Examples ofpartnership businessesand successful co-founding relationships include NotOnTheHighStreet.com, Social Chain, Pret A Manger, WhatsApp, Mumsnet, Carphone Warehouse, Yoomoo, Marketing Runners, Bremont, and Rocket Internet. It is important to distinguish a legal business partnership from a company that simply has two or more co-founders: a partnership is a specific business structure, while many of the examples below later operated as limited companies or other corporate structures. A formal agreement can help set roles, expectations, profit sharing, and responsibility from the start. For founders considering this route, starting together can reduce the financial pressure of launching alone, while combining resources and drawing on more than one person’s skills can make the business stronger; in a limited liability partnership, it can also help separate business liabilities from members’ personal finances.
Often a successful business partnership can lead to more business opportunities, entry into new markets, and stronger business strategy, because individual partners can share responsibility, contribute to day-to-day operations, and rely on one another for advice. Of course, there are some disadvantages, such as splitting profits fairly, maintaining open communication, and choosing the right structure: the main UK structures include ordinary partnerships, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships, and liability for business debts differs in each case.
Partners in an ordinary partnership can be personally responsible for business debts, while a limited partnership has at least one general partner with unlimited liability and limited partners whose liability is generally restricted to their contribution, provided the relevant rules are followed. LLP members generally benefit from limited liability. In any business partnership it’s also important that the partners move in the same direction and are on the same page. Many successful businesses have been founded by more than one person, supporting the adage that two heads can sometimes be better than one.
Some of the biggest companies in the world, including Google, Microsoft and Apple, started with more than one founder, showing what can be gained from joining forces with another like-minded entrepreneur. The examples below are for entrepreneurs and business founders who want to see how co-founding and partnership relationships can work in practice, compare different types of business structures, and understand why partnerships succeed, where they can fail, and what to weigh up against going it alone as a sole trader.
Examples of Business Partnerships
A business partnership is a structure where two or more people or legal persons carry on a business together, with responsibilities depending on the type of partnership used. In the UK, partnerships are particularly common in law firms, medical and dental practices, accountancy firms, property investment businesses and other professional services. Different structures can be used, including an ordinary partnership, limited partnership or limited liability partnership (LLP).
Professional Services
- Law firms: Solicitors may work together through a traditional partnership or LLP, sharing clients, operating costs and profits.
- Medical and dental practices: Doctors or dentists can work in partnership to share premises, equipment, staff and responsibility for running a practice.
- Accountancy firms: Accountants may form partnerships or LLPs to provide services such as bookkeeping, tax advice, auditing and financial consultancy.
Property and Investment
- Property investment partnerships: Two or more people may invest in or manage property together and share the resulting profits and responsibilities.
- Limited partnerships: These can include general partners who manage the business and limited partners whose liability is generally restricted to their contribution, subject to the rules of the partnership.
Small Businesses and Start-Ups
- Retail and hospitality businesses: Friends, relatives or colleagues may open a shop, café, bakery or other local business together and divide responsibilities and profits.
- Professional and creative businesses: Designers, consultants, tradespeople and other self-employed professionals may form a partnership when they want to combine their skills and operate under one business.
- Early-stage start-ups: Founders may initially work together through a partnership before later deciding to incorporate a limited company as the business grows, although simply having two co-founders does not automatically mean a legal partnership exists.
Whatever the type of business, a written partnership agreement can help clarify how profits are shared, who is responsible for different decisions and what happens if a partner joins or leaves.
Successful Partnership Examples
Here we list ten examples of successful co-founding and business relationships that show how building a business with one or more other people can work in practice.
1. NotOnTheHighStreet.com
NotOnTheHighStreet was founded by entrepreneurs Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish. The duo wanted to find original items from creative small businesses and bring them together in one place, making it easy for people to browse and buy. As co-founders, they had a shared vision. Founded in 2006 on a kitchen table, NotOnTheHighStreet has since grown into a major UK e-commerce business and marketplace for independent brands. Today, the marketplace says it is home to more than 4,000 UK small brands and over 350,000 products. Not only did they build their own business, but the platform has also given thousands of other entrepreneurs and independent brands a place to sell their products. With a shared interest in supporting creative small businesses and a clear vision for the marketplace, the two founders provide a strong example of how complementary founders can pull in the same direction.
2. Social Chain
The two founders of Social Chain, Steve Bartlett and Dom McGregor, both started out working with different online student communities. Bartlett had created the online community Wallpark and McGregor ran the popular Student Problems page on Twitter. When the two met they became fast friends and then later business partners. The business attracted significant attention for the way it used large social media communities to connect brands with online audiences.
With similar backgrounds and an understanding of online student communities, the two brought complementary social media experience to the business. The duo founded Social Chain in 2014, and the agency grew into a prominent social media and influencer marketing business. Since then the pair have gone on to pursue their own ventures. Social Chain itself was acquired by Brave Bison in 2023 and continues to operate as part of the group, while the founders’ early collaboration remains an example of how aligned skills and business strategy can support rapid growth.
