprinkled throughout the rest of the scenes. :x 

You can talk about it with meeee! I can’t stop thinking about them.

[cowboylikedean]

Biggest queerbait since The Gr8 Queerb8

okay but i just really have something to say about these tweets from Misha’s q&a from Monday

I chose this order for a reason. I’m so thoroughly pissed that they did this again and that I fell for it again but this time bigger. 

In the first tweet, Misha acknowledges this scene was not explicitly LGBT and that there is room for interpretation. He mentions deciding AGAINST defining that interpretation for the masses and non-destiel shippers. He’s giving an out to people to don’t see it that way.

In the second tweet he says the scene “Pretty much made destiel canon” which isn’t “The scene made destiel canon.” Again, giving an out. 

In the third tweet, he says he’s surprised there are people who have taken those outs and see Cas’s speech as platonic and he thinks they “made it pretty clear.” But he doesn’t really, because he’s acknowledged in the first tweet there’s room for interpretation. 

I just don’t see any indication at all that this scene is different from all the other queerbait scenes. Let’s take for example 12x12 when Cas also said “I love you” to Dean (which was also directed by Richard):

CAS: No, you listen to me. You– Look, thank you. Thank you. Knowing you, it... it’s been the best part of my life. And the things that... [inhales sharply] the things we’ve shared together, they have changed me. You’re my family. I love you. I love all of you. Just please... please, don’t make my last moments be spent watching you die. Just run. Save yourselves. And I will hold Ramiel off as long as I can.

.............................................................. they literally just rephrased this. 

And yes, in this scene, Sam and Mary are also present. And “all of you” probably referred to them, but seeing the similarities of these words to 15x18, it’s hard not to see the first “I love you” directed at Dean. Especially since Cas was looking directly at Dean for the first one, and then looked around for the second one.

Some dedicated destiel fans insisted when 12x12 aired that this made destiel canon... With the caveat that it did have wiggle room for interpretation even though it was... pretty clear.. what the implications were. I felt like watching it felt like watching a bad fanfiction, so yeah. I see what they’re saying. It’s hard to take this scene as platonic, it definitely feels like its pushing a romantic narrative BUT staying just under the radar enough to where if you didn’t know you should be looking for that, it’s easy enough to avoid. 

So with that in mind, Watching 15x18... Feels pretty much the same. It is clearly pushing a romantic narrative BUT that narrative lays low just enough that if you didn’t know it was supposed to be there, it could feel like it wasn’t. If they added one more word “You” to the bit about wanting what he can’t have. If they said “in love with” instead of “I love you.” If they added some sort of acknowledgement of romance it would be different... but it’s not. It’s a stronger implication than exists in season 12, yes. But barely. 

So then I come to season 8, which I reference in the title of this post. I call season 8 The Gr8 Queerb8 because that’s what it was. To those who were not active participants in the fandom in season 8, you may not remember the atmosphere around here... But to put the strength of the queerbaiting into perspective Jensen played a long a bit. I don’t have gifs or timestamps but I remember him playing into it at SDCC before the season started... And that panel (which was 2012 btw) was SOOOOOOO destiel. I mean we had Ben Edlund and Misha both driving it and Carver was eating it up because the FANS oh my god the FANS were getting fired up. They teased romantic and intimate scenes and tropes episode after episode. Going into the season, we knew Dean and Cas were in Purgatory together and we didn’t know how that was going to play out but it had so much romantic potential... We now know they dropped the ball on that potential, but living through that hiatus felt like anything was possible. 

By mid season some fans were already getting tired of being strung along. “Queerbaiting” became a HUGE buzzword. Some fans were getting pretty aggressive... which lead to convention after convention being HUGE fights. Fans asking Misha questions about whether destiel would be made explicit canon and Misha not being able to answer... Fans getting pissed he didn’t answer. One time Misha misspoke and used the term “lip service” when he clearly meant “homage” and people FLIPPED OUT. Someone gave him a letter the next day that told him they were surprised by his homophobia and they felt uncomfortable. Like it was bad. 

It was around this time other people started chiming in, one executive producer said that he supported queer characters but that just wasn’t their intention on spn and that’s what inspired the “you’re not crazy” tweet. Jensen tried to ban destiel questions at one point so he didn’t get caught up in the aggression but that ban subjected him to the aggression so there really was no out. 

Season 9 happened and by the end of it I had left the destiel fandom in part because of the aggressive behavior and in part because I couldn’t ship Dean with anyone at that point. 

But like all of that aggression came from a sense of entitlement that they got because they were baited every week to feel like this ship would be canon. Misha didn’t help. He loved the attention and I really think he started to ship destiel and play it intentionally. I think “you’re not crazy” referenced that. Which is why he brought that tweet back after 15x18. but it presented so much entitlement in the destiel fandom... and that entitlement came down to queerbaiting. 

As time went on, more and more people left as they realized that they could scream all they wanted, they had Misha on their side all he wanted, but they were not going to get something explicit that could not be taken otherwise. Every scene was “explicit to a point” and could be very romantic but just was up for interpretation. 

I don’t know what the fandom dynamics were at 12x12 fully because I was only on the periphery at that point... But what I got is that there were new fans who were excited about the “explicit to a point” and the hope and promise of something more. 

My point here is that 15x18 is EXACTLY what this show has always done before nothing is different. The only difference is this time they let Misha say “it was supposed to be romantic.” The TEXT however, reads exactly the same as it always has. “explicit to a point.” 

I’m just really pissed that they pulled the exact same shit and I fell for it. We all fell for it. In 2020, this behavior is disgusting. 

[patcaps]

i’m cryin with laughter at even having to post this but i guess me n my friends got cancelled for making a few posts that ruffled some feathers LMAO anyway we’re blocking on sight bc i am tired of the clownfuckery on this site i really am, the confidence some of you have in being wrong is truly astounding

the way that patcap fans have never once said a) it’s going to be canon or b) it’s morally superior or c) caphavers is inherently bad to ship

the way me and my friends never said caphavers was bad, we said that cishet fans specifically reducing cap to one forbidden trauma p0rn romance is completely ignoring cap’s canon journey, and that havers was for all intents and purposes a plot device. we were not demonising the ship, and this has all been explained pretty fucking extensively so it absolutely cannot and should not be taken out of context. we’ve also said over and over again that queer fans who relate to cap and havers are not wrong IN THE SLIGHTEST for exploring that or enjoying that, the whole point was for us to relate and see cap with more context!!!

the way me and my friends and other patcap fans have only ever built upon their canon friendship and had fun talking about moments between them and made dumb silly posts about them, and enjoyed fic and art and each other’s thoughts the way fans DO!!! and the way our posts and in-jokes and discussions have been taken to mean that we think everything we say or think MUST be heralded. no. we post what we post literally for us and for whoever else likes it??

the way we are always ALWAYS talking about cap as a character on his own and his own personal arc to self-actualisation and how NO SHIP has any bearing on that, we KNOW that, he is going to work it out for himself and it’s not about any pairing but about HIM and if you read our posts - including mine - you’d actually know that’s how we feel. it’s what we’ve made whole metas about. cap and cap alone. how the fuck are we reducing him to a ship if that’s the whole thing we’ve talked about being reductive to his character? tell me how we’re making it about patcap if we’ve said over and over that cap’s story is not about a ship, it’s about cap???

the way we can know all of that and still have fun with a ship without being told we’re taking it too far or ruining other people’s enjoyment or that we’re arrogant and think we’re right. have you heard of hyperbole, jokes, literally just having fun??? i emphasise again that we have never implied or stated that patcap is a canon thing, ships don’t have to be!!! we’re not saying “pat saying all the love in the world means he’s in love with cap” the whole point is to just enjoy it for what it is and enjoy expanding on that in fanworks!!! and enjoying taking canon lines/scenes and shedding them in a romantic light in gifs or whatever is not disrespecting their friendship?? or taking things out of context excessively? we’re saying look at their friendship! look how much they like each other, and how lovely it would be if these two people got to have a bit more. that’s literally it. how on earth some people are so up in arms about it is beyond me, just because some posts about them got some notes and it’s become more popular? LMAO

some of you want so badly to cause conflict where there is none. we’re literally just doing our own thing and if you don’t like it you can block! you can just not interact! you can make content of things YOU like and find people who like that stuff too! i know! SHOCKING! and you can also make your own posts instead of jumping on mine when it’s about a ship you claim to not even understand. that too

i’m too old to be defending myself over basic shit on tumblr dot com because some of you lack critical thinking skills and common sense and wanna throw around buzzwords and accusations that are literally factually fucking wrong.

love

the patcaps xo 🙏

[fogsrollingin]

📚miscellaneous fics I’ve read recently & would like to rec!📚 📚 link to my whole catalogue of ficrecs 📚

I hope everybody is doing okay. Note my zombiefic reading started around when the states went “oh shitpickles” here and we all went on lockdown, hah. In these trying times with buzzwords like ‘social distancing’ I also really recommend the books (real books! not fic, haha) in Mira Grant’s Newsflesh series. It’s a zombie political thriller with a deep sibling bond (🤭) that’s vital to the tremendous plot & characters 🧟‍♀️👍🥰️ But I digress! Onto the fic! Winchester Christmas by Sam_Eller. PG-13, Gen, 11k words. Summary: Sam and Dean struggle through another difficult holiday, both trying to make the other happy in every way they are able. https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968959 Lovely soft & pure hurt/comfort for Sam & Dean as kids. Fever+chill cuddles & forehead kissies yesssssss. This fic’s been added to my winter holidays fic reclist Scary Monsters by annie46 NC-17, Jensen/Jared, 4k. Summary: He wonders, sometimes, at the irony of it all. An actor from Texas who got his lucky break in a programme about monsters and demons is now facing them for real https://annie-46fic.livejournal.com/37542.html I loved how cuddly J2 were in this, especially how clingy Jared is because idk, I love scenes where Sam/Jared reaches for affection and actually gets it (preferably from Jensen/Dean for me haha).  Also some very exciting zombie close calls. Just overall a very solid story for the zombies and the cuddles (if you don’t like reading on LJ, craft an epub with squeebook.net or throw me a follow&ask for my copy 👍. Same deal with the fic below) In A World So Wrong(Hold On) by malbrynn, R, Jensen/Jared, 27k. Summary:  Six years ago, a viral outbreak spread across the United States, turning people into zombie-like Ghouls--violent creatures that spread across the country, killing and eating their victims. Many of the unfortunate survivors were turned themselves. Now, with real safety only found inside the Walled cities, those on the outside are left to fend for themselves. When an infected Jared turns up on the doorstep of the Temple refuge, Jensen doesn't know what to think. The existence of Jared--a Ghoul that has somehow retained his humanity--is impossible, but it's only the first and least of the questions that he brings with him. Now Jensen has the government breaking down the door, and he must quickly find a balance between what he wants and what he'll allow himself to have. https://malbryn.livejournal.com/6391.html I love anything that depicts Jared as both a sweetheart and a vicious monster and this story 100% had that. Add in some great world- and monster-building and a nicely paced romance? Oh yeah, babe. Added to my zombie fic recslist   Dragon Spell by virtualpersonal and brimstonegold (LJ). Rated NC-17, Sam/Dean, 112k. Summary:  Crossover with Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. Snooping around in his father’s storage locker, Sam touches something he shouldn’t and gets sucked into a world where dragonriders must protect their world from a continuous threat of threadfall. Dean follows and finds Sam has lost his memories. Until they get out of this mess, they have to ‘make like the natives.’ https://virtualpersonal.livejournal.com/206751.html This story was my gateway fic to dragon AUs and it’s been ah👏ma👏zing👏 reading and exploring this one and all the others! While it’s a crossover with Anne McCaffrey’s Pern universe, I had no idea and rolled with it anyway, so you definitely don’t need to have read the McCaffrey’s series to understand this story (but it’s a great in that it gives you the gist of what other Pern x SPN fics incorporate in their crossovers as well). Love the amnesia trope deftly used here to kinda excuse/explain how the wincest unfolds, haha.   

Wasteland, Baby! by cherie_morte. Rated NC-17, Sam/Dean, 9k words. Summary:  Whether God successfully ended the world or not is just a matter of perspective. Dean knows where he stands on the issue, but how Sam feels about it, he’s not so sure. https://archiveofourown.org/works/21997777 Really awesome post-apocalyptic zombie fic world-build, soft yet powerful Sammy, bamf!Dean, adorable+momentous first time, Sam gets a puppy. This fic is basically packed with stuff I love. 

[pupa-cinema]

Tanabattalion☆Returns Analysis (七夕リアン☆リターンズ考察)

By Sekihan via https://lineblog.me/omedeta/archives/9380720.html. ~~Reading the Lyrics~~ I see. I don’t understand ‘em at all🤔 Let's review them bit by bit then, shall we.    'At my side you were when you said    “Do you know what Chikuwabu is?”    Today marks 2 years of nights we’ve spent together like this    I really hope I’ll be able tell her...' Ah, so it’s a song about a couple. Yeah yeah. “Chikuwabu” is buzzword for ‘Oden noodles’ that only people from Kantou know, so the girl asking the question must be from Kantou. Meaning her boyfriend, the main character, must be from somewhere other than Kantou, yeah that makes sense. It’s like their 2nd year anniversary together then or something like that. Yeah yeah.    'I stub my pinkie toe on the edge of a cabinet    It hurt so much I got sent into shock, I kicked the bucket’ I see. The main character dies.   'I’ve tried to tell you my feelings 100 times before, but still after all this time     I still left them unsaid' So he wanted to tell her something in the intro (on that special day) but... This clutz of a main character went off and died before he could say it. What a clutz. The number of attempts he’s made at telling her this important thing is.. exactly 100 times. He keeps track huh, he’s quite the feminine main character. So his 100th attempt also ended in a failure. Yeah yeah.   'Let me stay with you   Come wake up my cold corpse (body)’ A sudden twist into horror. Even after death he still wants to stick with his girlfriend. He wishes with all his heart: Enough to turn into the walking dead. Kinda like Colin🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️     'I won't die, I can’t die     Because I love you     My 101st confessionI pray it reaches you     The Sanzu River, the galaxy’s rivers of stars     I’ll push through all of them just to see you     Our bond holds even millions of lightyears apart     A couple’s necromance, ah what a dumbbell' Wait this is ‘Monday 9’. So the writer just wanted to reference this, I bet. “I won’t diee. Because I love you.” (✳︎'Monday 9' is the word for the dramas that air at prime time on TV  https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Getsuku_(Fuji_TV), with the show '101st Marriage Proposal' among them. A notorious line from an episode is these exact words… After a character expresses their distress and terror of falling in love, another character runs out into the rain, almost gets hit by a bus, is safe by a hair, then wails them out at his beloved. Seki’s imagination recreated this zombie style.) On the night of Tanabata, do Hikoboshi and Orihime cross the galaxy that divides them. Once a year, this is the only time they can finally see each other. That’s the common conception of the legend of Tanabata. Likewise, the main character of Tanabattalion Returns.. crosses the galaxy’s river of stars, or more like the River of Sanzu, just to see his beloved. It’s truly necromantik. (A deadly romance).  Ah what a dumbbell. (✳︎Dumbbell - Or the true word “baka-chin” is a diss coined by Takeda Tetsuya. In stories he told on his shows, his mother would call him ‘baka-chin’. )    '"I love you so much thatI could just eat you up🤤"     This here zombie’s confession rehearsal' So it’s a joke based on the way Zombies are known for eating humans. That’s actually adorable. It’s not funny but still 🥺 I feel as if I’ve heard of this “Confession Rehearsal” thing before...       'I get dressed up from happy go lucky head to toe and head out      My legs are dragging, will I make it in time…' If you’re gonna see your special someone then you gotta dress up, y’know. The reason it’s “dress up from happy head to toe” is because it's a reference to our band name Happy go Lucky Heads. (✳︎ The word “Dress-up” is “おめかしOmekashi” here. As the word has “Ome” in it just like Omedetai, Seki changes the Ome in the lyrics to be written in the same katakana way as the band name, instead of the standard hiragana spelling. Imitating the way the band Boyz || Men change every “to” in their lyric booklet to be written as “||”. 

