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How to Write a Partnership Proposal (Templates & Tips)

Written by: Raja Mandal

Are you planning to get into a partnership or joint venture with another business? Then you'll have to sell the idea, benefits and your future plans to the prospective partner. To win the partnership, you need to present the complete details in a compelling manner.

A partnership proposal template can help you write a stand-out proposal that will explain how you and the potential business partner can grow together.

In this article, we'll discuss how to write a partnership proposal and win new clients.

Let's get started.

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What is a partnership proposal, how to write an effective partnership proposal, tips for proposing a business partnership, create your partnership proposal with visme, create reports, proposals, ebooks and more.

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A partnership proposal is a document created before any contract or agreement is made in a business partnership to determine the benefits of running the business together.

In simple words, a business approaches another business to explain why they should work together and how the partnership will benefit both parties. And the document they use to propose the partnership before making the contract is called a partnership proposal.

Here's a sample partnership proposal.

Now let's discuss the potential benefits of a partnership proposal.

Demonstrate Values

According to a recent study, 89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values.

Maybe your potential partner is in the same industry as you and offers complementary products and services. But that doesn't make the company an automatic fit for a partnership. A successful partnership is made when the core values of involved businesses align.

The proposal helps you show how your brand values and work ethics align with the other business, giving them a strong reason to accept the proposal.

Describe Your Goals

What do you, as a business, want to achieve out of this partnership? How will the other business help with this? A partnership proposal will include all your future and current goals to help the other company understand how their vision and mission match yours.

Outline Benefits for Potential Partner

One of the critical aspects of a partnership proposal is to explain to the other business the benefits the partnership will bring to the table. You can emphasize the benefits that will help both organizations reach the shared goals you have explained.

Create a Long-Term Relationship

Businesses often want to pull out of a partnership ahead of schedule because the partnership fails to deliver the returns as promised. The primary reason for creating the proposal is that the partnership works out for a long time or draws an amicable conclusion.

Now you know what a partnership proposal is and its potential advantages. However, if you have written proposals in the past, you know that crafting a compelling partnership proposal that is also aesthetically appealing is not everyone's cup of tea.

As a business owner, you might have come across a good number of business proposals . Then you also know what it takes to make a proposal stand out and how time-consuming the process of creating a proposal can be.

Keeping that in mind, Visme offers professionally designed partnership proposal templates to help you so that you don't have to create the proposal from scratch.

Follow the steps below to create your partnership proposal.

Do Your Research

Doing your research before you start writing your proposal is the crucial first step of the process. Though you might know that the company is a match for your business and its vision and mission align with yours, it might not be enough.

Look online for information on the potential partner's history, accomplishments, leadership and work ethics. Read case studies , and spend time on their website and social media to conduct an in-depth analysis of the company.

Use your research to explain why you want to partner with the particular company and not others and how it's a win-win for both parties.

Structure Your Partnership Proposal

Once you've researched your potential partner, it's time to structure your partnership proposal. The proposal is your opportunity to create a great first impression of your company on your recipient. According to Forbes, first impressions in business settings may be formed in just seven seconds .

Therefore, you must structure your proposal well to win the deal. Here are some steps to follow when structuring a proposal.

1. Introduce Your Business

The goal of your proposal's introduction is to gain the recipient's interest. This section should include the basic information about you and your company and an overview of the topic to clarify what the proposal is about.

Mention any previous partnerships you have done, share the results, communicate your values and introduce your team . Also, don't forget to provide your contact information.

Look at the "about our company" section of the template below for inspiration.

2. State Your Purpose

Your purpose for the proposal is what you want to make out of this partnership or what problem exists that you need to fix through it. Provide clear information about the proposal and make the main message clear immediately.

3. Define Your Goals and Objectives

In this section, talk about how your goals match the other business and the objectives you will establish to get there together.

If you are having difficulty achieving your business goals, it could be because you aren't setting them wisely. Learn how to create SMART goals and achieve them easily. Here is a template to help you with that.

4. Explain the Benefits

Since you have researched enough about the other company, discuss all the benefits you will bring.

Explain the benefits they can expect from this partnership in the near future. If you are unable to provide an immediate benefit, your potential partner might not sign on.

5. Include Legal Considerations

Partnering with other businesses without any formal partnership agreements is not a wise decision. Also, partnerships, like all corporate structures, come with legal complications. So, include all the legal considerations in the partnership that your potential partner should consider before signing in.

If you're still unsure about putting together a partnership proposal, watch the video below for more information.

Keep Your Partnership Proposal On-Brand

Consistent branding is a crucial aspect of running a business. So, keep every page of your partnership proposal consistent with your brand identity .

Consider your brand colors , brand fonts , logo and other branding elements. If you haven't defined your brand identity yet, choose design elements that match your brand personality .

Visme's Brand Wizard can help you with this. It automatically imports your branded assets so that you can create branded content directly in Visme. Simply input your website URL, choose your brand colors and fonts, choose the branded templates theme and watch the magic happen.

Watch the video below to set up your branding kit in Visme.

Add Engaging Media and Data Visualization

Keep the recipient engaged by adding high-quality visuals such as icons , illustrations, images , videos , interactive content and more.

Attach supporting documents to your proposal, like graphs, charts , reports , and other data visualizations . It will make the proposal more engaging, helping your prospective partner better understand why you're the right partner for them.

Get Your Team Involved

A business partnership requires a lot of critical decision-making processes from the company's top management. But you should involve all your team members in the process of creating the proposal.

Get your team involved in creating the partnership proposal will Visme's collaboration features . Leave comments, tag your team members, and edit your partnership proposal in real-time.

Watch how easy it is to collaborate with your team in your Visme workspace.

Now that you know how to write a partnership proposal, here are some tips to attract that strategic partner for your business.

Pick the Right Company and Understand Their Needs

The first thing you should do before anything else is  pick the right company to propose your partnership. Your future business partner might be from another industry or might offer different products or services from yours. But, you need to make sure that you have shared goals, objectives, vision and mission.

Once you find a business you can partner with, understand their needs and incentives to work with you.

Talk To The Decision-Maker

When it comes to partnering with big companies, it involves multiple parties that can significantly make the process slower. This makes it important for you to talk to the company's decision-maker.

For example, you can talk to the CEO, head of business development and vice president of the finance department who approves the budget. Reaching out to the other people in the company who are not in a decision-making position could slow down the process.

Get Warm Introductions First

One of the best ways to approach your potential partner is through an introduction from a shared connection. This is where you can use your investors, advisors and mentors.

Provide the mutual contact with an overview of your partnership proposal. Also, make sure that the proposal can be easily forwarded. Once the introduction part is complete, follow up regularly and set the next steps.

Send a Pre-Meeting Email

To prepare your client for the meeting, it'd be wise to send a pre-meeting email. Include quick, scannable information explaining what to expect at the meeting. This will help you set the right expectations and keep you both on the same page.

Design your email using Visme to make the process quickly and easy. Our email header templates will help you convey your message visually and make your email as compelling as possible.

Be a Good Listener

Once you're done presenting your proposal, listen to your potential business partner's goals and objectives carefully. Allow the other person to do the talking and share their thoughts. This is one of the strongest foundations for the strategic business partnership to develop and grow.

Don't Make It Overly Promotional

Don't miss an opportunity to highlight your company's achievements. Let the brand voice sound loud, but don't make the proposal overly promotional. You are proposing a mutually beneficial business relationship, not selling a product or service to a customer.

After all, it's a partnership proposal and not a sales letter. Keep your partnership proposal honest and professional.

Learn more about some business proposal presentation tips to present your proposal confidently.

Use this article and the partnership proposal template to write your partnership proposal and win the deal confidently. When partnering with a business, you might need to create various other documents. Visme's partnership templates can help you acquire a strategic partnership.

But that's not enough. Once you gain the business partnership, ensure that all the stakeholders learn about this great news. Use Visme's Partnership - Press Release template to get media coverage and Partnership Announcement LinkedIn Post to share the information on LinkedIn.

Sign up for a free account in Visme today and start creating professional documents for all your business needs.

Easily put together a professional partnership proposal with Visme.

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Raja Antony Mandal is a Content Writer at Visme. He can quickly adapt to different writing styles, possess strong research skills, and know SEO fundamentals. Raja wants to share valuable information with his audience by telling captivating stories in his articles. He wants to travel and party a lot on the weekends, but his guitar, drum set, and volleyball court don’t let him.

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How to Create a Partnership Proposal [With Free Template]

When embarking on a business partnership, expect challenges. Partners have different personalities, working styles, daily schedules, and initial investments. You need to juggle working together (possibly for the first time) while addressing market needs and differentiating yourself from competitors.

A partnership proposal can help make those challenges a little less daunting by clarifying the details of your collaboration before you even launch your business. It can get everyone on the same page, reducing the risks of detrimental disagreements later on.

But drafting such a proposal is no small task.

To help you on your journey, we’ve got step-by-step instructions and a helpful partnership proposal template .

What’s in this guide :

Why you need a business partnership proposal

How to create a proposal for a business partnership, partnership proposal template & software.

Research shows that 70% of business partnerships fail—and (here’s the good news) a clear agreement is one of the best ways to improve your odds of success.

Oftentimes, partners will equally share the burden of losses and the gift of gains. But your share should reflect what you put into the business, both in terms of time and money. So if one partner will be giving more, they should also get more out of it. By accurately calculating equity, salaries, and profit draws in advance, you can be sure that each partner is getting their fair share according to their initial investment and ongoing role in the company.

A partnership proposal with clear terms can help settle any financial or legal matters that may arise later. But on a more positive note, it will also improve the quality of your collaboration. When all the terms are laid on the table up front (and no one is guessing or assuming), communication between partners will begin with a much stronger foundation—paving the way for a more profitable relationship.

Creating a proposal for your business partnership is complicated, but fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone. Follow these simple steps to cover all of your bases.

Step 1. Research what your proposal should include

The first step is to research what you need to include in your proposal, such as the share of profit and loss, the managing duties of each partner, and what should happen in the event of the death of a partner. This is a critical legal document so you need to get it right..

You don’t have to get it perfect the first time, as the terms will likely require negotiation. But covering all of the necessary information will demonstrate your attention to detail and ensure that the preceding negotiations are thorough.

Make sure to research requirements that are unique to your partnership type , which usually falls into one of these 3 categories:

General partnership - Shared day-to-day operations and liability for debts and owners.

Limited partnership - One or more partner doesn’t participate in day-to-day operations and is not liable for debts or lawsuits (but receives profits). This is typically used for inactive investors.

Limited liability partnership - Liability protection is extended to all partners so that no one is responsible for the actions of another partner. This is typically used for professionals operating out of shared office space, such as accountants, financial advisors, or plastic surgeons.

Because the taxation structure will affect the way that earnings are distributed and reported, you should also research details specific for your province or state of incorporation as well as your entity type (limited liability corporation, c-corp, etc.).

Brainstorm more information to include based on your unique business and what each partner brings to the table. For instance, if one partner is joining the partnership with a large social media following of ideal customers, you might want to outline how that social media account is expected to be used and what content will not be permitted on that account once the partnership begins.

If you use a partnership proposal template, you’ll save a lot of time on both research and writing. Preview our template here.

Make sure to consult with a business lawyer to get their take on the necessary terms.

Step 2. Outline your proposal

Now that you have your checklist for what to include in your proposal, it’s time to start organizing all of that information into a cohesive outline. A proposal template will save you time here. Start off with the template and then include additional terms that matter to your business.

We suggest this outline for your partnership proposal:

Name and Business - Basic business details like business name and address.

Term - When the agreement begins.

Capital - How partnership capital will be maintained.

Profit and Loss - How profits and losses will be shared and credited.

Salaries and Drawings - How salaries and profit draws will be managed.

Interest - Whether or not initial investments will receive guaranteed interest payments.

Management Duties and Restrictions - How management duties will be split, and what tasks can’t be undertaken without agreement from all partners.

