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Choosing the right business partner is one of the most important decisions you can make when starting or expanding your business. The below considerations will help you consider vital questions when choosing a business partner.

Finances

Let's deal with the elephant in the room first: finances. You must determine what type of financial contribution you're looking for from your business partner. The need for a large financial contribution may eliminate many of your choices immediately regardless of whether the person you have in mind is a good fit or not. Carefully thinking through your finances is crucial to the success of any business. Additionally, it will help you determine how many partners you should take on. If you need $50,000, and are unable to find a good partner who is will to contribute that amount, you can consider taking on 2 or 3 partners to fill that gap. Do you require a one-time contribution, or will you have periodic funding requirements? If so, what will they be, and how often. It's also important that your prospective business partner is aware of these funding requirements and is comfortable with them as well. If they are not, you should consider alternatives now.

If your needs are more modest however, you can put a heavier emphasis on other criteria in evaluating the best business partner for you.

Values

What do you value? Stop and ask yourself why you're embarking on this new venture. What is it that you're hoping to accomplish? Often, early-stage entrepreneurs neglect this consideration. What you value and what you're hoping to accomplish are critical questions to think through.

When selecting a business partner you should contemplate, and discuss whether your prospective business partner shares your values, and is hoping to accomplish the same thing as you. If your values are markedly different this may lead to clashes in the future when important decisions come up. Furthermore, it may frustrate the cohesiveness of your partnership.

For instance, if you place a high value on environmentally sustainable methods and products first and foremost your decisions will be influenced by that view. If you take on a business partner whose motives is profitability without regard to the environment you're bound to clash. Sometimes your values and those of a prospective business partner are irreconcilable; however, depending on the strength and prioritization of those values having a discussion upfront may help you smooth over disagreements in the future.

Expectations

There are perhaps few more important discussions one can have at the outset of a business partnership than expectations. What are your expectations of your business partner? What are their expectations of you? Most importantly, have you each communicated those expectations clearly to each other?

Essential to setting expectations is a prudent review of the following topics: time, level of commitment, nature of tasks,and finances.

How much time do you plan to put into your new venture? How much time do you expect your business partner to put in? This is a key discussion to have at the outset. If you fail to cover this topic your business partner you may find yourself satisfied with the enthusiasm your prospective partner displays, but sourly disappointed with the amount of time they're contributing to your success. Does your business partner have other commitments that may interfere with his or her ability to meet the obligations they're agreeing to take on? For instance, are they attending school and working a full time job? Do they have a demanding job that keeps them at the office long hours?

Next on this list is commitment. Where does this rank on your prospective partner's list of priorities? Where should it rank for you to feel comfortable? Do you need a business partner who is willing to drop everything in the event that an emergency comes up, or are you comfortable working with someone who will treat your business as a secondary or tertiary priority?

What tasks do you expect your prospective partner to work on? Have you communicated this clearly, and gotten feedback? For some budding partnerships you may need a partner who is comfortable being flexible and taking on ad hoc tasks. If that is what you're looking for, you should make it known. In contrast, you may need someone to handle one particular area of your business, e.g., marketing, accounting, programming, etc. Those expectations should be communicated as well lest you end up with a business partner who is expecting to be involved in far more aspects of your venture than you're comfortable with.

Complementary Strengths

What do you lack? Seriously, what do you need to know more about in order to succeed? Do you find yourself reading books or articles on marketing in your spare time? Do you struggle to generate new ideas to build awareness of your product or service?

Do you find yourself interacting with prospective investors without much success? Are you unable to determine the best legal structure for your business?

You must consider your strengths, but also your weaknesses. One of the most significant things a business partner can bring to your business is a complementary skill set. You should spend your time focusing on the areas you excel in, and find a business partner or business partners to tend to the areas where you have deficits.

Get Comfortable

Discussing your finances, values, expectations and seeking a partner with complementary strengths is a great way to narrow the pool of candidates. Once you have done so, get comfortable with your prospective choices.

Don't be afraid to have a credit check or background check performed. You need to ensure that you have found somebody who will make it easier for your business to succeed. Taking on a business partner with a poor track record of meeting their financial obligations may bring more stress than relief. Either way, you should make your decisions with your eyes wide open.