The main character... He died and became a zombie because he stubbed his toe so His ambulation is wonky, he can’t get much speed. Even though he needs to hurry up and reach her before the night of Tanabata ends! He’s in a pickle🥺     'I won't die, I can’t die     Because I love you     My 101st confession     I hope it reaches you     With my rotting brain I     Considered and chose     A bolt nut ring     I hope it will look good on your finger' These lyrics are the same as the first chorus so I omitted some of them. (✳︎Here Seki uses the word “割愛” for “omit”… A word which has “愛(love)” in it. It has “愛” in it because it’s a bit more intense than a mere omission, it more leans towards “Force self to let go of something, even if don’t want to.”Seki's word choice is cute.) I got the idea for the engagement ring from zombies’ heads. A bold nut ring. Ahh. ‘Cause it’s the whole Monday 9 thing. Yeah yeah. So when he says “I hope it looks good on your finger” ... He must be fully committed to giving it to her. 

    'I won’t die, because I love you      I won’t die, because I’m going to make you happy' For the recording I screamed this part of the interlude. The second line is still the 'Monday 9' thing. During concerts I’ll actually straight up tell a story here. What’s wrong with being a bit like King-Show. 🥺   I say it so fast, as if a guns to my head. So I need to put a lot of brain power into making sure it’s intelligible.     'July 7th, a sunny day     I found you     There, under the night stars shooting down, was the sound gunfire      I’ve been shot in the head' "'Us staff searched long and far. Until at long last I found Her 🥺'" ↑This reference is unrelated. I just wanted to say it. (✳︎A notable line from this variety show). Now. On this Tanabata night, under the wide open starry sky, did he finally find her. The moment of truth to confess his feelings. His 101st attempt! I won’t die! Because I love you! I won’t die! Because I’m going to make you happy! (In other words: please marry me). He says! Even though he’s already dead! Alas... Instead of hearing her voice say “Yes” The last sound he ever hears is Her scream, along with the roar of gunfire. It’s said that zombies can’t die but With a headshot you’re certain to K.O. them. Just like “Shoot him in the head! (頭を狙え！)”(✳︎Seki writes it in English here then adds JP translation. Thanks Seki for being fluent in English). The classic phrase from zombie movies. Hey, who the hell shot him! Who!     'I won't die, I can’t die     Because I love youThe bolt nut ring     It hope it reaches you     The Sanzu River, the galaxy’s rivers of stars     I pushed through all of them just to see you     Our bond holds even millions of lightyears apart     A couple’s necromance, for now and forever more' If you think about it.. He’s a zombie right, It’s hard to tell if he truly has consciousness or not. So then what the hell was this all about?! You may be wondering but This is fantasy, fiction. Or... You may instead be worrying “Will he not be able to give it to her anymore...” The “I hope it reaches you” lyric holds true for this too. And as you may have already guessed, in the last chorus, as his consciousness is slipping away He sees a dream. In his dream I bet he’s succeeded in confessing to her. In giving her the ring. If he was still human this would be considered homicide,It would be a bad-end but He’s a zombie soIs it a bad-end Or a happy-end..Which.. For her, who’s still alive, and for him, who's a zombie, This is how it has to be. Though it’s impossible to know what’s truly right but. Anyway That calls it for my explanation of Tanabattalion Returns. The title is reference to Return of the Living Dead 3. My favorite of the Living Dead/Battalion series. (✳︎In Japan the title of the series was localized to ‘Battalion’ and the 3rd as 'Battalion Returns'! This is because zombies come in such huge armies, my guess is this conveyed the sheer volume more concisely to the JP audience.) This is probably the first ever love story about a zombie and stuff like this, right? IDK but. The guy who wrote this song is gonna try his best to write lyrics that’re easier to understand from now on. Promise. 

[pleasespellchimerical]

Sondheim’s Company is queer no matter the gender of its characters

Thinking about the upcoming gender-swap production of Company. To me, Company is an inherently queer musical--taking a hard, often brutal look at relationships, marriage, sex, and love. It shocked audiences when it first came out. Sondheim was taking square aim at Broadway’s primary demographic--middle class, middle-aged, married white people--and instead of providing escapism, he tossed their domestic worries right in their faces.

Sondheim doesn’t comment much on the show. In his lyric anthology Finishing the Hat, he muses more on the structure, rhyming, and experimental aspects of Company than the themes. The biggest thematic points that he makes are about Bobby:

”Robert, despite his ultimate song, never became sufficiently alive. ‘Cold’ is an adjective that frequently crops up in complaint about the songs I’ve written...and it all began with Company.”

and his own inexperience with relationships and marriage:

“I knew nothing about the primary subject. I had never married, or even been in a long term relationship...How was I to write about relationships (a buzzword in the sixties) without merely reiterating the received wisdom I’d gleaned from plays and movies and sitcoms?...I asked Mary Rodgers, a songwriter herself, to tell me what she knew about marriage...She had recently begun her second attempt at it and she knew enough to know what she didn’t know...I took notes--literally--as we talked. For me, it may have been secondhand experience, but it was experience nonetheless...”

Many theatre people have speculated on Bobby’s sexuality, but any attempts to stage a production with Bobby as a queer man have been squashed. The show was revised for a revival in 1995, and lines changed and dialogue added to explicitly say that Bobby is straight. 

Stephen Sondheim is a gay man--he didn’t openly discuss his sexuality until the late 1990s--and even though none of his musicals are explicitly queer, there is an undercurrent of loneliness, of being an outsider, of trying to conform to expectations, that runs through his body of work; themes that the queer community can definitely relate to. 

Currently? Company is in the news because of an upcoming production that swaps the genders of most of its characters. Bobby becomes Bobbi, the girlfriends become boyfriends, and Andy joins Bobbi in the duet “Barcelona”. The new production, directed by Marianne Elliot, is scheduled to open in London in Sept 2018. The reimagining is also opening conversations about gender, modern relationships, sexual desire, and love. 

From The Atlantic:

“Transforming Bobby, perhaps theater’s most notorious heterosexual (ostensibly) bachelor, into Bobbie, a woman with profound ambivalence toward societal norms regarding marriage and children, offers Company a chance to be what it was in 1970: revolutionary. ‘The degree to which the production will feel relevant and contemporary will have to do with all of the pieces that go into it,’ Wolf says. ‘There are endless choices in terms of what kind of woman she’ll be.’”

When I saw first saw a headline announcing a “gender-swapped staging”, my first thought was that Bobby was going to be shown as a gay man. I wasn’t the only one who initially misinterpreted this, and was disappointed when I found out otherwise. I saw a number of posts on tumblr expressing the same sentiment. 

To me, Company is a queer musical no matter what the gender of its characters. Discovering Company was a big awakening moment for me, because I’d never seen a musical that examined relationships in-depth. The modern musical began as the ‘musical comedy’--a traditional comedy with entertaining storylines, a romance plot, and a happy ending. I grew up with musicals like Oklahoma!, Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady. Musicals prior to Company have of course dealt with difficult relationships (Carousel, Cabaret), but until Company I’d never encountered a show that so thoroughly skewered the middle class dream of marriage, white picket fence, and happily ever after. 

In the 1970s (Company opened in 1970), gay marriage was only a small part of the struggle for queer rights. The US Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit on behalf of a gay couple in 1971, and again in 1972. It took until the 1990s for strides to be made on the legality of gay marriage. During this time, the queer community was also fighting for other rights: for queer sex to be legal; to serve in the military; to have equal access to healthcare, housing, and employment. Many in the queer community have considered the fight for gay marriage to be a distraction from other issues. Often, marriage as an institution itself is questioned--expectations of monogamy, raising a family, rituals and courtship--some question whether marriage is worth defending or fighting for (legal benefits aside).

Queer theory focuses on examining, questioning, and deconstructing ideas of sexuality, gender, and dominant cultural ideologies. When examined through a lens of queer theory, Company becomes an inherently queer text for raising and grappling with these questions. In the opening song, Bobby sings about time spent with his good friends--all married (heterosexual) couples--and introduces the main theme of the musical: marriage:

BOBBY: “To Bobby with love”

From all those

Good and crazy people, my friends,

These good and crazy people, my

  married friends!

And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

That’s what it’s really about,

Really about!

Immediately after the opening, Joanne (played originally by Elaine Stritch), watches one of the couples playfully wrestle and comments on the dynamic of marriage: “It’s the little things you do together” (I highly recommend a listen, because this song is hilarious, pointed, and begins the thematic work of the musical):

Joanne comments on both the happy and the frustrating parts of marriage, then caps her musings off with the line: “It’s not so hard to be married--I’ve done it three or four times.” Already, the idea of marriage as a relationship ‘til death do you part’ is blown away. Sondheim refutes the fairy tale ending. And if marriage is predicated on loving and caring until the end of each others’ life, what does it mean that so many marriages fail before that point?

That song is immediately followed by Bobby’s male friends remarking that they are both “Sorry-Grateful” for their marriages. His friends constantly raise their fears--that despite having a partner, they’re still alone; that she’ll go--drift away--or that she’ll stay; that their marriages have not made them into better people. Bobby’s three on-and-off girlfriends share similar frustrations: they can’t understand Bobby and his distant friendship and intimacy; that he drives them crazy, yet they cannot leave him.

Bobby’s female friends are constantly trying to find him a girl, yet his male friends tell him that he should be grateful to be a bachelor--he can flirt with anyone, cultivate “an army of wives”, have lots of exotic sex. Bobby wonders if any one person could truly be the partner he wishes for them to be.

The first act ends with the marriage of two of Bobby’s friends--almost. Amy gets cold feet at the altar, rattling off a list of reasons she cannot be married--fears that have previously been expressed and experienced by other couples in the show. 

Among all these storylines is Bobby. A bachelor, unable to commit, facing his own fears of love and intimacy--and these problems are being expressed by all the couples around him. Bobby is distant from the action, even as he is friends with the ensemble. Watching his friends struggle with their relationships culminates in him finally realizing and voicing his wants and fears in the very end. And what does Bobby long for, and fear? The same thing everyone else does: friendship, understanding, support, and to also be needed:

“Someone you have to let in, someone whose feelings you spare...someone to force you to care...who’ll always be there, as frightened as you, of being alive...to help us survive, being alive...”

Relationships force people to be vulnerable with each other, to sometimes be uncomfortable, and to understand another, and care for them. Both Bobby and his friends are afraid of all this entails. In many ways, Sondheim underlines that courtship and marriage are not always ideal ways for dealing with these feelings. Bobby, while undertaking the rituals of love, finds that his heart is not in it (”Barcelona”), and he sees his own friends grow complacent in their own relationships, oftentimes changing them in ways that they would be horrified to realize (”The Ladies Who Lunch”). The lessons of the show culminate in Bobby reaching an understanding of what he does and does not want in life--but his conclusions are left to the audience to draw as he blows out the candle on his birthday cake and makes a silent wish.

Bobby serves as an ideal character to be at the center of the sort of investigation the musical undertakes. He could be anyone--straight or queer, trans or cis, man or woman. And the ways that he can be interpreted are numerous, because Bobby is struggling with such universal feelings of loneliness, fear, and longing. 

Casting Bobby as a straight woman grappling with the changing expectations for women and the shifting place that women are carving for themselves in the world brings a new dimension to the show--examining how gendered experiences differ. Certainly the new production will be interesting to watch and see how it interprets Bobbi in the 21st century, in a quickly changing world. The show’s dissection of relationships and marriage will be cast in a new light, queering institutions of love and marriage in differing ways.

And one day? Casting Bobby as a gay man could offer brand new ways to dissect both the text of the musical and the society it critiques. I hope that this will come to pass eventually. As our understanding of heteronormativity, appropriate relationships, and how best to express love change, Company should change as well. Once upon a time, this show slapped Broadway audiences in the face and changed what a musical could be. I think we could all use a good slap in the face now and then, and maybe our understanding of love and marriage will change too.

References:

https://womenandhollywood.com/sondheims-company-getting-gender-swapped-by-marianne-elliott-63893cd50e2a/

http://www.playbill.com/article/patti-lupone-joins-londons-new-company-featuring-a-female-bobby

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/11/company-sondheim-sexual-politics/508895/

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2011/04/the-missing-number-in-sondheims-company-000000

http://www.sondheim.com/discussions/miller/past/in_gay_company.html

[onceandfuturekiki]

From a message form @tiamat-zx

The discourse regarding Vax is stifling lately. Especially claims that he is sexist and protective of Vex. That, and the claim that Liam "relies far too much on tell rather than show" regarding RP and characterization. One in particular uses that thought to completely trash Vaxleth in saying that it is entirely unconvincing because it is "all-tell" and one-sided compared to the other romances where to them their happiness is clear as day.And of course, calling the RQ subplot absolute bullshit that shouldn't have been taken to this level.

I really need to write that essay about the way misogyny and ideas femininity about white masculinity have contributed to some troubling criticisms of Vax, Keyleth, and Vaxleth and excusing of Percy (as well as certain things about Percahlia) that I keep talking about. One day.

