How you search for business partners matters a lot, there are some successful tech companies managed by partners who work remotely and have not set their eyes on each other. Consider bitcoin as an example, most developers that worked on it didn't have to meet Satoshi. They showed concern for the project, and got a chance to work with the founder virtually through mail.
Truly it's difficult to find dedicated people online, but given time you'd begin to find people who would show interest on the project you're working on, same applies physically, like Larry page and his cohorts they didn't just perfect their partnership in a short while.
Anybody looking to work with people should be prepared to properly manage them, and give out instructions suitable for the growth of the business.
Having a partner is definitely a good thing, there is no doubt about that. The only downside would be having a bad partner, because we have seen a lot of partnerships go away and bankrupt a company because the partners do not get along well.
As long as the end result is bankruptcy, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, we are not talking about blaming anyone, they could do that to each other, but from afar we can say that it was because of partnership, and if one of them did it alone then they would have probably done better.
This is why I believe that if you are going to end up partnering with people, you need to make sure that you trust them. Ideally, if you worked with a person at someone else's company for many years together, and start the same business but smaller scale together, that will be great. I know a friend of mine who worked in hotels for 11 years, and another friend of his who worked for 16 years, both sold their houses and bought a hotel.
The understanding was that they would both own 50% of the hotel, and if they fail, they would be still capable of selling the hotel and not lose much, but they did alright for now, obviously not wealthy but they make more than their old salary. Obviously they have more responsibilities too of course.