Service
Mediation for Business Partners
Mediation for business partners, or business partner mediation in the plainer phrasing owners use, is facilitated resolution for co-owners who are stuck.
Free call first, then the $1,500 Bottleneck Diagnostic
Key takeaways
- A neutral third party in the room so the deadlock gets decided rather than managed, before it reaches lawyers or costs you both the company.
- Whether to take investment, whether a partner's role has outgrown the business, whether to sell. Or the slow version: nothing is disputed and nothing has been decided in eight months.
- Each partner gets a private session first. A joint session before both have said what they actually want out loud becomes a performance.
- This is not legal mediation and produces no binding document. Your lawyers draft whatever the outcome requires.
Mediation for business partners, or business partner mediation in the plainer phrasing owners use, is facilitated resolution for co-owners who are stuck. A neutral third party sits in the room so the disagreement gets decided rather than managed, and so it gets decided before it reaches lawyers or costs both of you the company.
Most advisory and coaching firms do not offer this at all. It is a common problem in exactly the companies we serve: two founders, equal equity, no governance document written back when they were friends, and a decision neither can make alone.
What this covers
- Neutral facilitation: neither partner is the client and neither side is represented
- A written governance and decision-rights agreement, signed by both partners before the session ends
- Deadlock and buy-out conversations handled as agenda items rather than avoided
- Plain scope: a facilitator, not a lawyer and not a therapist
- A fixed-scope engagement, not an open retainer
- A confidential pre-session with each partner before anyone sits in the same room
- A named fallback written into the agreement for what happens if the deadlock comes back
When it applies
A deadlock with real stakes. Whether to take outside investment. Whether one partner's role has outgrown or fallen behind the business. Whether to sell. Or the slower version, where nothing is formally in dispute and yet no significant decision has been made in eight months because each of you is avoiding one conversation.
How it works
- 01Private sessions with each partner separately, first. No joint session happens until both of you have said what you actually want out loud to someone, because a first joint session without that step becomes a performance.
- 02Then facilitated joint sessions. Neither partner is the client. That is said at the start, and it is the difference between mediation and coaching one of you: a coach has a client, and a client in a two-partner dispute is a side.
- 03The deliverable is written before anyone leaves: the decision reached, the governance and decision-rights arrangement that supports it, and a named fallback for what happens if the same deadlock returns. Both of you sign it. A verbal resolution between co-owners has roughly the half-life of the drive home.
What this is not
It is not legal mediation and produces no legally binding document. Where a buy-out, a share transfer or an amended operating agreement is the outcome, you take the signed agreement to your own lawyers. It is not therapy either. Olga is a facilitator, not a clinician.
Alternatives
Executive team coaching where the conflict is between senior executives rather than owners. CEO coaching where one partner needs a private counterpart before any joint conversation is useful. Organizational design consulting where the fight is really about two people owning the same outcome.
| First step | A free 30-minute call |
|---|---|
| Then | The Bottleneck Diagnostic, $1,500, fixed |
| After that | Scoped and priced from what the diagnostic finds |
| Delivery | Virtual, or on site by arrangement |
| Built for | Owner-led companies, $500k–$50M revenue |
| If we are not the fix | We say so on the call |
Next step
How to start
Book a free call. We talk for about thirty minutes about your company and what is stuck. If it sounds like something we can help with, the next step is the Bottleneck Diagnostic, a fixed piece of work at $1,500 that tells you in writing what is actually holding the company back. Any work after that is scoped and priced from what the diagnostic finds. If it turns out we are not the right fit, we will tell you on the call.
Locations
Mediation for Business Partners by city
Start with a free call
Thirty minutes about your company and what is stuck. If we can help, the next step is the $1,500 Bottleneck Diagnostic. If we cannot, we will say so.