Ask for references. There's nothing wrong with asking for references. It's a great way to get to know the work habits of the person you're considering working with. Find out what other people think of that person, their works habits. Have their experiences been positive, or negative?

Does your business involve trade secrets? Are you working on a novel process, product or service where sensitivity is important? If so, you should contemplate a non-disclosure agreement. Not every partnership works out; if it doesn't, have you taken measures to adequately protect yourself? If you haven't you should.

Put it on Paper

Last, but not least, put it on paper. Reducing your agreement to writing is of eminent importance. This enables you and your prospective business partner to agree on the terms of your partnership. What will your respective ownership interests be? How will disputes be settled? What decisions will you or your business partner be able to make without the other's consent (e.g., a nominal purchase). What will the process for future funding and withdrawal be?

Reducing your agreement to writing is a great way of formalizing your expectations, and addressing potential future conflicts upfront.

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As we emerge from one of the most severe economic downturns in recent history, many individuals are considering investment opportunities in real estate. Favorable mortgage rates, coupled with depressed market values in many regions, may present a good opportunity for pursuing a real estate rental income and long-term growth investment strategy. The first step is to determine if this type of investment strategy is right for you. If so, consider the benefits of launching your investment venture through a partnering strategy.

Right For You?

Investing in residential real estate with the objective to generate income involves buying properties that will generate a positive annual cash flow. Income is generated primarily through rent from your tenants. To determine if this type of strategy is right for you, it's necessary to consider personal as well as market factors.

Buying a residential property is a lot different from other types of investments, such as investing in the stock market. Buying and renting properties will require a significant time commitment. As a real estate investor you will need to spend time analyzing properties and market fundamentals, visiting properties, meeting with mortgage brokers, interviewing tenant candidates, etc. It will also require ongoing interaction with your tenants, at potentially inconvenient times and involving potentially stressful situations. Problems requiring your attention may occur during the weekend or while you'reon vacation. Beyond time commitment, you should also be prepared for a financial commitment beyond your initial investment (ie, the unexpected boiler failure or extended tenant vacancy). Make sure you are willing to make this type of personal and financial commitment, in order to achieve the potential rewards uniquely associated with real estate investing.

The real estate market moves in a fairly predictable pattern. Repeating downturns and upturns are normal and necessary. The six phases of the real estate cycle are:

1. Demand Rises
2. Construction Increases
3. Demand Slows
4. Supply Exceeds Demand
5. Construction Decreases
6. Demand Hits Low Point

As a real estate investor, your first step should be to focus on a region where the real estate cycle is currently favorable to investing in residential rental properties, given your financial resources. It's important to remember real estate cycles and market factors are always local. Ignore national headlines and instead focus on the local market conditions.

Partnering for Success

Once you determine that you're ready to make the personal and financial commitment to investing in a residential property, consider a partnering strategy to get started. Partnering on a real estate investment venture offers many potential benefits:

• Pooled capital resources will reduce your required cash investment
• Leverage experience; a great way to get started is to partner with someone who already has a property portfolio
• Access to favorable markets; partner with someone in a target investment market who can offer insight to the market and manage properties
• Mitigate risk; managing through unexpected events is easier with the resources of multiple partners (for example, longer than expected apartment vacancy requiring partners to cover expenses).

After forming a real estate venture team, team members are able to effectively collborate using ibovo Workspace and interact in real-time on ibovo Web Conference. These tools can be used to work together effectively on all aspects of venture planning and execution, such as:

• Discuss business and tax structure options
  (Web Conference - Video Conferencing, VoIP, Teleconferencing)
• Business Plan formation
  (Team Workspace - Wiki document sharing and collaboration)
• Legal filings, tax filings, banking records
  (Team Workspace - file sharing)
• Real Estate Property Analysis Worksheets
  (Team Workspace - Wiki document sharing and collaboration)
• Real Estate Property Reviews
  (Web Conference - desktop sharing to visually evaluate properties and browser candidate properties on the Web)
• Property Financing Options Discussions
  (Web Conference - Video Conferencing, VOIP and Teleconferencing)
• Tenant Contracts/Leases
  (Team Workspace - file sharing)
• Brainstorm Investment Opportunities or Ideas
  (Team Workspace - Team Blog)

Use ibovo to help make your real estate investment idea a reality. Learn more about ibovo standard and premium features, and feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions.

