The Car Trip Acid Test (CTAT)

Launching and managing a successful business is like driving a car: You have to look ahead, control your gears, check your dashboard and also watch carefully what is happening behind in the rear view mirrors.

 To know if you could work with your life partner, I highly suggest that you start with the Car Trip Acid Test (CTAT) a personal invention directly inspired by the Acid-Test Ratio, a stringent test that indicates whether a firm has enough short-term assets to cover its immediate liabilities without selling inventory.

Well, the CTAT works rather the same way: Hop in your car with your loved one, or borrow one (a car) without a GPS, but just a map that you give to the passenger. Choose a destination to reach in a fair amount of time and hit the road. (I would recommend choosing a nice hotel in the countryside with a restaurant for a romantic dinner if you succeed). 

One is responsible for the driving, the other one for the navigation. (Please don’t be automatically macho, women can drive 😉 except for my wife).

When you reach destination, calculate your CTAT by:

(Number of shouting + Swearing + Loss of temper)

Miles driven

Couples with a CTAT ratio close to 1 should immediately forget the idea of launching a business together. More seriously, this test is very good training of what business with your life partner will look like. Do you often lose your temper, do you trust him/her, is your team complementary, and how do you naturally organize the tasks to be done?

Step back and take an objective perspective of your behaviors in the stressful moments of life. Trust me, you will get a fair image of the daily routine of partners working together in a venture.

The term Acid Test comes from the way gold miners would test whether their findings were real gold nuggets. Unlike other metals, gold does not corrode in acid; if the nugget didn’t dissolve when submerged in acid, it was said to have passed the acid test.

If your couple passes this figurative acid test, well done, you’re on the path of a great and successful partnership.

 Frog.