Don't let your behavioral blindspots sink your startup

Hi, my name is Bryce, and I'm an AI engineer/data scientist. I've spent the last few years working with Behavioral Scientists to uncover the patterns in the behavioral profile of successful (and unsuccessful) founders.

Spoiler: We've successfully uncovered a set of habits that strongly impact startup success

The Technology:

I know you came for the habits, but some of the innovation lies in our unique approach to discovering these patterns and the practical insights provided to the founding team. We developed a family of algorithms designed to link the behavioral (or "psychometric") data to target outcomes. It searches for "fuzzy" relationships between the input (psychometrics) and the known output (founder success).

In short, Fuzzy Sets and Systems is a branch of Computational Intelligence [1] that attempts to model the uncertainty of our world mathematically. It better represents data that occurs on a spectrum. For example, when we talk about height, we do this in a fuzzy way. Someone isn't "tall" if they're above 5'11' and short if they're below 5'11". This type of data occurs on a spectrum. People are fuzzy. We're full of uncertainty, and all of our traits occur on a spectrum. So, we needed to choose fuzzy tools to ensure we're doing people justice.

The Habits:

There are 1000s of psychometric assessments that can be administered, but our team commonly uses a four-science assessment suite, measuring a total of 120 psychometric features. Using our Fuzzy AI, we isolated the 7 most predictive features:

1. Discipline: Entrepreneurs with discipline are focused, efficient, and intentional. They can often manage the maintenance of essential details, such as agreements or contracts. They may be described as mindful or thoughtful. They have practiced the skill of restraint and have often figured out ways to be more efficient by being organized.

2. Competitive: Entrepreneurs with the appropriate competitiveness are independent and leverage their agency to persevere. They reject limiting beliefs that hinder progress and channel tenacity, perseverance, and determination to succeed.

3. Emotional Stability: Emotional regulation is the ability to stay focused in times of stress or pressure. People with optimal emotional regulation can handle negative input and stay focused.

4. Courage: Courage is the ability to motivate oneself to change, persist, or adapt when the situation calls for it. People with an optimal amount of courage can focus on what needs to happen and how to do it, even in the face of great difficulty.

5. Situational Awareness: Situational Awareness refers to the ability of someone to practice self-control and consideration for others. With the optimal amount of situational awareness, a person treats their relationships with care and respect. They understand the consequences of their actions and are aware of why their behavior may frustrate others.

6. Interdependence: The ideal score in interdependence reflects helpful doses of humility, mutuality, maturity, and respect for self and others. These individuals are confident yet humble and consider expertise outside of their own. They can be patient when necessary and have a healthy relationship with fear.

7. Balance: Balance refers to an entrepreneur's discernment to manage their capacity. Someone with the appropriate amount of balance has a general sense of when to pause and rest. When they know they are doing something they should not be doing, they stop–or if they must continue, they figure out how they can prevent that situation from occurring again. Please note: this habit is distinct from a modern definition of "work-life balance"; the algorithm found (and we affirm) that early-stage entrepreneurship requires intense endurance. Balance measures the entrepreneur's ability to manage this load and avoid unhealthy coping mechanisms that may derail themselves and the venture.

Side note: I had no idea these could be quantitatively measured.

The data shows that it's challenging to have the perfect amount of each of these habits, but the most successful founding teams do. We've also seen how a single characteristic caused companies to fail.

We want to support the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem - supporting entrepreneurs in their journey towards startup success and equipping investors with objective tools to invest in high-potential entrepreneurs, regardless of their pedigree.

With Founder Story, founders accelerate the growth of their startup. Knowing yourself is the first step on the road to success. Once you know your traits and how they impact your work, you can start making changes that will have a tangible impact on your business.