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For some businesses, private equity (venture capital, angel capital) is the only way to go for growth funding while other businesses should not even consider wasting their time chasing these kinds of funding sources.

Private equity players receive hundreds, if not thousands, of business plans each month. And, no matter how big the firm, there is just no way they will be able to review all of those plans. As former President George H.W. Bush was found of saying; "Not gonna happen."

Even if the business seeking funding is the perfect match for the investment firm, it still remains highly unlikely that its business plan will get any consideration from just merely cold sending a business plan to one of the managing partners.

So, if your business fits the private equity investment model;

Current track record of revenue or customers, A highly desired set of scalable products, Huge market potential, and A very strong management team. Then, how can you get these investors to stand up and take notice of your business?

By simply getting an introduction.

Now, this does not mean having your Aunt Sally call the investment firm with a recommendation regarding your business. It means getting a recommendation from someone who the investors have either worked with in the past or trusts fully.

Example, several years ago, I was the Executive Director of a small business incubator in Texas. One of our client companies was quickly burning though its cash and decided to seek another round of outside investment. After searching high and low and nearly running out of money, one of the original founders got in contact with an old college chum who happened to have dealings with a very prominent venture capitalist in the state (a VC that the company had tried to approach many times in the past via cold calling with out any success).

The venture capitalist not only knew this old college chum but trusted his insight and judgment. Within a few weeks, this VC invested $2.5 million in the company; allowing the business to quickly ramp up sales and eventually become a huge success.

Now, not all of us have old college friends that are that well connected. But, that does not have to stop you. All you have to do, instead of wasting valuable time sending cold solicitations to private investment firms, is to spend that time identifying and contacting those people who the investor or investors trusts – called gatekeepers.

What? That seems even harder to do than just finding an investor for your business. And, you are right. But, it is how the game is played and you either have to play along or get left behind.

Asheesh Advani, in an article for Entrepreneur Magazine in the August 2009 issue states; "getting introduced by the right person in the right manner really matters when you're raising money. A strong introduction is a prerequisite if you're raising money from institutional investors, such as VC firms, which rarely invest in entrepreneurs who have pitched them on a cold call. For angel investors and others, a strong introduction will maximize your chances of getting a fair hearing in your first meeting, and improve your chances of getting the all-important second meeting."

There are several ways to identify these so called gatekeepers:

Seek out other professionals in your local area – particularly those in your industry. These could be CPAs, Attorneys or other business owners. Investors also use these professional services and trust these people or have worked with these firms in the past.

College professors are also a good source for an introduction to investors. Many college professors, especially those that come from private industry prior to becoming teachers, have huge rolodexes. The key is to get them to use those contacts for the benefit of your business.

Local Networking. Many Chamber of Commerce administrators or representatives, City Officials or other local business professionals in your area may have contracts in the private investment space and may be willing to help introduce your company to them. This involves just getting out in your community and attending events that both investors and gatekeepers attend and talking to anyone and everyone. Don't be afraid to ask for an introduction or to pitch your business.

Portfolio Companies. Look to companies that the investors you are targeting have already invested in – in the past or presently. Seek out these companies' founders and executives, attempt to build a relationship with them then ask for an introduction.

Remember, the goal is to get a solid introduction from a trusted source. So, do your homework and just simply get after it as you have a much better chance of getting your business plan moved to the top of the pile after an introduction from a trusted gatekeeper then wasting time cold soliciting investors directly.

Also know that raising money is just a single step in growing a solid business. Thus while none of us like to put ourselves out there in this manner – when you look back, you will see that this was a very minimal step in the overall growth and success of your business.

So, what are you waiting for? If you want investors to notice your business then get out there and network for that very important introduction.

