partnershipOK. Here’s the dilemma. There’s this guy I’ve worked with for a few years, and we complement each other very well. I’ve got my skills, he’s got his, and the business we’re setting up at the moment could not work without either of us.
Problem is, he likes to talk - too much. He’ll happily discuss trade secrets with all and sundry, and give “Sure, we’ll do that for you” answers to the most ridiculous requests, all on his own.
Yes, there are legal agreements with confidentiality clauses that we could enter into and that that will (in theory) enable me to inflict repercussions on him should the fertilizer hit the rotating blades in a big way, but that’s not going to help our startup put down roots and sprout foliage.
I’ve sat down with him and discussed the issue twice now, and he says he agrees with me, but I see no change. And I’m concerned.
Suggestions, anyone?
Any odds you’re the tech guy and your partner is the marketing/sales guy?
If so, your setup is typical. It’s borderline customary for a CTO to understand the full value of what he’s painstakingly crafting while the CEO discusses everything and anything to just about everyone, including clients, suppliers, and – sometimes inconveniently – journalists.
Two factoids in the hopes of cheering you up:
Journalists prefer to interview CEOs for good reasons. (Ever noticed how news articles give more crunchy details when the CEO gets interviewed instead of the CTO?)
CEOs tend to be a salesperson’s worst nightmare when they meet clients. (A CEO can screw up a sales’ commission in a single meeting by offering a discount “to close the deal today”, or making a prospect delay a purchase by mentioning future features “soon”.)
Imho, keep reasonably cool about it: life is full of quirky people, ideas are ideas at the end of the day, and execution is what counts. Plus, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to get extra press and word of mouth.
If it’s truly annoying or potentially damaging to your business (e.g. describing your secret algorithms in detail), set up a process whereby you interact with journalists. Clients and suppliers usually know to keep their mouth more or less shut, and NDAs exist in the event you don’t feel they will. For clients, set up a process whereby you decide whether to ship new stuff together.
Media training (for him) could be helpful.
He could learn to communicate the message you want to put across while avoiding unwise disclosures.
I’d also suggest spending time with him, at frequent intervals, working on crafting what the message the company does want to communicate actually is - and what to avoid and why, and how to reply if asked a question on a sensitive topic.
If it’s accidental then I can’t see an NDA being very helpful, except insofar as it might clarify for him what the sensitive issue actually are - and you can do that clarification without an NDA.
I think your partner should have a training on ‘How to say no’.
A successful business has to say ‘NO!’ to over 95% of the offers it gets, since this is essential in business your partner should have the training.
When he is done he will probably talk a lot less and to the point.
There are lots of online blogs & videos about it or he can just go to a local expert to train this skill.
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