I’m so, so, so baffled by the notion of Vax being sexist. Vax, who put literally all of the power in the relationship into Keyleth’s hands and respected her hesitation and reservations and didn’t take “I don’t know” as meaning “try harder”. Vax, who thinks that powerful women are fucking awesome. The thing I see mostly referred to as being “proof” that he’s sexist is that he’s protective of Vex and that he thinks women with power are too awesome.

I mean, the latter is obviously completely fucking absurd, and usually relies on arguments that ignore the fact that the characters don’t always know what the audience knows. The former is ridiculous as well. Being protective of your twin sibling is not sexist. There’s this thing that sort of happens sometimes where people go kind of overboard when it comes to social issues, sometimes it’s because they don’t understand the complexity of these issues, sometimes because they’re just using these issues as a means of attacking a ship or character they don’t like, and sometimes because of different things all together. Things like people saying “if you don’t respect your female friend’s decision to be with that guy than you’re being sexist” when you’re concerned about your friend being in an abusive relationship. It goes overboard from “respecting a woman’s agency” to “anytime a woman’s decisions or actions are questioned or criticized it’s sexist.”

This is one of those “overboard” things (whether it’s because they’ don’t truly understand what they’re talking about or because they just want to use buzzwords to trash a character they don’t like, or a combination of both, I don’t know). The mere notion of “anyone who is protective of a woman is sexist” or “everyone who is protective of a woman thinks that she isn’t capable of taking care of herself”. Not only is that wrong and overly simplistic, in this case it ignores characterization, character background, and motivation. Vex and Vax spent years being isolated and judged in Syngorn, relying emotionally entirely on each other. Then, after they left Syngorn and they were traveling on their own they had to rely physically entirely on each other. And then they found out their mother had been killed. They’re bother very protective of each other, both physically and emotionally. It has nothing to do with thinking she’s not capable of taking care of herself and everything to do with the fact that they both relied on that protectiveness for most of their lives, and then had this horrible experience of “you left and your mother died” to pound in that mindset of the necessity of protectiveness even more.

It’s one of the most obvious and basic parts of their characterization. If someone doesn’t understand that, I’m not going to take them seriously on anything else they say in regards to Vax, development, and characterization.

The “he tells and doesn’t show” thing is ridiculous. Perhaps more than any of the others, Liam has Vax do these little things, gives him these little scenes, without telling us what they mean. Like the things he saw when he was slipping into unconsciousness after nearly being killed by the Briarewoods, picking the flower from Keyleth’s garden, the moment after he was brought back to life in Vesrah where he was looking in the mirror. he does this all the time and then trust the audience enough to understand what it means for what the character is thinking and feeling. Most of the others express these things mostly through dialogue and conversation with other characters (and that’s fine), but Liam regularly gives us these little moments and scenes that speak volumes. That is the definition of showing, not telling. So either this person doesn’t actually understand the concept of “show, don’t tell”, or they’ve either not seen or somehow deleted from their memory all of those little moments.

And that goes for Vaxleth, too. Since the beginning it’s been shown, through those little moments we were given without explanation, like what he saw after the fight with the Briarwoods and the awkward look he gave her later, through the way he acted around Keyleth and treated her, like the awkwardness of their discussion abut their cover identities during their trial with the Slayers Take.

So I’m not really sure what these people think is “showing” rather than “telling” in this regard.

As for Vaxleth being one-sided.. well, we know that this is simply factually untrue. I think a lot thoughts about ships like this often comes from ideas about relationships that aren’t entirely healthy, that place importance on concepts of “passion” and “sex” above all else, that treat not taking no for an answer as romantic and giving a woman space when she’s unsure as “giving up”, that treats a woman who has some walls up and reservations about romance/relationships as being cold/emotionless/uncaring/leading men on/etc.

As for the Raven Queen subplot... if someone’s not enjoying it, whatever. That’s going to be determined by the kind of stories they enjoy and which characters they prefer. But if they don’t like it and think it’s gone too far, then their complaint should be with Matt, not Liam.

[theconservativebrief]

In January 2018, a surprising clothing item popped up on the South Korean fashion scene: boxy oversize T-shirts with the logo of Jesse Jackson’s 1988 US presidential campaign. As the weather got warmer, the shirt became a staple for trendy women across the country. Some of the shirts read “JESSE JACKSON ’88 — FOR PRESIDENT,” while others said “JESSE JACKSON ’88 — BLESS YOU.” There was even a misspelled “JESS JACKSON ’88” line of tank tops for men.

The shirt was popular with celebrities and college students alike: Rapper Moonbyul, for example, wore the shirt in the music video for her May release, “In My Room.” After the Jackson shirts’ initial appearance in South Korea, they quickly spread to stylish women across Asia, sold in cheap shopping markets and on e-tailers from provincial China to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Is the popularity of this shirt a sign of a broader Korean interest in Jesse Jackson’s historic run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1988? No, says Seoul-based social media influencer and beauty blogger Han Yoo Ra: “I think it’s just about the design. People may be aware of the English but they don’t know the deeper meaning or that it’s meant to be political. The word ‘Jesse’ is just cute. It’s nothing more serious than that.”

To her point, retailers of the shirts don’t explain the context of Jackson’s campaign to prospective buyers. The Korean fashion site Yuiiyuii, for example, recommends the shirt for its “smart color scheme” and “sensuous lettering” in “harmonized colors” that can be “mixed and matched like a stylish model.” The retailer NSmall models the shirt along with alternatives such as one with the Chupa Chups lollipop logo.

In other words, the Jesse Jackson T-shirt is sold as fashion — not as a political statement. And nothing makes this point clearer than when the real-life Jesse Jackson visited South Korea in July of this year and there wasn’t any major dialogue in Korean media about how local youth were embracing his 1988 campaign.

The absurdity of a Jesse Jackson campaign T-shirt becoming a trendy item among people who don’t know Jesse Jackson, however, is useful as a way to examine how fashions arise among youth in Asia. With many pan-Asian trends in fashion, beauty, and music, South Korea sets the rhythm for the rest of the continent. Han and other Korean sources couldn’t locate the exact origin of the Jesse Jackson T-shirt, but its popularity follows a common pattern.

Han explains: “Korean trends mostly start in the country’s underground markets, where everything is on sale for about $10 and the quality isn’t so bad. Even foreign fast-fashion brands like Zara can be too expensive for Koreans, so teenage girls and 20-somethings tends to buy these cheaper underground brands.”

Hit items first go on sale in Seoul’s gargantuan Dongdaemun Market, where the products come from fly-by-night brands that pump out massive numbers of garments. The few that have names are called things like Ossazi, D2GARMENTORY, and Retno. Internet-savvy young women purchase items from the markets for resale on their Instagram accounts, modeling the pieces in the styling trends of the moment.

Once these images hit the internet, two things happen. First, local garment-makers can check to see what’s selling and then create their own slightly tweaked versions. If a Jesse Jackson T-shirt is selling well, another brand can, say, remove the “e” from Jesse to offer an ostensibly “different” product on the same theme.

Second, online images means allows the items to quickly go global. Chinese manufacturers scout Korean websites and social media accounts for hit trends and make their own versions. The Chinese and Korean manufacturers then distribute the shirts to malls and e-commerce sites across the continent.

And when Korean-manufactured items are sold outside of Korea, they are often sold as Korean trends. On Singapore’s Carousell, for example, the seller offers the Jesse Jackson shirt as a representative garment of the Korean Ulzzang look — a buzzword denoting the personal style of sharp-featured, pale-skinned Korean internet influencers. In accordance to the advice seen on sites like Fasheholic, the No. 1 way to be “Ulzzang” is to wear an oversize print T-shirt with English lettering.

This is a fundamentally different model from two decades ago, when Japan was the most important fashion market in Asia. Vintage T-shirts in Japan took on cachet from the importation process: These were “real things” from the United States, once worn by real Americans.

In the past, American political items found their way into Asian teen fashion mostly through Japan’s thousands of secondhand shops. These stores bulk-import vintage T-shirts from thrift stores and rag houses across the United States, and Japanese youth looking for unique items with English lettering can end up brandishing American political garments and accessories — such as Brock Adams and other obscure politicians’ campaign buttons and, in more jarring examples, “Rush is Right” baseball caps and pro-secessionist Confederate flag shirts.

The Jesse Jackson shirts in South Korea, however, are not an accident of bulk importation. They are all brand new garments, manufactured by a handful of local companies to be sold in Korea and the rest of Asia.

The current cachet for crisp, ersatz garments like Jesse Jackson T-shirts comes not from Americans but from the items’ association with trendy Korean women. With the popularity of Korean dramas, K-pop music, and Korean beauty brands across Asia, South Korea has taken the lead in soft power for the continent. And with Korean fashion being based around affordable casual clothing (that can be easily knocked off), less affluent Southeast Asians can easily import garments or buy a local version.

Jesse Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988. This trend isn’t really about him. Jacques M. Chenet/Corbis via Getty Images

The question remains, however: Why specifically did a Jesse Jackson ’88 campaign T-shirt, of all things, get sucked into the Korea-driven Asian trend system? A few sources close to the Korean pop culture suggest that the number “88” may be the driver. 1988 is the birth year of the “King of K-pop,” G-Dragon of the group Big Bang, who often wears a 1988 Seoul Olympics hat. And one of the more popular Korean dramas of the past few years has been Reply 1988, a nostalgic romance set in the newly democratic South Korea of that year. Chinese consumers, on the other hand, may be drawn “88” because it’s considered the luckiest number.

But this kind of speculation misses the point: The Jesse Jackson ’88 “content” is the least important aspect of the shirt. In today’s globalized world, items can jump between cultures, but they mostly succeed in other places because they take on completely new meanings upon arrival.

The United States has long enjoyed an influence on the world’s pop culture and style, and Americans hardly bat an eye to see major American brands like Nike, Supreme, or Polo Ralph Lauren sold across the world. But they are often only popular because local trendsetters breath new life and meaning into the specific items. Consumers buy them because they’re legitimized by local influencers, not by country of origin. But when we don’t see that process, we Americans read the trends as more proof of our nation’s “soft power.”

This truth of globalization is easier to see in these absurd examples, when something incongruous takes off, such as an old campaign T-shirt from a failed primary run. In this particular example, the “Jesse Jackson ’88” part of the T-shirt may have its origin in the annals of American history, but the shirt caught on because of its exalted position within the Korean casual fashion system.

Jesse Jackson, or even America, has little to do with why Jesse Jackson ’88 campaign T-shirts are popular. Instead, it’s South Korea’s incredible cultural power that makes things cool in Asia — even American political nostalgia.

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Original Source -> An American campaign tee is trendy in Asia. Its popularity has nothing to do with the US.

via The Conservative Brief

[thebookrat]

Before I get into the review, can we talk about this cover, though?!?! *heart eyes emoji*

Keeper of the Bees by Meg Kassel Fantasy/Magical Realism(ish), 304 pages Published September 4th 2018 by Entangled: Teen

KEEPER OF THE BEES is a tale of two teens who are both beautiful and beastly, and whose pasts are entangled in surprising and heartbreaking ways. Dresden is cursed. His chest houses a hive of bees that he can’t stop from stinging people with psychosis-inducing venom. His face is a shifting montage of all the people who have died because of those stings. And he has been this way for centuries—since he was eighteen and magic flowed through his homeland, corrupting its people. He follows harbingers of death, so at least his curse only affects those about to die anyway. But when he arrives in a Midwest town marked for death, he encounters Essie, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from debilitating delusions and hallucinations. His bees want to sting her on sight. But Essie doesn’t see a monster when she looks at Dresden. Essie is fascinated and delighted by his changing features. Risking his own life, he holds back his bees and spares her. What starts out as a simple act of mercy ends up unraveling Dresden’s solitary life and Essie’s tormented one. Their impossible romance might even be powerful enough to unravel a centuries-old curse.

Keeper of the Bees has one of the more intriguing (and by intriguing I mean, potentially really, really odd) premises of any book synopsis I’d read this year, which in Misty-world basically translates to, ‘I need to read this and see.’ I needed to know if its oddness would be carried off, or would overwhelm the story; whether it’d be a magical realist bit of amazingness, or an absolute hot mess. Fortunately, it was the former. Keeper of the Bees starts weird and stays weird, but it is that deft, writerly weirdness that works. From nearly the first moment, I was enthralled and half in love (with the characters, the world, the history, the backstory). It at once feels like a grand, sweeping saga and a small town quirky romance: an epic told on a small scale. If you’re familiar with my tastes, you’ll know these are both things I love – anything with the words epic, saga, quirky or ‘small town’ are pretty sure to end up on my TBR (thank you, lists (and lists) of buzzwords). This didn’t disappoint on any of those levels. It does have a bit of that isolated, small town feel, and it does have the weight of centuries-spanning history at its back, and the two meld together beautifully. Aside from the exceptionally well-done weirdness, the real strength of the story is in its characters.  Dresden, the male MC, reads like the desert in a rainstorm, coming to life again after a century of drought; he’s old and drained and colorless and harsh, until something happens to reawaken him, who he is and who he was, little by little. His interactions with others like him are by turns intriguing, creepy and sweet, and the whole thing gives a feel that there is even more backstory in the author’s mind than we are being given on the page (which – assuming enough is given on the page – is a hallmark of good writing for me; I like an author who knows her world). The female lead, Essie, feels fresh and wholesome in the least saccharine way. It may concern people to hear a book that deals heavily with mental illness be described as “quirky,” but where her family history and her dealings with mental illness could feel exploitative or cheap, they instead feel like simply a part of her. There are oddities, there is at times almost a whimsical nature to her illness and her hallucinations, but it’s never treated as a throwaway joke, and that, I think, makes all the difference. The duality of what is actually going on and what she sees, and her struggle to distinguish the two, works really well as a device to heighten the tension, and to give it a magical realist bent, but it never feels as if that is the sole purpose of her illness. She’s not just sick-as-a-plot-point, and it’s never presented as if, she’d be really super duper grand what-a-girl… if only she weren’t so crazy. Instead, she feels fully realized and dynamic, with an interesting personality independent of the often-bizarre landscape of her mental illness. And of course, the romance is sweet and rootforable, with the story as a whole having a tension that leaves you wondering if everything could ever possibly come out alright in the end. Highly recommended for fans of A. S. King, Sarah Addison Allen, and those with similar lists of buzzwords to my own. Content warning:  mental illness, self-harm, violence, assault. And lots of bees, if that’s not your thing Disclosure: I received a copy of this from the publisher for review consideration. This does not change my thoughts or review in any way. Affiliate links are used in this post. Thanks for helping support this blog! via The Book Rat

[myfavemedia]

Insecure Season 2 Review

For those living under a rock, Insecure is a dramedy about the everyday ups and downs of being a professional Black (cishet) woman in the US. This is my review of season 2! 

