Finding the right business partner, co-founder, agency, strategic partner etc is a very tricky challenge. By default, the people you are most likely to deal with for the role are the ones that are best marketed. The problem with marketing is that it relies on highlighting strengths and hiding weaknesses.

There have been countless instances when we’ve met what seemed like the perfect man for the job, only to realize how far from true that was a few months later.

But this didn’t make sense; these people had filtered through our tests.

So, we stopped testing people; consciously.

Instead, we craft an image of smallness. We appear to have little control over the outcome, display minimal knowledge and expertise and basically appear to be chumps. 

Effectively, you want the potential partner to be under the impression that you are small and useless. Of course, you are willing to pay a fair price for the job but overall, you are pretty powerless. 

For instance, we always start with tiny, boring projects, hiding the much larger and lucrative ones. We never highlight our domain expertise and experience. We let them be. No strict rules or budgets. Do with us as you please.

And it works.

Under these conditions, the people that are looking to take you on a ride will do it. I’ve seen it a few times. In fact, I’m seeing it right now with one of the agencies we are working with. But it is much better to figure this out at the start than figure it out a few months later in the middle of a major project.

“Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.” Dr. Wayne W. Dyer