Too many people think that business growth is a solo game. They think, “If I started the company on my own, I can scale it on my own.” They try to do everything themselves, hoarding decision-making power and believing that relying on others somehow makes them a weaker leader.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that going at it alone doesn’t make you stronger. It leaves you slower, smaller, and stuck.
The most successful leaders I know understand one thing: The right partnership can create exponential growth. Not additive growth or incremental progress — exponential, massive gains.
So what does that actually look like?
A strategic partnership isn’t about shaking hands and telling each other you’ll collaborate. It’s about aligning strengths.
You bring something valuable to the table: a skill, a platform, an audience, etc. Your partner brings something else of equal value that you don’t have. Combining those strengths results in a bigger, more complete organization with fewer blind spots and weaknesses and a stronger capacity than either of you would have had individually.
In a true, powerful partnership, one plus one equals 10.
Take CaptureNow, for example: a legal tech company I co-founded a few years back that uses AI to essentially create a 24/7 receptionist. This technology already existed in the Fortune 500 space, but no one had brought it into the legal landscape yet.
Two of my longtime colleagues, Gary Falkowitz and Chris O’Brien, had already been building and innovating in the legal intake industry for years. They’d individually achieved a lot in this niche and together, including creating one of the most successful legal call centers. They saw firsthand the problems with relying only on people to answer phones and used their expertise and vision to do something about it. All they needed was the ability to scale.
That’s where I came in. At Crisp, we had the audience and the community to help the company reach new heights. We had the largest law firm growth conference in the country — a platform that could shine a spotlight on something revolutionary. So instead of each of us trying to build something separately, we joined forces.
CaptureNow launched at the 2022 Game Changers Summit, and it hasn’t stopped growing since.
On your own, you can only go so far. With the right partner, you can go further than you ever thought possible.
But there’s a caveat. Not all partnerships are created equal. The right partnerships are rooted in trust, authenticity, and vision alignment. You can’t fake that. If you’re only thinking, “What can I get out of this person?” and nothing longer term past that, you’ll end up with disappointment and burned bridges.
The best partnerships are built on years of collaboration, mutual respect, and a genuine desire to see each other win. Gary, Chris, and I had known each other for years and built relationships long before we ever built a company. That foundation made our strong and successful partnership possible.
So if you’re a leader, stop trying to be a lone wolf. Look around and ask:
- “Who has the expertise I don’t?”
- “Who has the network I can’t access?”
- “Who has the resources, the reach, or the platform that could take my vision to the next level?”
And just as importantly, ask yourself what you can bring to the table that they can’t.
When you find the right answer to both of these questions, you will have found the kind of partnership that can transform your business — and maybe even your entire industry.
That’s the power of partnerships.
