After your relationship is set with the right co-founders and the startup team, it's time to expand your efforts to the many other key players required to build a successful business. These would include investors, lawyers, vendors, outside partners, and customers.

You won't have the time to carefully craft and nurture each of these relationships, so it's time to kick your relationship building capabilities up a notch. You need to learn the strategies to quickly assess new people and demonstrate the characteristics of a good partner very quickly to them.

Jan Yager, PhD, an author and speaker on this and related subjects, outlines well the requirements for good business relationships in Productive Relationships: 57 Strategies for Building Stronger Business Connections, Hannacroix Creek Books (http://www.amazon.com/Productive-Relationships-Strategies-Building-Connections/dp/1889262633). From my experience and hers, here are ten top relationship...