Kevin Munday, Chief Executive, City Year UK

The right questions to ask yourself before you enter into a new partnership is, can you see really good overlap between yours and their mission? Think of it like a Venn diagram. You're looking for maximum overlap between what you want to achieve and what they want to achieve.

In my experience, people have different measures of success. One way to make sure that you're both working towards the same clear North Star is to have lots of dialog and then start to write it down. Then test it with other people back in your organization to make sure that you're not accidentally drifting off of the things which are most important.

Think about the cultural fit. Is this an organization that you like? Does it have people that you feel like you can work with? Sometimes, even if it's a good overlap in the work you want to do, if you approach it in a very different style, it can lead to some difficulties later.

Then thirdly, once you're sure and both committed to a partnership, write down how you're going to work, including what you'll do if there are any challenges in the future.

That's the best way of making sure you're set up for success. 

Zoya Shabir Siddiqui, Development and Partnerships Manager, Acumen

I think when an entrepreneur is entering a new partnership some of the key questions, there are a multitude of questions that will crop up, but the key questions possibly could be: What are our mutual goals? What are we trying to achieve? What are the resources that each partner will contribute to achieve that goal? There's got to be clarity around that.

How will decisions be made and how will conflicts be resolved?

The dynamics of a partnership. You want to enter a partnership of equals, making sure that you have mechanisms in place to adhere to that as well.

And then, of course, what are the risks on both sides and how will they be mitigated? 

I think those are some of the key questions that you should resolve before addressing anything else.

Questions before entering a new partnership

• Is there a significant overlap between your mission and theirs?

• What are the joint goals and how will success be measured?

• Do the organizational values and working styles align? 

• Once committed, how will you operationalize the partnership?

• What resources and responsibilities will each partner contribute?

• How will decisions be made and conflicts resolved?