What I Liked 

Season 2 was much better than the first thanks to the show’s writing and overall character performances. IMO, the best thing about Insecure is the writing. It’s also the show’s downfall but more on that later. I digress. We got more nuanced character development, decent non-romance drama, and (for the less active thinkers, all shade lol) obvious presented character motives. Basically a well-balanced plate of good things was brought to the table.  Speaking of balance, I wish this season focused more on Molly and Issa’s relationship (because that’s the heart of the show) but the change wasn’t horrible. It was nice seeing their lives outside of each other. Particularly after last season when they were joined at the hip hence the drama. This season they gave each other space to work out their personal secrets and ended closer than ever. 

Also, I think the decrease in using “relatable” buzzwords grounded the show a lot. Nothing felt forced aside from convenient moments I’ll speak on later.   

What I Disliked 

There’s a lot to like about Insecure but there’s also much I dislike. Let’s start small.  Tiffany may not be a main character but I’mma need Issa to spill on her marriage. The show makes many references about it being a sham but Tiffany ends season 2 pregnant and seemingly happy... what’s the truth? Another small issue I had was how short-lived Lawrence/Tasha was. Their story felted rushed but I’m not too upset at the length spent. They weren’t OTP material but at least they ended with Tasha giving Lawrence a much needed reality check. Another thing I disliked was Rae’s acting. She holds back during scenes of vulnerability. Granted she’s improved from last season but the final scene between her and Lawrence proves there’s work to be done. And speaking of work, my final small gripe is with the Molly/Quentin pairing. Lil Rel did a great job as Quentin. My annoyance comes from the show using a sexist belief as filler - women should overlook our feelings about a man’s appearance. I’ll never be okay with female-centered shows perpetuating such an idea but thankfully it’s implied that Molly isn’t feeling him. I’m not happy about Dro still being in the picture but at least it’s realistic and innately pro-women sexuality. 

So now that the baby downers are out of the way, let’s talk about the show’s main problem. A problem that stopped me from watching it at first - Issa Rae’s love affair with respectability politics. As a qwoc, I know firsthand how “progressive” Black people can be more conservative than they think. Let’s start by looking at the lack of condoms on screen. It reminds me of the DL narrative - the “if there’s no condom then it’s not sex” mindset. An illogical idea that still puts lives at risk hence why it’s unacceptable in a “modern show about sex, love, and relationships.” Next is the stereotypical and narrow-minded depiction of a poly relationship. Then there’s the “facial” fallout. Yes, I know there are straight women who don’t want sperm on their face or anywhere on their body. Yes, I agree said women should get upset when their boundaries are disrespected. On the other hand, Issa’s character never spoke with Daniel about facials. It’s possible she did offscreen but that was never implied. Maybe because Rae wrongly assume all women would react that way? Who knows. All I know is what I saw... and what I saw was Daniel alerting her twice and Issa moving at the last minute. So without the context of a boundary being broken, it’s safe to say Issa overreacted to a genuine accident. And speaking of Daniel, what the fuck was up with his unrealistic character development in the last few episodes? Granted some people assume the planet revolves around them but let’s be real - niggas aren’t plotting attack facials on someone who “used” them. At least not the ones who had bj-less sex with said people multiple times beforehand... and clearly had romantic feelings... and are willing to open up their home after being cursed out. Just say you wanted Issa to still be in love with Lawrence in the finale but couldn’t find a valid reason why and fucking go. 

Final Thoughts  

Insecure has a stellar cast and the show’s focus on platonic love gives it an additional kick of special. Still, Rae’s biased view of the world continues to tarnish stories like white writers who claim diversity but create one-dimensional characters of color. If she would take Aparna’s advice about baggage, I’m sure the show would truly shine. Kudos though to no rape jokes this season; ‘bout time Rae took the memo that she can’t write them well lol.  Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

[williamjharwick]

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners

Some of the most common questions I receive from the SPI audience are about the legal aspect of starting a business. Although I’ve had my fair share of legal-related experiences (both positive and negative) since starting my business, I also know that I don’t know everything and need someone in my corner who does.

That’s why I’ve been working with Richard A. Chapo from SoCalInternetLawyer.com for almost ten years now. He’s my attorney, and he’s here to help all of us understand the bits and pieces of legal information we might need to know to protect our online businesses.

Richard was featured in Smart Income Podcast Session 231 where he and my trademark attorney, Alena Herranen, tackled the most common legal questions for those just starting out in business. Richard is back today to tackle the important decision of starting a business with a partner, and all that should be considered. It’s an important topic a lot of people like to stay away from, because it involves a lot of hard decisions that all those who start a business have to figure out.

Richard will likely be back in the future to tackle other specific topics related to the legal aspect of business, but for now, here he is talking about starting a partnership. Take it away, Richard!

No formula guarantees business success. If one existed, you can bet we would all be following it. Instead, your goal when starting a business is to create as fertile a field as possible for company growth. Gathering a talented collection of partners to run the business is a time-tested strategy for priming the pump. One problem exists. How exactly does one distinguish between individuals who can take a company to the next level and those who will be anchors? Picking partners is very much an art, but following the Dos and Don’ts can improve your chances of success significantly.

Plenty of information exists online regarding the business partner selection process. My intention is to provide something a bit different today. The following tips will be based not on general concepts of “missions” and “ecosystems.” Rather, the focus will be on what I’ve observed and experienced in twenty-five years as a business attorney. I’ll even present examples where clients have consented to show how certain situations might play out. No, the stories do not involve Pat.

For clarification purposes, I’ll refer to individuals taking an ownership position in a business as “partners” and the business as a “partnership” regardless of the type of business entity selected by the founders (e.g. corporation and limited liability company).

Entering into a business partnership is the equivalent of getting married. It is not uncommon to spend more waking hours with a business partner than with a spouse. I’m going to assume that you would find the notion of walking into a bar and marrying the first person you see as laughable. Unfortunately, many partnerships are formed in this manner. Picking partners on a wing and prayer is asking for trouble. Following a process gives you a much better chance of identifying reliable and competent talent.

Here are the Dos of finding business partners.

The Dos

1. Do Match

Entrepreneurs launch businesses for a variety of reasons: Passion, financial independence, to fulfill a dream. In twenty-five years of practicing law, I’ve yet to meet a single person who launched a business because they hoped to be miserable. Yet, a life of misery is a definite possibility when forming a partnership with an individual who has a personality that grates on you like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Take a moment to reflect on romantic relationships you’ve experienced in life. The reasons those relationships might have failed are likely not akin to the dramatic soap opera betrayal (“You slept with my twin I didn’t know I had while I was in a coma after finding out your uncle is my father’s mother!). No, most relationships unwind because of small personality conflicts. He might be pretentious. She might always be late. He might be unduly sensitive. She might be offensive at parties.

Personality conflicts kill business partnerships at roughly the same rate as romances. The corporate buzzword often used is values, but what does this term really mean when considering potential candidates? As the original founder, you are looking for partners who share your position on taking risk, employee relations, and crisis management, among other areas. The optimal method for evaluating the values of another person is to ask questions that produce indirect evidence of those values. While there are serious legal limits regarding questions you can ask an employee, few limits exist when considering a co-founder who is not your employee. Questions could include:

What interests you about this business idea?

Have you ever failed at anything?

A company programmer publishes pictures on their Instagram account where they are clearly drunk. Fire them, warn them, or none of our business?

What are your expectations regarding the time commitment for this business?

Is there anything about your family life that could impact the time commitment?

How do you foresee the decision-making process working out?

Should employees be given equity or not?

We don’t have the cash flow to pay the employees one month. Do we dip into personal savings, tell the employees there will be a delay, or . . . ?

What does this business look like in one year?

You learn the spouse of a good friend is cheating. Tell the friend or not?

What does this business look like in five years?

Legal counsel indicates we are conducting business in a gray area. Proceed or not?

Should we be aggressive or conservative with the company tax returns?

What are your expectations of me?

At the company holiday party, an employee throws a pie in your face in good humor. Fire them, laugh and take pictures, or . . . ?

What do you expect your role to be in five years?

Should the company contribute to political causes and, if so, what types?

Engaging with the person in as relaxed an environment as possible is likely to produce more insightful answers. Being questioned in an office screams “job interview,” and puts the candidate on the defensive. Being asked the same questions at happy hour or a casual dinner as part of a general conversation tends to mitigate any defensive mental posture.

I once worked with an angel investor who wouldn’t put a penny into a business unless the founders had enjoyed dinner with him at Morton’s Steakhouse where a belly full of wine and steak tended to loosen the lips. You could do worse than take such an approach.

2. Do Look for Complementary Skills

A person should only be added to a partnership if they bring one of two things: a complementary skill or capital.

Capital no doubt peaked your curiosity, so let’s get it out of the way first. If Elon Musk emerges from the VIP room of the local club on a Friday night, chats you up, and offers to invest fifty million in your scrapbook-for-blind-elephants startup, write out the deal on a bar napkin and have him sign it then and there.

As you can imagine, the “randomly meeting super successful business leader at clubs” partner generation business model is not often successful. Finding a partner with complementary skills is a more realistic scenario. Consider an online partnership you are likely already familiar with: affiliate programs. One partner provides a product or service. The other provides traffic. If both partners just provide products, sales are going to be a bit slow.

There are exceptions to this rule, with Google being an example. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were both computer scientists at Stanford when they created BackRub, which later became Google. The gentlemen seem to be doing okay.

Still, failure is the more likely result. For example, I once was approached by a corporate client that comprised three founders, all of whom were programmers. The gentlemen had launched a company providing marketing and programming services. The programming side of the business was doing rather well, which made up-selling the marketing services a breeze. Any goodwill established with the programming services was quickly squandered when it became apparent the marketing department was borderline incompetent. The company ultimately failed. The outcome likely would have been different if one of the partners was a qualified marketing professional.

While there are exceptions to every rule, try to find partners who complement the skill sets of the founders already in the business.

3. Do Have an Exit Strategy

When considering partners, make sure the person understands your exit strategy and agrees to it. No exceptions. An exit strategy is a plan the partners settle on for cashing out of the business. The three options are to sell the business to a third party (e.g. Amazon purchases Zappos), take the company public (e.g. Facebook), or pass ownership to younger family members in exchange for a significant buyout.

Settling on an exit strategy is critical because that decision shapes all other important decisions for the business. Let’s assume we create a company selling lampshade hats online as party accessories. If the exit strategy is to sell the site to a third party within three to five years, then all management decisions will focus on producing short-term results while long-term investment is ignored. For example, we might pump every spare dollar into advertising one-off sales while ignoring developing a mailing list that could give the company a significant advantage over competitors in five to ten years.

If your plan for the business is to leave it to your kids, but potential partners are focused on a lucrative IPO, take down my name because you are going to need a lawyer sooner or later.

4. Do Conduct Due Diligence

Due diligence is critical when evaluating a potential partner. Don’t think so? These postings on co-founder nightmares will change your mind. Due diligence is the process of evaluating a partnership candidate based on independent resources. The focus should be on:

Does the candidate have a history of business ownership, and what is it?

Is there anything alarming in the candidate’s history (criminal conviction, etc.)?

What is the candidate’s reputation?

Does the candidate have a history of filing lawsuits or being a defendant in litigation?

Is the candidate a job hopper, and does it indicate a problem with commitment?

Has the candidate filed bankruptcy or had other financial issues?

Keep in mind that nobody is perfect. I, your humble attorney, earned a speeding ticket the very day I received my driver’s license. I also may have been involved in a “misunderstanding” in an Eastern European country in the 1990s that fortunately no longer exists. (RIP Yugoslavia!) As Oscar Wilde once said, “Never judge anyone shortly because every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” An event that occurred in 1998 is likely less of a concern than a negative mark arising in 2014.

Before we continue, let’s be clear about something. There are few limits on due diligence when the target is a potential business partner. The same is not true when evaluating an employee. Speak with a labor attorney before using any of these techniques to evaluate a potential employee. With that caution out of the way . . .

Due diligence begins with online research, and social media accounts are your first destination. PeekYou.com is an excellent tool for identifying a person’s social media accounts. Just perform a search for the candidate’s name on the home page, and the site will generate a list.

Read through all the social accounts, but pay particular attention to Twitter. While browsing through original tweets can be illuminating, pay particular attention to their disagreements on Twitter. If the candidate loses their composure or explodes at another person, it may be a preview to how the individual will react during partner disagreements.

Next, conduct a Google search using the following commands:

“Person’s name”

“Person’s name” + lawsuit

“Person’s name” + arrested

“Person’s name” + accused

“Person’s name” + judgment

“Person’s name” + settlement

Reputation management firms specialize in burying negative listings in search results. Take the time to review the top ten pages of results for each search command. Keep an eye out for mugshots and newspaper or television news show listings.

Obtaining background and credit checks is also advisable. However, you should only ask for consent to obtain the information from the potential partner if you are willing to provide the same information to that person. Obtaining a background check on the sly, for example, could come back to haunt you in the future if the partner learns of the report a few years down the line. Spokeo.com is an excellent tool for background checks. Every person is entitled to one free credit report a year, which can be obtained through AnnualCreditReport.com.

And then we have criminal record databases. There is one database you should always check potential partners against: NSOPW. NSOPW is the National Sex Offender Public Website. A bit of free legal advice: avoid sex offenders as partners. To use NSOPW, just visit the home page and conduct a search using the name of the potential partner.

Finally, we have referrals. Ask for referrals from every business the candidate has listed in their employment history. Contact those companies to verify position and dates of employment. You’ll be surprised by how many people lie about where they have worked. You can also ask for impressions of the candidate, but understand the responses often carry little value. Companies are worried about being sued for defamation when responding to referral requests. Many either no longer provide any response or will give a vaguely positive reference regardless of the actual experience with the candidate.

Why conduct due diligence? The time to discover problems with a potential partner is before committing to them, not when a bank or venture capitalist is conducting due diligence on your company.

5. Do Attempt to Conduct a Trial Run

Most people would agree that buying a vehicle without first going on a test drive would be unwise. We can say the same thing about a partnership. Instead of “marrying” your potential partner right away, why not date for a bit by pursuing a single project to determine if you are a match? Matching skill sets and personalities will take you a long way in establishing a successful partnership, but the outcome will always be in doubt until tested in a real world environment.

In the early 2000s, I was approached by a person who was considering launching a business in the natural products industry. This person, who we’ll call Sara, was looking for a partner who had relationships with distributors and retailers in the industry. Sara identified what seemed to be a perfect partner match. The match, we’ll call Bill, had relationships in the natural products industry, a good reputation, and was one of those people who could chat up just about anyone.

