David Miller in Campus Entrepreneurship yesterday highlights a Business Week story Enron then MBA then Campus Entrepreneur, by Nicole Alvino, offering a good true story and some good advice.
My personal favorite from the list of five is “have the tough conversations early.” That’s so true. Talk it out before there’s money or work already done:
I was part of a partnership in business school that fell apart over equity allocations. We waited until far, far too late to decide how we would split up ownership, and the conversation became horribly emotional. If a partnership is meant to be, the issues will work themselves out; don’t be afraid to bring them up and get them behind you.
Nicole finished her MBA at Stanford and founded Dermalounge, a professional skin care spa in San Francisco and Burlingame.
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
