Drive, Intelligence, and Integrity

One of my favorite investors and mentors said that the essential characteristics he looks for in startup founders — drive, intelligence, and integrity — cannot be taught. That got me thinking about why those characteristics are essential to successful startup building and how we might recognize them. 

So, what is the takeaway when I start this blog noting that drive, intelligence, and integrity cannot simply be taught? I do believe that these characteristics are not something you learn in a classroom. However, with the right raw material, I suggest refining and developing them through self-awareness, mentorship, and experience is possible.

1. Step one is to recognize their importance.
   
2. Step two is to know yourself deeply and determine if you have these strengths if you aspire to be a potential founder/startup CEO – or – develop discernment if you are evaluating others for the same characteristics to assess likely effectiveness in a startup leadership role(s).
   
3. Step three is to continue to refine and develop these innate strengths over time and across different contexts.

For the last six months, I have been meeting many startup founders. Some are very impressive. Others are less so. Drive, intelligence, and integrity are often key dimensions that differentiate the two groups and contribute to their ultimate success. To help you get started in reflecting, I thought I would share some of what I have observed in recent months and over my past 20+ years of building startups and engaging with others.

Drive

I met a startup founder with a smart idea that seemed to address a real need, but he couldn’t seem to close the sale – either with potential customers or potential investors. A few weeks of interaction revealed a problem that undermined him at every turn. His communication cadence, response time, and follow-through were slow and unreliable, conveying the impression that he didn’t care about his startup or delivering on his promises. His behavior was the opposite of the drive we expect to see in a leader of a high-potential startup.

Startup development is grueling. An entrepreneur waiting for someone else to provide the energy and motivation to build their startup will likely wait a long time (forever?). A successful entrepreneur is the initiator, the pace-setter, and the one with the commitment to do whatever it takes to succeed. Someone with high energy, determination, and vision. Someone who identifies an unmet need and has the commitment and work ethic to push to develop a business to solve it. A leader with drive will overcome difficulties, obstacles, and challenges with strength, discipline, and focus.  

Potential investors and team members seek a startup leader with drive, ambition, and commitment because startup genesis is hard.  Despite the myriad risks, there is a reason that sometimes it pays off spectacularly, and that reason is often embodied in a leader who is able and willing to drive for the summit at the head of the team that is climbing the mountain.  

Intelligence

Navigating the path up the mountain will involve many unexpected twists, turns, and obstacles. A startup founder must have the raw intelligence and mental horsepower to bring creativity and insight to solving the endless problems that will inevitably emerge. 

Sometimes I have encountered a potential founder seeking the definitive playbook for how to build their startup. By its very nature, an innovative startup is a prototype developed on the fly. While it is advantageous to be an aggressive learner if you want to build a startup, those looking for someone else to solve their problems for them are likely to fail.

I had a conversation a couple of years into one of my startups with a brilliant Ph.D. co-founder. I asked him what had surprised him most about his first entrepreneurial experience. He said that it was the fact that we (the team) had to solve our own problems. He had initially thought that we would be able to use other experts outside the team more, but since startups are usually resource-constrained, it is typically the case that the team is pivoting and creating and figuring out what to do each step of the way with only some tangential help from mentors, advisors, consultants, and other “extra” helpers. This is why it is so critical that startup leaders are smart.

Because there is no guarantee, map to follow, or crowd of people sure it will work when building a startup, startup leaders must bring their own intelligence to bear. Creating an innovative business requires endless problem-solving – and intelligence is foundational to tackling the wide variety of issues that will inevitably emerge. A successful business problem-solving track record is excellent evidence of the intelligence needed.

Integrity 

Investors are taking a risk when they hand over their financial investment to a wobbly startup. This is a tremendous act of trust and faith, and trustworthiness is predicated on integrity. Trust is facilitated by honesty and strong moral principles. Investors, customers, and team members are all interested in joining together with those they can trust. Trust to make the right decisions. Trust to follow though. Trust to do the right thing and not take advantage of others. Trust to be open, communicate transparently, and keep promises.

I have known a business owner for over 15 years who is spectacularly bad at this. His lack of integrity erodes trust with everyone he interacts with. He constantly changes his story, fails to communicate proactively and honestly, and blatantly takes advantage of everyone around him. The consequence of his behavior is that it erodes the benefit of the doubt from others and means that people withhold their generosity and willingness to help. The saddest part of the whole dynamic is that I don’t think he understands integrity enough to realize that he fails to demonstrate it – and seems genuinely confused about why others who have been repeatedly burned eventually refuse to trust him.

I have seen startup leaders who lacked integrity. They sometimes got themselves fired. Or they experienced tremendous turnover on their teams. Or they failed to raise money because they could not persuade potential investors to trust them. 

On the other hand, with integrity, you can generate trust and persuade team members to join and follow you, investors to believe in your opportunity, and customers to take a chance on you. Integrity is the foundation of the trust lubricant in relationships.