Banking - What chequing account(s) will be used.

Books - How bookkeeping will be managed.

Voluntary Termination - How the partnership can be voluntarily dissolved, and how assets will be distributed if this occurs.

Death - What will happen in the event of the death of a partner.

Arbitration - Basic statement on arbitration for the agreement and the legal association that will be used.

You might be wondering if you need to add a cover letter to your outline. If you don’t need to convince anyone to join the founding team, you probably don’t need a cover letter. But if you’re trying to win over a partner, then check out this guide to writing a cover letter and add your letter to the very beginning of your proposal.

Step 3. Write the proposal sections

Time to write.

A partnership proposal has a very different style than most other business proposals , which are typically sent to prospective clients in order to win deals. For those proposals, you’re trying to sell . But with a partnership proposal, you’re trying to clarify . The prospective partner needs to know what they’re signing off on in order to give you a yes. What’s expected of them? What percentage of equity will they receive?

Because the goal is different, the writing style should be different too. Write using clear, simple, and legally accurate language for the majority of the proposal. By keeping the language of the proposal straightforward , you’ll eliminate any confusion and potential for disagreements later.

Take this text from our partnership agreement template as an example of the writing style you should aim for:

A separate capital account shall be maintained for each partner. Neither partner shall withdraw any part of his/her capital account. Upon the demand of either partner, the capital accounts of the partners shall be maintained at all times in the proportions in which the partners share in the profits and losses of the partnership.

If you need to create content to convince on-the-fence partners, you can do so with your cover letter, business plan, or presentation slides that will go along with the proposal. You might cover the addressable market, your competitive advantage, pricing model, etc.

Step 4. Add e-signatures

The next step is to add e-signatures to your proposal. This will turn the proposal into a binding agreement, so that once signed by all partners, the partnership can begin with clear terms.

You should add the e-signatures to the final page of the proposal.

Make sure that the e-signature software you use is legally binding .

Step 5. Review, sign, and send it

And lastly, it’s time to make sure your proposal is perfect. Review all of the terms and make sure you’ve covered everything in your checklist.

If you can afford it, have a business lawyer review your agreement before you sign and send it. This should be cheaper than having them draft an agreement from scratch (and can save you a lot of money and stress in the long run).

When you’re ready, sign the proposal yourself and then send it for signature to your partners.

You should not open up any bank accounts, file articles of incorporation, take out loans, or conduct any other activity with financial implications until the proposal is signed by all partners. If you do, a partner could later argue that they’re not liable. Instead, use the time before the proposal is signed to work on your business plan and research your addressable market.

Proposify makes it easy to create beautiful proposals for both internal and external use. We offer 75 unique proposal templates that show you exactly what to include and help you draft your proposals quickly.

You can also design your own proposal templates, save content snippets, and track stats on proposal views and closed deals.

Dayana Mayfield is a B2B SaaS copywriter who believes in the power of content marketing and a good smoothie. She lives in Northern California. Connect with her on LinkedIn here: linkedin.com/in/dayanamayfield/

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• Crafting an Effective Partner Business Plan: Essential Elements for Success

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Partner Business Plans: Key Elements

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The Importance of a Great Business Plan

Professional Goals For Partner Status

Making an evaluation of your existing practice, describing your vision as a partner, creating a strategy for growth.

• A partner's fit culturally
• The viability of a partner's practice for the long-term
• A partner's record of excellent client service to long-term clients and producing business
• A partner's history of consistently increasing collections
• A partner's practice fit in connection with the firm's strategic plan for expansion
• Whether a partner's practice area is one that is targeted for growth
• Whether the partner brings portable business and/or specific expertise needed in a particular practice area
• The opportunities the partner would bring for business development and significant cross-selling were the partner to join the firm
• Whether the partner's historical information is reflective of consistent productivity
• Whether the partner's client base fits within the firm's client structure
• Any potential conflicts that would preclude the firm from hiring the partner
• A partner's current compensation and compensation expectation
• A partner's potential contribution to the firm's bottom line/profitability
• A partner's fit within the firm's current attorney roster
• A partner's reason for leaving his or her current firm (voluntary/mutual arrangement) and whether the partner would be a problem
• Creative: Serve as a marketing piece on the partner and enable the firm to assess the partner's business potential. It should also provide an outlet to the partner to step out of the resume format and chart his or her previous performance and future prospects for business in a creative format.  
• Illustrative: Illustrate to a firm that the partner is thinking about his or her practice as a business and set forth his or her plan for the future.  
• Persuasive: Persuade the firm to hire the partner.  
• Historical: Chart a historical record of the partner's history of creating business opportunities and his or her ability to develop and foster client relationships over an extended period of time.  
• Demonstrative: Demonstrate a partner's business-development skills, initiative, and ability to contribute not only to his or her own success but also to the success of his or her colleagues through cross-selling efforts. It should also demonstrate ways a partner can contribute to a firm's financial bottom line, enhance its practice-group development, and ultimately bring added value to the team.  
• Prophetic: Prophesy what the partner believes he or she will be able to accomplish in his or her practice and for the firm in the short and long term.  
• Preparatory: Prepare the partner for the interviewing process.

Introduction

• Provide a narrative including professional history, practice overview, and a description of areas of expertise. This section may highlight briefly particular areas of expertise that the firm does not currently have.
• Describe the partner's role historically as a business developer.
• Briefly touch upon why the partner believes he or she would be a good fit for a particular firm.

Market Research/Analysis

• Give analysis of local need for services in partner's practice area.
• Describe local competition/other law firms with similar practices.
• Give overview of need in local market for partners with his or her expertise.
• Describe why partner believes firm provides the best platform in the marketplace for his or her particular practice area.

Current Client Base

• Describe current portable clients (use generic or specific).
• Describe key industries serviced.
• Discuss other partners' clients partner is servicing.

Additional Contacts to Develop

• Discuss contacts not yet tapped.
• Given market analysis, project possible targets in local, regional, national, or international markets.
• Discuss possible expansion of business from current client base.

Cross-Selling Opportunities

• Describe cross-selling opportunities with current clients.
• Describe cross-selling opportunities with known key clients of prospective firm.
• Discuss other practice areas at current firm to which partner is delegating work.
• Discuss services your clients are requesting that you cannot currently service at your firm and could otherwise capture at the new firm .

Other Business-Development Sources

• Describe additional business contacts you are pursuing or plan to pursue
• Speeches, publications
• Community organizations
• Bar associations
• Internal marketing initiatives
• Client seminars/newsletters

Long-Term Strategy Goals and Targets

• Set targets for expansion of practice in terms of collections, attorneys, and clients/industries.
• Consider possibility of local to regional to national growth patterns.
• Consider growth in other key competencies which may be affected by partner's long-term success.
• Discuss long-term strategies in connection with firm's overall strategic plan and practice-group development plans.

Historical Collections, Billing Rates, and Billable Hours

• If a partner with a lower billing rate structure, chart the anticipated rate increases by portable client or anticipated timeline for rate increases to current clients. Discuss any alternative billing arrangements you currently have in place with clients.
• Include three-year client collections history by client (as originating attorney and as billing attorney on other attorneys' matters). Include projection for current fiscal year.
• Include three-year billing rate history.
• Include three-year historical compensation history (including bonus information).
• Include three-year billable hour history.
• Note pending projects contributing to future collections.
• Include a summary of anticipated collection projections for the next three to five years.
• Business-development budget
• Time commitments from partners in other practice areas for cross-selling purposes
• Key staff needed (secretary, paralegals, etc.)
• Foreign-language skill requirements
• Travel expenses
• Marketing materials, presentations, etc.

Creative Conclusion

• Recap key points in plan, added value partner brings, and reasons he or she would be a good fit.
• Emphasize flexibility of plan and eagerness and willingness to discuss and modify in accordance with firm's plans and objectives.
• See 30 Ways to Generate Business as an Attorney for more information.

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How to Write a Business Partnership Proposal {Template Included}

A business partnership proposal serves as the first impression of your business philosophy, your understanding of the partnership’s potential, and your vision for mutual growth. It’s not just about presenting what your business can offer, but also about showing that you understand and respect the needs and goals of your potential partner. A well-written proposal can be the key to unlocking fruitful collaborations, opening doors to shared resources, expertise, and markets, thus paving the way for substantial business growth and success.

This article is designed as a comprehensive guide to help you create an impactful business partnership proposal. Ready to write a business partnership proposal? Let’s get started.

Understanding Your Audience

Identifying Potential Partners

The first step in writing a business partnership proposal is to identify the right potential partners. This process involves more than just finding businesses that align with your industry or market. It’s about seeking out companies or individuals who share similar values, goals, and visions. Look for partners who complement your business’s strengths and can help mitigate its weaknesses. This might mean a partner with a strong presence in a market you’re trying to enter or one with access to resources that can help scale your business. Identifying the right partner is crucial as it sets the tone for the entire proposal and the potential partnership.

When identifying potential partners, consider:

– Industry Relevance: Partners in the same or complementary industries are more likely to understand and value your proposal.

– Market Position: Consider how a partner’s market position could benefit your business. For instance, a partnership with a well-established player can offer credibility, while teaming up with an innovative newcomer can provide fresh perspectives.

– Cultural Fit: Aligning with a partner who shares similar business ethics and corporate culture can lead to a smoother collaboration.

– Long-Term Potential: Look for partners who are not just beneficial for a one-time project but could lead to long-term collaboration.

Researching Their Needs and Interests

After identifying potential partners, the next step is to research their specific needs and interests. This research is important as it helps tailor your proposal to address the specific challenges or opportunities your potential partner is facing. By demonstrating that you understand and can provide solutions to their needs, your proposal will be more persuasive and relevant.

To effectively research their needs and interests:

– Review Their Business Model: Understand how they operate, their revenue streams, and their customer base. This helps in aligning your proposal with their business strategy.

– Analyze Their Market Position: Look at their market share, competitors, and industry trends. This insight can help you position your partnership as a solution to specific market challenges they might be facing.

– Understand Their Goals: Whether it’s expansion, diversification, or sustainability, knowing what your potential partner aims to achieve can help you tailor your proposal to align with these goals.

– Use Social Media and Publications: Review their social media platforms, press releases, and industry publications for recent announcements, challenges they’re addressing, or initiatives they’re undertaking. This can provide clues to their current focus and future plans.

– Networking and Direct Communication: Sometimes, the best information comes from direct interaction. Attend industry events, engage in networking opportunities, or even reach out directly to understand their vision and objectives better.

Key Components of a Business Partnership Proposal

Executive Summary 

The executive summary is the cornerstone of your business partnership proposal. It should provide a concise, compelling overview of what the proposal entails and why it’s beneficial for both parties. This section is often the first (and sometimes the only) part read by decision-makers, so it needs to be clear, engaging, and persuasive. Highlight the key aspects of the partnership, including the goals, the value proposition, and the main benefits for both parties. The executive summary should be a standalone document that encapsulates the essence of the proposal, compelling the reader to delve deeper into the details.

Business Objectives

This section should outline the specific objectives you hope to achieve through the partnership. Clear, measurable, and realistic goals show a potential partner that you have a well-thought-out plan for the partnership’s success. These objectives could range from expanding into new markets, leveraging each other’s customer base, to combining resources for a new venture. Be specific about what success looks like and how it will be measured. This clarity will help align both parties’ expectations and form the basis for a productive relationship.

Value Proposition

Your value proposition is arguably the most crucial part of the proposal. This is where you articulate the unique benefits that your company brings to the table and why this partnership is advantageous for your potential partner. It should clearly demonstrate how the partnership will create added value for both parties, whether through increased revenue, market expansion, enhanced capabilities, or other strategic advantages. A strong value proposition is tailored to your potential partner’s needs and goals, showing that you have done your homework and understand what they are looking for in a partnership.

