[us]

This is from personal experience so I want everyone reading this next comment I'm going to make with a grain of salt but in choosing a business partner, make sure you got the balls to tell them what's on your mind, good or bad. And the ability to fire them without making things awkward. If you can't treat your business partner the same way you'd honestly talk to a really good friend, you got more problems awaiting ahead than just how the startup is going. Not every person you want to partner up with will always turn out to be the right person regardless of the number of precautions you take, so just make sure you can speak freely when you need to.

[dralison]

Being open and clear is definitely important, but so is being measured. Since I was the majority partner in my ventures I had to learn HOW to say certain things because my word carried more weight. Some times I would say things about our product direction out of frustration with a specific event—thinking out loud—and would create issues with my partners. This was especially true early on.

As our relationships evolved we learned to read each other better but it took time to get to that point.