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Think you have a great idea for the next break out video game? Or are you eager to apply your skills to brining a video game concept to life? You may be surpised to learn how the partner and team building capabilities of ibovo are ideally suited to the video game development lifecycle. Getting up and running with a globally or locally distributed team has never been easier. Let's see how.

Video Game Development Team

In economic terms, the video game industry is huge. In the US alone, the industry is worth over 10 billion USD. Whether you're motivated by potential financial rewards, pure personal fulfillment from creating, building and playing games, or a little of both, the video game industry represents a significant opportunity. Video game development is a sizable undertaking which requires individuals with specialized skills, experience and talents. The more complex the game, the more specialized these functions will need to be (and of course, this brings a greater need for resources and funding level). Some of the key roles to consider are:

Producer

The function of a producer is very similar to a project manager. The producer is responsible for overall management of the development team. This involves tracking to and revising delivery schedules, preparing progress reports, maintaining issues lists and driving issues to closure, managing resources/staff, public relations coordination, contract negotiation and coordinating testing. The producer is the team lead. Where there is a publishing company involved, there may also be an 'external producer' from the publishing company that will work closely with the development team's producer. We'll talk a little more about the publishing company later.

Game Designer

You can consider the game designer as the main visionary for the video game. This team member is instrumental in the early stages of the project (known as pre-production) to form the concept, as well as throughout the entire project lifecycle to keep everyone aligned with the requirements (and to adjust those requirements as needed). The game designer will own the Game Proposal Document, which is quite similar to a business plan. The proposal document outlines:

• Financial estimates
• Requirements
• Resource needs
• Game concept
• Game setting and storyline
• Delivery schedule
• Feature list

The lead game designer is also responsible for the game's narrative, dialogue and commentary. On a large development team, the design functions may be broken up among multiple designers with specific areas of responsibility. On this type of team, the lead game designer coordinates the work of all other designers (such as Artists).

Programmers

Also known as software engineers, the programmers are responsible for the game's code base. Programmers translate the design into code, which ultimately delivers the gaming experience. Similar to designers, the programming function can be broken up among multiple resources with specific responsibilities or consolidated within 1 or 2 programmers for small projects. Individual programming responsibility can align to the following functions:

• User Interface - involves the coding of user interface components, such as menus, help system, common navigation, feedback systems, etc
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) - producing computer-based players or logic to intelligently respond to user interaction.
• Graphics - generating the graphical engine for the game; building environment objects and textures representing the game world in which the user will interact
• Physics - programming how objects interact within the game environment (such as collisions)
• Gameplay - producing various game features and rules
• Input Processing and Network Communcations - programming interfaces to network devices or game input devices such as a game handheld controller, keyboard, or mouse.

Sound Engineer

The sound engineer is responsible for creating all audio aspects of the video game. This may include integrating soundtracks, creating sound effects and voice-overs. Where outsourcing is necessary for audio pieces, such as a musical score, the sound engineer is responsible for managing the contractor through delivery of the final code.

Testers

Quality assurance testers are not necessarily involved from the beginning of the project, although it may be a good idea to have the lead tester involved from the beginning and then supplement resources closer to the testing phase. Testers must be highly analytical and have a strong technical background. Testers analyze the design and then interact with the game to ensure behavior of the game is completely aligned with the game requirements and design. Where issues and gaps are identified, defects are reported back to the lead developer and testers will re-execute tests to verify fixes as they become available.

Partner for Success

As you can see, the development of a video game involves many different areas of expertise and depending on the complexity of your project, it may likely require significant financial resources. ibovo is uniquely positioned to help alleviate some of the challenges to getting started with your project.