Partnership Details

In this section, delve into the specifics of how the partnership will work. Outline the roles and responsibilities of each party, the governance structure of the partnership, and how decisions will be made. Include details about resource allocation, timelines, and project management. If there are any specific projects or initiatives that will kick off the partnership, describe them in detail here. Providing a clear and detailed plan shows that you are serious about the partnership and have considered how to make it successful.

Financial Projections

Financial projections are essential in any business proposal . This section should provide an analysis of the expected financial outcomes of the partnership. Include revenue forecasts, cost analysis, and any investments required from both parties. If possible, use data and analytics to back up your projections. Be realistic and conservative in your estimates. Providing a clear financial picture helps both parties understand the economic implications of the partnership and aids in decision-making.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

In this part of the proposal, address any legal and ethical considerations relevant to the partnership. This might include compliance with industry regulations, intellectual property rights, confidentiality agreements, and any other legal obligations. It’s also important to discuss how ethical considerations will be handled, reflecting a commitment to corporate social responsibility. Addressing these issues upfront builds trust and shows that you are committed to maintaining a professional and ethical business relationship.

Each of these components plays a crucial role in developing a comprehensive and convincing business partnership proposal. They collectively demonstrate your understanding of what it takes to build a successful partnership, reflecting both strategic foresight and attention to detail.

Writing the Business Partnership Proposal

Starting with a Strong Introduction 

The introduction of your proposal is where you make your first impression. It sets the tone for the rest of the document and should immediately capture the interest of the reader. A strong introduction goes beyond a simple greeting or a statement of purpose; it should hook the reader by presenting the idea of the partnership, its relevance, and why it matters. This section should echo the excitement and potential you see in the partnership, making it clear why the reader should be interested in what you have to say. Consider starting with a compelling fact, a brief story, or a poignant question that relates directly to the potential partner’s needs or challenges, thus creating a direct connection from the outset.

Clear and Concise Language

The effectiveness of your proposal largely depends on how easily it can be read and understood. Use clear, concise language to ensure your message is conveyed effectively. Avoid jargon and technical terms that might not be familiar to all readers, unless they are industry-standard and necessary. Your aim should be to make the proposal as accessible as possible, so it speaks to decision-makers at all levels. Short, to-the-point sentences are often more powerful than lengthy, complex ones. Remember, clarity and brevity do not mean oversimplifying your ideas; rather, it’s about presenting them in a manner that is easy to grasp and remember.

Personalizing the Proposal

Personalization can significantly increase the impact of your proposal. This involves tailoring the content to directly address the specific needs, interests, and circumstances of the potential partner. Refer to their recent achievements, current projects, or particular challenges they are facing. This shows that you have taken the time to understand them and have thought deeply about how the partnership can be beneficial. Personalization can be achieved through the language you use, the examples you cite, and the specific benefits you highlight. By making the proposal as relevant as possible to the potential partner, you increase the likelihood of engaging their interest and winning their buy-in.

Check out this partnership proposal template from Prospero:  https://goprospero.com/proposal/partnership-proposal-template/

Business Partnership Proposal Design and Presentation

Importance of a Professional Look

The design and overall presentation of your business partnership proposal can significantly influence its reception. A professional look not only reflects the seriousness and professionalism of your intent but also helps in making the document more readable and engaging. Attention to detail in the layout, font choice, color scheme, and formatting can make a substantial difference. It’s crucial that the proposal looks organized and aesthetically pleasing. 

A well-designed proposal indicates that you have invested time and effort into its preparation, which can leave a lasting impression on the potential partner. This professionalism in presentation extends to ensuring that the document is free of errors, with consistent formatting throughout, further reflecting the quality and reliability of your business.

Using Visuals and Branding

Incorporating visuals and branding elements into your proposal can greatly enhance its impact. Visuals, such as charts, graphs, and images, can help to break up text, making the proposal more engaging and easier to digest. They can also be used effectively to illustrate points, showcase data, or convey complex information in a more accessible way. Branding elements, like your company’s logo and color scheme, help in reinforcing your identity and create a sense of familiarity, especially if the potential partner is already aware of your brand. 

However, it’s important to use visuals judiciously. Every image or graph included should serve a clear purpose, such as emphasizing a point or explaining a concept more clearly. The key is to strike a balance – the proposal should be visually appealing and branded, but not so heavily designed that it distracts from the core message.

Business Partnership Proposal Follow-Up Strategies

Post-Submission Follow-Up

Once your proposal has been submitted, the follow-up process plays a crucial role in showing your continued interest and commitment. It’s important to plan and execute a follow-up strategy that is persistent yet respectful. Initially, a simple thank-you message acknowledging their time and consideration in reviewing your proposal can set a positive tone. Afterwards, it’s advisable to wait a reasonable period before following up again, typically a week or two, depending on the nature of the proposal and the urgency of the partnership.

During follow-up communications, it’s important to:

– Reiterate Key Points: Briefly remind them of the most compelling aspects of your proposal.

– Be Open to Discussion: Indicate your willingness to discuss any aspects of the proposal in more details if needed.

-Show Flexibility: Express your readiness to modify aspects of the proposal to better align with their needs or concerns.

Follow-up can be conducted through various channels such as email, phone calls, or even in-person meetings, depending on the level of relationship you have with the potential partner and the formality of the situation.

In conclusion, a business partnership proposal is a strategic document that requires careful thought, detailed planning, and a tailored approach. By following these guidelines, you can create a proposal that lays the foundation for a mutually beneficial business relationship. 

Even though this might seem like a lot to handle, remember you don’t have to do it all by yourself. A good place to start is to use a template and a proposal tool like Prospero can really help. Prospero offers different templates and helpful features that can make writing your next proposal a lot easier and better!

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Damilola Oyetunji

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How to create your partner business plan in 5 easy steps

One of the partner business plan tools we use with our small firm clients is the STAGe model. This is widely used to create 3-year or 12-month business plans for them. The good news is that it is versatile enough to help you create your 3-year partner business plan or 12-month partner business plan or vision for your practice. In this article ,I explain how to use the tool, plus you can download a template to create your 3-year partner business plan or 12-month partner business plan for your own practice. 

What does the tool enable you to do?

The STAGe Tool is a one-page vision summarising your practice’s expected performance over the next 3 years or 12 months. It gives you a simple visual way to explain how your practice will develop in the future. In other words, it acts as a very simple, but highly effective tool to help you create your partner business plan – a key component of your business case for partner.

The tool consists of 5 circles that correspond to now, year 1, year 2, year (or the timescales of your choice.), or Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. The circles are dissected by axes which represent the performance measures that best illustrate how your practice will develop. Each performance measure is broken down into what it will be at each year. This article assumes you are creating a 3-year partner business plan. However, you can also use the same template to create a 12-month partner business plan.

Click here to download your free PDF of the STAGe model to help you rapidly put together your partner Business plan.

Here is a completed STAGe tool:

Stage 1: Envision the future

Take a moment to think about where you want your practice to be in 3 years if you are successful at the partnership vote. (Or 12 months if you are being asked to create a 12-month partner business plan) You may find it useful to do this exercise away from your desk and distractions.

You may like to consider the following areas:

• Average spend?
• Services offered?
• Key accounts won? Or were panels appointed too?
• Revenue and/or GRF?
• Key metrics which are important for your firm, e.g. WIP, Lockup, utilisation?
• Contribution to the firm?
• Structure of your team/practice?
• Development required?

Business Development

• No. of leads required a month?
• Referrers needed?
• Sectors/markets/Niche to target?

Read: What needs to go in the 12-month marketing plan for your business case for partner

Stage 2: Identify the really important metrics or things for your practice

In stage 2, you identify what are the really important things for you and your practice. Those things that if you focus on them you will achieve your 3-year. These then become the axes on your STAGe diagram. Ideally, you will identify 8-12 measures of performance to accurately show how you will grow your practice in the next three years.

One of the most sought-after courses in our Progress to Partner Academy i s called “ How to Build a Cast-Iron Business Case for Partner” .It’s a must-have in your arsenal of tools and guidance to help with your career progression. There is also a section in Progress to Partner Academy on the Partnership Admissions process with guides and recordings to help you find your way through the system. Check it out!

Stage 3: Identify your year 3 performance measures

Now take the STAGe template and label your performance measures and name the years on the concentric circles. For each performance, measure the axis and add what you are currently achieving. You now want to define your year 3 performance measures. By defining year 3 first you can then work backward towards your 12-month targets.

It can be very helpful to start the year 3 discussions by considering the fundamental financial measures for your practice such as revenue, GRF, turnover, profit, or contribution. This is because they are normally easier to complete, and it often sets the agenda for the rest of the performance measures.

Stage 4: Identify year 1 and 2 performance measures

Once you have completed your year 3 performance measures you then want to work along each of the performance measures axes to complete year 1 and year 2 goals. You may like to use questions such as:

“If I am to achieve this level of performance in year 3, what level should I achieve in year 2?”

Then…

“If I am to achieve this level of performance in year 2, what do I need to achieve in year 1? Is this too big a stretch from where I am now?”

At the end of this stage, you should have a fully completed diagram with each performance measure having a number or statement for each year on the diagram.

Stage 5: Critically review your partner business plan

Now you have completed the partner business plan, it is time to critically review it. That means:

• Are the targets really feasible? Do the numbers stack up and relate to each other?
• Is it stretching enough? Or could you easily achieve more?
• Have you missed anything? Is anything really obvious? Any blind spots?

If you haven’t already click here to download your free PDF of the STAGe model to help you rapidly put together your partner Business plan.

Once you have completed your partner business plan, it’s time to get feedback on it, plus identify the projects or activities which are critical to achieving your year 1 targets.

For more guidance on how to progress your career in your firm why not  sign up to my weekly newsletter here   and you’ll find out what you need to be working on in your career development (and how to make the time for your career development) to progress your career in your firm.

Or Check out our  How to Build a Cast-Iron Business Case for Partner self study course .  ✔️ What makes a good Business Case for Partner ✔️ 5 things you need to consider so the partners take notice of you ✔️ What needs to go into your 12-month business development plan

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How to Create a Partner Program Template That Works

• Last updated April 30, 2024
• By Irene Lopez

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Effective long-term and win-win partner relationships are one of the essential keys to a sustainable business model. But to get the best results out of your partnership, and maintain accountability, it’s important to formulate an official structure and lay down some ground rules. And that’s where a partner program template comes in. 

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about partner program templates and how to create your own. We will also share a super user-friendly, readymade, editable partner program template you can use as is or customize to make it your own. 

What is a partner program template?

Templates are readymade sample documents or frameworks that give you a starting point to work with. They usually have some form of skeletal structure with some information filled in. You can then use the template as a baseline to develop more information or further refine your structure to map out an actual plan. 

A partner program template functions the same way. It’s a skeletal structure or framework you can use to lay out all aspects of your channel partner program in a way that’s visible and actionable, and solidify your partner marketing strategy. 

You’ll include an outline of your goals, a list of the rewards you want to share with your partners, how the program will operate, and more. 

It’s not necessary to have your entire partner program template set up and ready to run from the get-go. It’s more common to start with a basic plan that isn’t entirely finished, and then fill out the rest as you establish the partnership with a specific business or individual.

Templates are living documents. It’s normal if some sections are well-fleshed out, but you don’t have enough information to work with in certain other sections. Think of your partnership program template as a roadmap and not the final destination. 

Why do you need a partner program template?

A partner plan template helps you organize all aspects of your partner relationships from start to finish. But over and beyond helping you plan and determine action steps, and set up milestones, a partner plan template can help: 

Ensure you don’t overlook any critical aspects of planning and managing the partnership. You don’t want to miss out on any strategic planning steps along the way. 

Set expectations for the partnership. It helps determine your roles and how the partners will work individually as well as in tandem. 

Set parameters for measuring the partnership’s success once it’s live. When you start fleshing out your program template, you’ll have a better sense of the metrics or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you want to record to identify how well you’re doing. 

