How to Craft Thoughtful Collaborations: Planning Worksheet and Contract Template for Women Founders
This post is packed with foundational guidance for women founders who want to build strong, lasting collaborations—grab your free planning guide and contract template to set clear expectations, protect your partnerships, and keep those business relationships thriving.
Here’s what I absolutely love about collaborations:
Entrepreneurship can be really lonely and partnerships are so life-giving
Two or more really cool people coming together can create something truly unique and interesting in ways that we can’t do on our own
Sharing the work helps us to go farther than we can often go on our own– you know that saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”
Here’s what I don’t love as much about collaborations:
Miscommunication, passive aggressive behaviors, chaos.
Lopsided effort– one person doing it all and another doing hardly anything.
Broken relationships or friendships.
Low-return on investment.
I believe that most of us want the best for all of us, but in startup we can get a little bit chaotic. That can be fine if we have resilient partnerships that can withstand that. I have had many that thrived under those conditions but I’ve also had some not-so-fun collaborations because we didn’t take the time to get aligned ahead of time. That’s why I wanted to put this guide together for you.
Remember, if we want to go fast we go alone (and totally burn out in the process) but if we want to go far, we go together.
Step 1: Think about what you WANT
First, you’re going to want to sit by yourself and think about what you’d ideally want out of a collaboration– for your self, for your business, for your customers. What does success look like for you? For your collaborators? It’s really important to care about all of your success markers. For some collabs, it’s just about the experience and whatever happens is totally fine. For other collabs, we’re looking for very specific deliverables like connection to another audience or photography that can be shared after the event. Make sure your success markers are known ahead of time to avoid any stressful conversations later.
Step 2: Think about your CAPACITY
Then you’re going to honestly think about how far you can push yourself or what is available to you– in energy, money, time. How many hours can you put into this without feeling like you’re being taken advantage of? Is it a certain amount or will you feel ok putting in what it takes to get the job done? What about others in your collaboration? What tasks are easy for you? What are hardest? What parts do you want to take on because you want to stretch yourself? What tasks do you want to take on because you want to stay in your lane and keep it lower intensity on you? These are all great questions to answer ahead of time so that you can fall back on what you said your limits or boundaries were back when you decided to take the plunge.
Collaborator Agreement Guide
So, you’re teaming up with friends to bring something amazing to life—how exciting! But before the planning really kicks into high gear, let’s make sure you’ve got all your bases covered so everyone’s on the same page. This guide will help you think through the key pieces of your collaboration and turn it into a smooth and successful event. Here’s a set of questions that will walk you through some of the most important aspects.
1. What does success look like?
This is such an important starting point. After all is said and done, what do you want to have come out of this? Experience? Certain deliverables? Audience growth? Just a super fun time?
What does success look like for me? Give as much detail as possible?
What does success look like for my collaborators? How can I make sure to keep this in mind and support it?
2. Roles & Responsibilities
Let’s start with the basics—who’s doing what? Make sure everyone knows their role, from handling the marketing to running the day-of logistics. A few things to consider:
Who’s responsible for the budget?
If you’re hosting an event, who’s managing the guest list, or any event logistics?
How much time and energy is each person expected to bring to the table?
3. Finances & Profit Sharing
Money can be tricky, so let’s make sure it’s crystal clear from the start:
How are you splitting the costs (think venue, supplies, marketing)?
How are you divvying up the profits (50/50, or based on contribution)?
And don’t forget—how are you keeping track of all those expenses?
When does everyone get their payment?
What happens if you have to cancel?
Don’t forget to account for processing fees that you’ll lose when ticket sales or payments come in.
4. Decision-Making & Authority
Every collaboration needs a game plan for making decisions, especially when things get tricky. So ask yourselves:
How will big decisions be made—by consensus or majority vote?
What happens if you don’t agree? Is there someone with final say?
Are there specific areas where one person has the reins?
5. Communication & Meetings
It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle, so plan out how you’ll stay connected:
How often are you meeting to check in? (Weekly, biweekly?)
What’s your go-to communication style—email, phone, or a good ol’ face-to-face chat?
And how will you work through any bumps in the road?
6. Event Execution
Let’s talk day-of—what’s everyone’s role during the event itself?
Who’s the point person for logistics, guest experience, or troubleshooting?
Are there backup plans in place in case something doesn’t go as expected?
How are you divvying up responsibilities to make sure it’s a smooth ride?
7. Branding & Ownership
When you’re building something special together, ownership matters:
Who owns the event name, concept, and all the branding?
Can any of you use the same idea or branding in future projects without the group’s okay?
Where will you be processing sales and marketing? Is there one place where every sale is processed?
Are you creating a cohesive set of marketing materials? Where will that live? Who is responsible for creating that?
8. Legal Stuff & Liability
Not the most fun part, but super important:
Who’s responsible for getting any permits, licenses, or insurance?
How will liability be handled if something doesn’t go according to plan?
Are you protecting yourselves legally as a team?
Do you need any waivers for your collaboration? Yoga events, for instance, often require a specific document so that if anything happens during an event, the instructors are protected.
9. What If Someone Needs to Bow Out?
Life happens, and people’s plans change, so it’s good to have an exit plan in place:
What happens if someone needs to step away before the event?
What if the event has to be canceled—how will you handle any losses?
And if this collaboration rocks (which it will), what’s the plan for future events?
10. How Long Does This Agreement Last?
Lastly, think about how long this agreement should last:
Is it just for this event, or do you want to keep working together down the road?
If so, should you check in and revisit the agreement at certain points?