Startup founders: what qualities do we look for?

We get asked this question a lot. At Bright Pixel we work on a daily basis with startup founders. We coach the founders of the startups we have invested in and we constantly meet new founders and aspiring ones. When deciding to work with a startup, along with the idea, business model, market size, and other criteria, the team is essential and there are some qualities in the core founding members that we look for.

Here are the top qualities we value in the founders we choose to work with:

• Learning mindset: a startup starts as an experiment. To launch a startup is to launch a business that has not been launched before. To successfully setup and run an experiment one essentially needs to be a good self learner. That means we look for founders who are curious, analytical, good listeners/observers and good at connecting the dots. It is also this learning mindset that will enable a founder to acquire new skills and adapt to the changing demands of his/her role as the startups launches and grows.
• Pragmatic and creative problem solver: to get the show running and keep it rolling, a founder needs to be pragmatic. Aiming for perfection is the wrong strategy. In the startup business done is better than perfect. The earlier a solution is brought to the market the earlier the team will start learning from the market — and the market is really the Yoda for a startup. In addition, a founder will have to deal constantly with a scarcity of resources. Money will be short, time will be short, the team will be short, knowledge will be short. A founder needs to be able to set priorities and creatively find solutions in far from ideal situations.
• Passion+grit+dedication: this cocktail is essential in a startup founder. Life as a founder will be a challenging ride, a rollercoaster of ups and downs. At the toughest of times it will be passion, grit and dedication alone that will keep them going. Really believing and wanting the startup to succeed will be essential for persisting through mistakes, disappointments and hardships. It is that determination and passion that give founders the resilience and creativity to come up with improbable solutions. This combination is also a magnet when pitching the business to clients, investors, collaborators.
• Integrity: this quality is key for one simple and core reason: trust. Integrity is a key ingredient for trust and trust is a key ingredient in business because, ultimately, business is all about relationships. After all, a business is built by people and for other people — sometimes we forget about this in this world of brands but in fact a founder will pass his/her integrity down to its startup brand. Integrity is key for attracting and keeping a talented team; it is key for managing client relationships. As investors we are there for the long run and will be working with the founders for several years. We want to be able to trust the founders and we know the success of the business can easily be jeopardised by lack of integrity.

Bonus: knowledge of the market: not essential but a good plus is when the founder has knowledge of the market he/she is trying to enter. It is a great advantage to have deep knowledge about the way that industry operates, the processes, the pains and in particular a wallet of client relationships that can be activated to grow that startup.

This being said, a startup is not a one man/woman show — it takes a team of founders that complement each other to grow a startup successfully — but that is another post. This is our take on the matter. If you have other qualities you consider relevant, we would like to hear from you.