Characteristics of the Best Startup Founders

I recently watched a video from Michael Seibel, co-founder of Twitch and CEO/Partner at Y Combinator where he describes the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.

I keep replaying it in my head.

In his experience at Y Combinator, he’s observed and mentored 2,500+ different start-ups. and he noticed that the best founders (the top 10%) all have four things in common.

#1 – Execution + Learning

• “The best founders can execute consistently. These are the people that what they say they’re going to do a thing, two weeks later it’s done, and they’ve learned something new too. They don’t get stuck. They’re almost fearless, finding a way to constantly get shit done.”

#2 – Clear communication with different types of people

• “The very best can understand who they’re communicating to, and they can tailor their message so that it’s understood. It’s an empathy for the person listening, and a way to speak or write crisply, clearly, and with them in mind.”

#3 – Intrinsically motivated + don’t give up

• “These people have relentless drive and passion that comes from inside themselves. They see defeat or mistakes as obstacles and they adapt rapidly and don’t get discouraged.”

#4 – Formidable

• “When you’re an entrepreneur, and you have all three characteristics above, you become formidable. So impressive that you inspire respect from everyone around you. These founders get so much shit done, it’s intimidation and awesome.”

What do you think?

I think he’s captured it quite well. At Microsoft, I work closely with a variety of incubation leaders, and the most successful seem to have an uncanny ability to lead, inspire, communicate, and execute.

I’ve also noticed they lack ego. They’re not stuck in a mindset of your job is to do this and my job is to do that. Instead, they’re not afraid to work and do whatever is needed to get it done.

I’m fortunate to be surrounded by entrepreneurs, learning from them every day.

What else? What other characteristics do the best founders have?

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