Before You Shake Hands

Walking away from a bad hire is hard enough — notice periods, handovers, the awkward conversation. But walking away from a bad business partner is a different scale of problem. They may hold shares. Their name may be on contracts, bank accounts, or the lease. Untangling a partnership gone wrong can mean legal fees, drawn-out negotiations, and months (sometimes years) of disruption to the business you built. The damage isn’t always about who was dishonest — sometimes it’s simply a mismatch that was never checked for in the first place. Either way, it’s far easier to ask the hard questions before you sign than to try and undo things after. 

How does a potential business partner respond when you ask to verify their financials, check for past disputes, or confirm their track record?
That reaction is worth noting. 🧐
A trustworthy partner expects due diligence — they know it protects both sides, not just you. Hesitation, deflection, or taking offence at reasonable checks is often more revealing than anything in a pitch deck or a polished introduction.
Vetting a business partner isn’t only about catching wrongdoing. It’s about seeing how someone handles being seen clearly — before you’re contractually tied to them.

We’ve spent the last few weeks looking at what to check before shaking on a business partnership — financials, disputes, track record — and what someone’s reaction to those questions can tell you.

But vetting isn’t a one-way street. If you’re asking a potential partner to open up their history, it’s fair to assume they’re quietly asking the same questions about you.

So it’s worth turning the question around: how would you hold up?

Would your financial history stand up to scrutiny? Are there past disputes, unresolved obligations, or patterns you’d rather not have to explain? Does your track record match the story you tell about yourself?

It’s easy to think of vetting as something that happens to other people — the risk you’re managing, the box you’re ticking before you trust someone else. But a partnership doesn’t fail because one person was the problem. It fails because it wasn’t the right fit, for reasons that can sit on either side of the table.

Passing that kind of scrutiny isn’t about having a spotless past. It’s about being straightforward, being consistent, and being someone whose story holds up when someone actually checks.

Before you shake on your next partnership, it’s worth asking the question in both directions.