A partnership was formed. And it was good . . . for a bit.

Unfortunately, Sara soon realized Bill lacked common sense, which manifested one day when Bill managed to erase the software program the company used for inventory and bookkeeping. The entire program. I swear this is a true story. One tech told us Bill would’ve had to click through something like ten different warning messages before deleting the software. Despite appearing to be a great match, Bill eventually resigned from the company after a number of other incidents.

While it isn’t always practical to take a potential partner on a trial run, the strategy is worth its weight in gold if you can pull it off. All potential partners talk a good game because all entrepreneurs are optimists at heart. Running a trial campaign reveals whether those talking the talk can deliver on a daily basis.

Now let’s get into the Don’ts to finding business partners.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Seek a Partner for the Wrong Reasons

If you are contemplating adding a partner, stop and ask yourself a simple question: why? The answer may have merit, but many partnerships are created because the original partner lacks confidence and is looking for a security blanket. Here is a little secret—every person starting their first business lacks confidence and is fearful. I worked for a well-known law firm for ten years and had relationships with enough clients that I knew I would be fine when starting a firm in 2000. I was still worried. It’s natural.

As a general rule, avoid giving away equity in your company if at all possible. If you can’t program, pay a freelance programmer instead of taking on a programmer as a partner. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t pursue a partner, but just make sure you have an objective reason for seeking one.

Once you’ve decided a partner is a necessity, begin the process with a personal evaluation. I am a big believer in personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. The MBTI is based on the psychological theories of Carl Jung, and classifies a person by four factors:

How we interact with the world—Extroversion vs. Introversion

How we prefer to take in information—Sensing vs. iNtuition

How we make decisions— Thinking vs. Feeling

How we deal with the world—Judging vs. Perceiving

After answering some questions, the system will assign you a personality profile based on the capitalized letters above. So a person with an ISTJ result has Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging personality traits. From a business perspective, this person would be serious and dependable, but quiet and practical. This individual would likely clash with a partner who is extroverted and makes decisions by the seat of their pants.

To take the formal MBTI for $49.95, visit this page. Alternatively, you can take a free version of a simplified MBTI at 16Personalities.com, which also offers an explanation of the test results. Keep the traits of your personality in mind when evaluating potential partners and their personas. If you are highly organized, a partner who isn’t will slowly drive you mad.

2. Don’t Settle for Unequal Commitment

Nothing sinks a business partnership faster than bitterness. Nothing breeds bitterness more quickly than partners with different commitments to the company. If the partners are splitting profits equally, but one is working twenty hours a week and the other seventy—Mount Partnership is going to erupt spectacularly sooner or later.

When evaluating a partner, make sure the candidate is prepared to make an equal time and effort commitment to the business. A good way to ascertain whether this is the case is to ask the candidate very specific questions about what they foresee as their role and daily activities. Do not tip them off and do not make suggestions. Let them talk. If the person describes a list of tasks that could not possibly take more than four hours a day to complete, there may be a problem if you are expecting a forty-hour commitment each week.

Although an equal commitment is not a legal requirement, you should consider it a practical one. With the exception of partners solely making financial contributions, all partners should have similar commitment levels.

3. Don’t Agree To Handshake Deals

Here’s a typical co-founder scenario. You have a smashing business idea. You need a partner who has mastered Facebook advertising, and you identify the perfect person. A 50/50 ownership split is agreed upon, the partners kick in an agreed upon capital, you form an LLC but never get around to an operating agreement, and off the two of you go to launch the business. A year passes, and the perfect partner starts missing days.

Can you fire them?

Can you just revoke their ownership interest or do you have to buy them out?

Do you even have the right to buy them out?

A staggering number of businesses carry one or more “zombie” partners that siphon profits off like leeches because the founders never stopped to put their founders’ agreement in writing. With no written contract in place, there is no mechanism for dealing with problem partners. The only option is to pursue a solution in court—a process that is so expensive and aggravating that the functioning partners resign themselves to keeping the zombie partner.

Always retain a lawyer to draft the founders’ partnership agreement for you. The agreement should cover:

The contribution to the company of each party

The obligations of each party

How long a party must be with the company to vest in percentages of their promised ownership

Whether partners can be fired and under what conditions

Whether partners can be bought out and under what terms

What voting percentages are required to validate any of these actions

Any other issues unique to the business

A quick word about limited liability companies (LLCs). You will often read that one of the advantages of the LLC is no written operating agreement is required. The reasoning behind number one should be obvious. As to the LLC, an operating agreement is critical because it will contain a procedure for addressing partner disputes and removals. If you form an LLC with another party, get one. Otherwise, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Finally, avoid partners who are hesitant to put your agreement in writing. There is no valid reason for refusing. The fact that a candidate is reluctant to do so is a major red flag.

4. Don’t Avoid Friends

“You should never go into business with friends.”

Nonsense.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met while working for the same business in 1970 and became good friends. Jobs eventually discovered “Woz” was playing around building computers and thought he could sell the devices. The rest is history. And did it kill their friendship? According to Woz, the two remained friends until Jobs passed, and despite Jobs’s brutally frank nature, “We’ve never had an argument.”

Of course, there are horror stories concerning friends launching companies. In my experience, there are three rules one needs to comply with when considering friends as partners:

Never go into business with a friend solely because they are a friend. There must be some other asset they bring to the partnership.

You must be willing to lose the person as your friend here and now. If the business fails, it is highly likely the friendship will as well. Blame will be assigned. It is human nature.

Recognize that both of your “work personalities” are likely different than your “friend personas,” and determine if it still makes sense to move forward.

Still unsure if you should proceed? Conduct a trial run. If you annoy each other to no end, the business can be put to bed before you ruin the friendship.

Great, But Where Do I Find These People?

So, where does one find potential partners in the real world? The good news is you likely already know the person. Co-workers are an ideal place to find partners. The beauty of co-workers is that you’ve had a chance to observe each candidate in action and should have a pretty good idea of who is talented and reliable versus who gossips and avoids responsibility like the plague.

Other possible sources for partners include:

Employees of competitors who have impressed you

Individuals who you communicate with online in other niches

Your mentors

Individuals suggested by a mentor

Freelancers who you have hired in the past

Don’t speak with just one candidate. Play the field until you find the optimal choice.

In Closing

The addition of valuable partners can be a galvanizing event for a business. This guide should assist you in identifying those individuals who can be invaluable as well as those who should be avoided.

To your success!

Richard A. Chapo

SoCalInternetLawyer.com

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners shared from David Homer’s Blog

[andrewmrudd79]

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners

Some of the most common questions I receive from the SPI audience are about the legal aspect of starting a business. Although I’ve had my fair share of legal-related experiences (both positive and negative) since starting my business, I also know that I don’t know everything and need someone in my corner who does.

That’s why I’ve been working with Richard A. Chapo from SoCalInternetLawyer.com for almost ten years now. He’s my attorney, and he’s here to help all of us understand the bits and pieces of legal information we might need to know to protect our online businesses.

Richard was featured in Smart Income Podcast Session 231 where he and my trademark attorney, Alena Herranen, tackled the most common legal questions for those just starting out in business. Richard is back today to tackle the important decision of starting a business with a partner, and all that should be considered. It’s an important topic a lot of people like to stay away from, because it involves a lot of hard decisions that all those who start a business have to figure out.

Richard will likely be back in the future to tackle other specific topics related to the legal aspect of business, but for now, here he is talking about starting a partnership. Take it away, Richard!

No formula guarantees business success. If one existed, you can bet we would all be following it. Instead, your goal when starting a business is to create as fertile a field as possible for company growth. Gathering a talented collection of partners to run the business is a time-tested strategy for priming the pump. One problem exists. How exactly does one distinguish between individuals who can take a company to the next level and those who will be anchors? Picking partners is very much an art, but following the Dos and Don’ts can improve your chances of success significantly.

Plenty of information exists online regarding the business partner selection process. My intention is to provide something a bit different today. The following tips will be based not on general concepts of “missions” and “ecosystems.” Rather, the focus will be on what I’ve observed and experienced in twenty-five years as a business attorney. I’ll even present examples where clients have consented to show how certain situations might play out. No, the stories do not involve Pat.

For clarification purposes, I’ll refer to individuals taking an ownership position in a business as “partners” and the business as a “partnership” regardless of the type of business entity selected by the founders (e.g. corporation and limited liability company).

Entering into a business partnership is the equivalent of getting married. It is not uncommon to spend more waking hours with a business partner than with a spouse. I’m going to assume that you would find the notion of walking into a bar and marrying the first person you see as laughable. Unfortunately, many partnerships are formed in this manner. Picking partners on a wing and prayer is asking for trouble. Following a process gives you a much better chance of identifying reliable and competent talent.

Here are the Dos of finding business partners.

The Dos

1. Do Match

Entrepreneurs launch businesses for a variety of reasons: Passion, financial independence, to fulfill a dream. In twenty-five years of practicing law, I’ve yet to meet a single person who launched a business because they hoped to be miserable. Yet, a life of misery is a definite possibility when forming a partnership with an individual who has a personality that grates on you like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Take a moment to reflect on romantic relationships you’ve experienced in life. The reasons those relationships might have failed are likely not akin to the dramatic soap opera betrayal (“You slept with my twin I didn’t know I had while I was in a coma after finding out your uncle is my father’s mother!). No, most relationships unwind because of small personality conflicts. He might be pretentious. She might always be late. He might be unduly sensitive. She might be offensive at parties.

Personality conflicts kill business partnerships at roughly the same rate as romances. The corporate buzzword often used is values, but what does this term really mean when considering potential candidates? As the original founder, you are looking for partners who share your position on taking risk, employee relations, and crisis management, among other areas. The optimal method for evaluating the values of another person is to ask questions that produce indirect evidence of those values. While there are serious legal limits regarding questions you can ask an employee, few limits exist when considering a co-founder who is not your employee. Questions could include:

What interests you about this business idea?

Have you ever failed at anything?

A company programmer publishes pictures on their Instagram account where they are clearly drunk. Fire them, warn them, or none of our business?

What are your expectations regarding the time commitment for this business?

Is there anything about your family life that could impact the time commitment?

How do you foresee the decision-making process working out?

Should employees be given equity or not?

We don’t have the cash flow to pay the employees one month. Do we dip into personal savings, tell the employees there will be a delay, or . . . ?

What does this business look like in one year?

You learn the spouse of a good friend is cheating. Tell the friend or not?

What does this business look like in five years?

Legal counsel indicates we are conducting business in a gray area. Proceed or not?

Should we be aggressive or conservative with the company tax returns?

What are your expectations of me?

At the company holiday party, an employee throws a pie in your face in good humor. Fire them, laugh and take pictures, or . . . ?

What do you expect your role to be in five years?

Should the company contribute to political causes and, if so, what types?

Engaging with the person in as relaxed an environment as possible is likely to produce more insightful answers. Being questioned in an office screams “job interview,” and puts the candidate on the defensive. Being asked the same questions at happy hour or a casual dinner as part of a general conversation tends to mitigate any defensive mental posture.

I once worked with an angel investor who wouldn’t put a penny into a business unless the founders had enjoyed dinner with him at Morton’s Steakhouse where a belly full of wine and steak tended to loosen the lips. You could do worse than take such an approach.

2. Do Look for Complementary Skills

A person should only be added to a partnership if they bring one of two things: a complementary skill or capital.

Capital no doubt peaked your curiosity, so let’s get it out of the way first. If Elon Musk emerges from the VIP room of the local club on a Friday night, chats you up, and offers to invest fifty million in your scrapbook-for-blind-elephants startup, write out the deal on a bar napkin and have him sign it then and there.

As you can imagine, the “randomly meeting super successful business leader at clubs” partner generation business model is not often successful. Finding a partner with complementary skills is a more realistic scenario. Consider an online partnership you are likely already familiar with: affiliate programs. One partner provides a product or service. The other provides traffic. If both partners just provide products, sales are going to be a bit slow.

There are exceptions to this rule, with Google being an example. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were both computer scientists at Stanford when they created BackRub, which later became Google. The gentlemen seem to be doing okay.

Still, failure is the more likely result. For example, I once was approached by a corporate client that comprised three founders, all of whom were programmers. The gentlemen had launched a company providing marketing and programming services. The programming side of the business was doing rather well, which made up-selling the marketing services a breeze. Any goodwill established with the programming services was quickly squandered when it became apparent the marketing department was borderline incompetent. The company ultimately failed. The outcome likely would have been different if one of the partners was a qualified marketing professional.

While there are exceptions to every rule, try to find partners who complement the skill sets of the founders already in the business.

3. Do Have an Exit Strategy

When considering partners, make sure the person understands your exit strategy and agrees to it. No exceptions. An exit strategy is a plan the partners settle on for cashing out of the business. The three options are to sell the business to a third party (e.g. Amazon purchases Zappos), take the company public (e.g. Facebook), or pass ownership to younger family members in exchange for a significant buyout.

Settling on an exit strategy is critical because that decision shapes all other important decisions for the business. Let’s assume we create a company selling lampshade hats online as party accessories. If the exit strategy is to sell the site to a third party within three to five years, then all management decisions will focus on producing short-term results while long-term investment is ignored. For example, we might pump every spare dollar into advertising one-off sales while ignoring developing a mailing list that could give the company a significant advantage over competitors in five to ten years.

If your plan for the business is to leave it to your kids, but potential partners are focused on a lucrative IPO, take down my name because you are going to need a lawyer sooner or later.

4. Do Conduct Due Diligence

Due diligence is critical when evaluating a potential partner. Don’t think so? These postings on co-founder nightmares will change your mind. Due diligence is the process of evaluating a partnership candidate based on independent resources. The focus should be on:

Does the candidate have a history of business ownership, and what is it?

Is there anything alarming in the candidate’s history (criminal conviction, etc.)?

What is the candidate’s reputation?

Does the candidate have a history of filing lawsuits or being a defendant in litigation?

Is the candidate a job hopper, and does it indicate a problem with commitment?

Has the candidate filed bankruptcy or had other financial issues?

Keep in mind that nobody is perfect. I, your humble attorney, earned a speeding ticket the very day I received my driver’s license. I also may have been involved in a “misunderstanding” in an Eastern European country in the 1990s that fortunately no longer exists. (RIP Yugoslavia!) As Oscar Wilde once said, “Never judge anyone shortly because every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” An event that occurred in 1998 is likely less of a concern than a negative mark arising in 2014.