What to include in a partner program template?

Actively build your partner program template before you start sourcing partners. We recommend that you include 12 sections in your template: six for before you shortlist potential partners and six for after you shortlist potential partners. Our readymade downloadable template covers all the necessary sections (we’ll guide you through filling in these sections below). 

Download our free partner program template by clicking or tapping on the image below. 

We recommend that you include 12 sections in your template: six for before you shortlist potential partners and six for after you shortlist potential partners.

When businesses decide to tie up with partners, it’s often to achieve goals that they wouldn’t be able to achieve on their own. Partnerships help each partner expand their potential and achieve new heights. 

The goals section, like the name suggests, is about identifying the specific goals you want to achieve through creating your partnership ecosystem.

Here are some of the most commonly cited goals relevant to any type of business:

• Increase revenue (by how much and by when)
• Increase your customer base (the ballpark figure and by when)
• Break into new markets or verticals (specify the channels)
• Do you plan to do this through retailers or wholesalers?
• Or do you want partners to focus on marketing/advertising the products to new audiences without directly selling the products?

2. How to measure ROI of all partnerships

This next section is about the detailed metrics you will track to measure the success of your partner program. While you’re listing your metrics out, it’s a good idea to follow the SMART formula. They should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. 

Example ways to measure ROI include:

• Generate a minimum of X amount of partner-driven revenue in a given month, quarter, or year.
• Generate a minimum of X amount of revenue within a new vertical in a given month, quarter, or year.
• Acquire at least X new customers through partnerships within a given month, quarter, or year.
• Acquire at least X new customers in a given geographical region in a given month, quarter, or year.
• Grow your customer base by X% through partnerships in a given month, quarter, or year.
•  Increase (monthly, quarterly, yearly) purchases from a specific demographic or channel by X%.

3. Partnership type(s)

The next section is about deciding partnership types. At this point, you’re determining the kind of partnerships that would be beneficial for your business based on your goals and the metrics you want to achieve. Use the following list of partnership types for reference and to help you decide your options:

Retailers, who will sell your products in their physical or online storefronts.

Wholesalers (resellers), who will purchase large quantities of your product all at once and then resell them.

Distributors , who will purchase smaller quantities of your product that will eventually get into retailers’ hands.

Agents or brokers, who will set up relationships between your company and other companies.

Affiliates, who will advertise your products to their online audience and bring traffic and leads right to your website. They won’t be selling your products directly. Your partnership program can function just as effectively and similar to an affiliate program, in this case.

Referral partners, who are trained to share your business with people and companies they already have an existing relationship with.

Other hand-picked advocates, such as brand ambassadors (who love your brand, authentically share how they use your products, and share a link to your website).

4. Finding partners

The “finding partners” section is about head-hunting potential candidates and shortlisting the best. Use the following questionnaire to guide your sourcing and finalizing of partners:

• Where do you plan to find partners who can help you meet your goals? They should have a relevant audience and should ideally fit the type of channel partnerships you’ve selected.
• How much of a reach do you want partners to have? Do you want to look at reach from a local, regional, national, or global perspective?
• What’s the minimum audience size your partners should have? Is there a maximum?
• What level of experience do you want partners to have? Would you consider partners that are startups but check all the right boxes, for example? 
• Do you have any specific partners in mind? If not, you’ll need to do further research online to hunt down potential partners. 
• Do you want partners who are already familiar with your products/services? Or should they at least have a background or established understanding of your niche (SaaS or others, as the case may be)?
• How do you want partners to distribute your products?
• How many partners will you need, based on your goals and budget?
• If you want to partner with companies, who are the key decision makers or stakeholders who will be your primary points of contact for the partnership?

Once you’ve made a shortlist of potential partners, evaluate their suitability with these questions:

• What unique advantages would a given potential partner bring you?
• What can you offer a potential partner that they can’t achieve on their own?
• What are their values, and are they consistent with your brand mission and values?
• Are there any deal breakers – traits you don’t want in a partner?

5. Incentives you’ll offer

Next, you’re going to work on the specific incentives, otherwise known as the rewards you’re going to be offering to your partners or partner managers. 

What monetary incentives will you offer to encourage partners to sign on? Some examples to consider include:

• Flat-fee commissions on each sale
• Percentage commissions on each sale
• Wholesale discounts
• Non-cash incentives, such as a trip, gift card, or valuable tech item, that get sent directly to the salespeople after they sell a certain number of your products/services (known as a sales performance incentive fund, or SPIF)
• Cash that goes to the partner’s  business as a whole, helping the business accomplish sales and marketing goals (known as a market development fund, or MDF)
• A co-op fund

Next, how will you make sure these incentives grow in value the more sales a partner makes? Will you offer other secondary incentives as well, like spotlights on your website, meals at high-quality restaurants, or exclusive events just for partners?

6. Tools and software

It’s not recommended to manage a partner program manually using basic tools like spreadsheets. Given that your partner program is going to function like a self-contained unit with branches to key stakeholders, it’s ideal to have Partner Relationship Management or PRM software in place.

Aside from giving you a single 360-degree view into your operations, PRM software also helps you streamline the tracking and management of your partner program. 

Here are a few specific points to consider when you’re narrowing down on software for your business:

• Is it able to manage the type(s) of partners you want to utilize?
• Does it integrate well with your existing software and processes?
• How does it help you onboard and communicate with partners, including through a partner portal?
• How does it help you boost partner engagement?
• What partnership reward structures is it capable of managing?
• What metrics does it track so that you can determine your program’s success?

7. Reaching out to potential partners

As you reach out to partners you’d like to work with, determine the following:

• What are their goals for a partnership?
• What benefits do they want to get out of the partnership?
• What mutual goals do you have?
• What do you offer each other that you can’t achieve on their own?
• What challenges do you each foresee?

Then, choose the partners that offer the most ideal partnerships, and make things official by having them sign a partner program agreement .

8. Partnership business plan

Next up, you want to develop your partnership business plan. Use these questions to guide the process:

• What are the partner’s core duties and expectations?
• What will you accomplish for the partner?
• What distribution channels will the partners use?
• How will the partners market and sell your products/services to their audience (with what sorts of messages and techniques)?
• How do your and your partner’s offerings (products, services, expertise, relationships with an audience) add value to each other?
• How do leads enter your sales pipeline when they come through a partner?
• Will you be referring leads and sales to your partner as well? How so?

9. The partnership agreement

The partnership agreement is about documenting the terms of engagement in your partnership so both sides are clear on expectations. Draft up your official agreement after you’ve decided to work together but before you confirm your partnership. You and your partner must sign the agreement before the partnership proceeds. 

The exact terms of engagement can vary depending on the partnership type and your specific partner program goals. 

Include the following in the agreement:

• What the partner is expected to accomplish
• What you’ll offer to give value to the partner
• Your payment terms (the incentives and what must be done to earn them)
• Rules for how your partner can and can’t promote your brand
•  Confidentiality section: anything your partner must keep confidential
• Any other terms and sections you wish to include

10. How to measure ROI of individual partnerships

Next, you want to record how you will measure the success of your partnerships through clear and specific ROI goals. Determine what SMART goals you’ll set to measure the success of an individual partnership, and how you’ll enable partners to track the progress towards these goals.

11. Onboarding and training

Onboarding and training are just as relevant as the other items on your partner program template. Providing a great onboarding experience signals your investment in the success of the partnership and kicks things off on a positive note. 

Determine how you’ll onboard and train your partners, as well as which channels you’ll use for this purpose:

• What marketing materials (tools, assets, and resources) will you provide them, and how?
• Will you have a partner portal? 
• What are the standards for how your brand should be represented?
• What key product information should a partner cover during the sales process?
• How will you customize the training for each partner?
• How can the individual partner pitch the product to meet the needs of your shared audience?

12. Partner communication

Last but not least, nail down your partner program communication processes, the channels you will use, and how they will function.

Determine how you’ll communicate with and update partners as needed, and how you’ll supply them with everything they need for the enablement of successful channel sales. Also, establish your process for checking progress towards your goals, including whether you’ll implement partnership performance reviews, and how you’ll proceed if the partnership isn’t performing how you expected. 

Creating your own partner program template based on the guidelines we’ve provided can help you remove much of the guesswork of partner program management. Continue to check back in and reflect on ongoing learnings, so you can continue to refine the template for more value as your business grows. 

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Partnership Strategy Template

What is a Partnership Strategy?

A partnership strategy is a plan that outlines the goals and objectives of a partnership and identifies the resources, activities, and metrics that will be used to measure success. It is a crucial element in any successful partnership and provides essential guidance on how to successfuly execute it. It helps to ensure that all parties involved are on the same page and have a shared understanding of the goals, objectives, and expectations of the partnership.

What's included in this Partnership Strategy template?

• 3 focus areas
• 6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Partnership Strategy template for?

The Partnership Strategy template is designed for business leaders and teams who are looking to create successful and effective partnerships. It provides a comprehensive framework for developing a partnership strategy that can be tailored to fit the needs of any team or organization. The template helps to identify focus areas, objectives, KPIs, and projects that will be key to the success of the partnership strategy.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

Focus areas provide the overarching goals of the partnership strategy plan and provide direction on how to achieve success. When defining focus areas, it is important to ensure that they are aligned to the organization's overarching strategy, which means the partnership plan will help the organization achieve its goals. Examples of focus areas could include developing effective partnerships, building trust in partnerships, or optimizing partnership performance.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are the specific goals that need to be achieved in order to reach the overall focus area. Objectives should be measurable and achievable, and should be broken down into smaller, more manageable goals.  Examples of some objectives for the focus area of Developing Effective Partnerships could be: Establish relationships with key partners, and Improve partnerships success rate.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics that can be used to measure the success of objectives. These should be measurable, achievable, and time-bound. Examples of KPIs could include increasing the total number of active partners, increasing successful partnerships rate, or increasing the number of partners aware of the policy. An example of a KPI for the focus area of Developing Effective Partnerships could be: Increase total number of active partners.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Projects (actions) are the initiatives that need to be taken in order to achieve the KPIs. Implementing projects will help to ensure that the objectives are met and the KPIs are achieved. Examples of projects could include conducting outreach to potential partners, implementing performance monitoring systems, or developing a comprehensive partnership policy.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

The Cascade Strategy Execution Platform provides an easy and effective way to manage and measure the success of your partnership strategy plan. With powerful analytics, customizable dashboards, and automated alerts, Cascade can help you see faster results from your strategy and ensure that objectives are met and KPIs are achieved.

How to Write a Partnership Proposal [Examples + Template]

Published: June 18, 2024

Partnerships generate $3.9 billion per year in the U.S. and supercharge the revenue of companies like Microsoft, Atlassian, and Shopify. Teaming up with another professional or company can multiply your capacity, expertise, and growth.

With so much at stake, approaching a potential partner can be intimidating. Whenever I make a business pitch, there are three items I work to perfect. First, an underlying relationship to build on. Second, a stellar verbal presentation for a pitch meeting. And third, a killer partnership proposal.

A partnership proposal is a powerful tool to showcase your professionalism and convince your potential partner why they should collaborate with you. I’ve compiled what you should include in your proposal, plus four partnership proposal templates to give you a head start.

What is a partnership proposal?

• Types of Partnership Proposals

Components of a Partnership Proposal

How to write a partnership proposal, partnership proposal template, partnership proposal examples, partnership proposal tips.

A partnership proposal is a document outlining the benefits, scope, and structure of a future collaboration between two businesses or individuals.

Most partnership collaborations begin with an idea and verbal discussions. “ Hey, here’s a crazy idea. What if we…” If you don’t know the person, start with a warm intro email or phone call first.

A partnership proposal is the next step in the process, formalizing concepts to align goals and gain buy-in. While it isn’t a legal contract, it’s often a precursor to one.

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Types of Business Partnerships

Before creating a business partnership proposal, it’s important to understand which type of partnership you want to pursue.

