Collaboration
You work as independent companies. Licences are mutual and bounded to the project’s defined field.
PartnershipDNA
Everything agreed before anything is built.
PartnershipDNA is the legal framework 308 wrote for starting companies with partners. IP, confidentiality, decision rights and how equity will be shared are all agreed in writing before any work starts.
Two small companies can often build what neither could build alone.
The opportunity
Small firms with products that fit together can reach a market neither could reach on its own, and move faster than a large firm doing the same work in-house.
The risk
Joining early means trusting each other with IP before anything is proven. Most partnerships stall right there, or come apart later over who owns what.
The answer
PartnershipDNA settles ownership, credit and decision rights in writing before the work starts, so what’s left is the building.
How it works.
Conversion
At an agreed trigger a company is formed, the foreground IP moves into it, and equity is issued against the risk each partner took and what they contributed. For software and services the trigger usually comes after beta, and for hardware before launch, once there’s a proof of concept, letters of intent or clear evidence of demand.
- Background IP
- What you bring in stays yours. It’s identified and ringfenced in writing before any work starts, and it leaves with you if you exit.
- Foreground IP
- Anything created inside the project is held in trust for the future company from the moment it’s made, and moves into that company at conversion.
- Decision rights
- Who decides what, written down at the outset. One partner stays accountable for the whole.
What stays yours, in writing.
Your IP
Background IP stays yours, ringfenced in writing before any work starts. If you leave, you take what you need to keep running on your own.
Your credit
Contribution is recognised and tied to what you deliver. It’s recorded as the project runs, so when the company is formed the equity conversation starts from evidence, not memory.
Clear lines
One partner stays accountable for the whole. That partner doesn’t change from the first workshop to the last release, so you always know who to go to.
Your time
Involvement is scoped to the work in front of you. Any change to that scope is agreed in writing first, so the project never quietly grows into your whole week.
Assurance.
Environment
308 stands up and runs a high-assurance environment for each project, covering development, source control, identity, secrets and runbooks. It is open to inspection by every partner, on reasonable notice, without charge.
Independent audit
Every project has a risk and compliance firm that is independent of 308. It audits the environment, checks security and regulatory compliance for every partner, and sends its findings to all partners at the same time.
Equity
Partners hold equity directly, alongside 308. Shares are set for each product by the risk each partner takes and what they contribute.
Pace
Each product moves at a pace every partner can keep up with.
Who we’re looking for.
Potential and capability
Something you can build, or have started to, and the skills to see it through. A track record helps but isn’t the test. We look at how you think about the problem, and how carefully you’d handle it somewhere nothing is trusted by default.
A security posture that holds
How you handle secrets, access and disclosure day to day. We ask early because fitting this into a shared build later is much harder than starting with it.
A clean supply chain
You can say where your components, dependencies and any outsourced work come from. In these sectors someone with the authority to stop the work will eventually ask, so the answer needs to exist in writing already.
Questions we get asked.
What is PartnershipDNA?
A legal framework, written by 308, for starting companies with small firms and specialists who can build. It protects the IP each partner brings and records what each one contributes. Salus, built by 308 and Vox Novus, runs under it.
How is equity shared?
Partners hold equity in the company their work creates, directly and alongside 308, including where the product raises grants or outside investment. Shares follow what each partner risked and contributed, and they’re agreed before the company is formed.
Can I read the agreement?
We take you through it in conversation, and share it in full during mutual due diligence.
How do I start?
Tell us what you’ve built and where it has run. If there’s a fit we’ll set up a conversation. There’s nothing to sign and no commitment at that stage.