Before we continue, let’s be clear about something. There are few limits on due diligence when the target is a potential business partner. The same is not true when evaluating an employee. Speak with a labor attorney before using any of these techniques to evaluate a potential employee. With that caution out of the way . . .

Due diligence begins with online research, and social media accounts are your first destination. PeekYou.com is an excellent tool for identifying a person’s social media accounts. Just perform a search for the candidate’s name on the home page, and the site will generate a list.

Read through all the social accounts, but pay particular attention to Twitter. While browsing through original tweets can be illuminating, pay particular attention to their disagreements on Twitter. If the candidate loses their composure or explodes at another person, it may be a preview to how the individual will react during partner disagreements.

Next, conduct a Google search using the following commands:

“Person’s name”

“Person’s name” + lawsuit

“Person’s name” + arrested

“Person’s name” + accused

“Person’s name” + judgment

“Person’s name” + settlement

Reputation management firms specialize in burying negative listings in search results. Take the time to review the top ten pages of results for each search command. Keep an eye out for mugshots and newspaper or television news show listings.

Obtaining background and credit checks is also advisable. However, you should only ask for consent to obtain the information from the potential partner if you are willing to provide the same information to that person. Obtaining a background check on the sly, for example, could come back to haunt you in the future if the partner learns of the report a few years down the line. Spokeo.com is an excellent tool for background checks. Every person is entitled to one free credit report a year, which can be obtained through AnnualCreditReport.com.

And then we have criminal record databases. There is one database you should always check potential partners against: NSOPW. NSOPW is the National Sex Offender Public Website. A bit of free legal advice: avoid sex offenders as partners. To use NSOPW, just visit the home page and conduct a search using the name of the potential partner.

Finally, we have referrals. Ask for referrals from every business the candidate has listed in their employment history. Contact those companies to verify position and dates of employment. You’ll be surprised by how many people lie about where they have worked. You can also ask for impressions of the candidate, but understand the responses often carry little value. Companies are worried about being sued for defamation when responding to referral requests. Many either no longer provide any response or will give a vaguely positive reference regardless of the actual experience with the candidate.

Why conduct due diligence? The time to discover problems with a potential partner is before committing to them, not when a bank or venture capitalist is conducting due diligence on your company.

5. Do Attempt to Conduct a Trial Run

Most people would agree that buying a vehicle without first going on a test drive would be unwise. We can say the same thing about a partnership. Instead of “marrying” your potential partner right away, why not date for a bit by pursuing a single project to determine if you are a match? Matching skill sets and personalities will take you a long way in establishing a successful partnership, but the outcome will always be in doubt until tested in a real world environment.

In the early 2000s, I was approached by a person who was considering launching a business in the natural products industry. This person, who we’ll call Sara, was looking for a partner who had relationships with distributors and retailers in the industry. Sara identified what seemed to be a perfect partner match. The match, we’ll call Bill, had relationships in the natural products industry, a good reputation, and was one of those people who could chat up just about anyone.

A partnership was formed. And it was good . . . for a bit.

Unfortunately, Sara soon realized Bill lacked common sense, which manifested one day when Bill managed to erase the software program the company used for inventory and bookkeeping. The entire program. I swear this is a true story. One tech told us Bill would’ve had to click through something like ten different warning messages before deleting the software. Despite appearing to be a great match, Bill eventually resigned from the company after a number of other incidents.

While it isn’t always practical to take a potential partner on a trial run, the strategy is worth its weight in gold if you can pull it off. All potential partners talk a good game because all entrepreneurs are optimists at heart. Running a trial campaign reveals whether those talking the talk can deliver on a daily basis.

Now let’s get into the Don’ts to finding business partners.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Seek a Partner for the Wrong Reasons

If you are contemplating adding a partner, stop and ask yourself a simple question: why? The answer may have merit, but many partnerships are created because the original partner lacks confidence and is looking for a security blanket. Here is a little secret—every person starting their first business lacks confidence and is fearful. I worked for a well-known law firm for ten years and had relationships with enough clients that I knew I would be fine when starting a firm in 2000. I was still worried. It’s natural.

As a general rule, avoid giving away equity in your company if at all possible. If you can’t program, pay a freelance programmer instead of taking on a programmer as a partner. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t pursue a partner, but just make sure you have an objective reason for seeking one.

Once you’ve decided a partner is a necessity, begin the process with a personal evaluation. I am a big believer in personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. The MBTI is based on the psychological theories of Carl Jung, and classifies a person by four factors:

How we interact with the world—Extroversion vs. Introversion

How we prefer to take in information—Sensing vs. iNtuition

How we make decisions— Thinking vs. Feeling

How we deal with the world—Judging vs. Perceiving

After answering some questions, the system will assign you a personality profile based on the capitalized letters above. So a person with an ISTJ result has Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging personality traits. From a business perspective, this person would be serious and dependable, but quiet and practical. This individual would likely clash with a partner who is extroverted and makes decisions by the seat of their pants.

To take the formal MBTI for $49.95, visit this page. Alternatively, you can take a free version of a simplified MBTI at 16Personalities.com, which also offers an explanation of the test results. Keep the traits of your personality in mind when evaluating potential partners and their personas. If you are highly organized, a partner who isn’t will slowly drive you mad.

2. Don’t Settle for Unequal Commitment

Nothing sinks a business partnership faster than bitterness. Nothing breeds bitterness more quickly than partners with different commitments to the company. If the partners are splitting profits equally, but one is working twenty hours a week and the other seventy—Mount Partnership is going to erupt spectacularly sooner or later.

When evaluating a partner, make sure the candidate is prepared to make an equal time and effort commitment to the business. A good way to ascertain whether this is the case is to ask the candidate very specific questions about what they foresee as their role and daily activities. Do not tip them off and do not make suggestions. Let them talk. If the person describes a list of tasks that could not possibly take more than four hours a day to complete, there may be a problem if you are expecting a forty-hour commitment each week.

Although an equal commitment is not a legal requirement, you should consider it a practical one. With the exception of partners solely making financial contributions, all partners should have similar commitment levels.

3. Don’t Agree To Handshake Deals

Here’s a typical co-founder scenario. You have a smashing business idea. You need a partner who has mastered Facebook advertising, and you identify the perfect person. A 50/50 ownership split is agreed upon, the partners kick in an agreed upon capital, you form an LLC but never get around to an operating agreement, and off the two of you go to launch the business. A year passes, and the perfect partner starts missing days.

Can you fire them?

Can you just revoke their ownership interest or do you have to buy them out?

Do you even have the right to buy them out?

A staggering number of businesses carry one or more “zombie” partners that siphon profits off like leeches because the founders never stopped to put their founders’ agreement in writing. With no written contract in place, there is no mechanism for dealing with problem partners. The only option is to pursue a solution in court—a process that is so expensive and aggravating that the functioning partners resign themselves to keeping the zombie partner.

Always retain a lawyer to draft the founders’ partnership agreement for you. The agreement should cover:

The contribution to the company of each party

The obligations of each party

How long a party must be with the company to vest in percentages of their promised ownership

Whether partners can be fired and under what conditions

Whether partners can be bought out and under what terms

What voting percentages are required to validate any of these actions

Any other issues unique to the business

A quick word about limited liability companies (LLCs). You will often read that one of the advantages of the LLC is no written operating agreement is required. The reasoning behind number one should be obvious. As to the LLC, an operating agreement is critical because it will contain a procedure for addressing partner disputes and removals. If you form an LLC with another party, get one. Otherwise, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Finally, avoid partners who are hesitant to put your agreement in writing. There is no valid reason for refusing. The fact that a candidate is reluctant to do so is a major red flag.

4. Don’t Avoid Friends

“You should never go into business with friends.”

Nonsense.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met while working for the same business in 1970 and became good friends. Jobs eventually discovered “Woz” was playing around building computers and thought he could sell the devices. The rest is history. And did it kill their friendship? According to Woz, the two remained friends until Jobs passed, and despite Jobs’s brutally frank nature, “We’ve never had an argument.”

Of course, there are horror stories concerning friends launching companies. In my experience, there are three rules one needs to comply with when considering friends as partners:

Never go into business with a friend solely because they are a friend. There must be some other asset they bring to the partnership.

You must be willing to lose the person as your friend here and now. If the business fails, it is highly likely the friendship will as well. Blame will be assigned. It is human nature.

Recognize that both of your “work personalities” are likely different than your “friend personas,” and determine if it still makes sense to move forward.

Still unsure if you should proceed? Conduct a trial run. If you annoy each other to no end, the business can be put to bed before you ruin the friendship.

Great, But Where Do I Find These People?

So, where does one find potential partners in the real world? The good news is you likely already know the person. Co-workers are an ideal place to find partners. The beauty of co-workers is that you’ve had a chance to observe each candidate in action and should have a pretty good idea of who is talented and reliable versus who gossips and avoids responsibility like the plague.

Other possible sources for partners include:

Employees of competitors who have impressed you

Individuals who you communicate with online in other niches

Your mentors

Individuals suggested by a mentor

Freelancers who you have hired in the past

Don’t speak with just one candidate. Play the field until you find the optimal choice.

In Closing

The addition of valuable partners can be a galvanizing event for a business. This guide should assist you in identifying those individuals who can be invaluable as well as those who should be avoided.

To your success!

Richard A. Chapo

SoCalInternetLawyer.com

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners originally posted at Homer’s Blog

[judithghernandez87]

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners

Some of the most common questions I receive from the SPI audience are about the legal aspect of starting a business. Although I’ve had my fair share of legal-related experiences (both positive and negative) since starting my business, I also know that I don’t know everything and need someone in my corner who does.

That’s why I’ve been working with Richard A. Chapo from SoCalInternetLawyer.com for almost ten years now. He’s my attorney, and he’s here to help all of us understand the bits and pieces of legal information we might need to know to protect our online businesses.

Richard was featured in Smart Income Podcast Session 231 where he and my trademark attorney, Alena Herranen, tackled the most common legal questions for those just starting out in business. Richard is back today to tackle the important decision of starting a business with a partner, and all that should be considered. It’s an important topic a lot of people like to stay away from, because it involves a lot of hard decisions that all those who start a business have to figure out.

Richard will likely be back in the future to tackle other specific topics related to the legal aspect of business, but for now, here he is talking about starting a partnership. Take it away, Richard!

No formula guarantees business success. If one existed, you can bet we would all be following it. Instead, your goal when starting a business is to create as fertile a field as possible for company growth. Gathering a talented collection of partners to run the business is a time-tested strategy for priming the pump. One problem exists. How exactly does one distinguish between individuals who can take a company to the next level and those who will be anchors? Picking partners is very much an art, but following the Dos and Don’ts can improve your chances of success significantly.

Plenty of information exists online regarding the business partner selection process. My intention is to provide something a bit different today. The following tips will be based not on general concepts of “missions” and “ecosystems.” Rather, the focus will be on what I’ve observed and experienced in twenty-five years as a business attorney. I’ll even present examples where clients have consented to show how certain situations might play out. No, the stories do not involve Pat.

For clarification purposes, I’ll refer to individuals taking an ownership position in a business as “partners” and the business as a “partnership” regardless of the type of business entity selected by the founders (e.g. corporation and limited liability company).

Entering into a business partnership is the equivalent of getting married. It is not uncommon to spend more waking hours with a business partner than with a spouse. I’m going to assume that you would find the notion of walking into a bar and marrying the first person you see as laughable. Unfortunately, many partnerships are formed in this manner. Picking partners on a wing and prayer is asking for trouble. Following a process gives you a much better chance of identifying reliable and competent talent.

Here are the Dos of finding business partners.

The Dos

1. Do Match

Entrepreneurs launch businesses for a variety of reasons: Passion, financial independence, to fulfill a dream. In twenty-five years of practicing law, I’ve yet to meet a single person who launched a business because they hoped to be miserable. Yet, a life of misery is a definite possibility when forming a partnership with an individual who has a personality that grates on you like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Take a moment to reflect on romantic relationships you’ve experienced in life. The reasons those relationships might have failed are likely not akin to the dramatic soap opera betrayal (“You slept with my twin I didn’t know I had while I was in a coma after finding out your uncle is my father’s mother!). No, most relationships unwind because of small personality conflicts. He might be pretentious. She might always be late. He might be unduly sensitive. She might be offensive at parties.

Personality conflicts kill business partnerships at roughly the same rate as romances. The corporate buzzword often used is values, but what does this term really mean when considering potential candidates? As the original founder, you are looking for partners who share your position on taking risk, employee relations, and crisis management, among other areas. The optimal method for evaluating the values of another person is to ask questions that produce indirect evidence of those values. While there are serious legal limits regarding questions you can ask an employee, few limits exist when considering a co-founder who is not your employee. Questions could include:

What interests you about this business idea?

Have you ever failed at anything?

A company programmer publishes pictures on their Instagram account where they are clearly drunk. Fire them, warn them, or none of our business?

What are your expectations regarding the time commitment for this business?

Is there anything about your family life that could impact the time commitment?

How do you foresee the decision-making process working out?

Should employees be given equity or not?

We don’t have the cash flow to pay the employees one month. Do we dip into personal savings, tell the employees there will be a delay, or . . . ?

What does this business look like in one year?

You learn the spouse of a good friend is cheating. Tell the friend or not?

What does this business look like in five years?

Legal counsel indicates we are conducting business in a gray area. Proceed or not?

Should we be aggressive or conservative with the company tax returns?

What are your expectations of me?

At the company holiday party, an employee throws a pie in your face in good humor. Fire them, laugh and take pictures, or . . . ?

What do you expect your role to be in five years?

Should the company contribute to political causes and, if so, what types?

Engaging with the person in as relaxed an environment as possible is likely to produce more insightful answers. Being questioned in an office screams “job interview,” and puts the candidate on the defensive. Being asked the same questions at happy hour or a casual dinner as part of a general conversation tends to mitigate any defensive mental posture.

I once worked with an angel investor who wouldn’t put a penny into a business unless the founders had enjoyed dinner with him at Morton’s Steakhouse where a belly full of wine and steak tended to loosen the lips. You could do worse than take such an approach.

2. Do Look for Complementary Skills

A person should only be added to a partnership if they bring one of two things: a complementary skill or capital.

Capital no doubt peaked your curiosity, so let’s get it out of the way first. If Elon Musk emerges from the VIP room of the local club on a Friday night, chats you up, and offers to invest fifty million in your scrapbook-for-blind-elephants startup, write out the deal on a bar napkin and have him sign it then and there.

As you can imagine, the “randomly meeting super successful business leader at clubs” partner generation business model is not often successful. Finding a partner with complementary skills is a more realistic scenario. Consider an online partnership you are likely already familiar with: affiliate programs. One partner provides a product or service. The other provides traffic. If both partners just provide products, sales are going to be a bit slow.