General Business Partnership

When two or more individuals enter a business agreement and share unlimited liability, you have a general business partnership. A proposal for a general business partnership should include the share of ownership, contributions of each partner, the distribution of profits and losses, and the terms for dissolution.

Joint Venture

A joint venture (JV) is an agreement between two companies to combine resources and expertise for a specific purpose. For instance, a global company might form a JV with a local company when bringing a product to a new country.

Limited Partnership

A limited partnership (LP) is a business partnership that includes at least one general partner and at least one limited partner. Limited partners have minimal liability and management oversight of the operations. An LP is common in single-purpose scenarios like a real estate transaction.

Limited Liability Partnership

The LLP structure is common in professional service fields such as law firms, doctor’s offices, and accounting. Similar to an LLC, a limited liability partnership (LLP) is an agreement between partners that grants them limited liability. LLP requirements vary by state.

Influencer Partnership

An influencer partnership is a limited-scope agreement between an influencer or creator and a brand to create and publish branded social media content.

Sponsorship Partnership

A sponsorship is a collaboration between businesses, nonprofits, or media companies where one company pays for access to promote their goods and services to the other company’s audience.

When I write proposals, I always aim to personalize each one and find the right balance between personable and professional. While the nuances of each partnership model vary, there are a few common elements that every partnership business proposal should have.

Executive Summary

Hook your reader’s attention with a summary explaining the partnership concept, key benefits, and a table of contents.

List each partner with their contact and background information. Specify the role each will have, and whether they are a general or limited partner. Make it visual, with photos or logos.

Goals and Objectives

All good partnerships start with shared goals. Explain your goals and dreams for the partnership, from a high-level vision to specific objectives.

Share who your audience is and any key demographics. Make sure that your audience will fit with the partner’s audience, and vice-versa. An audience is a key selling point for partners, especially with influencer or sponsorship partnerships. Some brands go as far as account mapping to identify customer overlap, but general audience data can be as effective.

Scope of Work

Next, define the scope of work and projects to be covered with the partnership. If this is for a limited-scope project like an influencer collaboration, give a precise breakdown of project steps. If this is for a general partnership, JV, or LP, list target activities and deliverables and who is responsible for each. Give timelines as appropriate.

Benefits and Challenges

If you’ve ever written a business plan, you’re likely already familiar with the SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). Similar to this, give an abbreviated analysis of:

• Challenges that will need to be tackled.
• Benefits to the collaboration.
• Market research and industry analysis.

Legal and Financial Information

Propose terms and conditions for the partnership, like payment and revenue-sharing structures. Spell out who will own intellectual property generated by the company and how royalties will be distributed. Address how disputes or a partnership dissolution would be handled. ​​

To test this out, I wrote a general partnership proposal between a web designer and a web developer who want to team up to start a website studio. I used HubSpot’s partnership business proposal template to build a professional proposal outlining the partnership benefits and structure.

Creating a compelling partnership proposal requires a clear understanding of your potential partner's needs and how your collaboration can meet those needs. To simplify this process and ensure you have all the required information, consider using HubSpot Sales Software . This tool can help you gather insights, track interactions, and manage your proposal process more efficiently.

Here are the steps I took to create the proposal.

1. Outline the Benefits

To convince your partner, make the case why it’s worth them sharing their time (and profits) with you.

I started my proposal with an executive summary envisioning why the partnership would appeal to future clients. That leads into a “Benefits of Collaboration” section where I clearly outline the mutual advantages.

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Business Plan for Partnership Firm

A business plan for partnership firm is recommended for anyone entering into a business partnership. 3 min read updated on February 01, 2023

Updated November 2, 2020: 

A business plan for a partnership firm is recommended for anyone entering into a business partnership. A business partnership is two or more people working together to run a business. Each person takes on equal risks and rewards that come from the business. A proper business plan is ideal for handling current and future business decisions.

Steps For Planning a Business Partnership

• Write a mission statement to clearly state the direction and goals the business plans to take. By writing a mission statement, the partners agree to the company's direction now and in the future.
• Develop a reimbursement plan for the costs and investments incurred during startup. The amount of money provided for the startup is not always equal. Therefore, it is beneficial to make a plan that takes this into account with repayment and returns on investment. Avoiding arguments over the value of the startup amount versus levels of sweat equity will be removed with a reimbursement plan.
• Create a method to resolve partner disputes. If an odd number of members are part of the partnership, you can choose to vote democratically. In the case of two partners, the partners may split areas of the business having the final say. For example, one person can make final decisions on marketing and sales planning, while the other person makes final decisions on financial planning.
• Appoint an outside panel of advisors, or ombudsman , to resolve any internal disputes. Trusted experts should always be used to avoid ruining the partner relationship.
• Divide all the responsibilities of the partners related to labor and management and assign the amount of compensation they will receive. The compensation is not always equal based on the workload the partner takes on.
• Request that outside experts review the partnership agreement for any legal or accounting mistakes. The experts may be able to point out unknown problems that exist in the agreement. This review should take place before the partnership begins business operations.

Partnership Deed

A partnership deed and partnership agreement are the same, but the partnership deed is in writing . A partnership agreement can exist solely through verbal communications or actions. A partnership deed is recommended for businesses as it clearly defines the terms of the partnership.

The partnership deed helps prove the agreed-upon terms if there are any conflicts. Without a deed, the rules to settle disputes will fall to the state laws where the partnership exists. This creates another issue where one partner may file suit to benefit from the existing laws. Legal action can be avoided with a partnership deed that lists all details of the business that the partners agreed to when they began the business.

Partner Business Plans

When legal firms are looking to add a new partner, a well-written business plan that shows the new partners' intent to grow the business will make them stand out from the rest of the applicants. The business plan should exceed the expectations of the firm.

The key elements of the business plan are:

• Create an introduction that details your professional history, areas of expertise, and why you are the right fit for the firm.
• Provide market research and analysis of the needs of the local area, what competition exists, and why the firm offers the best way to reach this marketplace.
• Describe your current client base, prospective clients, and untapped areas you'd like to reach.
• Include any cross-selling opportunities that exist with current and prospective clients.
• Share ways you can develop business sources including publications, speeches, client seminars, newsletters, and similar.
• Explain your long-term strategy to meet the goals and targets that will benefit the firm.
• Show a history of collections, billing rates, and billable hours and projections for the current year, three-years, and five-years.
• Time the partners must invest.
• Key staff will be needed (paralegals, secretaries, etc.)
• Travel expenses.
• Marketing materials,
• Presentations.
• Foreign language skill requirements.

End with a conclusion that is creative recaps the important points in the plan, what value will be added to the firm, and why you are the best fit for the firm.

If you need help with a business plan for a partnership firm, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.

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Content Approved by UpCounsel

• Limited Partnership Rules: Everything You Need To Know
• Purpose of Partnership: Everything You Need To Know
• Authority of Partners in Partnership: What You Need to Know
• Partnership Agreement Between Company and Individual
• Limited Company Partnership Agreement
• How to Make a Partnership Agreement Legally Binding?
• Contract for Business Partners
• Disadvantages of Partnership
• General Partnership
• Partnership and Company

How to Create a Business Partnership Agreement

4 min. read

Updated October 25, 2023

If you plan on going into business with a business partner, a written partnership agreement is important. If you and your partners don’t spell out your rights and responsibilities in a written business partnership agreement, you’ll be ill-equipped to settle conflicts when they arise, and minor misunderstandings may erupt into full-blown disputes. In addition, without a written agreement saying otherwise, your state’s law will control many aspects of your business.

• How a partnership agreement helps your business

A partnership agreement allows you to structure your relationship with your partners in a way that suits your business. You and your partners can establish the shares of profits (or losses) each partner will take, the responsibilities of each partner, what will happen to the business if a partner leaves, and other important guidelines.

Uniform partnership act

Each state (with the exception of Louisiana) has its own laws governing partnerships, contained in what is usually called the “Uniform Partnership Act” or the “Revised Uniform Partnership Act”—or, sometimes, the “UPA” or the “Revised UPA.” These statutes establish the basic legal rules that apply to partnerships and will control many aspects of your partnership’s life, unless you set out different rules in a written partnership agreement.

Don’t be tempted to leave the terms of your partnership up to these state laws. Because they were designed as one-size-fits-all fallback rules, they may not be helpful in your particular situation. It’s much better to put your agreement into a document that specifically sets out the points you and your partners have agreed on.

• What to include in your partnership agreement

Here’s a list of the major areas that most partnership agreements cover. You and your partners-to-be should consider these issues before you put the terms in writing:

• Name of the partnership. One of the first things you must do is agree on a name for your partnership. You can use your own last names, such as Smith & Wesson, or you can adopt and register a fictitious business name, such as Westside Home Repairs. If you choose a fictitious name, you must make sure that the name isn’t already in use.
• Contributions to the partnership. It’s critical that you and your partners work out and record who’s going to contribute cash, property, or services to the business before it opens—and what ownership percentage each partner will have. Disagreements over contributions have doomed many promising businesses.
• Allocation of profits, losses, and draws. Will profits and losses be allocated in proportion to a partner’s percentage interest in the business? And will each partner be entitled to a regular draw (a withdrawal of allocated profits from the business) or will all profits be distributed at the end of each year? You and your partners may have different ideas about how the money should be divided up and distributed, and each of you will have different financial needs, so this is an area to which you should pay particular attention.
• Partners’ authority. Without an agreement to the contrary, any partner can bind the partnership without the consent of the other partners. If you want one or all of the partners to obtain the others’ consent before binding the partnership, you must make this clear in your partnership agreement.
• Partnership decision-making. Although there’s no magic formula or language for divvying up decisions among partners, you’ll head off a lot of trouble if you try to work it out beforehand. You may, for example, want to require a unanimous vote of all the partners for every business decision. If that seems like more than will be necessary, you can require a unanimous vote for major decisions and allow individual partners to make minor decisions on their own. In that case, your partnership agreement will have to describe what constitutes a major or minor decision. You should carefully think through issues like these when setting up the decision-making process for your business.
• Management duties. You might not want to make ironclad rules about every management detail, but you’d be wise to work out some guidelines in advance. For example, who will keep the books? Who will deal with customers? Supervise employees? Negotiate with suppliers? Think through the management needs of your partnership and be sure you’ve got everything covered.
• Admitting new partners. Eventually, you may want to expand the business and bring in new partners. Agreeing on a procedure for admitting new partners will make your lives a lot easier when this issue comes up.
• Withdrawal or death of a partner. At least as important as the rules for admitting new partners to the business are the rules for handling the departure of an owner. You should therefore set up a reasonable buyout scheme in your partnership agreement to deal with this eventuality.
• Resolving disputes. If you and your partners become deadlocked on an issue, do you want to go straight to court? It might benefit everyone involved if your partnership agreement provides for alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation or arbitration.

Have you gone into business with a partner, and did you write up an agreement beforehand? What would you have done differently? Share your stories or questions with us in the comments.

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Top 10 Strategic Partnership Templates with Samples and Examples

Yajur Sharma

Partnerships are always in trend. Businesses frequently look for partners with similar skills to lower risk, share infrastructure or intellectual property, and open up new markets and channels. Such linkages grow more logical when the corporate environment gets more complicated, for example, as new technologies appear or as innovation cycles quicken. Additionally, the more adeptly businesses manage individual connections, the more probable it is that they will develop into "partners of choice" and be able to assemble whole portfolios of useful and valuable alliances.

What is a Strategic Partnership?

Strategic partnerships are alliances in which two or more organizations work together to accomplish shared objectives and promote growth. While maintaining their identities, both businesses collaborate in key areas and split any associated risks and rewards. 

There is always more to this engagement than merely a fleeting friendship or connection. Instead, it is an enduring obligation requiring a great deal of communication, trust, and mutual effort. The concept is that the strategic partner can provide resources that the other partner finds difficult to get, such as knowledge, audience share, services, or other resources.