Building a game development team has never been easier. Take your game idea and get started by creating a project team on ibovo. Based on the functional roles reviewed above, decide on a team structure that makes sense for your project and go ahead and create the team roles you need. Or maybe you don't feel comfortable structuring the entire team right now. In that case, partner with an experienced game producer first and then work with the producer to build out more team roles later. You simply create the team with one or more roles and ibovo will find candidates that have the skills, experience and financial resources for each of the roles you defined. Whether you are trying to build a team in your community or leverage expertise from around the globe, ibovo will streamline the formation of your project team. For example, you may start with the following core roles for your team:

• Game Designer (if you are bringing the game idea to the table, you may decide this will be your role)
• Game Producer
• Lead Programmer
• Sound Engineer
• Test Director
• Investor

Now your team is formed and your ready to get down to work. Your project will start in the pre-production phase. In this phase of the project you will focus on flushing out the concept, building your game design document and creating a functional game prototype. Again, ibovo provides you with capabilities to effectively work together with your partners throughout this phase of the project. For example:

• Brainstroming your game concept - with ibovo Web Conferencing, effectively communicating, exchanging ideas and demonstrating concepts has never been easier. Whether your partners are in the same town or across the country, you'll be able to work together in real-time as if you are all in the same room. Share a sketch of a game feature using screen sharing technology, jointly brainstorm game flow options using the virtual whiteboard, use gestures to demonstrate an idea using video conferencing and listen to your partners using your choice of VoIP or teleconferencing.
  
• Game Design Document - building out your game design document is likely the most important deliverable during pre-production. You may decide to break-out responsibility among your partners for each section of the game design document. With ibovo Workspace, this task is made easy. The Wiki document feature allows all members of your team to simultaneously edit and review the same document. No more passing pieces of documents through email and struggling with version control. Plus get automatic email or RSS feed notifications when updates are made to the document. Work faster and smarter.
• Prototype - it's critically important to share prototype drafts, manage feedback and collaborate to get to a finalized prototype. Again, ibovo Workspace delivers the tools you need. With up to 1GB of file sharing capacity, you can store all versions of your prototypes for your team members to access. Members can easily access the latest version, as well as view historical versions. Collect feedback from your partners through integrated Team Blogs - allowing you to virtually collaborate with your partners.

After completing your Pre-production tasks, you're ready to move to Production. This is where you deliver your detailed design, produce all necessary artwork, develop audio, build the code for your game and perform testing. You will continue to use ibovo features to effectively execute this stage of your project. Here's just a few examples:

• ibovo Calendar - centralized module for managing all team meetings and appointments. Schedule a meeting at the coffee shop down the street or using ibovo Web Conference. Set an agenda for your get together. Instantly check the availability of your team members, so you know you're scheduling at a time that works for everyone. Join a Web Conference with one-click of your mouse (no emails, no passcodes, no separate URLs, no passwords).
• ibovo Workspace - this is your virtual office where you will collaborate throughout the Production phase of your project. Manage your project issues list using Wiki documents - allowing team members to simulatenously update status and add new issues. Adjust your project timeline and task list on-the-fly and make it instantly available to all team members. Have all your partners keep a blog of their activities and challenges, plus solicit help and input from other team members using the Team Blog forum. Use the file sharing capability to maintain version control over your incremental codebases and share code among multiple developers. Use the Forums capability to post your proposed artwork and receive blog-style feedback from your team members. Use Wiki documents to open new defects, assign responsibility among team members, track actions to resolve and indicate status.
• ibovo Web Conference - achieve maximum productivity for internal development team working sessions, meetings with your publisher and working sessions with your external consultants. ibovo Web Conference provides video conferencing, instant polling, screen and desktop sharing, Voice-over-Internet (VoIP), teleconferencing and whiteboarding capabilities.
• ibovo Chat and Message Xchange - have a quick question or idea, but don't need the advanced capabilities of ibovo Web Conference? Simply start a chat session or send an email message.

As you move through your project lifecycle, it may be necessary to expand and shrink your team. Simply add and delete team roles in ibovo as needed. When a new team member joins, you'll be happy to know that member will instantly have access to your entire project (and project history) through ibovo Workspace. Getting up-to-speed has never been easier.

We've discussed the key functional roles of a typical video game project team and outlined how ibovo helps eliminate many of the challenges to forming a project team and making your game idea a reality. Now it's up to you. If you've been tossing around a game idea, now is the time to get started by creating a team. If you're eager to view game projects looking for someone with your skills, go ahead and create a member profile and click 'Find Teams'.

Learn more about ibovo standard and premium features, and feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions.

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