Starting Bizz,, Where Did U Find Ur Partners?

[kikker]

alright here's one question / bit of a poll..

I've been working for the past 6 months on a business idea, which is good to go live at the moment. I'm getting a bit sick however of doing all the work myself all the time and was wondering where others that have gone before me found their (Thai) partners.

just a bit of backgorund I'm developing a design business, have a good creative network and a reasonable client network. I'm ideally looking for either a partnership with an existing Thai agency that has some resources in-house or a Thai partner with a background in client servicing / project management (perhaps even expats with a history in advertising or design?). Although I don't expect any of you to be potential candidates, I'm curious if others struggle with finding partners as well or do you have a solid approach that you care to share?

I'm not new to the business, have done it for a few years already but I guess I didn't network enough?

Edited September 28, 2006 by kikker

[anndeara]

alright here's one question / bit of a poll..

I've been working for the past 6 months on a business idea, which is good to go live at the moment. I'm getting a bit sick however of doing all the work myself all the time and was wondering where others that have gone before me found their (Thai) partners.

just a bit of backgorund I'm developing a design business, have a good creative network and a reasonable client network. I'm ideally looking for either a partnership with an existing Thai agency that has some resources in-house or a Thai partner with a background in client servicing / project management (perhaps even expats with a history in advertising or design?). Although I don't expect any of you to be potential candidates, I'm curious if others struggle with finding partners as well or do you have a solid approach that you care to share?

I'm not new to the business, have done it for a few years already but I guess I didn't network enough?

Hi Kikker

Which kind of person and qualification are you looking for? I am Thai lady, living in the UK and just graduated MBA. I am planning to do my own business in Thailand as well. I will back to Thailand next month. You need to do many strategic management, I think. Anything can I help?

Cheers

Anne.

[kikker]

Thanks for your reply, I pmed you with some info. I don't plan to use this post to recruit anyone rather just interested in how people found their Thai partners?

Or is everyone who is in business here trying to do things solo like I have been trying to do for the past months?

[fxm88]

Sorry I don't have anything Thailand-specific but you may find some good general advice at http://www.inc.com/guides/leadership_strat/23041.html

[kikker]

so I guess the majority are one person businesses?

[kiakaha]

A friend of mine met his thai business partner when they were studying together on an MBA course in the US.

[terry74]

alright here's one question / bit of a poll..

I've been working for the past 6 months on a business idea, which is good to go live at the moment. I'm getting a bit sick however of doing all the work myself all the time and was wondering where others that have gone before me found their (Thai) partners.

just a bit of backgorund I'm developing a design business, have a good creative network and a reasonable client network. I'm ideally looking for either a partnership with an existing Thai agency that has some resources in-house or a Thai partner with a background in client servicing / project management (perhaps even expats with a history in advertising or design?). Although I don't expect any of you to be potential candidates, I'm curious if others struggle with finding partners as well or do you have a solid approach that you care to share?

I'm not new to the business, have done it for a few years already but I guess I didn't network enough?

[terry74]

alright here's one question / bit of a poll..

I've been working for the past 6 months on a business idea, which is good to go live at the moment. I'm getting a bit sick however of doing all the work myself all the time and was wondering where others that have gone before me found their (Thai) partners.

just a bit of backgorund I'm developing a design business, have a good creative network and a reasonable client network. I'm ideally looking for either a partnership with an existing Thai agency that has some resources in-house or a Thai partner with a background in client servicing / project management (perhaps even expats with a history in advertising or design?). Although I don't expect any of you to be potential candidates, I'm curious if others struggle with finding partners as well or do you have a solid approach that you care to share?

I'm not new to the business, have done it for a few years already but I guess I didn't network enough?

Not easy to find good partners especially Thai partners, I worked in Thailand for abt 3 years the best partners are the ones that already a network of customers and you can tap onto their nextwork.

However if you can find a partner that already is in this line of work, he will be an asset to you and I presume you not a Thai.

We almost partnered a army colonel however found out later not a good idea.

Now we partner with a Thao chinese sales manager that has a proven track record of 100 million per year on sales.

You will need a partner that has connections , network and is Thai

[Backpack_thailand]

I work pretty much as a sole trader, my way round the need to have a 51% Thai partner is that I'm married to mine...!!!

[scn]

A lot of things have changed recently as I found out in the process of setting up a company here in LOS. I was to setup a company with the 49% -51% (Foriegn - Thai). I dont have a problem finding partners as I roped in my Thai Wife and here family as the 6 other directors of the company.

But according to the new rules if the foriegner holds more than 40% or is the sole director of the company then all the shareholders have to submit bank statements for the last 6 months to show they have enough monies to pay for thier shares. This was a problem as I did not want to ask of private information from my in laws even though they are all in very good positions and are paid very highly in the positions they are.

To get around this I reduced my shares to 39%, increased my wifes shares to 60% and the rest with the other and have my wife as a co-sign as the joint director. This might work fine for those of who have a thai wife who can be trusted.

But you can never know, this not just applies to thais but to also anyone else. As an example earlier in my home country i had a partnership with a childhood friend of mine ( a very friend of 35 years) who screwed me badly.

To avoid any problems with the partner who might show some different color here. I would suggest a ordinary share - preference share structure. A lawyer might help with this. In which your shares have higher voting rights than the thai and so you can effectively control the company.

I have done this for a start and might increase my shareholding later.

If anyone needs a honest and trustworthy company to work with please let me know. java script:emoticon(';)', 'smid_20')

By the way can anyone answer me on this. Even though I have a company set up I will not have started working till about Dec as I have to take some trips do i still need to file the social security and whitholding taxes and things like that?

I am not registering for VAT now so I presume I dont have to file VAT returns every month.

Any other suggestions. By the way I used my friend services so not so much of an exorbitant fees either that some charge.

[~G~]

By the way can anyone answer me on this. Even though I have a company set up I will not have started working till about Dec as I have to take some trips do i still need to file the social security and whitholding taxes and things like that?

Yes, but late filing is not a disaster.

I am not registering for VAT now so I presume I dont have to file VAT returns every month.

How did you get a WP if your company isn't VAT registered??

[Backpack_thailand]

I am not registering for VAT now so I presume I dont have to file VAT returns every month.

How did you get a WP if your company isn't VAT registered??

You need to be VAT registered and pay your tax + VAT each month. If not, when it comes to renewing your visa and work permit at the end of the year you'll have big problems.

You don't need to declare all transactions if your customers don't want to pay the VAT but as long as you are paying a little each month then everyone's happy!

[scn]

I was told that the VAT Registration is required only if the total revenues exceed about 1.8Million THB per annum so I have not yet done the VAT registration. I do not have a work permit yet since the company was registered only a couple of days ago.

I will be off on a business trip for a month out of thailand and hence the decision to put off applying for work permit till i return. Anyway till then my wife is a director and she can handle things. We dont even have a bank account opened for the company yet so there will be no transactions or no employees till I come back from my trip.

So now my question do I still have to file With holding taxes and other things?

[kikker]

hmm guess the best thing is to get married then..

anyone had any good or bad experiences with Thai partners that you did not know for a long time? I obviously would prefer to establish the business with someone I have known for a while and who would be a perfect fit to the business etc etc. However reality is that I don't have such a partner.

I'm wondering and a bit concerned if acitvely looking for a partner will lead to a forced cooperation that is doomed for failure.

Anyone had any other experiences? Do most succesful partnerships come from long relations or does anyone have opposite experiences?