3. Pret A Manger
Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, the two founders of Pret A Manger, worked together on the business for more than two decades. In 2008, private equity firm Bridgepoint acquired a majority stake in Pret in a deal valuing the business at around £345 million, with reports at the time saying the founders received around £50 million each while retaining or reinvesting part of their interests. The business grew from the pair’s idea for a different type of fresh, quick-service food after struggling to find the kind of lunch they wanted themselves. With the same industry background and in the same line of business, once the duo found this gap in the market and used their partnership to reach new markets beyond a niche lunch option, they were a force to be reckoned with. Co-founder Metcalfe later founded the restaurant chain Itsu, while Sinclair Beecham returned to Pret A Manger in 2024 as part of a series of board changes as the business focused on its next phase of international growth.
4. WhatsApp
Former colleagues and friends Brian Acton and Jan Koum left Yahoo! before later working together on WhatsApp. The WhatsApp idea was initiated by Koum after he bought an iPhone and saw the potential of the growing App Store. The service had several teething problems in the beginning, but Acton encouraged Koum to continue. In practice, their co-founding relationship combined Koum’s product vision with Acton’s support and later work on the business. WhatsApp has since become one of the world’s most widely used messaging services. The duo had different strengths, and the business benefited from their ability to share responsibility in the early stages. Facebook announced its agreement to acquire WhatsApp in 2014 for approximately $16 billion in cash and shares, with a further $3 billion in restricted stock units for founders and employees.
5. Mumsnet
Mumsnet was founded in 2000 after Justine Roberts came up with the idea following a difficult family holiday, with Carrie Longton among the early team who helped build the site. From modest beginnings, it has grown into one of the UK’s best-known online parenting communities. Mumsnet describes itself as the UK’s biggest network for parents, with around 8 million unique visitors and around 100 million page views per month. Many wouldn’t mix business with friendship, but these two took the risk and it has definitely paid off. Both women have stressed the importance of having the right work life balance and clearly this is a key part of their success.
6. Carphone Warehouse
Sir Charles Dunstone founded Carphone Warehouse in 1989, initially selling mobile phones from his flat in London after investing £6,000 of his savings. His old school friend David Ross joined the business soon afterwards and became a key early business partner in its expansion. At its peak, the Carphone Warehouse group operated more than 2,400 stores across Europe and its former parent group was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Today, the Carphone Warehouse brand is part of Currys and no longer operates standalone UK stores. Back in 1989, both men shared a vision of expanding the mobile phone from its current niche market to the mass market. Thanks to this forward thinking from Dunstone and Ross, mobile phones have become an essential part of our lives whereas previously mobile phones were only for rich businessmen.
7. Yoomoo
Some business partnerships are also built around family relationships, as was the case with husband-and-wife team Daniel and Amanda Gestetner. The couple developed their business idea after seeing the popularity of frozen yoghurt during a trip to the US and decided to launch the concept in the UK, combining resources and support. Yoomoo opened a bar in Harrods and expanded into other locations and supermarket products. The frozen yoghurt brand was acquired by R&R Ice Cream in 2013, while Amanda and Daniel Gestetner continued operating the Yoomoo bar business and working on its international expansion at that time. With a shared desire to succeed, their business partnership has no doubt been strengthened by their great personal relationship, a structure that can offer several benefits when both partners are equally invested in the idea.
8. Marketing Runners
The start-up Marketing Runners was co-founded by Derin Cag and Tim Campbell, bringing together two people with experience across entrepreneurship, marketing and business. Derin Cag, founder of Richtopia, and Tim Campbell MBE, the first winner of BBC’s The Apprentice and founder of Bright Ideas Trust, co-founded Marketing Runners in 2016. The company operated as a digital marketing business before being dissolved in 2021, so it is best viewed as a historical example of two founders combining their skills rather than a current partnership business.
9. Bremont
Family members can also build successful businesses together, as Bremont founders and brothers Nick and Giles English demonstrated. The brothers were inspired by their shared interest in engineering and aviation, shaped in part by their father, and co-founded the British watch company in 2002. Their partnership combined shared mechanical interests with a common goal of building a British luxury watch brand. The duo have won many awards including, Breakthrough Brand and Watch Brand of the Year.
10. Rocket Internet
Our last company is Rocket Internet. Founded in 2007 by brothers Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer, the Berlin-based business became known for building, incubating and investing in internet and technology companies around the world. Oliver Samwer remains Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Internet. The business was taken public in 2014 before being delisted from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2020, and the brothers’ long-running collaboration remains another example of family members building businesses together.
Great Business Partnerships – In Conclusion
Starting and growing a business could be an incredibly arduous and lonely task, as most people are doing the exact opposite by working hard for others and following someone else’s direction. The ten examples above show how, through difficult periods of start-up and growth, having someone who can support, complement and challenge you can contribute to business success. However, co-founding a company is not necessarily the same as operating a legal partnership. For a UK partnership, the nominated partner normally submits the partnership tax return and each individual partner also submits their own Self Assessment return and pays tax on their share of the profits. Strategic partnerships between separate companies, such as collaborations between major brands, are another form of business relationship but are not necessarily legal partnership structures. Joint ventures and public-private partnerships are also distinct arrangements, so it is important to choose the structure that actually fits the relationship.