There are exceptions to this rule, with Google being an example. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were both computer scientists at Stanford when they created BackRub, which later became Google. The gentlemen seem to be doing okay.

Still, failure is the more likely result. For example, I once was approached by a corporate client that comprised three founders, all of whom were programmers. The gentlemen had launched a company providing marketing and programming services. The programming side of the business was doing rather well, which made up-selling the marketing services a breeze. Any goodwill established with the programming services was quickly squandered when it became apparent the marketing department was borderline incompetent. The company ultimately failed. The outcome likely would have been different if one of the partners was a qualified marketing professional.

While there are exceptions to every rule, try to find partners who complement the skill sets of the founders already in the business.

3. Do Have an Exit Strategy

When considering partners, make sure the person understands your exit strategy and agrees to it. No exceptions. An exit strategy is a plan the partners settle on for cashing out of the business. The three options are to sell the business to a third party (e.g. Amazon purchases Zappos), take the company public (e.g. Facebook), or pass ownership to younger family members in exchange for a significant buyout.

Settling on an exit strategy is critical because that decision shapes all other important decisions for the business. Let’s assume we create a company selling lampshade hats online as party accessories. If the exit strategy is to sell the site to a third party within three to five years, then all management decisions will focus on producing short-term results while long-term investment is ignored. For example, we might pump every spare dollar into advertising one-off sales while ignoring developing a mailing list that could give the company a significant advantage over competitors in five to ten years.

If your plan for the business is to leave it to your kids, but potential partners are focused on a lucrative IPO, take down my name because you are going to need a lawyer sooner or later.

4. Do Conduct Due Diligence

Due diligence is critical when evaluating a potential partner. Don’t think so? These postings on co-founder nightmares will change your mind. Due diligence is the process of evaluating a partnership candidate based on independent resources. The focus should be on:

Does the candidate have a history of business ownership, and what is it?

Is there anything alarming in the candidate’s history (criminal conviction, etc.)?

What is the candidate’s reputation?

Does the candidate have a history of filing lawsuits or being a defendant in litigation?

Is the candidate a job hopper, and does it indicate a problem with commitment?

Has the candidate filed bankruptcy or had other financial issues?

Keep in mind that nobody is perfect. I, your humble attorney, earned a speeding ticket the very day I received my driver’s license. I also may have been involved in a “misunderstanding” in an Eastern European country in the 1990s that fortunately no longer exists. (RIP Yugoslavia!) As Oscar Wilde once said, “Never judge anyone shortly because every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” An event that occurred in 1998 is likely less of a concern than a negative mark arising in 2014.

Before we continue, let’s be clear about something. There are few limits on due diligence when the target is a potential business partner. The same is not true when evaluating an employee. Speak with a labor attorney before using any of these techniques to evaluate a potential employee. With that caution out of the way . . .

Due diligence begins with online research, and social media accounts are your first destination. PeekYou.com is an excellent tool for identifying a person’s social media accounts. Just perform a search for the candidate’s name on the home page, and the site will generate a list.

Read through all the social accounts, but pay particular attention to Twitter. While browsing through original tweets can be illuminating, pay particular attention to their disagreements on Twitter. If the candidate loses their composure or explodes at another person, it may be a preview to how the individual will react during partner disagreements.

Next, conduct a Google search using the following commands:

“Person’s name”

“Person’s name” + lawsuit

“Person’s name” + arrested

“Person’s name” + accused

“Person’s name” + judgment

“Person’s name” + settlement

Reputation management firms specialize in burying negative listings in search results. Take the time to review the top ten pages of results for each search command. Keep an eye out for mugshots and newspaper or television news show listings.

Obtaining background and credit checks is also advisable. However, you should only ask for consent to obtain the information from the potential partner if you are willing to provide the same information to that person. Obtaining a background check on the sly, for example, could come back to haunt you in the future if the partner learns of the report a few years down the line. Spokeo.com is an excellent tool for background checks. Every person is entitled to one free credit report a year, which can be obtained through AnnualCreditReport.com.

And then we have criminal record databases. There is one database you should always check potential partners against: NSOPW. NSOPW is the National Sex Offender Public Website. A bit of free legal advice: avoid sex offenders as partners. To use NSOPW, just visit the home page and conduct a search using the name of the potential partner.

Finally, we have referrals. Ask for referrals from every business the candidate has listed in their employment history. Contact those companies to verify position and dates of employment. You’ll be surprised by how many people lie about where they have worked. You can also ask for impressions of the candidate, but understand the responses often carry little value. Companies are worried about being sued for defamation when responding to referral requests. Many either no longer provide any response or will give a vaguely positive reference regardless of the actual experience with the candidate.

Why conduct due diligence? The time to discover problems with a potential partner is before committing to them, not when a bank or venture capitalist is conducting due diligence on your company.

5. Do Attempt to Conduct a Trial Run

Most people would agree that buying a vehicle without first going on a test drive would be unwise. We can say the same thing about a partnership. Instead of “marrying” your potential partner right away, why not date for a bit by pursuing a single project to determine if you are a match? Matching skill sets and personalities will take you a long way in establishing a successful partnership, but the outcome will always be in doubt until tested in a real world environment.

In the early 2000s, I was approached by a person who was considering launching a business in the natural products industry. This person, who we’ll call Sara, was looking for a partner who had relationships with distributors and retailers in the industry. Sara identified what seemed to be a perfect partner match. The match, we’ll call Bill, had relationships in the natural products industry, a good reputation, and was one of those people who could chat up just about anyone.

A partnership was formed. And it was good . . . for a bit.

Unfortunately, Sara soon realized Bill lacked common sense, which manifested one day when Bill managed to erase the software program the company used for inventory and bookkeeping. The entire program. I swear this is a true story. One tech told us Bill would’ve had to click through something like ten different warning messages before deleting the software. Despite appearing to be a great match, Bill eventually resigned from the company after a number of other incidents.

While it isn’t always practical to take a potential partner on a trial run, the strategy is worth its weight in gold if you can pull it off. All potential partners talk a good game because all entrepreneurs are optimists at heart. Running a trial campaign reveals whether those talking the talk can deliver on a daily basis.

Now let’s get into the Don’ts to finding business partners.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Seek a Partner for the Wrong Reasons

If you are contemplating adding a partner, stop and ask yourself a simple question: why? The answer may have merit, but many partnerships are created because the original partner lacks confidence and is looking for a security blanket. Here is a little secret—every person starting their first business lacks confidence and is fearful. I worked for a well-known law firm for ten years and had relationships with enough clients that I knew I would be fine when starting a firm in 2000. I was still worried. It’s natural.

As a general rule, avoid giving away equity in your company if at all possible. If you can’t program, pay a freelance programmer instead of taking on a programmer as a partner. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t pursue a partner, but just make sure you have an objective reason for seeking one.

Once you’ve decided a partner is a necessity, begin the process with a personal evaluation. I am a big believer in personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. The MBTI is based on the psychological theories of Carl Jung, and classifies a person by four factors:

How we interact with the world—Extroversion vs. Introversion

How we prefer to take in information—Sensing vs. iNtuition

How we make decisions— Thinking vs. Feeling

How we deal with the world—Judging vs. Perceiving

After answering some questions, the system will assign you a personality profile based on the capitalized letters above. So a person with an ISTJ result has Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging personality traits. From a business perspective, this person would be serious and dependable, but quiet and practical. This individual would likely clash with a partner who is extroverted and makes decisions by the seat of their pants.

To take the formal MBTI for $49.95, visit this page. Alternatively, you can take a free version of a simplified MBTI at 16Personalities.com, which also offers an explanation of the test results. Keep the traits of your personality in mind when evaluating potential partners and their personas. If you are highly organized, a partner who isn’t will slowly drive you mad.

2. Don’t Settle for Unequal Commitment

Nothing sinks a business partnership faster than bitterness. Nothing breeds bitterness more quickly than partners with different commitments to the company. If the partners are splitting profits equally, but one is working twenty hours a week and the other seventy—Mount Partnership is going to erupt spectacularly sooner or later.

When evaluating a partner, make sure the candidate is prepared to make an equal time and effort commitment to the business. A good way to ascertain whether this is the case is to ask the candidate very specific questions about what they foresee as their role and daily activities. Do not tip them off and do not make suggestions. Let them talk. If the person describes a list of tasks that could not possibly take more than four hours a day to complete, there may be a problem if you are expecting a forty-hour commitment each week.

Although an equal commitment is not a legal requirement, you should consider it a practical one. With the exception of partners solely making financial contributions, all partners should have similar commitment levels.

3. Don’t Agree To Handshake Deals

Here’s a typical co-founder scenario. You have a smashing business idea. You need a partner who has mastered Facebook advertising, and you identify the perfect person. A 50/50 ownership split is agreed upon, the partners kick in an agreed upon capital, you form an LLC but never get around to an operating agreement, and off the two of you go to launch the business. A year passes, and the perfect partner starts missing days.

Can you fire them?

Can you just revoke their ownership interest or do you have to buy them out?

Do you even have the right to buy them out?

A staggering number of businesses carry one or more “zombie” partners that siphon profits off like leeches because the founders never stopped to put their founders’ agreement in writing. With no written contract in place, there is no mechanism for dealing with problem partners. The only option is to pursue a solution in court—a process that is so expensive and aggravating that the functioning partners resign themselves to keeping the zombie partner.

Always retain a lawyer to draft the founders’ partnership agreement for you. The agreement should cover:

The contribution to the company of each party

The obligations of each party

How long a party must be with the company to vest in percentages of their promised ownership

Whether partners can be fired and under what conditions

Whether partners can be bought out and under what terms

What voting percentages are required to validate any of these actions

Any other issues unique to the business

A quick word about limited liability companies (LLCs). You will often read that one of the advantages of the LLC is no written operating agreement is required. The reasoning behind number one should be obvious. As to the LLC, an operating agreement is critical because it will contain a procedure for addressing partner disputes and removals. If you form an LLC with another party, get one. Otherwise, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Finally, avoid partners who are hesitant to put your agreement in writing. There is no valid reason for refusing. The fact that a candidate is reluctant to do so is a major red flag.

4. Don’t Avoid Friends

“You should never go into business with friends.”

Nonsense.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met while working for the same business in 1970 and became good friends. Jobs eventually discovered “Woz” was playing around building computers and thought he could sell the devices. The rest is history. And did it kill their friendship? According to Woz, the two remained friends until Jobs passed, and despite Jobs’s brutally frank nature, “We’ve never had an argument.”

Of course, there are horror stories concerning friends launching companies. In my experience, there are three rules one needs to comply with when considering friends as partners:

Never go into business with a friend solely because they are a friend. There must be some other asset they bring to the partnership.

You must be willing to lose the person as your friend here and now. If the business fails, it is highly likely the friendship will as well. Blame will be assigned. It is human nature.

Recognize that both of your “work personalities” are likely different than your “friend personas,” and determine if it still makes sense to move forward.

Still unsure if you should proceed? Conduct a trial run. If you annoy each other to no end, the business can be put to bed before you ruin the friendship.

Great, But Where Do I Find These People?

So, where does one find potential partners in the real world? The good news is you likely already know the person. Co-workers are an ideal place to find partners. The beauty of co-workers is that you’ve had a chance to observe each candidate in action and should have a pretty good idea of who is talented and reliable versus who gossips and avoids responsibility like the plague.

Other possible sources for partners include:

Employees of competitors who have impressed you

Individuals who you communicate with online in other niches

Your mentors

Individuals suggested by a mentor

Freelancers who you have hired in the past

Don’t speak with just one candidate. Play the field until you find the optimal choice.

In Closing

The addition of valuable partners can be a galvanizing event for a business. This guide should assist you in identifying those individuals who can be invaluable as well as those who should be avoided.

To your success!

Richard A. Chapo

SoCalInternetLawyer.com

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners originally posted at Dave’s Blog

[davidmhomerjr]

A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Finding Business Partners

Some of the most common questions I receive from the SPI audience are about the legal aspect of starting a business. Although I’ve had my fair share of legal-related experiences (both positive and negative) since starting my business, I also know that I don’t know everything and need someone in my corner who does.

That’s why I’ve been working with Richard A. Chapo from SoCalInternetLawyer.com for almost ten years now. He’s my attorney, and he’s here to help all of us understand the bits and pieces of legal information we might need to know to protect our online businesses.

Richard was featured in Smart Income Podcast Session 231 where he and my trademark attorney, Alena Herranen, tackled the most common legal questions for those just starting out in business. Richard is back today to tackle the important decision of starting a business with a partner, and all that should be considered. It’s an important topic a lot of people like to stay away from, because it involves a lot of hard decisions that all those who start a business have to figure out.

Richard will likely be back in the future to tackle other specific topics related to the legal aspect of business, but for now, here he is talking about starting a partnership. Take it away, Richard!

No formula guarantees business success. If one existed, you can bet we would all be following it. Instead, your goal when starting a business is to create as fertile a field as possible for company growth. Gathering a talented collection of partners to run the business is a time-tested strategy for priming the pump. One problem exists. How exactly does one distinguish between individuals who can take a company to the next level and those who will be anchors? Picking partners is very much an art, but following the Dos and Don’ts can improve your chances of success significantly.

Plenty of information exists online regarding the business partner selection process. My intention is to provide something a bit different today. The following tips will be based not on general concepts of “missions” and “ecosystems.” Rather, the focus will be on what I’ve observed and experienced in twenty-five years as a business attorney. I’ll even present examples where clients have consented to show how certain situations might play out. No, the stories do not involve Pat.

For clarification purposes, I’ll refer to individuals taking an ownership position in a business as “partners” and the business as a “partnership” regardless of the type of business entity selected by the founders (e.g. corporation and limited liability company).

Entering into a business partnership is the equivalent of getting married. It is not uncommon to spend more waking hours with a business partner than with a spouse. I’m going to assume that you would find the notion of walking into a bar and marrying the first person you see as laughable. Unfortunately, many partnerships are formed in this manner. Picking partners on a wing and prayer is asking for trouble. Following a process gives you a much better chance of identifying reliable and competent talent.

Here are the Dos of finding business partners.

The Dos

1. Do Match

Entrepreneurs launch businesses for a variety of reasons: Passion, financial independence, to fulfill a dream. In twenty-five years of practicing law, I’ve yet to meet a single person who launched a business because they hoped to be miserable. Yet, a life of misery is a definite possibility when forming a partnership with an individual who has a personality that grates on you like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Take a moment to reflect on romantic relationships you’ve experienced in life. The reasons those relationships might have failed are likely not akin to the dramatic soap opera betrayal (“You slept with my twin I didn’t know I had while I was in a coma after finding out your uncle is my father’s mother!). No, most relationships unwind because of small personality conflicts. He might be pretentious. She might always be late. He might be unduly sensitive. She might be offensive at parties.

