Startup Tip: From Tonight’s Episode of Entourage
Tonight’s episode of Entourage showed how a partnership between two long-time friends (Eric & Vince) got extremely rocky. In the final minutes of the episode, Eric as Vince’s manager, decided that doing the movie isn’t a smart idea and contrary to Eric’s wishes, Vince stated that he was going to move forward with the movie. We’ve seen a few bubbles of frustration of Eric in the recent weeks of Entourage but I think that this particular episode and issue has put “E” over the top.
This is no different than partnerships in startups or any other facet of life. In startups, you usually have one or more partners who you need to trust implicitly in the early days to get your company off the ground. If someone is handling marketing and the other, operations, and the 3rd handling finance, you need to make sure that each is doing their own role. If there is a tiff between anyone or everyone, then the balance gets disrupted and it could be extremely difficult to get back on track. Managing relationships is one of the toughest parts of a startup… it’s like the book, Lord of the Flies. Many startups implode, not explode.
Transparency between founders/members of the company is of uptmost importance. You need to be honest with everyone about your feelings and what you’re thinking at most times. Do not let issues bubble up or hold grudges… if there is an issue at a moment in time, address it. Do not let it sit.
There are going to be some serious issues coming down the road for E & Vince which are indicative of many startups.