The benefits organizations see from the strategic alliance depend on its type. Whatever the type of strategic alliance, the first step in this journey is an illustrative proposal. We have curated the Top 10 Strategic Partnership Proposal Templates To Form Successful Alliances. These templates will help you draft a pitch, conduct research, and choose the right strategic partner to meet your goals. Check it out now!

Strategic partnerships are now essential to revenue growth in a corporate setting. High-maturity businesses are seeing a significant chunk of their income, up to 28%, produced through strategic partnerships. This graph demonstrates the significant influence that partnerships can have on organizations, frequently outperforming the effectiveness of sponsored search advertising.

Collaborate to Elevate

Strategic partnerships are not theoretical concepts. Here is a real-life example of a partnership between businesses that has helped them grow their market share and income while providing small company clients with more value.

Facebook & Shopify: Since 2015, Shopify and Facebook have strategically collaborated to support small company owners in managing their marketing. They advanced in 2020 with further connections, such as omnichannel shop management for Facebook and Instagram and streamlined ad administration for advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. 

Small company owners can manage sales across several stores with a single platform, thanks to Shopify and Facebook. Thanks to these connections, online merchants can now manage product tags, price, inventory, and other features across three channels from a single dashboard.

The connections you build with other businesses might help you achieve even greater success in running a business. Strategic partnerships are profitable commercial relationships that can encourage the expansion of your company while lowering expenses. Knowing about these partnerships can assist you in selecting the best one to increase the number of prospective customers and clients you can contact.

Using SlideTeam's pre-designed PowerPoint templates on strategic partnership will significantly streamline your presentation and communication processes. These completely editable and customizable templates offer an excellent place to start when pitching internal stakeholders, outside partners, or clients. 

Let's explore!

Template 1: Managing strategic partnerships

Strategic partnerships result in long-term financial success and elevated brand recognition for companies. This 53-slide PowerPoint Template includes slides on creating crucial business relationships and an emphasis on managing partnerships effectively. It focuses on the current issues your business faces and the challenges the sales channel partners face, such as channel conflict, underperforming partners, and misaligned goals. Various aspects such as strategy and analysis, program design, delivery, support, and management are included in the strategies for channel sales partners. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!

Template 2: Vendor Strategic Partnership Engagement Plan

This PowerPoint template outlines an in-depth strategy for developing collaborative partnerships with vendors. It includes sections on partner identification, motivation analysis, feedback, and execution methods. This slide covers these aspects, guiding users through creating mutually beneficial relationships. It enables companies to engage providers strategically, improving operational efficiency and driving innovation. The slide makes conveying and understanding strategic vendor relationship management easier by using clear pictures and brief wording.

Template 3: Global partnership management model for strategic alliance

This PowerPoint Slide provides a framework for corporations to manage foreign relationships efficiently. It includes tactics for identifying, cultivating, and maximizing relationships across multiple sectors. This approach clarifies communication, reduces cultural differences, and improves partner collaboration. Today's businesses rely on worldwide alliances to increase their market reach, gain access to new technology, and share resources. Implementing this approach enables businesses to negotiate complicated global marketplaces while supporting innovation, durability, and long-term success in versatile market situations. This slide illustrates informal partnerships, parent-subsidiary partnerships, mergers, etc. 

Template 4: Types Of Different Strategic Partnership Agreements

This PowerPoint slide illustrates multiple collaboration methods critical for corporate success. Integration partnerships promote smooth operations and resource sharing. Strategic marketing alliances combine complementary skills to increase market reach. Technology partnerships promote innovation by collaborating on research and development and exchanging intellectual property. Supply chain collaboration improves logistics and simplifies operations. Financial partnerships entail cooperative investments and risk sharing for mutual profit. Each element helps readers understand how strategic partnerships produce cooperation across sectors, encouraging development and competitive advantage.

Template 5: Business Strategic Partnership Model Framework

This PowerPoint slide depicts the framework for strategic partnership, showing the organizational model and key partnering disciplines. This template focuses on developing a business partnership strategy that aligns goals and resources for mutual benefit. It explores the value of collaborating human resources and harnessing abilities across organizations. Performance evaluation measures are highlighted to guarantee that the working relationship is effective and grows. Furthermore, it assists in selecting appropriate partners based on compatibility and strategic fit while emphasizing the value proposition that each party delivers. The slide provides comprehensive insights into forming and managing effective strategic relationships in today's changing corporate environment. Download today!

Template 6: Strategic Partnerships

The PowerPoint Slide displays the company's foreign collaborators, including partner locations, goals, and service offers. It showcases entertainment events, live shows, and exhibits, demonstrating the variety of services these collaborations provide. Each partner's specific skills and geographic reach are highlighted, demonstrating how strategic collaborations improve organizing events worldwide. This template is an in-depth guide to learning about the company's partner network and how they contribute to providing excellent event experiences worldwide. It includes details about the year of the event, objective, partner location, etc.

Template 7: Key Metrics To Test Strategic Partnership And Alliances

This PowerPoint slide illustrates measures for an organization firm to continually test against checking the strength of business partnerships. It includes a visual explaining strategic synergy, ambition alignment, materiality, etc. It also includes purpose and resilience. Using these indicators, organizations may systematically review the health and value of their strategic partnerships, ensuring that they remain aligned with overall company objectives and generate actual advantages.

Template 8: Strategic Partnerships to Enhance Vendor Management Efficiency

Strategic relationships optimize resources, enhance communication, and promote innovation, increasing vendor management efficiency through collaborative approaches and common objectives. Collaboration improves processes, including organizing, communication, and supply chain management. This PowerPoint Slide showcases the strategic partnerships that the company can use to enhance vendor management efficiency, such as shared planning and management systems, development partnerships, supply chain partnerships, shared communications, etc. Each strategy is presented with specific methods, allowing businesses to form successful relationships and improve vendor management efficiency for long-term development and competitive advantage. 

Template 9: Strategic Partnerships

The PowerPoint template showcases joint efforts in the farming industry. It describes partnerships based on essential products and commodities, including corn, wheat, canola oil, nitrogen, and potash fertilizer. This slide describes how partnerships streamline manufacturing, distribution, and marketing operations to increase efficiency and market penetration. By highlighting successful collaborations and possible prospects, it assists stakeholders in navigating complicated agricultural environments, promoting sector development, durability, and mutual benefit over time.

Template 10: Strategic partnership showing membership continuity and unlimited liability

The PowerPoint slide highlights vital requirements for partnership sustainability. Membership continuity emphasizes loyalty over the long term and highlights how ties are everlasting despite changes in individual members. Unlimited liability defines partners' responsibility for debts and commitments, indicating a high financial obligation and risk level. The template describes how these factors build strategic relationships, promoting trust, responsibility, and resilience in evolving business landscapes and ultimately assuring collaborative efforts' long-term viability and achievement. 

Driving Growth Through Strategic Partnerships

A strategic partnership is characterized by a shared vision and goals that benefit two or more organizations. It entails a partnership in which both parties bring unique talents, assets, or knowledge to attain goals that neither could reach alone. With the help of our PowerPoint templates, you can make powerful presentations that clearly convey the advantages and opportunities of working with other companies. The professionalism, ease of use, customisation possibilities, efficiency, and aesthetic appeal of these templates make them invaluable resources for ensuring the success of your collaboration projects.

P.S.: Without a structured approach, organizations often grapple with challenges such as misalignment of objectives, unclear responsibilities, and a lack of synergy. This is where our Strategic Partnership Plan Templates come into play. Designed with your specific needs, these templates provide a roadmap for collaboration. 

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Business Plans for Lateral Partners – Good vs. Great

Most effective business plans, if not done correctly, are relatively useless.  Why?  Because many partners end up borrowing a template from a friend at another firm, and they just fill in the sections. 

There is not that much thought about why certain information is included, and how it fits with the LPQ and the overall business case for joining the new firm.  Effective business plans often read like a rehash of a partner’s website biography and contain duplicative information that will be included in other documents as part of the due diligence process. 

But effective business plans don’t have to be superfluous, and here are recommendations. 

There are three main questions partners have regarding effective business plans:

• “Should I have a effective business plan?”
• “If so, when should it be presented to the firm?”
• “What should the business plan include?”

Main Purpose of Business Plan  

Before I answer the above three questions about effective business plans and it’s important to explain that the purpose of a effective business plan is to show your future vision for your practice at a particular firm. 

Effective Business plans are used in conjunction with a Lateral Partner Questionnaire (LPQ), which is a detailed questionnaire that focuses on various aspects of your practice and includes questions about the historical, current, and projected financial aspects and economics of your practice.  Taken together, these provide firms with the most comprehensive 360 degree view of your practice and how it will potentially fit in to the new firm.  

In short :  The LPQ looks at your past and present practice, and also encompasses projections for the future.  Business plans supplement the LPQ by putting more “meat on the bones” about your current practice, where you want to go, and how you plan to get there.  The business plan is also, at times, a stand-alone document that can be used at the new firm to present to the executive/hiring committee to explain why you should be hired.  

Now let’s address each of the above three questions.

• “Should I have a business plan?” Answer: it depends.

If you have an immediately portable practice that is at least self-sustaining (meaning you can keep yourself busy with your own work), or the new firm has enough work to keep you busy based on your unique skillset, a business plan may not be needed.   The information that you include in the LPQ will likely be sufficient.

If it’s unclear as to whether you may have enough business to keep yourself busy, a business plan is important to help explain your vision and plan for your practice.   It’s a piece of the puzzle that helps the new firm answer, “What’s the likelihood this partner will be successful at our firm?” 

• “When should it be presented to a firm?”

Do not present a business plan before you are interviewing (the exception is if you are coming from the government). 

The business plan must be tailored to each specific firm you are considering, and you will learn important information during the interview process that you will use to help build your case as to why you and your practice is a good fit for the new firm. A big mistake is presenting a generic business plan.  I remember attending a seminar a few years ago on lateral partner business plans, and the speakers (hiring partners at law firms) basically said, “We don’t like generic business plans and think they are sort of useless.  If we actually want a business plan, it should be focused on our firm specifically.” 

Your business plan ideally connects these dots: (1) what the firm wants to accomplish, (2) what you want to accomplish, and (3) how coming together could help you both accomplish these mutual goals.  You are (obviously) unable to connect the dots if you have a generic business plan that is presented at the outset.  As a result, presenting it after a round or two of discussions will enable you to connect the dots much better. 

• “What information should it contain?”

The level of detail included in your business plan will depend upon your particular circumstances, where you are in the process, and what you wish to highlight.  Below are the most relevant sections that can be presented.   Think of this as a general lateral partner business plan template, which should be modified and tailored based on your specific situation. 