Personality conflicts kill business partnerships at roughly the same rate as romances. The corporate buzzword often used is values, but what does this term really mean when considering potential candidates? As the original founder, you are looking for partners who share your position on taking risk, employee relations, and crisis management, among other areas. The optimal method for evaluating the values of another person is to ask questions that produce indirect evidence of those values. While there are serious legal limits regarding questions you can ask an employee, few limits exist when considering a co-founder who is not your employee. Questions could include:

What interests you about this business idea?

Have you ever failed at anything?

A company programmer publishes pictures on their Instagram account where they are clearly drunk. Fire them, warn them, or none of our business?

What are your expectations regarding the time commitment for this business?

Is there anything about your family life that could impact the time commitment?

How do you foresee the decision-making process working out?

Should employees be given equity or not?

We don’t have the cash flow to pay the employees one month. Do we dip into personal savings, tell the employees there will be a delay, or . . . ?

What does this business look like in one year?

You learn the spouse of a good friend is cheating. Tell the friend or not?

What does this business look like in five years?

Legal counsel indicates we are conducting business in a gray area. Proceed or not?

Should we be aggressive or conservative with the company tax returns?

What are your expectations of me?

At the company holiday party, an employee throws a pie in your face in good humor. Fire them, laugh and take pictures, or . . . ?

What do you expect your role to be in five years?

Should the company contribute to political causes and, if so, what types?

Engaging with the person in as relaxed an environment as possible is likely to produce more insightful answers. Being questioned in an office screams “job interview,” and puts the candidate on the defensive. Being asked the same questions at happy hour or a casual dinner as part of a general conversation tends to mitigate any defensive mental posture.

I once worked with an angel investor who wouldn’t put a penny into a business unless the founders had enjoyed dinner with him at Morton’s Steakhouse where a belly full of wine and steak tended to loosen the lips. You could do worse than take such an approach.

2. Do Look for Complementary Skills

A person should only be added to a partnership if they bring one of two things: a complementary skill or capital.

Capital no doubt peaked your curiosity, so let’s get it out of the way first. If Elon Musk emerges from the VIP room of the local club on a Friday night, chats you up, and offers to invest fifty million in your scrapbook-for-blind-elephants startup, write out the deal on a bar napkin and have him sign it then and there.

As you can imagine, the “randomly meeting super successful business leader at clubs” partner generation business model is not often successful. Finding a partner with complementary skills is a more realistic scenario. Consider an online partnership you are likely already familiar with: affiliate programs. One partner provides a product or service. The other provides traffic. If both partners just provide products, sales are going to be a bit slow.

There are exceptions to this rule, with Google being an example. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were both computer scientists at Stanford when they created BackRub, which later became Google. The gentlemen seem to be doing okay.

Still, failure is the more likely result. For example, I once was approached by a corporate client that comprised three founders, all of whom were programmers. The gentlemen had launched a company providing marketing and programming services. The programming side of the business was doing rather well, which made up-selling the marketing services a breeze. Any goodwill established with the programming services was quickly squandered when it became apparent the marketing department was borderline incompetent. The company ultimately failed. The outcome likely would have been different if one of the partners was a qualified marketing professional.

While there are exceptions to every rule, try to find partners who complement the skill sets of the founders already in the business.

3. Do Have an Exit Strategy

When considering partners, make sure the person understands your exit strategy and agrees to it. No exceptions. An exit strategy is a plan the partners settle on for cashing out of the business. The three options are to sell the business to a third party (e.g. Amazon purchases Zappos), take the company public (e.g. Facebook), or pass ownership to younger family members in exchange for a significant buyout.

Settling on an exit strategy is critical because that decision shapes all other important decisions for the business. Let’s assume we create a company selling lampshade hats online as party accessories. If the exit strategy is to sell the site to a third party within three to five years, then all management decisions will focus on producing short-term results while long-term investment is ignored. For example, we might pump every spare dollar into advertising one-off sales while ignoring developing a mailing list that could give the company a significant advantage over competitors in five to ten years.

If your plan for the business is to leave it to your kids, but potential partners are focused on a lucrative IPO, take down my name because you are going to need a lawyer sooner or later.

4. Do Conduct Due Diligence

Due diligence is critical when evaluating a potential partner. Don’t think so? These postings on co-founder nightmares will change your mind. Due diligence is the process of evaluating a partnership candidate based on independent resources. The focus should be on:

Does the candidate have a history of business ownership, and what is it?

Is there anything alarming in the candidate’s history (criminal conviction, etc.)?

What is the candidate’s reputation?

Does the candidate have a history of filing lawsuits or being a defendant in litigation?

Is the candidate a job hopper, and does it indicate a problem with commitment?

Has the candidate filed bankruptcy or had other financial issues?

Keep in mind that nobody is perfect. I, your humble attorney, earned a speeding ticket the very day I received my driver’s license. I also may have been involved in a “misunderstanding” in an Eastern European country in the 1990s that fortunately no longer exists. (RIP Yugoslavia!) As Oscar Wilde once said, “Never judge anyone shortly because every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” An event that occurred in 1998 is likely less of a concern than a negative mark arising in 2014.

Before we continue, let’s be clear about something. There are few limits on due diligence when the target is a potential business partner. The same is not true when evaluating an employee. Speak with a labor attorney before using any of these techniques to evaluate a potential employee. With that caution out of the way . . .

Due diligence begins with online research, and social media accounts are your first destination. PeekYou.com is an excellent tool for identifying a person’s social media accounts. Just perform a search for the candidate’s name on the home page, and the site will generate a list.

Read through all the social accounts, but pay particular attention to Twitter. While browsing through original tweets can be illuminating, pay particular attention to their disagreements on Twitter. If the candidate loses their composure or explodes at another person, it may be a preview to how the individual will react during partner disagreements.

Next, conduct a Google search using the following commands:

“Person’s name”

“Person’s name” + lawsuit

“Person’s name” + arrested

“Person’s name” + accused

“Person’s name” + judgment

“Person’s name” + settlement

Reputation management firms specialize in burying negative listings in search results. Take the time to review the top ten pages of results for each search command. Keep an eye out for mugshots and newspaper or television news show listings.

Obtaining background and credit checks is also advisable. However, you should only ask for consent to obtain the information from the potential partner if you are willing to provide the same information to that person. Obtaining a background check on the sly, for example, could come back to haunt you in the future if the partner learns of the report a few years down the line. Spokeo.com is an excellent tool for background checks. Every person is entitled to one free credit report a year, which can be obtained through AnnualCreditReport.com.

And then we have criminal record databases. There is one database you should always check potential partners against: NSOPW. NSOPW is the National Sex Offender Public Website. A bit of free legal advice: avoid sex offenders as partners. To use NSOPW, just visit the home page and conduct a search using the name of the potential partner.

Finally, we have referrals. Ask for referrals from every business the candidate has listed in their employment history. Contact those companies to verify position and dates of employment. You’ll be surprised by how many people lie about where they have worked. You can also ask for impressions of the candidate, but understand the responses often carry little value. Companies are worried about being sued for defamation when responding to referral requests. Many either no longer provide any response or will give a vaguely positive reference regardless of the actual experience with the candidate.

Why conduct due diligence? The time to discover problems with a potential partner is before committing to them, not when a bank or venture capitalist is conducting due diligence on your company.

5. Do Attempt to Conduct a Trial Run

Most people would agree that buying a vehicle without first going on a test drive would be unwise. We can say the same thing about a partnership. Instead of “marrying” your potential partner right away, why not date for a bit by pursuing a single project to determine if you are a match? Matching skill sets and personalities will take you a long way in establishing a successful partnership, but the outcome will always be in doubt until tested in a real world environment.

In the early 2000s, I was approached by a person who was considering launching a business in the natural products industry. This person, who we’ll call Sara, was looking for a partner who had relationships with distributors and retailers in the industry. Sara identified what seemed to be a perfect partner match. The match, we’ll call Bill, had relationships in the natural products industry, a good reputation, and was one of those people who could chat up just about anyone.

A partnership was formed. And it was good . . . for a bit.

Unfortunately, Sara soon realized Bill lacked common sense, which manifested one day when Bill managed to erase the software program the company used for inventory and bookkeeping. The entire program. I swear this is a true story. One tech told us Bill would’ve had to click through something like ten different warning messages before deleting the software. Despite appearing to be a great match, Bill eventually resigned from the company after a number of other incidents.

While it isn’t always practical to take a potential partner on a trial run, the strategy is worth its weight in gold if you can pull it off. All potential partners talk a good game because all entrepreneurs are optimists at heart. Running a trial campaign reveals whether those talking the talk can deliver on a daily basis.

Now let’s get into the Don’ts to finding business partners.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Seek a Partner for the Wrong Reasons

If you are contemplating adding a partner, stop and ask yourself a simple question: why? The answer may have merit, but many partnerships are created because the original partner lacks confidence and is looking for a security blanket. Here is a little secret—every person starting their first business lacks confidence and is fearful. I worked for a well-known law firm for ten years and had relationships with enough clients that I knew I would be fine when starting a firm in 2000. I was still worried. It’s natural.

As a general rule, avoid giving away equity in your company if at all possible. If you can’t program, pay a freelance programmer instead of taking on a programmer as a partner. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t pursue a partner, but just make sure you have an objective reason for seeking one.

Once you’ve decided a partner is a necessity, begin the process with a personal evaluation. I am a big believer in personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. The MBTI is based on the psychological theories of Carl Jung, and classifies a person by four factors:

How we interact with the world—Extroversion vs. Introversion

How we prefer to take in information—Sensing vs. iNtuition

How we make decisions— Thinking vs. Feeling

How we deal with the world—Judging vs. Perceiving

After answering some questions, the system will assign you a personality profile based on the capitalized letters above. So a person with an ISTJ result has Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging personality traits. From a business perspective, this person would be serious and dependable, but quiet and practical. This individual would likely clash with a partner who is extroverted and makes decisions by the seat of their pants.

To take the formal MBTI for $49.95, visit this page. Alternatively, you can take a free version of a simplified MBTI at 16Personalities.com, which also offers an explanation of the test results. Keep the traits of your personality in mind when evaluating potential partners and their personas. If you are highly organized, a partner who isn’t will slowly drive you mad.

2. Don’t Settle for Unequal Commitment

Nothing sinks a business partnership faster than bitterness. Nothing breeds bitterness more quickly than partners with different commitments to the company. If the partners are splitting profits equally, but one is working twenty hours a week and the other seventy—Mount Partnership is going to erupt spectacularly sooner or later.

When evaluating a partner, make sure the candidate is prepared to make an equal time and effort commitment to the business. A good way to ascertain whether this is the case is to ask the candidate very specific questions about what they foresee as their role and daily activities. Do not tip them off and do not make suggestions. Let them talk. If the person describes a list of tasks that could not possibly take more than four hours a day to complete, there may be a problem if you are expecting a forty-hour commitment each week.

Although an equal commitment is not a legal requirement, you should consider it a practical one. With the exception of partners solely making financial contributions, all partners should have similar commitment levels.

3. Don’t Agree To Handshake Deals

Here’s a typical co-founder scenario. You have a smashing business idea. You need a partner who has mastered Facebook advertising, and you identify the perfect person. A 50/50 ownership split is agreed upon, the partners kick in an agreed upon capital, you form an LLC but never get around to an operating agreement, and off the two of you go to launch the business. A year passes, and the perfect partner starts missing days.

Can you fire them?

Can you just revoke their ownership interest or do you have to buy them out?

Do you even have the right to buy them out?

A staggering number of businesses carry one or more “zombie” partners that siphon profits off like leeches because the founders never stopped to put their founders’ agreement in writing. With no written contract in place, there is no mechanism for dealing with problem partners. The only option is to pursue a solution in court—a process that is so expensive and aggravating that the functioning partners resign themselves to keeping the zombie partner.

Always retain a lawyer to draft the founders’ partnership agreement for you. The agreement should cover:

The contribution to the company of each party

The obligations of each party

How long a party must be with the company to vest in percentages of their promised ownership

Whether partners can be fired and under what conditions

Whether partners can be bought out and under what terms

What voting percentages are required to validate any of these actions

Any other issues unique to the business

A quick word about limited liability companies (LLCs). You will often read that one of the advantages of the LLC is no written operating agreement is required. The reasoning behind number one should be obvious. As to the LLC, an operating agreement is critical because it will contain a procedure for addressing partner disputes and removals. If you form an LLC with another party, get one. Otherwise, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Finally, avoid partners who are hesitant to put your agreement in writing. There is no valid reason for refusing. The fact that a candidate is reluctant to do so is a major red flag.

4. Don’t Avoid Friends

“You should never go into business with friends.”

Nonsense.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met while working for the same business in 1970 and became good friends. Jobs eventually discovered “Woz” was playing around building computers and thought he could sell the devices. The rest is history. And did it kill their friendship? According to Woz, the two remained friends until Jobs passed, and despite Jobs’s brutally frank nature, “We’ve never had an argument.”

Of course, there are horror stories concerning friends launching companies. In my experience, there are three rules one needs to comply with when considering friends as partners:

Never go into business with a friend solely because they are a friend. There must be some other asset they bring to the partnership.

You must be willing to lose the person as your friend here and now. If the business fails, it is highly likely the friendship will as well. Blame will be assigned. It is human nature.

Recognize that both of your “work personalities” are likely different than your “friend personas,” and determine if it still makes sense to move forward.

Still unsure if you should proceed? Conduct a trial run. If you annoy each other to no end, the business can be put to bed before you ruin the friendship.

Great, But Where Do I Find These People?

So, where does one find potential partners in the real world? The good news is you likely already know the person. Co-workers are an ideal place to find partners. The beauty of co-workers is that you’ve had a chance to observe each candidate in action and should have a pretty good idea of who is talented and reliable versus who gossips and avoids responsibility like the plague.

Other possible sources for partners include:

Employees of competitors who have impressed you

Individuals who you communicate with online in other niches

Your mentors

Individuals suggested by a mentor

Freelancers who you have hired in the past

Don’t speak with just one candidate. Play the field until you find the optimal choice.

In Closing

The addition of valuable partners can be a galvanizing event for a business. This guide should assist you in identifying those individuals who can be invaluable as well as those who should be avoided.

To your success!

Richard A. Chapo

SoCalInternetLawyer.com