I wasn’t at the point for taking a huge risk and cutting off all of my freelance business and going all in on a project that might turn out to be something great and big, but I was definitely at the point where I needed to do something different besides being on this grind for the next 30 years. – Chris Carr
Trevor’s biggest advice if you have a business partner (or ever will) is inside this podcast… and it could be critical to you making it or breaking it.
Trevor has had 3 business partners over the years, and as they say, “The third time is a charm.” Trevor and his co-founder and CTO, Chris Carr, dive into what had made their partnership here at Carrot work so well. What things should you do BEFORE you ever go into business with anyone, what did Trevor learn from his previous 2 partnerships that he wouldn’t repeat, and why does Trevor believe so strongly in having business partners that his last 3 businesses have had them???
Chris Carr is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer here at Carrot. He’s usually behind the scenes leading our development team but Trevor brought him out front in this podcast to talk about their business partnership.
How they found each other, how the partnership is structured, how they work through disagreements, culture, trust, and more. If you’re in a business partnership or thinking about going into one, this episode is a must listen.
Listen to the Podcast
In this episode of the CarrotCast, Chris and Trevor discuss…
- A Carrot is born. How their partnership started.
- What type of mindset it takes to take a lead into partnership.
- Roles and personalities within the work environment.
- Virtual tools Carrot uses on a daily basis.
- Why having a fun workplace is super important.
3:00 – Creating a distributed (remote) team and creating an environment around core values.
5:20 – Carrot’s startup journey and happenstance moments that brought Chris and Trevor together.
7:30 – Starting the partnership off in a non-traditional (and legal) industry.
10:30 – Finding outsourcers who bring their own visions instead of just taking orders.
12:00 – What made forming a partnership so attractive that it made Chris pull away from a successful web development company.
15:35 – 3 Different income models and how to hit your dream model.
18:15 – The mindset it takes to leap into a partnership with a person that you barely know.
21:50 – Building a company that serves a value. What has gone good and what has gone bad in the first 3 years of business.
27:10 – Defining roles in a partnership and the importance of knowing your co-worker’s personality types. Test personality types using systems such as Kolbe.
39:55 – Forming a company culture around core values.
44:15 – Important partnership documents you really need to consider having.
49:40 – Extremely useful virtual tools we use at Carrot.
54:15 – Why finding fun ways to get out of the normal business mindset is so important for a company’s health.