What qualities do you seek in founders before investing?

🚀Michal Rokosz

Partner

Outlier potential

Michal Rokosz says he looks for outlier potential, explaining his job is to find anomalies: decacorns are outliers, not the regular course, so he is skeptical of founders who do everything by the book.

Emily Bennett

Investment Partner · Andreessen Horowitz

Co‑founder dynamics

Emily Bennett says she watches co‑founder dynamics—how multiple founders engage, give each other space, and divide roles—because what matters is time spent building together, though it isn’t a dealbreaker.

David Haber

General Partner · Andreessen Horowitz

Humble confidence

David Haber says the best founders have a sense of humble confidence, noting founders spend 95% of their time selling.

Ross Fubini

Managing Partner · Xyz Venture Capital

Grit and resilience

Ross Fubini says grit is the big attribute he looks for, and founders must be resilient because building a company takes 10 years and will get hard, so they need to be driven to make it work.

The answer starts at 49:17.

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Gili Raanan

Cyberstarter · Cyberstarts

Complexity

Gili Raanan says he looks for complexity, saying that the deeper and more complex a founder's personality is, the higher the chances for fast evolvement and unexpected directions.

David Weisburd

Founder · Weisburd Capital

Winner mindset

David Weisburd says the biggest distinction is the winner mindset, the opposite of the victim mindset: people who decide what they want and then get creative about structure rather than hitting their head on a wall.

The answer starts at 24:19.

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Morgan Flager

Managing Partner · Silverton Partners

Grit and long‑term conviction

Morgan Flager looks for grit and long-term conviction, saying he needs to be convinced the founder is in it for the long haul, won’t walk away, and attaches their personal reputation to the business.

Subrata Mitra

Partner · Accel

Vision and team‑building

Subrata Mitra says he looks for founders who truly believe in their idea and can build great teams, because they must attract talent better than themselves and sustain the company for years.

The answer starts at 26:26.

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Ian Rountree

General Partner · Cantos

Strong why

Ian Rountree says he looks for a strong why, asking founders why they are committing their life to this over anything else, because the answer matters so much.

The answer starts at 23:59.

Justin Smith-Lorenzetti

Founder & Managing Director · Intact Private Capital

Unwavering desire to build

Justin Smith-Lorenzetti says he looks for an unwavering, un-denying desire to build something different, along with childish curiosity and unrelenting ambition, saying that is what he gravitates toward.

Christina Quinn

General Partner · Ssc Venture Partners

Adaptability, resilience, initiative, self‑awareness

Christina Quinn says when assessing a new founder she bears in mind four entrepreneur's-mindset qualities: adaptability, resilience, initiative and self-awareness, because startups require pivoting, perseverance and openness to feedback.

David Frankel

Managing Partner · Founder Collective

Youth, energy, focus, smarts

David Frankel says he looks for youth, energy, focus and smarts in founders, because that combination is an intoxicating package and the early-stage focus and intensity still turns him on.

Jason Gray

Founder & Managing Partner · Pioneer Fund

Unique insight, speed

Jason Gray says he looks for unique insight—what founders see that the rest of the market doesn't—and rate of progress, meaning how fast they move and crush problems.