Making People Think: The Hallmarks of a Favorite Founder

Emmet McGonagle

June 17, 2022

With reference to angel investor Jason Calacanis, Valhalla Angel group members Ziad Moukheiber (Boston Harbor Angels) and New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant, Grant Lawrence, president of Valhalla Angels Kelowna and co-president of Valhalla Angels Vancouver, has lifted the lid on which personality traits angel investors are looking for in early stage company founders.


Find out what Grant has to say below:


Trying to measure and gauge how founders will act and react to their winding journey, with the inevitable hurdles they are embarking on is one of the key challenges when making an investment decision, especially in pre-revenue or early revenue start up companies. You are placing a portion - in some cases, a big portion - of your investment on the founder.


Over the years I’ve observed investors looking for founders that exhibit certain traits, and after listening to many investors here is a list of personality traits angel investors are looking for in early stage company founders (note - this is a summary list, and not everyone mentioned every trait):


  • Humour (self deprecating)
  • Honesty
  • Hungry to succeed
  • Love to solve the problem, not the product
  • Want to delight customers
  • Hardworking
  • Coachable
  • Humble / vulnerable 
  • A strong origin story (see the Hero’s Journey narrative in pitching to investors)
  • Delusional, with skill 
  • Staying power / stamina
  • Driven to win
  • Making money is not the key driver, but is still very important
  • Great at hiring better people than themselves

The list goes on. Of course, everyone will have a slightly different list and use similar words.

In an upcoming post I will look into how you identify these traits and prove them out, but for now - which traits do you look for in a founder and why?

In a previous blog post Randy Stewart Thompson – chairman of Valhalla Private Capital, managing director of Old Kent Road Financial and co-owner of Peterborough United Football Club – outlined how best for entrepreneurs to gain the attention of investors when hoping to pitch their startup.

Do you have a question about angel investing? Get in touch with Valhalla Private Capital via our contact page.

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