Kevin Munday, Chief Executive, City Year UK

In my experience, many corporate partners have quite small teams who are responsible for stewarding their social partnerships.

So here's two pitfalls to avoid:

• Firstly, avoid overcommitting or overpromising. That will frustrate them, and it makes it less likely that they'll support you in the future.

• Secondly, be as effective as you can at following up quickly on their request. You want to build confidence by showing that you have a strong ability to deliver.

Duro Oye, Co-founder & Group CEO 20/20 Levels

There are many pitfalls to avoid when entering into partnerships.

If I think back to my journey, it’s not to get too excited too quickly. Not to announce anything prematurely.

What I've seen and one of the earlier mistakes that I've made is maybe announcing something that we hadn't signed on the dotted line and an external issue happened. The business couldn't go forward because of the things that happened, be it COVID, be it the whole world being on lockdown, they could no longer go ahead with that.

We just looked really silly because we'd said that we were going to do this. We'd agreed in theory, but hadn't signed anything. Now, what I've learned is to wait until you have it signed and have that first installment clearing your bank account before actually announcing anything. And I actually include that in our legal agreement as well, so that both parties are aware of it. 

And then the second thing that I'd mentioned is get legal involved as soon as you agree that this is what it is that you're going to do. Don't just rely on the legal side of the company. Have your own legal counsel as well. That is absolutely money well spent and that's an area that we didn't skimp on. 

It was a case where the moment we agreed that we were going to do this, we then take what we agreed in writing, put it into our legal agreement, and then go back and forth with their legal team. 

Give it the time it deserves as well. Don't rush it through. That's another piece of advice that I give to entrepreneurs.

Key takeaways 

• Avoid overcommitting or overpromising

• Follow up quickly on requests to build confidence 

• Avoid announcing partnerships prematurely

• Get your own legal counsel early - it’s money well spent