For Trumbull, the partnership offered a way to get on the Internetwithout hiring a staff to develop a site. Bid4Assets had a businessmodel that differed from every other startup Trumbull interviewed,says Lorenzo Mendizabal, vice president of the Windsor, Conn.-basedcompany. "We looked at five or six other companies, none of which arestill in business," Mendizabal says. "There was an enthusiasm, visionand strategy that attracted us to Bid4Assets, and that energy helps usbe more entrepreneurial."

"We had done only online auctions, and we knew a large part of theliquidation business is more amenable to offline auctions," Marchicksays. "Someone in California is not going to fly to Washington, D.C.,to buy 10 cubicles. Since we have only 35 people, sending 10 of themaround the country to round up material made no sense. SB Capital hadpeople all over the country who could handle inventory, live auctionsand equipment removal."

Choosing a partner based on set criteria can be difficult, Brandeis'sGomes-Casseres says. The key is to find a partner with capabilitiesthat match your needs and the incentive to contribute thosecapabilities to the union. Having more than one partnership is fine,but too many can spread a company thin and create competing intereststhat can distract from the business plan, he says. "Polygamy is OK,but promiscuity is not," he says. "It's hard enough to run onealliance well, but it gets exponentially harder as you add morepartnerships to the equation."