Since founding and exiting my own business, I have been privileged to meet many founders at different stages of their own startup journey looking for support to build, grow, or scale their business. They have come from a wide range of industries, like health, education, retail, and even manufacturing. Many have reached out to me directly, while others have been introduced to me by investors, or potential investors, with a request to support the founder, and the business, to realise their investment, or to be investor-ready.
However, before I commit to collaborating with a founder, there are key characteristics I look for to make sure they will get the most out of an investor or advisor partnership.
Here’s seven qualities I look for in founders.
The founder’s passion and vision for the idea, coupled with experience in the relevant sector, makes for a good starting point in building confidence that the founder can bring their idea to life.
When speaking to a founder I look for a vision that proves they have deep empathy for the problem they are trying to solve, or if they are at a later stage, how they have used their challenges along the way to refine their offering, improve the business, and deliver commercial outcomes.
There’s nothing more frustrating than being asked for your advice (and time) only to be faced with responses that demonstrate an unwillingness to listen to counter points of view. I have been in front of many founders who, when asked questions about their addressable market; data; or competitor landscape, have dismissed the need to delve into these areas because they have made assumptions that their product, or service, will smash the competition out of the water and be irresistible to their target market.
If you’re engaging someone, even for a coffee, take the time to listen to what they have to say and reflect on the sentiments they have shared.
Being coachable is different from being a listener, in that coachability comes down to a founder’s ability to reflect on the advice provided and choose how to adopt it, whether through undertaking further research, implementing rigour around financial management, or developing their own leadership.
The ability to receive constructive feedback and listen to various perspectives is key to growing not just as a founder but as a human. Investors want to see a person who can evolve, learn, and come out the other side of the many hurdles that will inevitably be in their way. A founder’s capability to adapt, pivot, and bounce back will be crucial to being able to deliver a return for investors.
As I mentioned in my piece earlier this year about the journey of a startup founder, innovators can be easily distracted, so the vision needs to be one that the founder can see coming to life, but also has the staying power to command their ongoing and sustained attention.
If a founder continually gets distracted by new opportunities that stray from the core business, investors or advisors will be cautious. If you have taken an investment, think about the fact that the investor is funding you to deliver a result, so any distractions are a disregard for the value of their investment.
I always say that anyone can come up with ideas, but not everyone can execute them. Although some investors will back just an idea, most will want to see that founders can take that idea through to execution.
If it’s your first time taking this sort of plunge, start by testing and learning, getting to MVP or pilot stage, or even just starting small. The ability to bring an idea to life that is commercial and scalable is a rare skill that will be highly valued by any investor.
Founders don’t always have a crystallised concept before approaching investors, but there needs to be enough clarity about the problem they are solving, their customers, and the industry, to instil confidence that the founder understands the landscape they are venturing into.
If you have a great idea but don’t have the relevant industry expertise, make sure you bring others into the founding team who possess the inside knowledge that will ensure your idea is not going to be pipped at the post by a competitor who has already spent two years solving the same problem.
Last but definitely not least is authenticity. As I said before, a founder who tells you they have all the answers but hasn’t done the research or acknowledged their weaknesses, is a red flag. Investors and advisors do not expect founders to have all the answers.
Vulnerability and authenticity about the knowledge you do and don’t have is key to building trust and credibility. I personally also like collaborating with people who don’t have all the answers, because sometimes that’s the fun part that we get to navigate together.
Overall, when choosing a partner to navigate the journey with, the golden rule is to ensure you are values aligned, because when times get tough you should always be able to come back to the north star you both saw to help you through.
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Andrea Christie-David is the founder and managing director of Leor, president of the Australian Home Childcare Association, a director of Relationships Australia NSW and a lawyer.
