Know your walk away conditions.
Good negotiators know their walk-away conditions before they start. This helps direct the discussion and prevents committing to a bad deal in the heat of the negotiation.
When you start a business, it starts negotiating with you. It makes offers and demands, and keeps changing them. Sometimes it's stubborn. Sometimes it's generous. Sometimes hostile, sometimes promising.
The sad truth is too many founders regret not walking away from their business sooner. The ups and downs made them lose sight of their walk away conditions.
It's worth taking a few minutes to sit down and map out all of the goals and milestones you want to hit, and by when. But instead of choosing an ideal timeframe, ask yourself, "when should we consider walking away from this business if haven't yet hit this milestone?" Set a calendar appointment with your co-founders (or yourself) for it.
Don't let your business fool you into sticking with a bad deal.
