Episode 420: How to Make a Business Partnership Work and Exit Well with Corey Kupfer

A business partnership is often the first deal an entrepreneur ever does, long before any M&A or capital raise. In this solocast, Corey Kupfer steps back from the usual deal categories to talk about what it actually takes to be in a partnership, drawing on his own partnerships across multiple businesses and decades of helping clients form, evolve, and separate theirs.

Corey Kupfer is an attorney, dealmaker, and negotiator with more than 35 years of experience. Beyond drafting the documents for new partnerships, he has guided partners through evolution, buyouts, and separations, and he serves as a mediator for partners working to part ways well.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

This episode covers the due diligence founders most often skip, how partnerships fall out of alignment over time, what a partnership agreement can and cannot protect, why no employee ever matches an owner's commitment, and how to separate through a negotiated exit rather than a costly fight.

COREY'S PARTNERSHIP JOURNEY:

Corey has been in several partnerships over the years, starting with a law firm partnership formed in the 1990s that ended over economic differences and a different view of perceived value, then reconnected warmly with those partners decades later. He also built a real estate investment partnership with his partner Dan that stayed strong through the great recession because of aligned values and superb communication.

His last partnership ran from 2010 to 2015 and ended in a difficult split over vision, values, and culture. Even so, that chapter deepened his work in the RIA space and introduced him to clients and colleagues he values to this day, a reminder that even partnerships that end can create lasting good.

KEY INSIGHTS:

The personal and cultural due diligence matters most and gets skipped most. Even when you already know someone well, you still need an honest conversation about this specific venture, your shared vision and values, and your goals and timelines.

Partnerships evolve because the business, the people, and the market all change. Following where clients and the market lead is usually smart, but that evolution can pull one partner into alignment with a new direction while leaving the other behind, even when they started out aligned.

The agreement is a roadmap, not a guarantee. An operating agreement or shareholders agreement can set the methodology for a split or buyout, but whether partners actually stay together comes down to trust, respect, communication,