DETAILS TO INCLUDE IN THE BUSINESS PLAN

• Practice Description . Briefly describe nature of your practice, including areas of expertise or specialization; ideal to provide breakdowns (e.g., example 30% M&A, 25% private equity, etc.).
• Practice Development to Date : What you have done to develop your practice to date.  Although the LPQ will cover your business development track record, it doesn’t hurt to reiterate your main clients, origination track record over the past few years, and your billing rate. 
• Highlights/Accomplishments : Any highlights about your practice (e.g., particular high-profile deals or cases) and/or industry recognition.
• Firm Citizenship: Leadership roles, etc.
• Key Strengths : What are your unique strengths as a partner?  Where do you see yourself adding the most value to a new firm/practice? 
• Future Goals : Where you want your practice to be in the next 3-5 years.  For example, do you want to expand your practice area or enhance a particular industry focus?  Are there additional clients you want to pursue, but you are limited at your current firm due to conflicts, rates, or geography?
• Industry Trends : What industries do you focus on? What is happening in your particular industries that could create more opportunity at the new firm?  What are the untapped opportunities and how are you positioned to capitalize on them? 
• Limitations or Challenges with Current Firm (this is optional, depending on the particular circumstances of your situation) : Why are your future goals difficult to accomplish at your current firm?   Note: the challenges can also be “softer” factors such as the manner in which client credit is shared is not consistent with the type of culture in which you enjoy practicing, etc.  Be careful, however, not to come across as venting your frustrations.  The more this is focused on business and limitations to your practice, the better.
• Your understanding of the new firm’s goals/strategic needs as it pertains to your practice (based on your discussions).
• How your background/experience could fit into the firm’s goals/strategic needs.
• How the new firm could help you (1) more easily accomplish your goals and/or (2) reduce some of the challenges with your current firm. In short, how could both sides come together in a way that meets everyone’s needs.
• Your Network of Contacts : Include a list or chart of people you would plan to continue receiving business from, and who would you expect to approach to develop new business.  The ideal format for the headers is the name, company, title, and the nature of your relationship, including how long your have represented the client (if they are a current client).  This can include the new firm’s clients to the extent it has been discussed already.  If you do mention the new firm’s clients, be sure to take a collaborative tone that includes pitching together as a group and not as a lone wolf. Note :  Some partners are understandably reluctant to “share their rolodex” too early in the process.  If you are uncomfortable, it’s ok to hold off on providing too much detail regarding your network if it’s still early in the process and you are unsure if the firm is a fit.  If the firm presses you for information on your network and future prospects, you can equalize the process by asking the firm to share information on their main clients/contacts as well, so it’s more of a “mutual brainstorming.” 
• Specific Business Development/External-Facing Activities : Many business plans have generic sections such as “Writing:  I plan to write articles” or “Speaking:  I plan to speak at industry conferences to help get my and the firm’s name out there.”  There is nothing wrong with this, but it often comes across as very generic.  To make more of an impact, provide specific examples of what you have done to date, and what you plan to continue doing.  For example, are you on the Board of any high-profile publications or do you often participate at certain industry conferences?

The business plan is not a one-size-fits all approach, but the above provides more clarity on the key issues these documents involve and how to best approach this part of the lateral hiring process. 

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Author: Dan Binstock

Dan co-owns Garrison & Sisson, where he focuses on lateral partner and practice group placements. He has consistently been recognized as one of the Top 100 Global Legal Strategists and Consultants by LawDragon, and authored "The Attorney's Guide to Using (or Not Using) Legal Recruiters." Dan is the Immediate Past President of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants (NALSC), where he also served as Chair of the Ethics Committee. Visit here to learn more about Dan, or contact him confidentially with any questions at (202) 559-0492 or [email protected].

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Small Business Partnership Agreement Template

Use our small business partnership agreement to detail all the key information of a partnership for a small business.

Updated July 2, 2023 Written by Sara Hostelley | Reviewed by Brooke Davis

A small business partnership agreement is a written contract between partners in a small business, setting out each partner’s duties, rights, and profit sharing. It prevents misunderstandings and disputes and protects the company and its partners.

A successful small business partnership is akin to a strong relationship. Both entail not just short-term mutual benefits but long-term compatibility. You need to have the same business vision, mission, and goals. However, under the pressure of starting a new business, problems arise and can turn into major setbacks.

Therefore, a small business partnership agreement template should govern the business.

What is a Small Business Partnership Agreement?

When to use a small business partnership agreement, what to include in a small business partnership agreement, small business partnership agreement sample.

A small business partnership agreement defines the precise guidelines for a small business partnership’s successful operations and the roles each partner will play.

The partnership agreement includes how profits and losses are shared amongst the partners, how the business will run in case of a partner withdrawal, and each partner’s rights and obligations.

You should use a small business partnership agreement to form a small business partnership. A partnership agreement is a vital document in the decision-making process of a business.

The absence of such an agreement can negatively affect the decision-making process of both business partners.

For instance, if a partner withdraws from the business, guidelines should be outlined on whether the partnership should be dissolved or reformed.

There will always be conflicts and tough decision-making in the lifespan of a business. A partnership agreement helps to reduce and solve disputes between you and your partner.

Before the formation of any successful business partnership, there are crucial factors that should be put into consideration.

The following factors form the bedrock of any successful joint business:

• Decision making

It is important to note that you and your partner will not agree on everything concerning the business. Therefore, you should develop long-term solutions to dilemmas within the business.

Who needs to make the final say? Which decisions require undivided votes by the partners? You will have a peaceful business by drafting down a non-biased decision-making structure.

• Distributions

The main intention of building the business is to maximize the profits received. Your small business partnership agreement should entail how you will divide business profits and how much each partner will receive.

Your agreement should clearly describe how ownership will change in various scenarios. What happens when a partner withdraws? What are the chances of buying out or absorbing a new partner? What happens if one partner dies, retires, or goes bankrupt?

• Dispute resolution

If things fall apart between partners, how will the disagreements be resolved? Deciding how you will handle disputes sets the foundation for a friction-free business.

• Critical developments

Sometimes, the unpredictable happens, and your small business partnership agreement should address possible concerns and circumstances, such as; what happens when a partner falls sick. What are the retirement provisions?

• Dissolution

A partnership agreement should entail the steps to be taken when legally terminating the partnership. You might opt to do this after you and your partners disapprove of the future of your business.

• Contributions

Ensure you outline each partner’s role in the business formation and running of finances. In your small business partnership agreement, define what each partner brings- monetary value, time, customers, efforts, liabilities, etc.

The below small business partnership agreement template allows you to quickly fill in the blanks and get your partnership up and running. Download in PDF or Word format.

Related Documents

• Business Plan : A plan that guides you through each stage of starting and growing your business.
• Partnership Agreement Amendment : A document detailing any changes to a Partnership Agreement.
• Assignment of Partnership Interest : A legal document that transfers the rights to receive benefits from an original business partner to a new business partner.
• Business Proposal : Use this document to form new relationships with other businesses and organizations.
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How to Start a Business in 8 Steps: A Comprehensive Guide from Concept to Launch

Starting a business can be extremely exciting. But figuring out how to start a business can also feel overwhelming—particularly if you don’t have a clear sense of how to get from where you are now (an aspiring entrepreneur) to where you want to be (a successful, established one).

The good news is that there are clear steps to follow. Once you know these steps, you can create a road map that will take you from asking, “What do I need to begin a business?” to questions like “How did I get so successful?” or “Why was I ever worried?”

Here, we outline everything you need to know—whether it’s about how to start a business online, at home, with no money, or any other situation.

1. Finding your business idea

So, how do you start a business? The first step is coming up with an idea. You can’t start a business without a great one. You don’t want to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks; instead, you should aim to take “a structured approach to ideation,” says business coach Yael Tamar .

What are your strengths? What kind of business do you want to build? What kind of customers do you want to work with, and which of their needs can you fulfill? It’s important to answer these questions because the key to a successful business idea is finding the intersection of what you want to do and what your ideal customers need .

“It's crucial to align your venture with both your passions and market demand,” says Jeff Mains, CEO of business growth consultancy Champion Leadership Group .

“Start by identifying problems you're passionate about solving,” Mains says. “This approach ensures that you have a genuine interest in your business, which is essential for long-term success.

“Also look for gaps in the market by analyzing current trends and customer needs,” he says. “Combining your passion with market opportunities increases the likelihood of finding a viable and fulfilling business idea.”

2. Conduct market research

Once you have a business idea you want to pursue, it’s time to do some research—more specifically, market research.

“It involves gathering data on customer demographics, conducting competitor analysis, and studying industry trends,” Tamar says. “This research helps validate business concepts and informs strategic decision-making.”

It can also help in the long-term, giving you the insights you need to lay the foundation for a successful business. “Effective market research also minimizes risks and ensures your business is well-positioned to meet market demands,” Mains says.

So, how do you perform the kind of market research you need to set your business up for success?

“Begin by identifying your target audience and understanding their pain points, preferences, and behaviors,” Mains says. “Use a mix of primary research, such as surveys and interviews, and secondary research, including industry reports and competitor analysis.”

In addition to audience research, you’ll also want to check out your competitors to see what they’re doing, what’s working (and what isn't), and how you can differentiate your company from others in the space—and grab your target audience’s attention in the process.

3. Create a business plan

Once you’ve come up with a business idea—and you’ve done the market research necessary to ensure it’s viable—it’s time to create your business plan.

There are a few different elements to a business plan. “Start with a clear executive summary that outlines your business idea, mission, and vision,” Mains says. “Follow this with a detailed market analysis, showcasing your understanding of the industry and target market.”

Plus, you’ll want to outline your business structure, product or service offerings, marketing strategies, and financial projections. Why? Because “a strong business plan not only guides your strategic decisions but also serves as a crucial tool when seeking funding from investors or financial institutions,” says Mains

Bottom line? “It integrates findings from market research into actionable steps aligned with long-term business objectives,” Tamar says—making it a must for starting, launching, and sustaining a successful business.

4. Take care of logistics

Next step on the list? Taking care of the logistical side of starting a business, which include:

• Choosing a business structure
• Registering your business
• Obtaining necessary licenses/permits
• Getting necessary insurance
• Opening a business bank account

From a logistical perspective, there are no universal solutions when starting a business. Much will depend on the type of business you’re trying to start.

For example, if you’re focusing on how to start a small business at home and you’ll be the only employee, you may not need physical liability insurance (since there won’t be any other employees working in your home). But if you’re figuring out how to start an online business—and intend to operate from a commercial space with other employees—physical liability insurance is generally a must.

Same thing goes for business structure (for example, being a sole proprietor or registering an LLC), business registration, permitting…pretty much all of it. Make sure to do your research and ensure you take all of the logistical steps needed to legally establish your business.

5. Find your funding

Funding is often where budding entrepreneurs get stuck. If you're wondering how to start a business without money , in full transparency, the answer is…you can’t. Whatever kind of business you’re starting, you’re going to need some money to get things off the ground.

But how much money you need to start a business—and where you ultimately get that money from—can vary widely.

In general, there are a few different funding options for starting a business, including:

• Self-funding . If you have money—and you’re willing to spend it on your entrepreneurial dreams—self-funding is a great option. (Particularly since you won’t have to pay any interest or give up equity in your company).
• Business loans . Loans are another option for getting the capital you need to start a business. The process of how to get a loan to start a business can be challenging; often, traditional lenders are wary of lending to brand new businesses. But there are loan programs out there that cater to start-ups—so doing research to see if you qualify is definitely worth it.
• Credit cards . If you can’t get a loan, credit cards (personal or business) can help to cover expenses as you build your business.
• Business grants. There are also a variety of grants out there that provide capital to qualifying applicants. For example, there are grants for women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses. Grant competitions can also be great if you have a particularly interesting or innovative business idea. So, if you fit into any relevant grant categories, you’ll definitely want to explore how to get a grant to start a business.
• Friends and family . Asking friends and family to invest in your business is also an option. Just keep in mind that introducing money into personal relationships can be challenging—so if you do take money from loved ones, make sure the terms and expectations of the investment are extremely clear on both sides.
• Outside investors. Depending on your business model and industry, you may also be able to pitch outside investors, like venture capital firms or angel investors—which is more common in certain industries, like tech.

Build your dream business with the help of a high-paying job—browse open jobs on The Muse »

6. Get your systems in place

You’ve got your funding. You’ve got your business plan. But before you move forward in bringing your business to life, it’s important to lay the foundation for success by putting the right systems and processes in place.

Establishing systems and processes from the get-go can help make your business launch and growth significantly more smooth—and also can save time, energy, hassle, and money.

For example, before you start selling products, you’ll want to set up a secure online payment system. Before you start billing clients, you’ll need an invoicing procedure—and the software to implement those procedures. Before you start marketing, you’ll want to have a strategy and system in place to ensure you reach the right customers at the right time.

Systems and processes help you get organized—and if you want your business to be successful, you’ll want to take the steps to get organized before you launch.

7. Build your brand

Once you’ve got the backend of your business in place, it’s time to start thinking about the front-facing elements—the elements that make up your brand.

In order to launch a business, you’ll want to have certain branding assets in place, including:

• Brand color palette
• Brand fonts
• Brand voice
• Social media profiles

Building a brand helps to create a consistent experience for your customers and tell the story of your business to your target audience. “This is important for gaining recognition,” says Keith Donovan, a startup advisor and Founder of Startup Stumbles .

8. Launch and market your business

You’ve figured out how to begin a business. You’ve got all the pieces in place. Now it’s time to actually launch your business—and market that business to connect with your ideal audience.

“Making sure people know about your company is crucial,” Donovan says.

How you market your business is up to you. For example, “actions like creating social media pages, running advertisements and cultivating helpful content introduce potential buyers to the business and what it offers,” he adds.

You could also market your business in other ways, like:

• Local events
• Influencer partnership
• Print advertisements
• Cross-marketing with other businesses
• Email marketing

It’s not so much about how you market your business; it’s about how effectively you do so that will determine whether your company thrives or falters. Whatever methods you decide to go for, just make sure you’re invested in creating and implementing a marketing strategy that allows you to connect with your target audience and convert them into paying customers.

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How to write a restaurant business plan + free template (2024)

By Homebase Team

Whether you’re living the dream of opening your own restaurant or reworking your existing concept, a restaurant business plan template takes a ton of stress out of writing a business plan.

With prompts for every section you’ll need, we’ve created our free restaurant business plan template to be your operational foundation (you’re welcome!). Something you can download, customize, and come back to whenever you make business decisions for your restaurant.

But first, let’s go through all the ways a written business plan helps shape your restaurant, and why it boosts your business’s chance of success.

What is a restaurant business plan?

A restaurant business plan is a written document that lays out an overview of a restaurant, its objectives, and its plans for achieving its goals.

It’s needed across all kinds and sizes of restaurants, and can be a handful of pages long or much more detailed. A well-written restaurant business plan not only helps you organize your ideas, it’s also a key part of getting investor funding .

Starting a restaurant? Here’s why you need a business plan. 

Creatively, opening a new restaurant can be incredibly exciting. But it’s also super complicated. From licenses, to equipment, to building a team, each phase needs a lot of attention to detail.

Before you jump in, it’s important to shape your plan of attack, organizing your business ideas into a clear, concise narrative that an outsider could easily understand. A business plan is an essential part of this—and here’s why.

Your business plan helps you:

Set short and long-term goals.

A restaurant business plan not only shows how your business will operate in its early stages, it also shows what steps it’ll need to follow as time goes by. Setting both your short and long-term goals at the outset makes you more likely to achieve them.

Understand your resource needs.

Going through the exercise of writing a restaurant business plan is as important as having the finished document in front of you. As you organize your thoughts, your resource needs—from the amount of capital you need to raise all the way down to the equipment you need to find—will take shape. 

Reduce potential risks.

Sadly, some 60% of restaurants fail within the first year of opening. One of the main reasons? A failure to plan. Your business plan will help you plan for most challenges at your restaurant before they come up, keeping you on the right side of that number.

Develop a marketing strategy.

As you do your market analysis and figure out who your customers are likely to be, the ways you’ll promote your business will get clearer. The more specific you are with your market research, the easier and more effective your marketing efforts will be.

Build your team.

Your business plan helps you see who you’ll need on your team and which roles you’ll need to fill first . For investors, it’s a document showcasing everyone’s collective experience, personalizing your restaurant in their eyes and packing a professional punch.

Share your vision.

Whether you’re using your business plan to secure startup funding or need additional capital after you’ve already opened, your restaurant business plan shows an investor or lender exactly why they should get behind you. 

The 9 elements of a strong restaurant business plan.

Your restaurant business plan will be unique to your vision. But all good business plans hit standard points, and whoever reads yours will expect them. As you develop and finalize your ideas, here are nine key elements you should include. 

1. Executive summary

A strong restaurant business plan begins with a strong executive summary. This is a sharp, concise overview of your restaurant and your opportunity to grab people’s attention.

Here’s where you communicate, in a nutshell, what kind of restaurant you want to run. Which demographic will you be targeting? Why is your business something the community wants or needs? Especially if you’re asking for financing, include a snapshot of your financial information and growth plan as well. 

Your executive summary should briefly lay out:

• Your mission statement. Why are you starting this restaurant now, in this location? 
• Your idea. What’s the concept of this restaurant?
• Your plan of execution. What are your key steps to making this concept work?
• Your potential costs. What are your expected expenses?
• Your anticipated ROI. How much do you expect your restaurant to make?

Many investors will make a split-second decision off of the executive summary alone—it might be all they’re going to read, so make every word count.

2. Company description

Now it’s time to let your creativity out and give your restaurant concept life. Give a more detailed description of your concept that lets your passion for what you’re creating come through. 

Flesh out all the other details of your proposed restaurant, including your restaurant’s:

• Style of cuisine and any unique selling points or differentiators that will make customers choose you
• Service style
• Restaurant name (or at least ideas)
• Size, seating style, and capacity
• Location ideas or the location you’ve scouted or secured
• Ambiance ideas including décor, lighting, and music
• Operating hours
• Other service offerings like whether you’ll offer delivery or takeout, delivery guarantees, catering, and any retail products you plan to sell
• Legal structure (e.g. sole proprietorship, LLC) 
• Existing management and their roles, including yours
• Experts or advisors you’ve brought on board

3. Market analysis

Present the research you’ve done on your target market. Make a couple of buyer personas to represent your future customers, explaining:

• Where your target customers live
• Their income levels
• Their dining-out and/or ordering-in pain points (e.g. lack of late opening hours, lack of family friendliness)
• How often they dine out or order in

Go through which other restaurants already have a customer base in your area, then explain why people will choose your restaurant over others. 

4. Sample menu

Even at the business plan stage, menu engineering is crucial. The specific menu items you’re likely to serve—the biggest thing that will set you apart—should shine through with descriptions that are short, clear, and evocative. If you have an executive chef already, this is a great area for them to add input.

Use language that will get people excited about trying your offerings. Hire a designer or use an online program to create your own mockup using the same colors, fonts, and design elements as the rest of your branding. 

5. Business structure

Dive deeper into your business structure (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, etc.) and organizational management. Show what your different employee positions will be (co-founders, managers, servers) to give a sense of your team’s makeup. An organizational chart can be helpful here.

Investors won’t expect you to have your entire team on board at this stage, but you should have at least a couple of people firmed up. For the roles that are already filled, including your own, summarize your collective experience and achievements. Bullet points work well, or some people choose to go into more detail with full resumes for the executive team or critical team members.

6. Restaurant design and location

Long before you sign a lease, make sure that your new offering will outshine existing ones nearby. In this section of your business plan, explain why your chosen location, or the ones you’re narrowing down, are going to be an effective space for your target market.

Consider things like:

• Neighborhood demographics
• Foot traffic
• Labor costs
• Accessibility

Hand in hand with location, your restaurant’s interior design—both in its floor plan and its ambiance—is also crucial to your business’s viability. Come up with a captivating restaurant design that communicates your theme and matches your cuisine, creating a memorable customer experience. Decide how many tables you’ll be serving, and plan out any outdoor seating.

Touch on things like:

• Team uniforms
• Flatware and glassware

7. Marketing strategy

How do you plan to market your restaurant? Your plan for grabbing customers’ attention is vital to getting diners through the door, especially at the beginning before word-of-mouth advertising has taken off.

What kind of offers will you provide? Will you have promotional events, direct mail, or a social media strategy ? Go through your planned marketing campaigns and explain how each of them will help secure your target market. 

8. Takeout and delivery options

If you’ve decided to have takeout and delivery at your restaurant—pretty important for most target markets—decide whether you’ll use your own drivers or a professional fleet like Uber Eats or DoorDash.

Show how you’ll provide the smooth digital experience your customers will expect. Decide if and how your website will come into play, bearing in mind that in 2023, 40% of consumers preferred to order directly from the restaurant website .

9. Financial projections

Your restaurant’s projected budget need to be solid, especially if you’re using your business plan to get startup funds. Without this, investors have no way of knowing if your business is a good investment or when it will become profitable.

Hire an experienced accountant with expertise in running restaurants and write down your market research, your planned costs , and your projected income. Show how investor funds will be used and whether you’ll be putting up collateral to get a loan. Give a sales forecast, usually for the first five years, and make sure to give a break-even analysis.

Get started with our free restaurant business plan template.  

As the team behind Homebase , we know how much there is to consider when you’re starting a new restaurant. We’re proud to be an all-in-one partner for thousands of restaurants large and small—helping make everything from staffing, to scheduling, to team communication easier for business owners.

And we know that your restaurant business plan is a high-stakes document. That’s why we created our free restaurant business plan template to make sure nothing gets overlooked.

Check out our free, downloadable template to get your ideas into shape, get started on your restaurant journey—and get investors excited to jump on board with you. 

Download your restaurant business plan template for free: Restaurant business plan + free template (2024)

Stop chasing down phone numbers with our built-in team communication tool. Message teammates, share updates, and swap shifts — all from the Homebase app.

Restaurant business plan template FAQs

What is the basic planning document for a successful restaurant.

The basic planning document for successful restaurants is a restaurant business plan. A restaurant business plan lays out a restaurant’s long and short-term goals and its plans for achieving those goals. Restaurant planners use it both to finetune their ideas and to secure investor funding.

How to write a restaurant business plan.

When writing a restaurant business plan, include an executive summary, a detailed restaurant description, market analysis research, a sample menu, a breakdown of your business structure, the design and location of your restaurant, your planned takeout and delivery options, your marketing strategy, and your financial projections.

What makes a business plan template for restaurants different from a standard business plan?

A restaurant business plan template differs from a standard business plan by including things like menu engineering, interior design, kitchen operations, front-of-house management, takeout and delivery offerings, and location analysis, which are unique to the food service industry.

Remember:  This is not legal advice. If you have questions about your particular situation, please consult a lawyer, CPA, or other appropriate professional advisor or agency.

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Volkswagen's $5 bln investment in Rivian boosts EV maker's shares

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The U.S. Justice Department is pushing for Boeing to plead guilty to a criminal charge after finding the planemaker violated a settlement over fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

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Volkswagen Will Invest Up to $5 Billion in Rivian

VW and Rivian, a maker of electric trucks that has struggled to increase sales and break even, will work together on software and other technologies.

By Jack Ewing

Volkswagen, the German automaker, said on Tuesday that it would invest up to $5 billion in Rivian, a maker of electric trucks that has struggled to turn a profit, and that the companies would cooperate on software for electric vehicles.

The deal creates an unusual alliance between the world’s second-largest carmaker and an electric vehicle start-up that has strained to live up to investors’ expectations that it would achieve the kind of success that made Tesla the world’s most valuable automaker.

If successful, the partnership would address weaknesses at both companies. It would provide Volkswagen with the software expertise that auto analysts say it sorely lacks. And Rivian, in addition to cash, would benefit from the manufacturing expertise of an automaker that produces nearly 10 million vehicles a year, putting it just behind Toyota Motor in the global auto industry.

Volkswagen said it would initially invest $1 billion in Rivian, and over time increase that to as much as $5 billion. If regulators approve the transaction, Volkswagen could become a significant shareholder. The infusion represents a big vote of confidence in Rivian, which loses tens of thousands of dollars on each vehicle it sells.

Rivian's pickups and sport utility vehicles have received glowing reviews in the automotive press, but the company has struggled to ramp up manufacturing at its factory in Normal, Ill. In recent months, many investors have grown worried that the company may not survive long enough to become profitable.

R.J. Scaringe, Rivian’s founder and chief executive, said the cash from Volkswagen would help Rivian launch a midsize S.U.V. called the R2 that will sell for about $45,000, and to complete a factory in Georgia. Rivian halted construction of the Georgia plant in March in an effort to save more than $2 billion.

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